Entrance to the Kasadya sa SRP
It was actually the noise, and not really the music that intrigued us. We kept on hearing this eerie sound of a dog howling, followed by scared people murmuring in the background and then a woman screaming at the top of her voice. The musical live band act of the restaurant already left so this was literally our background sound the whole time were eating our alfresco dinner at Lantaw. Can you imagine? Haha. We later found out that the noise was from the Horror Ride attraction.
So we asked one of the waiters about the night event and found out that it is a funfair. Since we have an hour before midnight we decided to check it out before going home.
Parking was easy peasy. There were some locals around hoping to earn a buck or two. I normally give them P10/20. Not sure if they will be really guarding your car but they usually come of out the blue when they see you are back and about to leave, haha. I mean if I can make someone happy with the P10/20 why not?
Outside the fun fair grounds is a big street food scene.
Outdoors eating: Pongko-pongko Cebuano style.
Grilled meat and fish, larsian-style.
Well, we have eaten already so we decided to just walked around. Within seconds, the food vendors were all over us, showing the food they have on offer and inviting us to eat at their stalls. I managed to take pictures of the food and even spoke to a few vendors. It’s how I learned of the name of the funfair – ‘Kasadya sa SRP’ and that this is an annual event held here at the SRP during the holiday season, between November and January.
They call this kind of eating Pongko-Pongko which is very Asian. You basically sit outside in rudimentary plastic tables and small chairs to eat. In Vietnam where I was recently visiting, they have a similar concept.
Salted eggs are a favourite of mine. My mom always buys them when I am around. Delicious with tomatoes and onion doused with vinegar. You eat them as a side dish.
Chicken feet was also a popular delicacy in Xiamen, China where I visited before arriving in Cebu. And I love those plump chorizos for breakfast. Yum!
Entrance is free to the fun fair. Be warned though that there are a few children at the gateway giving pranks to funfair goers asking them if they have a ticket. If you answer no, they will ask money from you. Most people seem to know they are just pranksters. If you are new to coming here, just simply smile, ignore their request and walk past them.
If you are feeling a little bit blessed, a few pesos giveaway to the kids is also appreciated but be ready for a deluge of kids following you around for their share as well. For security sake, I would not suggest this, unless you are in a group.
This funfair is, how shall I call it, very poorly setup and managed. Quality is non-existent. I do not want to even bring up safety. If you are the fussy snob, you will quickly leave after taking a peek. But sister and I were game, so we gave the place a chance and explored it a bit. Let’s just say that we want to be surprised.
We walked around inspecting a few interesting rides and we really had fun watching the Swing called the Dragon Twister. They waited a bit until they had a 90% capacity before starting the ride. Everyone was screaming haha.
We didn’t take part in any of the rides though, we just watched.
The swing was going quite fast! As you can see, its all very elemental here, they just placed the ride on top of the ground without covering the grass or whatsoever.
Our entertainment highlight was the ‘Horror Ride’. The whole setup was pretty elemental and primitive. They made an open-seat train ride from a derelict multi-cab. We got lucky as children and teenagers were just piling on top of the seats for the next ride. However, they were practically scrambling on top of each other non-stop whilst screaming. Haha, it seems that they were pretty much psyched up for the ride. It probably took some 10 minutes of constant jostling, screaming, jumping and changing of seats before the multi-cab started the ride. Then after less than a minute we saw the multi-cab on the other side, just 100 metres away. Wow, that was one supersonic horror ride! LOL
Sister and I were laughing to bits. For all the psyched up preparation they had prior to the ride and only to go through the actual ‘Horror Ride’ in less than a minute. Priceless.
Anyway, it was almost midnight. Time to go home.
This was the Horror Ride =)
Card and betting games in the funfair.
Travel Period: December 2016
Destination: Cebu City, Cebu (Visayas), Philippines
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
All pictures were taken by a point and shoot pocket camera or a smartphone.
