Part III- Carbon Market - Cebu City

As I mention at the end of Part I of my post we wandered around Cebu City until we stumbled upon Carbon Market. I think this might have been one of the highlights of our trip. It was so interesting to walk around and see the piles and piles of fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and the list goes on. While we stuck out like soar thumbs, it was nice that no one really bother us or tried to sale of us stuff. Here are some pictures from that area.

Produce

A man actually came up to me with his bucket of squid and fish. he wanted me to take a picture of them. That was pretty cool. I wish I would have taken a picture of him.

Old coconuts, yum!

Animals

Nuns have to eat too

People around the market

The boy in the left corner actually followed us around for a while. He kept looking at Will. It was really cute.

People relaxing in the heat

Part II- Traffic and Transportation

Traffic in the Philippines was crazy. I am never really sure how they get away with driving the way they do. It was exciting and scary! If there is a normal two lane road it becomes like a four lane road. This picture does no justice to the traffic, but you can at least see that no one looks like they are in an organized lane.

There are many ways to get around the Philippines. You can take a taxi, a jeepney or a tricycle. Taxis are pretty cheap, however you've got to make sure you take metered taxis. A lot of times they try to say a flat rate, but you will end up getting ripped off in the end. I hear that is true of a lot of places in the world, but we didn't really know any better. Well, we sure know now!

Taxis and Jeepney

Jeepney- a cheap way to travel. I never took one. We didn't know how.

Tricycles. We did take one the first day we got to Cebu. I am not going to lie I was worried if it could hold our weight. However, the more you travel around the more tricycles you see packed with 4 or 5 Filipinos. I must note that the one we took was hooked up to a small motorcycle and not an actual bicycle. I could never ask/pay some one to pull me around with their own strength, unless it's Will.

I saw some tricycles that didn't carry people, but food. Here's a mobile cake cart.

They look yummy, but what happens if you hit a bump in the road?

I like that there is expensive new pick-up truck next to this yellow tricycle. It's a clash of two worlds!

Coke Truck -oh yeah!

 

I almost forgot about the old fashion horse and buggy! 

Part I- Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines

We took a vacation to the Philippines, on July 16th through the 23rd. We landed in Manila the night of the 16th and got up the next morning to catch a flight to Cebu. We had an interesting time. The Philippines is a beautiful country. I imagine if you live there and get to know the people you can really appreciate it. However, as foreign tourists at a nice hotel located directly next to a slum, we were mere walking dollar signs to the locals. I can't blame them, our modest salary could go a long way for one family there. But, the constant begging did make some days a bit unpleasant.


I would like to tell you about our time there in no real particular order. 
 

One of the days at our stay in Mactan Island on Cebu we decided to go to the capital which is Cebu City. We walked around the city after we were dropped off at Magellan's cross. Being that it is a tourist destination you can't really cross the street without being hassled to buy something. When I saw this in action I couldn't help but take a picture. It describes about 75% of our experience in the Philippines.

"100 pesos please"

At this point his eyes are glazed over. She's said "no" but he isn't going to take that.

"2 for 100 pesos" says the salesman. The husband doesn't look too happy. He's like "not again". I think they were Korean

"Hey" says the dude in the background  "I'll give you 3 for 100 pesos." says the salesman.  "Maybe if I frown real hard he'll stop asking us...."
All the other people in the picture are taxi drivers trying to sell you "island-hopping tours" or a trip to a massage parlor.

Those tourists were really strong. They kept on walking and didn't give in. Although I am most certainly sure at some point on their visit they bought something from someone like this. 


After this we saw some school children crossing the street. It was amazing to me how you could see such a contrast between wealthy and poor. These children probably come from families with at least some money. 

If you turn the street corner you will see some of the not so privileged people who live in Cebu City.

We honestly didn't know what to do, so we just wandered around. We saw Carbon market, which was partly a very interesting outdoor market for locals. We didn't get hassled there at all, since its not so much a tourist destination as the beaches.