Cebu (Day 3): The BEACH!

This will be my last post on Cebu 

Past Cebu posts if you missed it:
Hilton Resort & Spa Cebu
Day 1: Getting used to the place
Day 2: Tourist spots

Cheesie and i decided to spend the whole day exploring the beaches off the main island of Cebu
so we hired a boat from the Hilton to take us

View of the hotel from the jetty

We had very few people on the boat – the driver with his 2 boys, and a lady from the Hilton.

First stop we went was a spot to snorkel
I generally don’t like using the fins and life jacket
(cos i really love the water and prefer having nothing clinging to me when i snorkel)
But the waves were really choppy there!

It wasn’t calm waters like the beaches in Malaysia or Thailand where you can casually float about and look at fish.
It was more like trying to stay alive while peeking underwater and the waves kept on getting into my pipe.
After looking down, i thought fuck that, fish are fish and i’ve seen more colourful ones,
so i got back on to the boat to drink my beer.

Cheesie doesn’t drink, so er yeah, all that was for me
(though i did give one of the beers to the boatboy)

We reached the island we were going to chill out on,
and the word to describe it would be idyllic.

It was so beautiful, there was no way anyone could take a bad photo of it!

I loved the stretch of shallow water where we could run around in!

All these locals came to sell us fresh shellfish which they’d then BBQ for us,
but the Hiton lady said they’re really expensive and to bargain it down.
Trust me i tried, but it was really expensive!
The lowest they would go was RM20 for a couple of each type just so Cheesie and i could try it,
(which was very little),
“… and very expensive seeing they just plucked it free from the ocean!” i indignantly told Cheesie

That’s what we shared for RM20
It’s damn little okay, just looks decent cos the shells are big!

You have to slowly pull it out by its claw,
then tada! Gobble the whole thing 

We got to try some rather huge shellfish,
which was a first for us.
They BBQ-ed it with no sauce nothing,
but because it was SO FRESH, it tasted damn good!

“I wish it wasn’t so expensive… then we could just buy a lot and eat it!” said Cheesie.
“I know right, not that i’ve tasted some, i just wanna eat MORE!”

I got to try fresh sea urchin tho,
which i was really excited about ever since
watching how people eat it raw after chopping it open on Discovery.

And i may be making that face but i loved it.
It tasted like the sea version of foie gras
- was soft and gooey, but was really nice.

Someone mentioned it’s got really high cholesterol.
Figures.
Everything that tastes awfully good is bad for you!

The two boat boys

Lots of seaweed on various parts of the beach,
but someone came by to rake it all up and bury it.

We then went for a huge seafood lunch
(paid app. RM70 per person)

But it was like a freaking buffet they set out in front of the both of us!
Crabs, shellfish, calamari rings, vegetables, huge fish -
we whacked it all 
Cheesie may not drink a lot,
but i’m sure glad the woman knows how to put the food away with me!

One thing that isn’t overrated in Philippines are their mangoes.
I mean, Malaysian mangoes are really sweet and juicy,
but Filipino mangoes have a distinctive taste and texture
that somehow puts it a bar above ours.
Seriously.

I mean, look at this, i wanted to take a picture of the mangoe BEFORE i ate it,
but got too carried away in excitement.
So you just get a picture of the eaten mangoe.  Sorry

* * *

This trip was made possible by Malaysia Airlines.
It’s the only airline available to fly from Malaysia to Cebu, Philippines; with 2 flights a week.

Cebu (Day 2): Tourist Spots!

After checking into the Hilton Resort & Spa Cebu,
I must admit that the luxurious accomodation didn’t make me feel like i wanted to move to do anything,
but Cheesie convinced me otherwise.

After tearing my attention away from the comfortable bed/lounge chair/beach,
the rational part of me did think i should get the sight-seeing part over with,
so i wouldn’t regret not going to those places when i was back in Msia.

Besides, the whole point of going somewhere is to get in as much as one can
(which is why i tend to wake up extremely early on holidays,
but never seem to be able to do so on work days hmm)

We took a taxi and bargained with the driver (cos he didn’t want to charge us metre rate -_-)
about 600 Pesos (roughly RM45) to take us to a few spots at the same time.
Erm, i must say he was the grouchiest taxi driver we had – who seemingly wanted to help us, yet said he’ll charge extra if we stayed at each place for more than 10 minutes. So mean!

