A Date at Cebu's Shoe Capital
Astonished ~ that's what I felt when James and I visited Carcar City for the first time last Sunday, August 14, 2011. Carcar City is approximately 40 km south of Cebu and is a one hour and a half drive from the heart of Cebu. It is best known as the Shoe Capital of Cebu and so the photo above explains it. That shoe is probably the biggest shoe I have ever seen my entire life but it seem to be very old. The skins on the frontal part has been torn already yet, it is still the largest shoe I have seen so far.
I had to travel by myself last Sunday because James went home to Oslob and we just agreed to met at Gaisano Carcar branch. It was my first time as well to ride on a mini bus alone. It was amazing because the mini bus runs a lot faster than those large buses. It was a perfect timing because by the time I reached the mall, James just got off the bus as well. We ate our lunch at Mang Inasal which we actually regret afterwards. James had a business affair during the afternoon so we need to hurry up and go to where we want to. We first went to the town's Shoe Expo where we found a lot of stalls all selling world class shoes, hand-made sandals and of course the customized fad Espadrilles.
We went from stall number 1 up to the end and were astonished with the designs. I had my eyes set on some new designs, new because it was my first time to see those kinds of espadrilles. The prices are also affordable since the quality is really good, prices range from Php 100 to 400 depending on the design and the materials used. There were espadrilles on sale too.
As expected, there were numbers of people who would also come and visit the place. While we were both there, we noticed some balik bayans who came in and seem to have bought a whole stall. I saw them come inside every stall and would come out with a very huge plastic bag. There were moto-riders as well who came in and looked, I never saw them buy one but they looked like they enjoyed window shopping. There was a group of young people as well who came in and bought so many espadrilles. James and I bought only three pairs which we will then use on Sunday, because we are going to Dumaguete for our third year anniversary! Woohoo! We are both excited.
Here are some selected photos at the Shoe Expo:
One nice thing I found in the first stall were customized coin purse. Purse were made of goat skin, snake skin and other wild animal's. I bought the white one from the goat's skin and James purchased the one from the snake's.
After purchasing our selected espadrilles, we went to a nearby grill named Acacia Grill. Acacia because the entire place is covered by Acacia trees. I had observe that Carcar also is riched in acacias. Then we regret eating at Mang Inasal, we wish we had known that there's a place like Acacia Grill near the Shoe Expo.
Although we were still a bit full from lunch, we went in and ordered halo-halo, mango shake and potatoe fries. I found their potatoe fries really authentic! It tasted far different from what Mcdonals or Jollibee offers. You can distinguish that this doesn't have preservatives on it. The Mango shake was just so-so but the Halo-halo was a heaven! I truly loved it and it was the best halo-halo I had ever tasted. Maybe because of the fresh fruits. James finished his halo-halo like eating peanuts. Lols...
The Acacia Grill has a neat and green lawn as well so we took some photos there too before leaving the place. Good thing we bought a new Benro photo and video tripod, we didn't had any problem taking photo of ourselves.
It was past three that time and Jame's partners were already calling him, though there were still a lot of places I would like to go, I had no choice but to follow him because I can't go tour around Carcar by myself. The business affair lasted for almost four hours so when we went back to the city, it was already dark. But no worries, James promised me that we will go back there and tour around the city. I heard that the city is a home to various Spanish to American period structures and we had passed some vintage houses as well when we went there, I would love to see all of them personally and take a photo with it together. The city has mouth-watering delights as well like chicharon, lechon, ampao, bucarillo and gogorias. I just tasted their ampao and chicharon so I need to have a taste of their bucarillo and gogorias when we come back.
Some other photos:
more photos at my photomists blog.
I had to travel by myself last Sunday because James went home to Oslob and we just agreed to met at Gaisano Carcar branch. It was my first time as well to ride on a mini bus alone. It was amazing because the mini bus runs a lot faster than those large buses. It was a perfect timing because by the time I reached the mall, James just got off the bus as well. We ate our lunch at Mang Inasal which we actually regret afterwards. James had a business affair during the afternoon so we need to hurry up and go to where we want to. We first went to the town's Shoe Expo where we found a lot of stalls all selling world class shoes, hand-made sandals and of course the customized fad Espadrilles.
We went from stall number 1 up to the end and were astonished with the designs. I had my eyes set on some new designs, new because it was my first time to see those kinds of espadrilles. The prices are also affordable since the quality is really good, prices range from Php 100 to 400 depending on the design and the materials used. There were espadrilles on sale too.
As expected, there were numbers of people who would also come and visit the place. While we were both there, we noticed some balik bayans who came in and seem to have bought a whole stall. I saw them come inside every stall and would come out with a very huge plastic bag. There were moto-riders as well who came in and looked, I never saw them buy one but they looked like they enjoyed window shopping. There was a group of young people as well who came in and bought so many espadrilles. James and I bought only three pairs which we will then use on Sunday, because we are going to Dumaguete for our third year anniversary! Woohoo! We are both excited.
Here are some selected photos at the Shoe Expo:
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| the ordinary looking espadrilles |
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| I bought this type of espadrille worth Php 350.00 |
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| crochet style espadrille:) |
 |
| this one here is my favorite, this wasn't choreographed and I like it because of the hands arrangements. Haha |
One nice thing I found in the first stall were customized coin purse. Purse were made of goat skin, snake skin and other wild animal's. I bought the white one from the goat's skin and James purchased the one from the snake's.
After purchasing our selected espadrilles, we went to a nearby grill named Acacia Grill. Acacia because the entire place is covered by Acacia trees. I had observe that Carcar also is riched in acacias. Then we regret eating at Mang Inasal, we wish we had known that there's a place like Acacia Grill near the Shoe Expo.
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| this caught my attention! very nice furnitures |
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| Fries at Php 50, Mango Shake at Php 65 and Halo-halo at Php 80 |
It was past three that time and Jame's partners were already calling him, though there were still a lot of places I would like to go, I had no choice but to follow him because I can't go tour around Carcar by myself. The business affair lasted for almost four hours so when we went back to the city, it was already dark. But no worries, James promised me that we will go back there and tour around the city. I heard that the city is a home to various Spanish to American period structures and we had passed some vintage houses as well when we went there, I would love to see all of them personally and take a photo with it together. The city has mouth-watering delights as well like chicharon, lechon, ampao, bucarillo and gogorias. I just tasted their ampao and chicharon so I need to have a taste of their bucarillo and gogorias when we come back.
Some other photos:
more photos at my photomists blog.
xoxo,
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