On my recent trip to The Philippines I flew from Taipei, Taiwan direct to Cebu City, the second largest urban center in the country next to Manila with a population of approximately 1 million. The total surrounding metro Cebu City population is around 3 million.
After arriving I immediately headed for the Fort San Pedro and waterfront area hoping to catch the sunset and some of the early evening activity.
Looking at the flag of The Philippines at The Port Authority Building I felt excited but a little confused as I wandered through Plaza Independencia.
Some followers expressed their concerns about crime in The Philippines.
After watching some of the daily activity of the locals in the harbour including boaters and swimmers I walked back to Fort San Pedro. The original fort was built from wood. In the early 17 century a stone fort was constructed by the Spanish to repel Muslim raiders. The current structure dates back to 1738. It is one of the most visited sites in the city.
The Philippines at 90 percent of the population holds the highest percentage of Christians in all of Asia, 82 percent of which are Catholic.
It’s no surprise that signs of Christmas were seen everywhere in late November. Some Filipinos say that Christmas starts in September but there were still many decorations and tree lightings that weren’t commencing until early December.
I visited Cebu City’s largest mall, SM Seaside City Cebu, the 3rd largest shopping complex in the country and the 8th biggest in the world to see how Christmas preparations were coming along. I also wanted to show how similar if not identical the Christmas shopping mall experience is in The Philippines compared to the West.
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