Anyway, first place on our list was Fort San Pedro.

Located at the Pier Area in Cebu City,
it’s the oldest tri-bastion fort in the country
and was worked on since 1565.

The military defence structure served as the nucleus
for the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

The inside area is just over 2,000 sq metres.

Over the centuries, it has served many different purposes including:
holding classrooms where Cebuanos received formal education,
serving as a fortification for Japanese soldies during World War II,
being an army camp during the battle for liberation,
till more recently,
being a zoo,
and housing the offices of the Tourism Dpt. till 1993.

The towers are up to 30 feet high.

Walls are stated to be up to 20 feet high,
with these cool stone steps built into the corners.
Of course, i couldn’t resist ant climbed right to the top!

After Fort San Pedro, we took a short drive to Magellan’s Cross on Magallanes Street

Planted on that very spot by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521
(when he first landed in Cebu),
it is situated where the first Christian Filipinos and their Queen were baptized -
signifying the start of a strong Roman Catholic empire.

Just across Magellan’s Cross, is a small tunnel wihch led us to the Basilica of Santo Nino

The Basilica was one of the first churches to be built in the Philippines
out of earth, nipah and wood in 1566.
In the 1700s, it was replaced with a church of hard stone,
and 200 years later,
was pronounced a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI.

There were scores of short red candles in boxes,
where visitors were able to take for their own prayers.
Of course, there were discreet donation boxes below the burning altars.

These were all impressively carved out of stone.

Just so happened when we were there,
a huge mass was going on.
So huge that, the alter was placed at one end of the courtyard,
with people standing around it (oh, but it WAS raining so that must’ve been it)

Outside the Basilica, people were selling flowers, food, candles, weaved products, and Catholic statues + rosaries.

There are lots of children begging for money in Cebu,
but you just have to learn not to give money to them,
or else you’d get hounded by them all.
I didn’t want to give them money,
but i actually thought of buying them shoes. >.<

 Because it’d just showered,
the rain gave the roads a surreal sheen to it after.

After the hustle over there,
and me managing to bargain over a few rosaries,
we left for Ayala Mall where we could get a free shuttle service back to the hotel at 6pm.

We got pretty peckish again,
and went to try the lechon aka roasted pork everyone’s been asking us to try.

It’s so good, that the charge by weight 

* * *

This trip was made possible by Malaysia Airlines.
It’s the only airline available to fly from Malaysia to Cebu, Philippines; with 2 flights a week.

Cebu (Day 1): Getting Used To The Place

As more often than not, the night before flying off somewhere was
a flurry of working,
passing out in front of the computer,
waking up in a mad rush,
packing like a bind person on crack,
and rushing to meet Cheesie on time!

Made it unto the plane,
and i must say,
it’s been some time since i flew a comfortable airline

Seats were comfortable!
Plush and holiday-colourful!
AND
There was FOOD.
No nonsense like trying to sneak food unto plane!

It takes 5 hours to fly to Cebu:
KL > KK = 2 hours
Transit in KK = 50 mins
KK > Cebu = 2 hours

I was starving when we got on the plane cos we didn’t have time to grab food
And breakfast was served right away *CHOMP*

I was reading before i ate
but promptly passed out after eating

After transit in KK, the pilot alerted us to Mt. Kinabalu on our left
So i stared at it in wonder,
thinking about the time i was right at the top of it

More food while flying from KK to Cebu 

As we were approaching the island,
we looked below and got super excited at how beautiful it looked!

For the first night, we decided to stay in the city before moving to the Hilton that’s at the beach the next day
So we stayed at this super budget place which is still fairly new – Granprix Econotel Cebu.
‘Twas only 1,200 pesos a night = RM42 per person

Taking taxis around Cebu is fairly easy,
most taxi drivers run on meter so we didn’t get cheated

And most of them, due to the Philippines’ strong Catholic society,
had rosaries, Santo Nino and Mother Mary figurines in them.

Which i found rather interesting to snap.

Cebu City grew from a Spanish settlement,
and is dubbed “Queen City of the South”.
It was already an important port for centuries,
before Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island in April 1951.

