We arrived in Southeast Asia on January 22 for a short visit with Andrew’s family in Singapore before leaving for Cebu City, Philippines. Neither of us had been in this country and have talked about visiting for the past several years because of its proximity to Singapore(four hour flight). Unlike other countries we have visited we did little preparation so were surprised when we arrived in the city of Cebu.
We knew that Cebu was a travel destination for those interested in exploring the wide variety of beaches and water culture. That is not us. I think we thought we would arrive in a quaint fishing village but arrived in Cebu a city of over one million people. It was not quaint and quite third world.
Cebu is one of the most southerly island of the fifty of the large islands that make up the country. Cebu’s most famous visitor was the Spanish explorer Magellan. On April 21, 1521 he arrived in Cedu on what was to be his circumnavigation of the world. He converted many chiefs to Catholicism but then encountered Chief Lapu Lapu. He was killed. However, he was successful in planting a cross which was the beginning of a strong Catholic culture that remains.
The comparison of outside and inside our hotel is challenging. We would take inexpensive taxi from one location to the next because walking is difficult. Once we reached our destination which was an historic site or shopping center we entered a more upscale environment. From the broken sidewalks and crowded businesses in shacks we entered shopping centers with fancy shops and clean, bright restaurants. It was definitely two different worlds.
The population of the Philippines is literate with most young people attending school through high school. Let me give an example of the disconnect. We stayed at the new Fairfield Hotel in Cebu which opened only two month ago. It was modern and had an excellent staff. One day I found a note written in perfect English by our room attendant named Shawn. The note states that he noticed my pill box and left additional bottles of water. I certainly appreciated Shawn’s attention to my comfort but was surprised by the quality of the message.
In discussion with Andrew he said that some of the maids who work in Singapore have college degrees from the Philippines but pay is better as a maid in Singapore than working in the Philippines. I figured that must be the case with our room attendant, Shawn.
The service at the Fairfield was outstanding. The same level of service continued when we arrived in Manila four days later at the Sheraton Manila Bay. Both Cebu and Manila are a study in contrasts. Outside the confines of the hotels and major shopping centers you are in a developing country. The streets are lined with food stalls and traffic is heavy and slow. They may be the urban environments but the majority of the people we encountered seemed poor. Interestingly, we were rarely approached by anyone begging. The disconnect is the report in the newspaper that unemployment is at a low 3.1%.
The presence of security officers was beyond anything we had encountered before. At every hotel, shopping center or restaurant we were welcomed by uniformed officers with guns. Our bags were checked and occasionally went through x-ray machines.
People have lived in the islands for 1000’s of years. The Spanish came in 1521 and remained in control of the Philippines not as a country but as a group of islands controlled from Mexico City. The Spanish did not relinquish control until Spain was defeated by the USA in 1898. From then until the end of WWII the Philippines was controlled by the USA but was promised independence as early as 1918. There was a constant threat of insurrection from as early as the 1880’s by men like Jose Rival who was executed by firing squad in hope of quelling a supposed insurrection.
Without incident we flew back to Singapore to prepare for three days of Chinese New Year’s celebrations. For us in the USA the holiday is like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebrations all rolled into one. It is a time meeting family and friends and exchanging greetings, gifts and meals. There is a tradition of giving unpow. All adults give red envelopes with cash to every unmarried child or young adult from every parent, aunt, uncle and other relatives. In our case Andrew prepared unpow envelopes for 32 nieces and nephews.
With the holidays over we prepared for our trip the following to Hong Kong. I first had to visit to Andrew’s dentist to look into repairing my broken tooth. This is the first medical type problem I have ever had while traveling.
We flew to Hong Kong to reach our cruise ship the Celebrity Solstice. This twelve day journey will take us to Vietnam and Thailand. This cruise is different from so many we have taken because there were few Americans with many Asians and British passengers. Even though we have visited Ha Long Bay on a previous trip it is still an amazing place to visit. The towering rock formations that rise out of the South China Sea are breathtaking. The weather was hazy but it didn’t rain. Most of the major attractions Cue, Hanoi, Danang and Saigon are more than a two hour bus ride away we chose to stay on the ship and enjoy the quiet. We did spend one day off the ship in Ha Long city at an amazing amusement park call Sun World.
Six years ago we spent almost a month in Vietnam. We knew we were not missing important sites tied to America’s unfortunate adventure in this lovely country in the 1960’s and 70’s. We will see what Thailand holds.
While we didn’t get off the ship for Bangkok having been there several times before we did explore the Thai island of Koh Samui. It is a beautiful serene island with white sand beaches and South Seas feeling. We had a delicious lunch at a beach café before returning to the ship to begin the voyage to Singapore.
Unfortunately, about the time we were in Koh Samui I began to feel slightly sick. It is what I call the cruise ship scourge and it’s not a novovirus. It is more like a cold. The coughing and sneezing got worse after we landed in Singapore and finally had to go to a doctor. I wasn’t getting better and our return flight home is just week away. I knew that the passengers on the twenty-four hours of flying would not appreciate my hacking cough. Fortunately, the medication the doctor prescribed allowed me to get better but Andrew got sick. Ten days after our flight we are home in Florida and feeling pretty good.
lloydchengtrip 