Location: Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines

After such yummy burgers last night at NomNom, and with no other intel about good restaurants nearby, we decided to return for their all day breakfast. Apparently it’s hard to go wrong with breakfast in this country because we’ve yet to have a bad experience with it and NomNom was no different. We wandered the streets slowly on the way there and back, trying to absorb what we could in the short time we had in Puerto Princesa. The streets are definitely sketchy looking with the grit and grime of daily life, zero maintenance on the roads, and many stray animals- but the people are so friendly. Everywhere you go locals smile and say ‘god bless’, they offer to help without it feeling like a sales pitch, and a few people just wanted to know if we were having a good stay overall. “Hey I hope your stay in the Philippines has been great?!”

It would have been lovely to explore the city more but we had a flight to catch back to Cebu City for our last night in the Philippines. We adventured quickly out into the city to grab egg buns from a particular bakery while it was still light out, as I’ve been talking them up to Max super hard since the day we got here (he preferred the sugary donuts of course). We returned to Mad Monkey and it feels fitting that our first and last night be essentially the same- as it was music quiz night once more! Carly and Nathalie met us at the doors, and we all joined in with a big group of other Canadians and spent the evening singing and dancing away.

I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking hard about our time in The Philippines and trying to pinpoint how I feel about it. It’s been tough a lot of the time seeing the development of the country and how much struggle there is in general. From scary hospitals, sick animals, racism, an insane wealth gap, streets and houses in disrepair, to pollution and generally negative traveller safety… it’s been a bit rough. (ALSO I never mentioned that I got bitten by a small white fish that legitimately drew blood on my leg. BLOOD!! God tropical countries develop the weirdest things.)

Despite all of this the locals we’ve encountered or spent time with are generous, happy, proud, and hard working. We’ve eaten amazing food. We’ve had fun everywhere we’ve gone and man is it ever naturally beautiful. I love the experience we’ve had. It’s been eye-opening and lovely overall, but both Max and I have said to each other that we’re ready to move on. Onwards tomorrow!!

Sav