Our Cebu Trip: Mactan- Boat Ride and Snorkeling

Our first stop during our wandering was Tambuli West. The pool is under maintenance so we decided to just go to Cebu Beach Club.

The pool there is also under maintenance so we went to their beach. It was not good for swimming as there are a lot of Japanese tourists who were kayaking and jet skiing.

A guy approached us and offered their services. P1500 for jet ski (No way!) and P500 for boat ride around Mactan bay(?). We opted in for the boat ride.

We were toured around by 2 guys, didn't ask for their name. We saw Costabella Resort, Maribago Bluewater and Imperial Cebu. One of them asked if we want to snorkel. Chris wanted to try it, I didn't want to as I want to stick to our budget since it's P200 per gear but I couldn't argue with him since it's his birthday. We went for a stop at a nearby beach I don't know the name.

While they guy went to get the snorkeling gear, some ladies went to us and offered souvenirs and accessories. I keep on saying no as they were really overpriced. Imagine a set of cheap beaded necklace, bracelet and earrings for P200! Heck, I could just buy them at Quiapo for P50! But then again, Chris decided to buy those for Kat. Who am I to argue again? I keep chanting then, it's his birthday, it's his birthday.

Finally, the guy went back and rowed us around the man made island from Imperial Palace Cebu. We then anchored at a small island to snorkel. I held and swam with Kat while Chris went to snorkel. He then offered to hold Kat to let me try snorkeling. I've been around sea water every summer vacation and I'm embarrassed to say I haven't tried snorkeling before. Wow. It was a wonderful experience and very new to me. Sadly, we weren't able to take pictures while snorkeling as we don't have an underwater camera.

After an hour, we went back to Tambuli West. We gave the boatmen P100 for the ride.

We went to the restaurant there and ordered snacks. Chris ordered Club Submarine sandwich while I order fries. The fries were like camote, ew! Luckily, the sandwich is tasty so I just ate what's on Chris' plate. The bill is P400 so we used our stub to pay. The food overall at Tambuli resorts are disappointing and overprice. I wouldn't order them if we haven't bought their day tour package.

The pools were available then so we decided to take a dip on the pool. We also tried their jacuzzi. After 30minutes, we took Kat out as she's already cold. I changed her and waited for Chris to finish his shower. I cleaned up after Chris and went to the reception area to ask them to call a cab.

We waited for a few minutes for a cab to arrive. It was an "Airland" taxi and he didn't agree to have his taxi metered. We're no fool to bite on this again. I asked the receptionist again to call one and waited. We took pictures while waiting.

Luckily, a cab driver dropped tourists at the resort and he agreed to have his taxi metered. He just asked for us to add P50. We grabbed his offer and we're off to our hotel again.

We arrive at La Guardia at around 6:00pm and our cab fare is around P280.

More photos here.

Our Cebu Trip: Mactan- Swimming at Tambuli East

Since I prepared our things to bring to Mactan, we just lingered at our room for 20 minutes and then proceed downstairs.

I knew that arranging a cab to Mactan is quite tricky as drivers don't want to be metered there. We did have difficulties finding one until we settle for a cab asking for P400 to drop us at Tambuli Beach Resort. I know it's a lot since it's only P250 for some but having Kat on tow made us decide to just grab the next taxi.

It was already around 10 am and traffic was hell. It was traffic near SM and near Mandaue. We took pictures of the bridge and ourselves whilst in taxi to kill time.

We finally reached Tambuli at around 11am and we paid P1000 for the day tour (P500, each. P100 for the entrance and P400 for food and drinks consumable at their restaurants in either Tambuli East/West/Cebu beach Club). We decided to go to Tambuli East first (You can also visit West or Cebu Beach Club since there owners are just the same).

I changed to my swimming attire and lather lotion on Kat. We swam for an hour and took pictures. The sand is not so white and it's full of shell pieces. Luckily, not one stabbed my foot. Hehe...

 

 

Then we proceed to Tambuli East's restaurant. Chris ordered "Sugbang Kitong" or  Smoked Tiger fish and Coke, while I order Spaghetti and Sprite. I know I should try their delicacies but there's nothing there that fancied me. Chris fish was fine, but my Spaghetti was yuck! The sauce was to sour and I then later realized that it's ketchup they'd use on the sauce. I'm a sucker for spaghetti but this time I didn't finish my plate. Again, yuck!

