Ryan’s 3rd World Living

Went to Cebu to see all the sights from Lapu-Lapu to Magellan’s Cross.  Ate the Chocolate Hills in Bohol while resort living at Flushing Meadows.  Taking the Oceanjet fast ferry and flying from Manila to Cebu.

April 9
We left for the NAIA Terminal 2 airport around 630pm for our flight to Cebu.  To my disappointment the Centennial terminal did not have a Cinnabon store for my preflight digestion ritual.  Never been to Cebu so I was very excited to see the opposite of Manila.  I planned an itinerary for the group a couple days ahead of time.  But the whole thing had to change since I did not take into account the fact that everything and everything was closed for holy week.

After arriving Mactan International Airport we got picked up by a pre-hired driver set up by our friend.    The driver took us in a van to our place of stay in Cebu.  Which was Pier Cuatro Hotel.  It is located a couple blocks from the pier, definitely not walking distance with bags and dead heat but a couple minutes via taxi.  After checking into the hotel rooms we decided it was time to eat.  All of us were hungry but we thought most places would be closed.

We drove around for a while stopping at multiple places trying to figure out where we would eat.  After driving around and stopping by the club, and another place to eat we decided to eat at the well received and blogged Golden Cowrie.  We were so hungry from driving around and trying to find a consensus on where to eat we didn’t take any pictures.

Golden Cowrie was as good as many say it is and was at a great price for the portions.  The ribs were about 295p but the serving was huge.  The chicken Halanghalang 85p  was also good tasting somewhat Bicolano with its coconut milk based recipe.

The rice was all-you-can eat.  The ambiance and the recipe seemed authentic Cebuano.  We ate on Banana Leaves.


Had dinner at Golden Cowrie.  We where so hungry we didn’t take any pictures.  The ribs were really good and really cheap at around 200p for the regular and 300p for the Large.  Of course I got the large.

We walked around The Walk.  Everyone starred at us everywhere we went.  Maybe because we were in a big group?  Hahah who knows.  I think we also went to IT Park

The nightcap was posting up drinking like the locals at a convenient store C24.

All the clubs were closed.

April 10

We had brunch at The Port at Waterfront Hotel.  It was a buffet and this was a buffet kind of vacation. At 200p per person it was good enough, not great but at that price I couldn’t really complain about a seafood buffet.

After arriving and realizing that it was holy week and most places would be closed we decided to go to as many places we could that would be open.  We went to the Taoist Temple in Beverly Hills Subdivision.  Yes, Beverly Hills is in Cebu.  Hahah.  We went to the Basilica of Sto. Nino. To light candles and see Magellan’s cross.

During the afternoon we ended up in Mactan Island and going to the Lapu-Lapu Shrine.  It was nice, very touristy but seemed like a nice park for people to just take a break.  After seeing Lapu Lapu sculptures we ended up driving around Mactan Island looking for a nice beach and a nice resort.

We stopped by Costa Bella where the water was clear and the beach was near.  We stopped by Plantation Bay, which was really nice but seemed overpriced.  We also ended up at a two local beaches and the sand wasn’t really sand more like cement so we didn’t swim with the fishies.

We had dinner at Waterfront Hotel, going with the anticipated and advertised Ribs by the pool.  Wow, they were terrible.  Basically glorified Liempo at hotel price.

The long awaited viewpoint of the day was Tops, the top of a mountain viewing the whole city.  The view was great, the breeze was nice all with the greasy goodness of McDonalds.

April 11

We were late for the ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol.  We didn’t have breakfast so we rushed to Andock’s to get some chicken to eat on the ferry.  After rushing and thinking we had enough time, the cab driver took us to the wrong pier.  We were late.  We had to get a cab to the other pier to catch the Oceanjet to Tagbilaran.  We ate like savages on the ferry hands and food to face.

Today we saw the Chocolate Hills.  The said Giants feces. They made me want to roll down each one of them doing barrel rolls on my body.  I also thought about sledding down the hills.

I still don’t get why they are Chocolate Hills.

The Tarsiers.  Man do they look lonely and sad.  It’s crazy how they are critically endangered and yet they put them in captivation for viewing purposes.  I was told that many kill themselves from stress.  I also read that they never successfully breed in captivity.

The big-eyed small monkey was like a fuzzy troll.  I couldn’t resist but touch the back.  But I was told as long as your gentle and don’t touch their heads they don’t mind.

Loboc river tour.  Buffet, Music, River, and local kids dancing.  The riverboat buffet is well worth it and a great experience.  I want to try it at night next time.  The food was okay but hey, it was a buffet.  I don’t complain about that.

The Man-Made Forest was nice.  The drive towards Chocolate hills had nice views.

We so Buko king and man that doodes a savage.  I wonder how bored he got one day to decide to start chewing down coconuts.

We went to see Prony the Python.  I felt bad for the python locked up with flying lemurs for us to point at.  But it was okay they take care of him well.

Went back to the resort Flushing Meadows for some Infinite pool night swimming and a dinner buffet!

April 12

We decided to make this the resort day.  Spending all day swimming on the beach and in the multiple pools at Flushing Meadows resort.  We jet skied all day in the clear water and kayaked till capsizing by the bay.  It was a great vacation day.

We had a breakfast buffet to charge us up fro the rest of the day.

Had lunch by the beach with Lechon for the Birthday Boy.

Had dinner at the resort.  The food was great again.

April 13

We had breakfast and did the same thing as yesterday.  We did almost the same thing except the Lechon.

We left for Cebu at 4 for the Oceanjet ferry.  The Ride was packed full with people standing up.  How safe the fast ferry could be.

Upon arriving the port we decided to do the shopping of Cebu before our nighttime flight back to manila.  We went to get Dangit, the local dried fish specialty, looked for good food and gifts.  We ended up in the Ayala Mall where we had our diner at Casa Verde.

Casa Verde was great but they were out of RIBS.  The ribs are their specialty and we couldn’t have it.  We where sad to watch other chomp down on their huge portions of ribs.  We ended up eating the USDA Steak.  I had the surf and turf.  The prices where very affordable.

I lost my Moto Q on the plane back to Manila.  So I no longer have a breakdown of the expenses for the trip.

Cebu was great.

Golden Cowrie
Salinas cor La Guardia, Lahug
Cebu
* 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
* 6:00 PM – 10 PM (Daily)
233 4243

Casa Verde
Location : 69 V. Ranudo Ext., Cebu City
(032) 253-6472
11:00AM?10:00PM

Flushing Meadows Resort
Manila Sales Office:
6th Floor, Zeta Building
191 Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village
Makati City, Philippines
Tel: (63 2) 8924961
Telefax: (63 2) 8924962
Email: jenssandiego@yahoo.com

Resort:
Tel: (63 38) 502-2122; 502-2480; 502-2481
Fax: (63 38) 502-2122 loc. 102
Mobile Numbers:
Ms. Mavic Mercado – 09178191363
Ms. Myrna Arcilla – 09173043053
Email: info@flushingmeadows.com.ph;
mercadomavic@yahoo.com

Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino
1 Airport Road
Lapu-Lapu City, 6015 Cebu, Philippines

Tel. : (6332) 340-4888
Fax. : (6332) 340-5862
Email : wahc@waterfronthotels.net

Hotel Pier Cuatro
3rd Avenue, North Reclamation Area • Cebu City, Cebu • Philippines 6000
Phone: (032) 236-1111 • (032) 236-PIER • Mobile: +63 9228 9228 05 • Email: hotelpiercuatro@gmail.com