the Taoist Temple, Cebu City
Built in 1972, the Cebu Taoist Temple is located in Beverly Hills Subdivision in Cebu City. The temple was built by Cebu’s substantial Chinese community. With an elevation of 300 meters above sea level,the temple is a towering, multi-tiered, multi-hued attraction accessible by three separate winding routes.
Unlike the neighboring Phu Sian Temple, the Taoist temple is open to the worshipers and non-worshipers alike. Guide books and travel agencies offer trips to the temple or as a side-trip in a tour around Cebu City, but it is more popular with grade school students. No student who grew up in Cebu City has not gone to the temple in any one of their field trips.
Not much to do in the temple. It’s a temple, not a tourist spot so don’t expect to be greeted by a tour guide.
A note to visitors to the temple specially those with Cameras.
- They don’t allow tripods. I don’t know why but they just won’t let you. No matter how you reason with them. So in group pictures, one has to sacrifice and not get included in the group picture 
. Be resourceful and find a place to mount your camera, just be careful that it won’t drop. Or you can ask any of the visitors to take a photo for you. Don’t worry, there’s no way a person can run away with your camera. The temple is high up there and he needs to run down the 81 steps to get to the bottom where there will be guards waiting.
- They will not allow photographs of the sacred statues. You might be able to steal a few shots if you got a camera/lens fast enough for dark, low light areas.
- Bring water, you will easily get dehydrated up there and put on sunscreen if you happen to go up there in the middle of the day.
View the entire set of pictures here.
How to get to the Taoist Temple Cebu City
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July 11th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
[...] Via dbgg1979 [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Hi! I just recently came from our vacation at Bohol & Cebu and one of the itineraries of our vacation is visiting the Taoist Temple of Cebu and I want to share my unforgettable moment in Taoist Temple of Cebu because I would say it is NOT GOOD, it is very FRUSTRATING.
It is all started when I let my son sit on a small fence made of rock to take picture, when suddenly a lady in a uniform shouted and yelling at me saying” KATKAT PA MO DIHA KAY MAKAGAWAS MONG TANAN KARON. I was stunned at the voice and the reprimand she gave me. Instead of feeling excited of seeing the Temple, I feel different at then, I feel embarrassed why on earth this Lady shouted at me.
I learned that she is the Manager of the Taoist Temple, her name is DINA DY. I’m really frustrated of her because of the way she reprimand me and my family. Yes, it is true that it is my fault why I let my son sit on that fence wherein it is prohibited but she has NO RIGHT to shout at me in that way. Yes she is in authority to reprimand us but it should not to the extent of yelling and shouting at us especially if it is the first offense.
What I did when she shouted at me is I said SORRY. I said Sorry even she shouted at me because I accepted that it is my fault and next time I have to read some rules upon entering the Temple. What is worst is when I said sorry to her she talks back and said” SIGE LANG MO UG SORRY BASI GUSTO NINYO MAKAGAWAS NGA MAY BULAK ANG ILONG”.
I did not like the way she talk-back to me even I already ask for Sorry. So I decided to confront her because I don’t like to get back home in Davao with this kind of experience. I told her ” Yes you are in authority to reprimand us but pls. next time don’t shout, makasabot man pud mi ug isa lang ka sulti, we are all professionals here”, its getting worst when she replied ” HINDI NAMIN KAYO KAILAN DITO, UMALIS KAYO”.
So we just decided to get out of the place. I thought that I could have a better view of the Temple and remember it for Good but that is not the way it happened. When we are already outside the temple we meet a group of local tourist from Ilo-Ilo and a foreigner with a Filipino wife has the same resentment with us which we experienced with the same lady DINA DY.
To DINA DY of TAOIST TEMPLE, I want to say this to you.
1. You have NO RIGHT to YELL us.
2. IF you need to reprimand, talk it in a NICE WAY. (it really shows na ang pangit mong ugali lalabas sa iyong pangit na mukha.)
To Taoist Temple Management, Thank you for giving us the opportunity to appreciate your , religion culture & heritage. But sad to say I did not appreciate the way Ms. Dina Dy treat us. KUNG HINDI NYO KAILANGAN ANG MGA TOURISTA GAYA NAMIN that came from different places just to see your Temple, then I suggest that you don’t need to open your temple to the Public para wala nang gulo.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Sadly, this is true. I am from Cebu yet I don’t feel welcome in the place. It’s as if they let us into the place because they had no choice. I think I saw her too in my last visit and she was probably the one who signaled the guard to come over to me and tell me to pack up my tripod or I leave. At least for my case, I wasn’t shouted at, I would have done worst if they did shout at me. Since it was a photo trip and I was with my wife and friends I didn’t let the incident spoil my day me and did as told. Note I was very isolated and behind that big pagoda you will see on the left after climbing the 80+ steps.
As for your case, she definitely has no right to shout at you. She could have at least informed you politely. If your kid was playing with the statues of the saints on the top floor, then that would have been a different situation. The Three Jewels of Taoism are compassion, moderation and humility and she obviously failed to have any of these qualities.
“SIGE LANG MO UG SORRY BASI GUSTO NINYO MAKAGAWAS NGA MAY BULAK ANG ILONG”
“HINDI NAMIN KAYO KAILAN DITO, UMALIS KAYO”
- Dina Dy – Manager, Taoist Temple
Thanks Vera for your comment. I’ll ask around and see if I can get your concerns through the management. They need to fix this problem (her). She’s more like the officer in charge of the place but she don’t really get to call the shots in there.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
[...] the Taoist Temple? And I thought temple people are polite Read the whole story from her here: the Taoist Temple, Cebu City | dbgg1979 I just had to share this… — BFWGAMING.COM … a gaming forum brought to you by your local [...]