With barely one hour of sleep from my drinking session at One Mango Avenue, At 4:00AM in my hostel in Cebu (
sugbutel), I packed all my things and rush to Cebu South terminal to catch up an early morning bus bound to Moalboal. Moalboal is a municipal town located at South of Cebu, two and a half hour drive from downtown Cebu, as I embark on the hostel, I hailed a cab and ask to bring me to south terminal, pay for 5 pesos terminal fee and 111 pesos fare for Ceres bus bound to Moalboal. At 7:45AM bus arrived at Moalboal after the 2 and half hour, trip is smooth as unexpected, scenic view of the mountain awaits you at the mountain ranges of Carcar till to the succeeding town of Moalboal. I tried to sleep in the entire trip as I don't have enough sleep the night before, but the beauty of nature denied me to cheat a good sleep rather invited me to experience and see its rugged beauty. As the bus heading to a hilly,stiff mountain ranges and winding road with the scenic view of the sea and its horizon, I ask myself, why the Philippines so blessed with beautiful mountains and beaches? A lot of questions coming out of my mind, but am pretty sure, it is indeed a sight to behold to, and we must be proud and thankful too.
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| Mountainous hill of Carcar |
With the OPM classics of Claire dela Fuente played on the radio as music background, It actually adds thrill to the trip haha(lol) I don't know about the other passenger if they do appreciate the combination of Claire's music and the beauty of nature, but on my part I enjoy it(lol) promise. After 2 and half hour, the conductor inform me that we have just arrived at Moalboal, I drop off from bus and hail a habal-habal (single motorbike) to take me to White Beach, after a few minutes of practicing my haggling expertise, I boarded the habal-habal with agreed 40 pesos fare.
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| nobody's home, all is mine |
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White Beach
beach bum |
On our way to White beach the habal-habal driver promoting the Panagsama beach and entice me to try it as he said it's better than White beach in terms of price ranges of accommodation, he even compare the cost of aircon room in White beach and Panagsama beach, but in fairness to Kuya driver he is polite and not so rude in suggesting or insisting to try Panagsama beach, but with my firm decision that I will not stay for a night in Moalboal because I have to catch up an early morning flight back to Manila, if I stay at Moalboal for a night I might ended up left by my scheduled flight and I won't need that to happen as I don't have enough money to pay for rebooking fee and corresponding penalties (poor me). After a fifteen minutes habal-habal ride and paid for my fare, I stroll down the long stretch of carnation white sand of Moalboal White beach, I can see several tourists setting up a tent on the seashore for their accommodation, cooking their food, grilling pork and chicken,and fish,children's playing, local fisherman on their boat, etc. With just water and cloud 9 chocolate as my breakfast on the bus, I was looking for a place to eat, I ended up at the far end of the seashore alone, trying to reflect on life, the entirety of life (very depth, I was emotional during that time lol..) even tried to talk to local vendors, and they ask me to buy some of their merchandise. Actually, I really enjoyed talking to them, ask how much they earn for a living, and every now and then they keep on asking me to get some of their goodies(t-shirt embodied with Molboal word and map of Moalboal,shell necklace) but I always turn down them. Why? basically I don't have an extra money for non essential things for this trip, beg me for considering this as non essential because for me the best thing I could get from that place would be the experience. Experience to talk to locals, know something about the place, it's history, it's people, because they speak truthfulness from their heart, and their smiles are unforgettable. That would be the best things that I could remember forever. Real story from real people.
Also I met a family man from Carcar Cebu, a bonsai vendor, again ask me to buy some bonsai at affordable price (100-250 pesos each, a good price though) he even explain that these are lucky charms and the symbolic of each plants, but then again I turn him down, said that I cannot bring it back to Manila and it might be confiscated at the airport, but the truth is "money matters" I'm a cash strapped nomads, a backpacker with a limited budget. I also ask him about his daily lives, on how to make a bonsai tree, his background and his family. His story is worth to emulate, truly a family man.I was very lucky since I can speak and understand Visayan languages in all form, I think it would be important in getting the trust of locals; know their language. Indeed, it is very effective, locals easily shared their personal life without any hesitation at all.