Our bill is P650. We have worth of P800 consumable for food so instead of having it all taken from our food stub, we gave one P400 food stub and paid for P250 since we plan to use the other P400 stub at the other resort. So after eating, we went to the nearby resort...

To be continued...


More photos here.

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Our Cebu Trip: Taboan Market

It's September 8 and it's Chris' birthday. :D

We woke up the next day around 7am and went to Taboan Market for our pasalubong shopping. P45 for the cab fare.

We went stall by stall and I've noticed that the prices for dried mangoes, peanut kisses etc are much cheaper in Shamrock store. But since the 50 gram dried mangoes are out of stock in Shamrock, we decided to just buy there. We bought  30 pcs of Dried mangoes, 50 grams (forgot the brand), at P25 each and 30 pcs of Peanut Kisses at P11 each for a total of P980.

We also bought dried fish, pusit, fish tocino, and fish tapa at a total of P575. I forgot the breakdown of each.

We then went to Larsian BBQ again at Fuente for breakfast since I know they're open 24hours. We really did enjoy our experience the other night so we decided to eat there again. Cab fare is P55.

Even though Larsian is open for P24 hours, it's only a number of stalls open there. We practically order the same food last night, Puso, Coke and Barbeque.

We dine and took photos again. Hehe. We managed to take a picture before we actually eat. Total bill was P198. Still not bad.

We went back to our hotel again. P50 fare.

More photos here..
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Our Cebu Trip: Larsian BBQ at Fuente Osmena

We fell asleep upon arriving at our hotel room. I set my phone's alarm at around 3:30pm to be able to tour downtown Cebu for visiting Magellan's Cross, Basilica, etc.

I was awoken by Kat and I was surprised that it's already 6pm. Sadly, I didn't wake up on time. Probably because of fatigue and lack of sleep. I woke up Chris and didn't succeeded until 7:30 pm. We went to Larsian BBQ at Fuente Osmena.

Taxi Ride to Robinson's is P40. We were supposed to checked the mall but it's already closed. We went to Mercury Drugstore to buy bottle nipples and walk around the circle til we reached Shamrock House. We went in the store and checked the prices for pasalubong. P36 for Otap, P11 for Peanut Kisses and P20 for 50grams of Dried Mango. We didn't buy yet as we thought it's too much to carry.

After a few walk, we reached Larsian BBQ. It's famous for it's delicious barbeque. I didn't remember the name of the stall we ate, sadly but the food was great. We ordered chicken breast, chicken intestines and chicken skin. We were served a basket of Puso and 1 liter of coke. We ate enthusiastically with Kat on my lap. It's a custom to eat with your hands wrapped in plastic, dunno why since it's easier without the plastic.

We finished eating, with some constant disturbance from kids selling some stuff. Later on, a group of Barangay Tanod came and chase all those kids. I'm not sure why but we guessed that it's either curfew or they're not allowed to loiter and sell there.

Total bill is only P150! :D A bargain, I must add.

I could really say I enjoyed eating at Larsian compared to CNT. But it's just me.

The cab fare back is P40 but this time, the driver didn't gave us change from P50 I handed in.  I know there is a thorn amongst the roses. Hehe..

The rest of the photos are here.
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Our Cebu Trip: CNT Lechon

We settle in the room for a little bit. I fixed our things, hang our clothes, clean Kat's feeding bottles etc. Around 11:00 am, we left the hotel to go to the famous CNT Lechon near SM Cebu. It was highly recommended by a lot of forum members I frequently visit.

The taxi ride went smoothly. I handed P70 (P50 and P20 bill) since our meter is P60. It took a moment for me to alight the cab and I was again surprised that the driver handed me P10 coin for the change. Kudos to Cebu cab drivers!

We went to the 2nd floor where the restaurant is located. There, we didn't know how the lines progress. Apparently, you have to get a number, specially if you're ordering Lechon and wait to be called. It's funny since the numbers are color-coded. It's number 29 red when we arrived there. I picked number 4 blue.

