Tuesday 21st Feb

Caught a tri-tuk taxi to the Port from our hotel, sorry to leave in some respects but diving and Coron Islands are calling. We catch the ferry out of Tagbilaran (Bicol) at 1pm and arrive into Cebu just before 3pm. We negotiate a cab (I always have to be the bad cop, stroppy one, to J’s nice guy 😀). We’re staying in a hotel overnight close to the airport, so there won’t be many pics. The poverty around the port was eye watering, very similar to some of the slums and shanties you’d expect to find in India. So hard to witness sometimes and extremely humbling. Having said that, we’re still finding everyone extremely friendly and helpful and don’t feel uncomfortable at all. Our overnight stop is in Mactan which is a small island connected to Cebu by bridge, Mactan or Lapu Lapu as it was originally called is where they built the Airport but in terms of historical significance, it’s where the Spanish landed in c.1540 and claimed the Philippines as there own and then they apparently set about converting everyone to Christianity. Back to the present day, it’s bonkers out there on the streets and I think it’s going to be the first time I’ve used earplugs or I may not have much sleep tonight.

Wandered out and found a Japanese restaurant so had a really interesting and vaguely healthy supper.