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| Bonsai vendor from Carcar City |
I was very hungry, so I continue strolling the long stretch of White beach looking for place to eat, I chance upon a row of small eateries that serve meals, but upon checking, foods are not so inviting. So I decided to stroll again the other end of the White beach, am not worry about my hungry anymore, candies and water can suffice it (hahaha) so upon checking the other side of the beach a lot of sun revelers are beside the beach playing volleyball, some are having their breakfast and some are setting up their tent. I was bit tired of walking on the entire beach for 1 an a half hour, so I decided to go back to Cebu city since I already seen the White Beach of Moalboal. I hail a habal-habal to take me back at Moalboal proper, but the weather is uncooperative it rains on our way to town proper, I ask the driver to take me to Municipal Hall, and check it for me, indeed it was a nice Municipal Hall and the church standing on the opposite site commands attention.
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Moalboal Municipal Hall
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| Moalboal church |
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Ruins of San Juan Nepomuceno Church
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| ruins of altar |
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I checked the church, to find out it is the ruins of the old church made by the Spaniards during spanish period, I ask a vendor outside what happen to the church and she said that the priest who renovate/restore the church use modern materials and it did not lasts or work for the church either compared to the materials used by the Spaniards. After checking the church, I was deadly hungry then, so I look for place to eat, I stumble upon a turo-turo eatery that serves rice and viands. I order a fish with broth(sinabawang isda) and a cup of rice and softdrinks. Presto! my stomach is full and am ready for the long roadtrip back to Cebu. I ask for my bill, and to my surprise I just paid 45 pesos all in all, with a generous serving of fish and rice. Note that there is no fastfood chain in the area. One of my advocacy (Bantay Bata? lol) when I am out of Metro Manila, or in an out of town is to avoid fastfood chain, I hate eating in a fasfood when I'm in a province because I believe that these chains of restaurant steal the opportunity from the locals, so I support local eateries or shop to help them to stay in the competition; foods are fresh and delicious yet affordable. After eating my breakfast, I checked my phone it's already 10:00AM and note also that there is no Globe signal in the area. I was waiting for bus bound for Cebu but all the bus passes by are ordinary bus, I prefer airconditioned Ceres bus because of the scorching heat outside and the comfort of aircon bus is inevitable, but I end up taking ordinary bus because it takes me 1 full hour to ride a bus because all the buses are full, if I will be waiting for an aircon bus it will take more time. I need to be in Cebu at least the afternoon so I can check Cebu downtown for myself prior my flight back to Manila the following early morning. I ride an ordinary bus and able to sit in a window seat and again I was awed by the rugged beauty of South Cebu. After 3 gruelling hours we reached Cebu downtown, I checked the time its' 1 o'clock so I headed to SM Cebu, this is the familiar route for me on the public transportation of Cebu since every route connected to SM and besides it's near at
Sugbutel. When I was strolling inside of SM, I felt envy to Cebuano's because they do have Dutyfree inside the SM very accessible for everyone and also I notice that there is a Collette's buko pie kiosk there, which I can see this outlet only in Calabarzon area, none in Metro Manila area. If you're from Metro Manila and your craving for buko pie you have to visit Calabarzon area to indulge your craving. I was hungry then, so I proceed to foodcourt looking for Lechon Cebu, Alas! lechon is the star of Cebuanos. Namit gyud kaayo! Solb na ko bai.
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Magellan's Cross
famous historical landmark in Cebu
Taboan market
Bulad (dried fish) |
In this journey, I came to realise that it's not about the place that would really matter, it's the journey along the way to that place that would really matter. I was not expecting that Moalboal beach is magnificent as to those of that of Boracay, indeed it's not but who cares. Moalboal is still a place that would give every Cebuano a place they call a home.
Daghang salamat Bai!