After 5 minutes of waiting, I was called. I told them my order which is 1/4 Lechon, dine-in. I picked 3 Puso (rice cooked in bamboo (?) leaves), Chris then said that 1/4 Lechon seems not enough for us so I ordered another 1/4 Lechon with 2 bottles of mineral water. Total bill is only P240! Amazing!

We ate and I was a little disappointed with the Lechon. It's too salty for my taste. We finished eating with still a plate full. It seems that 1/4 Lechon is enough for us. I then just asked for a plastic bag to bring the food back at the hotel.

After eating, we're kinda sleepy since we went to Cebu straight after shift so we decided to head back to our hotel. P60 cab ride.

Our Cebu Trip: Going to La Guardia Hotel

We proceeded to the taxi bay and as advised by one blogger, we didn't hire for the yellow airport cabs. Instead, we passed through them, proceed to the right-side of the airport and went up the stairs were white metered cabs are waiting. I then called our hotel to confirm that we'd arrive and if we can check in early. The receptionist confirmed that we can just proceed there.

We rode Kuya Buddy's cab (BNG, if I'm not mistaken) and I gave him the map of La Guardia Hotel. He took time to read the map and then proceed. I could say that Cebu is like Commonwealth at Mactan, Manila at Mandaue City, Lacson/Espana at Midtown Cebu, and Recto at Downtown Cebu. I say i kinda hate the traffic and the stop lights there.

Chris and I talked while traveling and Kuya Buddy sometimes interrupted our talk and kinda selling his services for a day tour. His flat fee is P1500 which is great since some charges P2500 up. We just said we'd call him up if we want his services. (Later on, we decided not to avail since our hotel is near most of the tourists spots which is just around P40-P50 taxi fare.)

It took us an hour and a half to reach La Guardia Hotel which is in downtown Cebu. Our meter is P200, so I gave Kuya Buddy P500, I was expecting him to hand me at least P250 as changed but he gave me P300. Drivers there has the courtesy to give you exact change which is really, really awesome compared to here in Manila.

La Guardia Hotel is located at the 2nd floor and I could say that it's really noisy and crowded downstairs, where electronic and appliances establishments are located. Imagine, Carriedo and Recto. I didn't mind since the room we reserved is just P600/night which is great compared to other hotels/pensions.

The ambiance is really great at the 2nd floor. The receptionist made us wait a little since she's busy with another customer checking out. I didn't mind it since she's the only one there and things like this happens. I then spoke to another receptionist who just arrived and told her about my reservation. She immediately assisted me. I told her I'd pay for our 2 night stay upfront as we'll be in and out of the hotel the next day (they have a policy were you have to pay for each night at around 12noon check out time). She then activated the key card for 2 days. I paid P1200 for 2nights and P300 for security deposit (just if in case you avail laundry, etc).

We went up to our room assisted by the bell boy. I've seen the pictures of their rooms at their website and I can say it's great, for P600 room/night.

Sorry for the clutter... hehe

I advise to those not to avail the Deluxe rooms of La Guardia as it made no difference to Standard rooms. Plus, Deluxe are located along the main street where it's very noisy even at night.

Our Cebu Trip: All about the Flight

So we're off to Cebu!

We first rode a tryke outside our barangay to hire a cab, P24. Luckily we managed to hire EFE taxi to Domestic Airport. Taxi fare is P120. Good enough.

Kat, Chris and I inside the taxi

Upon arriving at the airport, we checked-in at Zest Air counter and proceed to departure area. We paid P200 each for terminal fee and waited for 2 hours till we board the plane.

We were first to be assisted as we have an infant on tow. Our seats are from 3e-3ef (window seat) and Kat was just seating on our laps.

The plane left at around 8:20 am, exactly on time. Standard demonstration was presented by the flight attendants and it's free time.

I know it's bad to use your camera inside the plane since it might cause interference on the plane's electronics but we're hard-headed. We still took pictures during flight.

 3 of us during flight

 

 Kat and me

Metro Cebu

some island i don't know

Kat looking at the pictures on the flight manual

 Chris and Kat

Our flight arrived early. It was supposed to arrive at around 9:35am but we're there at 9:10am which is great since it's our first time flying with Zest Air.  I give them 4.5 out of 5. :D


The rest of the photos are here and here.
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