Lazy Goy

We arrived at the Mactan International Airport. Given that I have not been riding the plane to travel back-and-forth Davao to Cebu and vice-versa, I was not quite familiar to the place. The roads and the establishments were all new to me since I have not visited Mactan during my 2-year stay in Cebu. However as we were nearing the Metro, jeepneys with familiar routes started coming up and that’s when I knew I was back.

In 5 years, I expect that there were going to be a lot of changes and indeed there were many. Here is a list of some of the things I observed to have changed.

Routes and Roads

From Mactan International Airport going home to Tagonol, Basak Pardo, there was this new road I think called SRP. It was like a road dedicated to private vehicles who want to avoid the traffic jam especially during peak hours. This is a longer route but since you won’t have to work through heavy traffic, you reach your destination much faster.

Some jeepneys also have new routes. They still go from point A to point B but they pass different places already. The changes are just minimal though since most of the PUJs still have the same old routes five years ago.

Malls

The very first mall that I’ve visited ever since I arrived was SM City. You can see major changes to the structure of the mall. They have built an extension called North-something (I forgot). This is where new establishments like Starbucks, The Coffee Bean and other what we call as “layso” or “sosyal” places are located. This is also where the store of my aunt called Crazy Crepes is located.

In Ayala, the structure remained the same except for some minor renovations at the rear part of the mall. The major changes can be seen inside. There were a lot of new establishments. Timezone, my favorite place in the mall, can already be found in three different floors. I guess this is to accommodate the growing number of gamers.

Food

We used to frequent the ever popular Larsian in Fuente. We just can’t seem to get enough of the BBQ and their special sauce. The best part is, everything is very cheap. But there is a new food place in Fuente that has become quite popular. It’s called Siomai sa Tisa. It’s just a small place locate in an alley in Fuente Osmeña just behind Larsian. Their siomai, being sold at 6 pesos a piece, is comparable to siomais at popular Dimsum houses. 6-peso siomai, 2-peso puso, and 6-peso RC/Jaz/Sparkle, it just can’t get any better than that.

Other Establishments

I used to linger around Mango Avenue. There I found Mango One. It’s like the Venue Compound here in Davao City except for the fact that there are stores here that specialize on stuff other than just selling liquor and other things.

The IT park I think is one of the most major “new” thing in Cebu. What used to be a very peaceful place has now bloomed and is teeming with different establishments catering to nocturnal people. This is also were most of the call centers are concentrated.

These are the only changes I was able to observe in my 8-day stay in Cebu City. I’m quite sure there’s still more I wasn’t just able to explore that much.