CEBU!!!

I'm in BORACAY now, but to kill time for the meantime while waiting for the hotel people to move us to a new room (no, they're great, we're just moving to a new room haha), i'm going to blog about my CEBU trip first!! :)

DAY 1
our flight to Cebu was around 10 and we got to NAIA3 early, so we ate at Shakeys.

SERVICE bad! We ordered a basket of chicken and mojos, and instead, we got a basket of Chicken and GARLIC BREAD. Waiter said they didn't have mojos anymore, so they replaced it with bread. sana man lang sinabi nila!!
sad customers with a basket of chicken and garlic bread.

anyway, a few minutes later, waiter returned with a 5 pieces of tiny mojo slices and said they had their mojos delivered. ay nako!

the funny part of it all, when we left, the waiter said "thank you maam, sir, please come again!" uhhhmmmmmmmmmm.... sige po ha, check ko po kung mapapadalas ako sa naia3. hahahaha

we stayed at my tito and tita's house in Lahug. Thank you Tito Jap and Tita Ati! :)

my cousins Alyssa and Ava, fooling around early in the morning!

THE REAL DAY 1

we commuted our way to White Sands Beach Resort in Mactan. we went to Ayala, rode a jeep that said "highway", got dropped off at some point, and rode the jeep that said "Mepza" HAHAHA then we got off Savemore after the Mactan Bridge, and then maybe we gave up so we took a cab all the way to the resort. HAHAHA

White Sands Beach Resort, Mactan

panget ng beach. i mean, in the pictures it looked nice and big. but when we got there, it was all dirty, lumot-y, and low tide. i can forgive the lowtide, but it was a beach you wouldn't want to swim in. soooooo. nevermind.

If you forget the beach, White Sands makes your stay worthwhile. For just P600, you can use all the facilities (eh beach and pool lang naman) plus the sumptuous lunch buffet. They served Japanese food when we went there, and it was good. :)
If you really want an awesome awesome only in Cebu beach resort, i wouldn't really recommend this. But if you want to go to a peaceful (check!), quiet(check!) and relax-friendly resort, then yes, White Sands is the place to retire. :) i give it 2.5 stars! hahaha


after going to the beach, we went straight to Crown Regency in Fuente Osmena for the Sky Experience Adventure. We've heard a lot about it so we gave it a try! CRAZY.

I SURVIVED SKYWALK EXTREME!!

for P750, you can avail of the entrance fee, 2 rides (edge coaster and skywalk) and a free shirt! You're not allowed to bring cameras during the rides because obviously, they might fall. But don't worry, Crown Regency has official photographers to document your experience. After the rides, they show you your pictures in the monitor and you get to pick which ones you like printed. Too bad, you're not allowed to take a picture of the monitor or get soft copies. Each printed photo costs P230. So better make sure you pose for good photos. HAHAHA

EDGE COASTER was crazy. The crazy 37 storey high ride was insane and fun!! When the ride starts, the seat will tilt you all the way to its maximum (see Lei's tilted seat, that's a little bit nearer to the max) and then the following tilts is up to you. you have the controls. super kaba lang because you feel like falling talaga. conyo? hahha

During the skywalk, our knees were terribly shaking. Before going on the walk, we even said "dapat mag jumpshot tayo." But no, when you're out there, you won't want to jump, or even walk further. hahaha!! 37 frikkin storeys high. But it was fun. A tour guide will show you around Cebu from the tower.
After the rides, we hung out first on the deck where there were coin operated binoculars. We took photos with the amazing view, etc etc etc. I say, it's an experience worth trying! 4.5 stars for them!

They should have more rides though. parang sayang yung 750 na dalawa lang. One more thing, when you go through with this, you have to savor it. ako kasi nakapikit at ayaw tumingin sa sights. hahahahaha so parang nasasayangan din ako kasi i got scared. hahaha!

we went to Casa Verde in IT Park for dinner. We ordered their version of Yellow Cab's Twice Baked Potato Halves, it was sooo yummy! :) their specialty was Baby Back Ribs, and we were hungry then so we decided to order 2, not knowing their servings were huuuge!!! one plate could feed 3! It was sooo yummy, that's all we had. haha! And in all fairness, it's very affordable! Prices range from 200-350 per dish.

