First travel experience with Jeepney in Cebu

Good day everyone. This is Edward, a Vietnamese student of the 3D academy, reporting to you about my daily life in Cebu, Philippines. Too long for an introduction, but I’m proud to say that I love being a student in 3D Academy. In my last blog, I mentioned I had lunch with Aaron and his friends. My story continued from there.

JY square

After finishing the lunch at 13:00, I was exhausted due to the jetlag. My flight took off at 1:30 and arrived Manila at 4h30, then there was a 3 hours wait due to flight delay before I could transit to Cebu from Manila airport at 7h30. I arrived at the beautiful Cebu island at around 9:30. Then I spent 45 minutes on collecting and reporting missing luggage. what an exhausting 22 hours! Feeling tired, I went back to my room, turned on the air conditioner. While I was lying on my bed, I was thinking, everything is really perfect, the pillow was comfortable and soft, and so I told myself “I am home”. In the gentle scent and soft bed, I fell asleep. Then a sudden shock came to my head. “Shit, I lost my luggage, I had nothing with me, I need to go out to buy something”.

“Excuse me, could you tell me where can I buy something like cloth, daily necessities etc?” I asked the school staff.

“Ayala mall Edward, it is near here and easy to go there, you can take a taxi” the staff said that.

Jeepney- 04L : Lahug – Ayala – SM mall

Ok, but I saw the Jeepney 04L with schedule Lahug – Ayala – SM in front of the school stopping, then I thought “Let’s give it a try! If I got lost on the street, I could then take a taxi”. So I went into the jeepney before I knew it. Not before I took a photo of my academy and write down the address though. When I was inside the jeepney sitting, I was wondering on how can I pay the money to the taxi driver and how could I know which stop I need to alight for Ayala mall while I do not know the place.

Well, I didn’t spend too much time thinking before someone touched and asked me: “Excuse me, help me to transfer it (7 peso) to the driver please”. “Ahah there you go” I  thought. That’s how you do it. You simply pass the money to the passenger in front of you and they will pass along all the way to the driver. As simple as that.

I patted on the hand of the passenger sitting in front of me, “Excuse me, this is my fee and this is her fee. Could you help me to transfer it to the driver please? thank you. By the way, if we arrive at Ayala mall, could you notice me please?” I said. She answered “Ok, are you a foreigner? You look like Filipinos!”

“Thank you, Yes, I am a Vietnamese, nice to meet you”. Without realizing it we have started the conversation, just like that, in the jeepney. That’s how friendly filipinos are!

“Nice to meet you too, Do not worry, I am going to drop by Ayala mall too.. I will let you know”. In around 10 minutes time, she told me “Ok, let’s drop here. We have arrived at our place”. That’s really near 🙂

Ayala mall

Wait, another interesting thing. There’s no bell, how do we let the driver know we need to alight here? I saw her using coins to knock on the ceiling of the Jeepney. “keng keng”, the sound of coins and the metal made the alarming sound, signalling that there are passengers who need to alight. Within the next few seconds, the Jeepney stopped and we got out of the car. What a simple trick!

“Thank you so much, how can I call your name please?” I asked the lady who gave me great help in the jeepney just now.

“Call me Koi and I am  a teacher in IT park, this is my colleague and how about you?”

IT park

“Edward is my name, I am a student of the 3D academy in Lahug. This is my first time in Cebu”

“3D, Lahug, I know your place, it is near IT park! Ok let’s join us. We are here shopping for the Christmas day”.

Lahug Market

That’s how easy you make friends with filipinos, the friendly people!

We talked a lot about Cebu, Vietnam, and the method I can use to help improving my  English here. Filipinos are really friendly and hospitable, be it among themselves or to a foreigners like me. I am already falling in love with this place, even though it’s just my first day. Join me here.

Thank you for reading.