“Matt, I can’t hear you.  Shout louder!”  Our island hopping trip in the Philippines on the most gorgeous day suddenly turned pear shaped.  We had booked our island hopping trip through KKDAY and as often is the case it was not what was portrayed in the brochure or in this case the website.  Yes, there was the fine print which stated that the boat might have some noise but this was a lot worse than that.  I have traveled on yachts, ships, tankers, ferry’s etc but I have not been exposed to this level of noise on a boat ever.  We could not hear each other and had to go sit at the front of the boat to try ease the level of noise.  Ear plugs were recommended but this required ear muffs. Out of the 30 or more boats that we came across their was only one other like ours.  Of course this was all denied by KKDAY and even after showing video evidence they denied it and moved on.  Lesson learnt.

Enough moaning as some people may enjoy the gentle whisper of a jackhammer for an entire day.  The rest of the trip was great and exploring the city was quite an experience as we witnessed first hand how poverty and wealth piled up on top each other.  We were in Cebu to cover the Routes Asia event and took every spare moment to explore the surroundings.  Below are some pics from our experiences.  Enjoy and feel free to comment.

 

The view from our apartment of the Waterfront Hotel and conference venue where we covered the Routes Asia event.

The local taxis were full of colour and had a character all to themselves. This was my favourite.

On the way to our first island of the day. So beautiful and the sea was like a mirror. What you can’t experience is the high pitched BBBRRRRR of the engine.

We think that our squatter camps are crowded but these are incredible and can be cramped up against a fancy building or wealthy area.

This shopping centre had such beautiful gardens and all the restaurants were on the outside with decks that overlooked the gardens. A complete contrast to the shacks next door.

Matt making sure his hair looks good. Or doing a vlog, I’m not sure which.

These kids were so keen to have a pic taken and what did you think they said afterwards? “let me see”. Kids of today.

Some amazing views from our boat. This island had a village on one side and then a small, white sand beach on the other which is where we were taken to.

Local transport. These tuk tuks got extremely crowded. I even saw one that had someone between the driver and his handle bars.

Cebu City at night as seen from our apartment window. What you can’t notice is that there is actually very little light being emitted from the city. There were either not many lights or people turned them all off at night.

Any takers?

Does anybody know of a good electrician? This was how all the street poles were decorated. A common site all over the city.

The boats all lined up ready to take out scuba divers, snorkelers and sight seeing tourists.

Our guides for the day. The captain must have been deaf after listening to that unbelievable noise all day every day.

This was one of the nearby villages attached to the modern city. Matt and I took a walk down that long alley and got asked numerous times”are you lost?” No we weren’t lost we were exploring the city and getting a first hand experience of daily life away from the modern areas. People were extremely friendly and welcoming.

A local reading the daily newspaper.

We spotted this church(I assumed it was a church) from the rooftop and unfortunately we never managed to get to it.

A panoramic view of Cebu City from our rooftop.

The white sand beach on the first island that we visited. This was pretty much it so Matt and I decided after about 5 minutes that we were done and wanted to head off to the next island where we were going to snorkel.

Kids playing dad’s boat. Can only imagine the fun that these guys have every day.

The other half of the white sand island. A small village that I assume existed purely on fishing.

What an unbelievable day.

One of the many bustling alleys in the city.

Sunrise from our apartment.

A local from the small fishing village off to work.

Most of the streets are occupied by motorcycles. Every time we stepped out of our apartment one or two would stop and ask if we needed a lift. They all seemed to be taxis at the same time.

Our boat for the day. We occupied the very front as it was too noisy under the cover.

I would hate to be a bird trying to take off through all those wires.

Small fish( I thought they were anchovies) drying on nets on the white sand island. They were all over the place and I couldn’t help wonder if they had actually just been left there to eventually disappear or if anyone could just help themselves. Paradise for a few hungry seagulls.

Locals in a taxi, even dogs are welcome.

Out of the 6 or 7 days that we were in Cebu we saw sunsets like this every night. I am not sure if we were extremely lucky or that’s just the way it is.

A local taxi. The guy at the back helps customers into the taxi and also collects the fair.

Perfect timing on this pic. Of course it was planned.

Take a look here at what we got up to in Quebec City, Canada.

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