One of the more famous sights to see here in Cebu is the Taoist Temple. From St. Joseph’s Church in Mabolo, I took another multi-cab to somethere near the Taoist Temple. The key word is somewhere near, since there was no direct public transportation to the temple. It is in the exclusive Beverly Hills subdivision, which is on top of a hill overlooking Cebu. I needed to take a motorcycle taxi or habal-habal to enter the subdivision as it is quite a long way up by walking.
The Beverly Hills subdivision is the home of the more well to do people in Cebu, mostly with Chinese lineage. The Chinese of Cebu have a long history here and are well entrenched economically. Because of the high concentration of Chinese in this subdivision, they have decided to built a Taoist Temple of their own right inside the subdivision. What resulted is an impressive piece of temple proudly overlooking the rest of Cebu.
Fortunately, they residents of Beverly Hills subdivision have opened their exclusive village to tourists to explore the temple. The entrance of the temple is typical of what you might expect from the Chinese temple. Since the temple is set on top of a hill, the orientation of the complex is vertical, which means there is a lot of climbing. It wasn’t really very tiring since the hill wasn’t very high to begin with. The must visit place here is the temple housing the statues of the Taoist deities. Unfortunately, it was forbidden to take photos of them.
For a short while, while going around the complex, it would feel as if this wasn’t in the Philippines at all. There were people worshipping, and even foreign tourists who come here to pay their respects. I did notice a few locals taking care of the place. They even hire people to tail people around just to make sure they behave. I had a guy tail me all the way round the main temple. I sometime intentionally retrace my footsteps and they follow me nonetheless. I guess they we serious when they said that it is not allowed to take photos here.
From the top of the temple complex you can see a great view of the rest of Cebu city. They really got a good spot here on top of the hill and air is very nice. From here you can also see the houses of the rich here in Cebu that make me greed with envy. Some of the houses just leave their gates open and you can see how many cars they have. I guess Cebu is such a safe place, that you do not need to worry about crime here.
I wouldn’t kid myself, the Taoist Temple is a nice place to visit here in Cebu, but it is nothing compared to the other temples I have visited other countries. This Taoist Temple can be considered simple when compared to them. However, in a hugely Catholic country like the Philippines, seeing a temple like this is still a welcome sight. This would be the first Chinese temple I’ve ever been to in the Philippiines. It also shows the how the Chinese also form part of the culture of Cebu.
I also wonder what the future of this temple would be. The children of the people who built the temple all study in the Catholic schools and universities in Cebu. Most of them would probably have nothing to do with Taoism as a religion. They probably would consider the temple just a part of their culture as someone with Chinese blood. In the end the temple would probably just end up as a tourist attraction.
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