Saucy Cebu
© Michael McFadyen

The dometic terminal in Manila is very small, much like a minor Australian town. It is certainly not of the size that I expected considering the size of Manila. There are not that many flights in and out each day. We board Philippine Airlines new Airbus A320 and find it absolutely full. We are on the way to Cebu City, about an hour’s flight away. A surprise awaits our arrival in Cebu City (actually Mactan Island, for this is where the airport is located). The airport here is much larger than that at Manila and is also in far better condition.

After leaving the airport we travel the 10 kilometres to our accommodation, the Tambuli Beach Resort. Despite the very expensive looking airport and the dozens of hotels and resorts on Mactan, the area between the airport and main resort area is very shabby and dirty, certainly not an attractive introduction to you holiday. As you would imagine from the name, the Tambuli Beach Resort is located right on the water with a nice beach that extends in each direction. The resort is very popular with Japanese tourists and was well equipped with large pool, sauna, water sports (hobbie cats, jet skiis etc) as well as their own in-house dive operation. The rooms are also comfortable and clean.
The food and drinks at the resort were not too bad considering the location ($7 for excellent club sandwich, $2.50 beer and $1.80 soft drink) although dearer than mainstream Philippines. After our mid-afternoon arrival, we decided to go into Cebu City for a bit of sight-seeing and then dinner.

It is a 45 minute drive to our distination, a huge shopping centre the size of which I have never seen in Australia. On the way we pass through the city centre and get caught in an almighty traffic jam. What a mess! Incredible pollution and noise are overwhelming. The shopping centre is amazing, with a huge shop dominating the centre. The number of staff is absolutely amazing, with more than 30 people staffing the jean’s section which would have had two people in a similar Australian store. They did not have anything to do and were just talking to each other. The real need was about two people. All the other sections were similarly overstaffed. The labour costs are obviously not high but the goods were much the same as back home. No bargins here. The centre also had its own indoor amusement park, a mini Luna Park.

After the here we caught a taxi to a seafood restaurant. This was, without a doubt, the most frightening car trip I have ever had. The driver did not seem to care about red lights...