Traffic jam in Cebu is fairly bad
Not as bad as Jakarta or Bangkok,
but still enough to mention!

These group of boys were SCHO CUTE when i lifted my camera up to snap them,
they immediately broke out in poses.
Most definitely got their inspiration from a black rap group!

I must say that you cannot expect to shop in Cebu
There was nothing in the malls that interested me
(me, the person who can shop in any town/city?!)
and we didn’t stumble into any markets selling clothes like in Jakarta or Bangkok

I kept on looking out for bundle shops,
but didn’t spot any :p

First evening, we went to check out SM Mall
cos it was getting dark.
Tried some local food and i find that in overall,
food in Cebu tends to be slightly salty.
Not in a bad way, just more salty than usual.

We had some fish in soup, minced meat,
bitter gourd, etc.

We walked along the road near our hotel after dinner,
to looksee at the locals preparing food.
A lot of people were staring at us -_0
I think it was fairly obvious we were tourists!

Then we risked our lives crossing a main road to get to a roundabout
to take a picture of a waterless fountain :p

Before going to Cebu, i tried googling for great bars, restaurants and shopping spots,
and Z Bar was one that kept on coming up in my searches.

Located next to The Tinder Box, Z Bar was designed by Kenneth Cobonpue
(who has fans like Brangelina)

We had some pretty great cocktails there,
before leaving to call it a night.

Next day, we had lunch at this roadside place which was really cool
(but i forgot the memory card in my cam -_- so Cheesie has the pix)
Before checking into the Hilton Cebu Resort & Spa

Super lush and pretty!
These pictures required no colour editing whatsoever.

Our room 

I, then, of course colorized the room how i always do – holiday style!

The gorgeous view of the beach on our left:

And inland on our right:

More to come! I’ve already edited pix of all the tourist spots we went to,
and the BEACH, so patienceeeee 

I edited like over 100 pix today -_-
Feel damn pei

* * *

This trip was made possible by Malaysia Airlines.
It’s the only airline available to fly from Malaysia to Cebu, Philippines; with 2 flights a week.

Cebu: Day 1

I’ve edited some other pix to put up, but i’m really REALLY sleepy and tired right now
I stayed up till 4:30 last night doing some side stuff
And i realise – i’m not as sprightly as i used to be,
where i can sleep at 4am and still wake up all bright-eyed for work the next day.

No.

Now, it’s sleep at 4,
DIE the next day.

-_-

So i’ll pacify my blogging habit with just pix for now.

Will add on to it tomorrow. Or the day after.
(cos trow i have 2 events and i question my energy, not to mention sobriety, when i get home)
* all pictures below taken at the Hilton Resort & Spa Cebu *

Cebu: I’m BAKED

Woke up at 7am today but it felt like 9am
Philippines runs on the same time as Msia,
but the fact that they’re so much further in the East from the latter,
makes it obvious why the sun rises at 5:30am here

0_o

So we’ve been up and about in the sun
running to two island spots
Snorkeling is a bit shit here (in my opinion) cos the waves are really high
and keep on getting into the pipe
Plus i prefer not having the life jacket or fins,
and end up using a lot of energy to keep afloat and still in strong current

-_-

But weather today is amazing

Taking a break from the sun (been out in it for 7 hours!)

Then will go back down

Cebu: My stomache’s gonna split sial!

This morning, Cheesie and i woke up and walked down the road for
very delightful and cheap local fare
4 dishes and drinks cost us less than RM10 :p

Then the very hospitable peeps from Hilton Cebu Resort & Spa
sent a car to come pick us up to move in there

View from our balcony  

We did lotsa touristy stuff today,
which i won’t go into detail cos it doesn’t do without pictures
and it’s already almost 1am and we have to wake up at 6:30am
to go for a boat trip to some islands and the bird sanctuary

So, no.
Sorry i’m not gonig to lose my sleep right now
and risk falling off the boat tomorrow!

DoraemonKenny saw the pictures that i tweeted in Cebu so far,
and asked himself on Twitter why he didn’t come with us
(even though he was invited too, but the superstar is too busy to join us *sticks tongue out*)

We replied him by Twitpicing this and uploading it