On to The Philippines (Cebu)

 The Adventure Continues

The next stage of my adventures as I move on to the Philippines. The flight from Hong Kong to Cebu was about 2.5 hours and seemed over in no time compared with that 14 ½ hours from Vancouver. Heck, I didn’t even get to watch the whole movie after dinner which was too bad because it was the most recent Bond film. I may never learn how it all ended but hopefully Bond got the girl.

We were met at the airport by Daisy’s boys, John Rey 18 and Justin 16. Two fine fellows I took an instant liking to. Very polite and courteous. Daisy is out right now in an early meeting with her mum. I said she should go alone and have some catch up time before imposing me on her. There’s to be a family gathering and party tonight.

Our arrival in Cebu coincided with a major improvement in temperature; 83F. I am now in shorts and T. Sadly I seem not to have packed my sandals so am going to have to buy new. It was dark when we landed but sufficient street and other lighting to know that the drive from the airport is not going to win any beauty spot prizes. But, what the heck, I wasn’t expecting otherwise. Philippines is a developing country so those contemplating coming here need to realize this. Our hotel, The Mandarin Plaza, was fine. We have A/C in the room but on stepping out into the corridor it is warm rather than cold. They don’t A/C the entire building apparently. But, our space is comfortable and the room has a fine view.

I did not have an electric plug adaptor for Hong Kong so was restricted in computer use due to charging limitation. But I did bring an adaptor for Philippines so am now plugged in. Sadly, I seem to have incurred distress with the TV. But who wants to watch TV anyway? I have other entertainment in mind.

The family meeting took place over dinner at a buffet restaurant, The Royal Concourse. Daisy placed a restriction on attendees which was just as well when she stopped at twelve; I believe we might have taken up the entire restaurant otherwise – and it’s a big restaurant. Filipinos take this family business seriously. Lovely people all; conversation was limited due to language constraints.

While Tagalog and English are the two official languages of the Philippines, Filipinos don’t seem to pay much attention to what’s official. In the north, the first language (English aside) is Tagalog, which probably can be depended upon in Manila but as soon as you branch out in Luzon province anything goes. Tagalog, like English is supposedly spoken here in the Visayas region, but in fact Cebuano is spoken in Cebu and Bisaya elsewhere in the Visayas region which includes the second Largest island of Mindanao and of course here in Dumaguete, on Negros. Yet even within a region, be it Luzon, Visayas or any of this seven thousand island archipelago, one is likely to come upon quite different local dialects. So when you are asked someday, “Do you speak their language?” your response should be, “Which one did you have in mind?”

I hope you stayed tuned to this blog for more of my adventures now that I moved to the Philippines.