Cebu, The Philippines - My Birthday!

So, my birthday wasn't too long ago. 

Luckily for me I had a week vacation! So, myself and Seong surfed the net for cheap flights to ANYWHERE, and the best deal took us to Cebu, in the Philippines.

I didn't really realise, but it was actually Seong's first trip out of Korea. He had never been on a plane before, so I made sure he sat by the window; his face pushed to the clear plastic for the entire 4 hours. Like a man-child. Or a dog in a car.
Arrived, checked into the hotel and he passed out. Too much excitement obviously, so while he lay unconscious I went for a dander. 

Just a little around the hotel, but I unknowingly walked into the poorer side of town. I had absolutely no trouble on my walk - everyone was smiling and waving, but as I strode up the little broken street in my new jeans and summer vest I became intensely aware that I had never been to a place that wasn't a first world country. You can't help but feel guilty in that situation, but it's not like they were unhappy. And I'm sure the last thing they need is a spoilt little white girl to pity them. So, I decided to embrace and enjoy where I was: I bought some snacks from the stalls and sat down with a drink in the shade of a little shop, where a young man approached me. 
"Your eyes are amazing," he said. "Are they real?" He must have only been about 15. A young ladyboy, and the first person I'd officially met in Cebu. His name was Angelo, and his dream was to be a singer. He would go to Hollywood some day, he said. I told him London was much cooler.

I headed back when it started to get dark. Woke up sleeping-beauty and we had a walk around the newer part of the area and the shopping district. The food was pretty amazing.

The next day we just kinda walked around. Travellings just better like that. I hate having plans or being rushed. Seong got to see the poor side this time. Having not travelled before he was very uncomfortable by it, as if it was dangerous. Completely understandable - it's always good to stay cautious, but if you spend all your time worrying then you won't see it, will you?

We decided to find a beach. Somewhere quiet and away from people so Seong could stop stressing. Spent a few hours searching around and discovered that because the beaches are so valuable for bringing tourists and money to the area, almost all off them are owned by private companies, meaning all are sectioned off. Most beaches are owned by waterparks that charge extortionate fees, or by private estates that are blocked from the public completely. It's a terrible shame that local people can't enjoy what's theirs.

We were a bit angry. Refusing to give a waterpark a huge chunk of our spending money, we asked some of the locals. They directed us to a tiny little beach: and when I say tiny, I mean tiny. It must have only been a hundred meters in width; one side being sectioned off my a waterpark's wall and the other being a harbour. It was full with local people relaxing and swimming, and children playing football between the palm trees. And hey, who care how small it was with that sort of view.

Way better than some waterpark.

Got up early the next day to explore a different area. As we were touristing it up we got word of a "skyrail" and "skywalk." Apparently, on the top of a hotel, 500ft in the air there is a rail line where you can see all of Cebu. So, of course we tracked that shit down.

We ate dinner and waited until evening for the "skywalk." Esentially, the same deal - 500ft in the air on top of a random hotel, only this time you're harnessed to a pole and walking around it. Something that obviously would be less terrifying at night...

The safety dude pretended to fall off with Seong. He almost got a drop-kick to the face. 

Similar to Korea, health and safety isn't as seriously considered as it probably should be in Cebu, which we noticed when we took the elevator down from the skywalk to find a full-grown male tiger lounging in the lobby.

Sadly I don't have a photograph of the tiger for you, as I had to try and catch-up to my fleeing, screaming boyfriend.

That night we stayed up late. The next day would be my birthday, so we thought it would be awesome to find a suba-diving event. Now, leaving things to the last minute may be more fun and interesting, but it does kinda kick you in the arse when you want to do something serious, like diving. So with our very temperamental wifi we scowered the web for any last-minute, relatively-cheap diving sessions. Managed to find one - it was a diving house operated by a Korean man who was living in Cebu. He told us a couple probably couldn't make it and that he would call us the next day to confirm. By this point, it was after 12o'clock and offically my birthday. The mixture of walking around all day and having to search the web for hours for being a retard and not pre-booking (and not having a definate confirmation) had me in a grumpy mood, so I put the TV on, hoping some Adventure Time would cheer me up. As it turns out, Seong beat Finn to it.

Where did he even get a cake? We are in rural Cebu. I don't even...
Anyway. Woke up early and it was confirmed. Island hopping, beach BBQ and tropical water snorkelling. Got there as fast as we could.
They fitted us with jackets, flippers, goggles and a snorkel and assigned each mini-group to a life-guard. Seong and I got our own. Our life guard was a young guy - very relaxed and happy to help. We asked if we could take off our life jackets and snorkel so we could dive under, and he allowed it after we promised not to die.
As soon as I went under, I felt completely euphoric. Undoubtedly the best experience of my life. 

Everything was perfect. The water, the brightly coloured fish, the beach, the food, the people. 

I can't understand people who don't want to travel. What else is there in life than to search for this feeling of pure happiness? How can you be content with anything less?

Best. Birthday. Ever.