Beyond the City: Finding Peace at Cebu Taoist Temple

So what's up, hivers!

Today I'll share to you about my journey to Cebu Taoist Temple. So for those who aren't familiar with it, Cebu Taoist Temple was a temple located at Beverly Hills Subdivision in Lahug, Cebu City, Philippines. The Cebu Taoist Temple is more than just a religious place because it shows us how deeply the Chinese-Filipino community in Cebu believes in Taoism. It doesn't only as a religious destination, it also serves as a peaceful tourist attraction where we can unwind and reflect.

I came in that place with my friends for our project. As tourism students, we need to pick various Cebu City tourist spots and make promotional videos, and since we're all broke, we choose tourist spots that don't have any high entrance fee. Honestly, our options were quite expensive for us since we included Tops, Temple of Leah, and Sachiko Little Kyoto, but we realized that those were heavy for our budget, so we came up with a plan that we'll just visit tourist spots that don't have any entrance fee. So that's what brought us to Cebu Taoist Temple. Honestly, I didn't expect it to be near and budget-friendly since I researched it on the Google map, and it showed it was far from the main road. I really thought it was far, but honestly, it didn't take long to get there.

So we really plan on just settling in the tourist spots near the Sto. Niño Cebu Cathedral, but we changed our decision since The Cebu Taoist Temple sounds promising. I was really anxious that time because we didn't know the exact direction, and our budget was only cute, but for the sake of our project, we need to push through it.

⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥: The quality of the video was low cause by converting it to gif

Fast forward, we arrive at the temple at eleven in the morning; there are a lot of tourists but not that many. It was scorching hot that time, but the temple was windy, so it was fine. We first take pictures and videos for the vlog and after that, we explore the whole temple. I was hesitant on entering the shrine since it was so solemn; I was afraid I might make a fuss ╥⁠﹏⁠╥. Also, it was strictly no taking pictures of their statues and gods inside the shrine so you can only take pictures outside. The temple was visited by various tourists—American, British, Chinese and many more. We exited the temple at two in the afternoon and we were so hungry and thirsty since they don't have any food inside the temple.

So speaking of that, I'll be discussing the pros and cons of the tourist spot. First, with the pros:

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PROS

1. It can easily be located and known; you can easily ask locals where the temple is located. I assure you, you're not getting lost.
2. Access to or transportation towards the temple is easy, but I'll suggest you to have your own vehicle since it was inside a private village and public vehicles are not allowed to enter the village, so you need to take a little walk.
3. It has a nice view and ambiance; if you want to take a breath and explore other cultures and traditions, I'll suggest you to come here. It was not hot in there; the temple always has fresh air since it is located on high land.
4. In addition to that, you also get to see the beautiful and nice view of Cebu City; it was relaxing and was like a breath of fresh air for both tourists and locals.
5. They have a lot of stalls and chairs, not really everywhere, but you can easily spot benches to sit on.
6. Of 'course they have a comfort rooms.
7. The whole temple was clean.
8. Lastly, there is no entrance fee; they are free and open to the public.

Now with the cons:

CONS

1. If you don't have a private vehicle, you'll stop at the village gate and walk towards the temple. It was only a walking distance, so no worries, but if you're not really fond of walking, it would be tough for you.
2. No food inside; they don't sell food or water inside, so I'll suggest for you to bring your own water.
3. They don't have many keepers or guides. So if you'll be there, I'll suggest bringing your own tour guide. If you're fond of taking pictures, it'll best to have companions or you're going to need to have a courage to ask other tourists to take pictures of you.

In summary, there aren't many cons, so I'll really suggest that you visit this tourist spot when you come here to Cebu; it's worth visiting and promoting.

HOW TO GET THERE

The direction was easy, so first, if you don't have a vehicle, you need to find a 04L route jeep or any sign board that says "LAHUG," or just ask the jeepney conductor and ask if this jeepney can drop you at Cebu Taoist Temple.
Second, the jeep drops you in Lahug. You can ask the locals where you can ride a motorcycle. Anyway, you can easily spot motorcycles; the drivers immediately ask you if you're going to the Taoist Temple, and they will immediately hatid you towards the temple, for which the bayad is only twenty pesos because I'm a student, but I think the plite is only twenty five or thirty if you're regular.
Anyway, the driver will drop you only at the village gate, so you need to enter the village and just ask the guards of the village where the way to the temple is, and they will gladly tell you, and that's it.

All in all, our experience in visiting Cebu Taoist Temple was simple yet enriching. Before I could forget it's really a must to be respectful and modest inside the temple because even though they don't have strict rules about dresscode, they advised the visitors to dress decently. It's afterall a religious site, so as much as possible no shorts or sleeveless. Also, you need to always observe and maintain silence in the temple. There are tourists that pray inside the shrine and respect the shrine itself, so I suggest we be mindful of our tone and always behave. I guess, that are the main rules you need to abide inside the temple, so if you're interested in it, I really recommend to you to visit and check it out.