It's another weekend! Hello dear hivers, how are you today? I hope you enjoy an awesome weekend.
Been reading blogs about people's travels and it got me saying inside my head;
SANA ALL!
SANA ALL!
SANA ALL!
I repeated it three times to make it sound and feel intense! Hahaha! Gaah! I miss travelling so much. "Sana all" has the time and money to travel.
||๐๐ผ๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐ฎ ๐ค๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ช๐ก๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐๐ช๐ฃ ๐ฌ๐๐ฎ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐จ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐. ||
I admit I have my Sana All list and travel is on top of it. While everyone has their bucket list, I have my Sana All list. How about you? Do you have a Sana All List? Please feel free to share so I won't feel alone in this side of the universe. [laughs] "Nandamay pa". [Now, I'm dragging you into this.]
Travelling for me is not just about those instagram-worthy pictures you can share. It is how I am able to conect to the place. For that reason, there are places I always wanted to visit again. Places that captured my heart and not just my eyes.
I wanna go back to this place that is dear to my heart --- Cebu City. One of my Sana All is to vist this place again. This place is special to me as it owns a piece of my identity. It is the place of my birth. I even lived there for the first few years of my life. The memories I had with Cebu City are still vivid. Everytime I set foot on its port, it feels home.
It's been a while since I set foot on Cebu City and my heart longs for that day that I'll be back again. So please allow me to share some of the things I love about the place as a probinsyana who doesn't get to experience the big city life that often.
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ช๐ก๐ค๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ก
Cebu City is rich in culture and tradition. It is popular for its annual monthlong celebration of the Sinulog Festival.
Sinulog Festival is a traditional celebration in Cebu City held every third Sunday of January to honor the Santo Niรฑo (Child Jesus). Basically, the festival is done by a dance ritual, in which it tells the story of the Filipino peopleโs pagan past and their acceptance of Christianity. The word โSinulogโ means โgraceful danceโ, wherein it all started in 1980 with a simple dance that represents the โsulogโ (or current) of a river in Cebu."
https://asiasociety.org/philippines/it%E2%80%99s-more-fun-philippines-sinulog-festival-fever#:~:text=Sinulog%20Festival%20is,river%20in%20Cebu.
I had the chance to to witness this cultural tradition and festivity few years ago before the pandemic. We were able to attend the grand fluvial parade, a mainstay event of the Sinulog Celebration. Hundreds of devotees brave the waters of Mactan Channel to show their devotion to Sto. Nino by accompanying the image of its short voyage.. I was such lively event with drums rolling to the sinulog beat. A number of boats and bancas were decorated carrying the image of Sto. Nino and the devotees. Helicopters hovered around dropping confettis that added more colors and a festive feel to the event. It was such a great experience as local tourist like us won't be able to attend to this kind of event. We need connections with shipping companies or banca owners to give us a ride to their boats. Fortunately, we had a friend who is connected to a shipping company and allowed us a seat on their boat.
Aside from the fluvial parade, we were also able to witness an important feature of the Sinulog Celebration, the street parade where participants show off their bright colored, uniquely designed costumes as they danced to the beat of the sinulog music with drums, trumpets and native gongs. Higantes and aesthetically designed floats were also click-worthy of my camera. The artistry and effort put on these were evident. Some of these floats carried local celebrities like Gary Valenciano, Direk Ramsay and more. It was one of the reasons why we braved the scorching heat of the sun and the excited crowd to have a glimpse of our Filipino celebrities. Well, probinsyana as I am, we only get to see celebrirties when we are in the city.
There are more fun activities you can experience if you come to Cebu City during the Sinulog Celebration. Though it was such a tiring experience since most of the streets are closed to vehicles to give way to the street parade and you have to walk miles to get to one place to another, it was such a joyful experience and I love to do it again. I also get nostalgic, as I remember when I was young, I remembered how my father carried me on his shoulders for me to be able to watch the street parade.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐จ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐จ
Seeing tall buildings with aesthetic designs is something new to my eyes. We don't have tall building in the province, all we have are tall trees. And they are equally beautiful in a way. So seeing these skyscrapers is something new and aesthically pleasing. It somehow represent my dreams in life. Like these buildings, I will build my success slowly on a strong foundation until I reach the top.
Cebu City also has large malls like the SM Seaside Mall and Ayala Malls. There are many things you can do at the mall. Aside from shopping, you can just stroll around and enjoy the cold temperature of the building, check out some restaurant that offers good food, play some games, have a photo with Kobe's standee or just appreciate the architecture of the building and take some photos. There is also an area in Ayala Mall where you can just sit and read books. There so many things you can do to make make yourself occupied.
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐ผ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐พ๐๐ฉ๐ฎ
If you want to rejuvenate from the busy and tiring city life and want to try other activities like nature trip and some adrenalin rushing activities, there are nearby places you can visit to have that happy hormones back on track.
May God bless Cebu City and I hope someday we can go back to a City free from the threats of the Corona Virus so I can bring my family with without any fear.
Have a great weekend friends. Let your "Sana All" be "Love it All".