Taboan Market Place guide

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Cebu and Bohol

Taboan Market

Dried Fish as Far as the Eye Can See at Taboan Market

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A visit to Cebu is not complete without heading for the places where you can get bargains for souvenirs and delicacies. Places like Lapu-Lapu City for Cebu’s world-class guitars, Carcar for their famous pork rind, and Guadalupe for the delectable dried mangoes, are just a few such places that people go to. Another place that people gravitate towards when it is time for them to pick up souvenirs and delicacies is Taboan Market.

Taboan Market is well known for selling dried fish, dried squid, and other local delicacies for gift giving purposes. Filipinos call these “pasalubong”, which is a tradition that involves the bringing of food stuff and souvenirs from places they visit to their own homes to share with family and friends. In Taboan Market, you will find a lot of dried fish in baskets, ready for the tourists who will buy them by the kilo to bring home for their loved ones.

The most famous dried fish in this market is the “danggit”, which is a boneless type of dried fish that comes in both salted and unsalted variants. You will also find a lot of other fishes being sold here, all in dried and salted (or unsalted) form. Another famous product that can be bought here is the dried squid, or “pusit”. These can also be purchased by the kilo, or fractions of a kilo. When you buy from the sellers at Taboan, do not settle on the first one that you buy. Bargaining is the norm here, and finding the lowest price for what you choose can be had by quoting the low prices of the other sellers in the area to the ones you are talking to.

To get to Taboan Market, you can take a cab and tell the driver to take you to Taboan. If you want to get there like the locals, you can take a jeepney to the place. Check the signboards for a location that says Taboan, although these can usually be found only in Colon area, so you will need to get to Colon first before you can get a jeepney ride to this dried fish market. Just make sure that after you go to this place that you still have time to shower and change clothes before heading for the airport or anywhere else for that matter. The smell of dried fish, which can be rather stinky, will stick to your clothing and your hair.

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