VUDU in Crossroads Banilad
I lived in Cebu for around 10 years before we moved to Iloilo. and from what I remembered, Banilad was a far far place we never really went there, or ewan. haha. So I thought of skipping Vudu and just go to the nearest party place in IT Park, which was The Loft. Buti nalang, Leinard insisted we check Vudu out. it took us less than 5 minutes to get there from IT Park. HAHAHA SOBRANG LAPIT LANG PALA. hahaha
Since our good friend, Nicole Cambal, recommended that we go to VUDU, we went. uhhmmm.. not much of a party people, but place was good. :) that's all i can say. young crowd. crowd was younger than us. yun lang. haha

and yes, goodjob to Kate for waking up at 4:30 for her 5:45am flight. HAHAHA

DAY 2
Since it was just Leinard and I, we decided to push through with our plans of cultural immersion! We waited for the rain to stop, but then it didn't, so we left the house after having lunch. We were asking directions on how to commute to Sto. Nino Church and the Magellan's Cross, and we kind of got it, but then figured we'd take the cab instead. HAHAHA

We finally found Sto. Nino Church. The ladies in yellow skirts with candlesticks kept on saying "pasinulog kayo maam? ser?" and Leinard explained that for a certain fee, you can ask them to dance-slash-pray for you in any specific aspect of your life, you name it; love, career, family, etc. We purchased ALL the candles (haha!) since it was a "package deal" from one kind lady, and she offered it for just P100. So we watched them dance-slash-pray for us, and in fairness, hindi nga naman umulan the next day. we so prayed for the rain to stop. haha! Leinard and I posing in front of the Magellan's Cross.
infairness kay Ate, she took different angles of this picture. sanay na sanay na sa mga turista! hahaha

The inside of the church was amazing. I cannot expound, but if you're into culture and architecture and stuff like that, then yes, it is amazing. We saw this long line and we assumed it was leading to the Sto. Nino statue. Line was long, but didn't take that long to reach the end. There were paintings around so you could take pictures and see the paintings while waiting in line. We saw this; the first Philippine Wedding. awwww. sino kaya sila?

While waiting inside that chapel, we saw this couple praying together. aww.

After visiting the church, it was still raining so we hailed a cab and went to Taoist Temple. Now I advise you NOT TO GO TO TAOIST TEMPLE WHEN:
a. when you do not have your own means of private transportation
b. WHEN IT'S FRIKKIN RAINING!!!

The Great Wall Of China, Taoist Temple Cebu (loko lang yung great wall)

You can light an incense and, uhm, pray to their Gods. You can't take pictures of their Saints though, they're very strict with this. BASTA NEVER GO THERE WHEN IT'S RAINING. The temple was so high and the floors were very slippery.
Nevertheless, it was still beautiful. View from the top was breathtaking. There's a souvenir shop if in case you want to impulsively buy a P4k figurine. HAHA
When we got down, we prayed that it would stop raining and that we could find a cab. We had other trips to make to complete our cultural immersion, but in this weather, heyyl no. So after minutes of waiting, we found a cab who dropped off his passenger at the temple too. We decided to head to Ayala to watch............ Black Swan. HAHA!

We proceeded to have dinner at Sunburst! ohhh my childhood! In the Terraces, also in Ayala.
Never leave Cebu without stopping by Sunburst. We had desserts at The Dessert Factory also at the Terraces in Ayala.
Lei got Banana Split, while I, got death by chocolate (3 different kinds of chocolates in 3 layers.)


DAY 3
It no longer rained that day so we were excited to head to Mactan to visit LapuLapu. But before that, we had Dimsum at JY Square sponsored by Tito Jap! Thaaaaank youuuu! :) Never leave Cebu without stopping by any Dimsum place, check out Harbour City in Ayala or SM too. :) oh myyyyy this is my childhood!! Every Sunday, no fail, we would go to Harbour City in SM for lunch. My dad would have his chicken wings, and I, the sweet and sour shrimp ball, egg siomai and steamed rice. Nothing like that in Manila!!! (no pictures as our camera died)



The sun was shining and we finally commuted all the way across Mactan to go to Lapu Lapu Shrine, or as Kate would like to call it "Mactan's Cross" (we don't really know which one she means hahaha!)

Now, if you're not into cultural immersions, then you don't need to go to Lapu Lapu Shrine because there's just Lapu Lapu standing there. That's it. I was expecting something more from it, like it would look like Luneta. But no, it was just it. I wasn't disappointed, i'm just glad i finally saw it and got it over with. haha!


Behind his majesty's shrine is an array (array!) of tiangges selling trinkets, souvenirs, shirts and pasalubongs. I went gaga over the accessories because it was SUPER CHEAP! :) For P250, i was able to purchase 7 necklaces and 3 bracelets! You can find necklaces for as low as P10 up to P100 for 3 pcs. DIBA! DUN AKO NAG WALA! HAHAHA And I bought a pair of Espadrilles-kuno (i personally don't like Espadrilles. but not when it has carebears all over it haha) for P200 which i haven't used yet. HAHA. carebears espadrilles. hahaha.

We commuted our way back to SM to buy pasalubong. I don't know what I got, but they were mostly for me anyway. HAHA!

Our Cebu trip was EPIC. It was the first time I really saw Cebu, despite having lived there for the first 10 years of my life. It was also nice going back to those places I used to go to when I was a kid. :) I think we spent our time longer in Cebu. We weren't able to go to Tops and Fort Santiago/Pedro (whatevs haha) even though we had much time in our hands.