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The entrance to the Museum.

This is the courtyard of the museum. This used to be the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center hence the high walls and railings on top and heavy duty flood lights. The CPDRC was later relocated and this place was then renovated into a museum. Note: This facility was home to the famous CPDRC prisoners who danced the Thriller, see their video here.

The Museo Sugbo is a window to Cebu’s past, back in time even before the Spanish colonization. At the time of our visit, the Museo Sugbo had 4 galleries 1.) Before Spanish 2.) Spanish Colonization 3.) Japanese Occupation 4.) US and Philippine Independence. The most interesting for me was the 1st gallery. The 1st gallery shows you the life of native Cebuanos before Spanish occupation, when they were still nomads of the land. Cebu was the center for trading with the rest of the Asian countries back then. Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysians and other neighboring countries dock in Cebu to trade. What really caught my attention was the presence of so many gold. The curator said that back then, Cebuanos treat gold as regular metal and they just adorn their stuff with gold. That’s what the neighboring countries were particularly interested to trade with. Wow! Gold! I wonder where they are now?

I don’t want to be a spoiler and give you the rest of the details. I suggest you visit Museo Sugbo. Entrance fee to the Museum is only P10.00 for Filipino Citizens and P50.00 for non Filipino Citizens.

Cameras are not allowed inside the galleries. I was only able to take photos of the following pictures displayed along the hallway. Here are some interesting pictures of the past.

Mango Avenue – It’s actually lined with mango trees.

Carbon Market

The Fuente Osmeña Circle and Fountain

The Cebu Capitol

How to get to Museo Sugbo.

View Museo Sugbo in a larger map

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

View The Taoist Temple – Cebu City in a larger map