Are
you starving for something hair-raising adventure? Or are you the kind
of traveler who chooses relaxing view for a vacation? Neither way, I can assure you that
Cebu's the perfect place to visit! Here's the reasons why I explored
Cebu and why you should too.
DAY 1: FLYING TO CEBU
2017's first travel, with my sister Roan,
brother Ronnel and boyfriend JV; everyone, let's explore Queen City of
the South!
6th of February, left Bulacan at 2:00pm and reached NAIA
Terminal 4 at almost 5:00pm. Takeoff was exactly at 7:25pm and landed
after an hour in Mactan-Cebu International Airport. Booked a GrabTaxi from Airport to South
Bus Terminal for Php225, took Ceres Bus going to Bato via Barili at
10:00pm for Php150 per head. It was a very long semi-smooth and
semi-bumpy ride from the City to South Cebu.
We've reached Alegre at
1:20am. As we entered Alegre, it's the full moon that's greeting us.
This place welcomed me with a horrible feeling that I can't explain. We
always see amazing views of sunsets and sunrise but it's a very rare chance that
I got to witness the beautiful scenery of moonlight's reflection over
the sea. It's a bit frightening but very peaceful to look at.
With the
help of Kawasan Canyoneering group, specifically Kuya Marvin, we easily
got a room in De Alegre Traveller's Inn for Php1500. It's a nice family
room with the noise of waves outside. We are in need of a good sleep for
tomorrow will be a day full of adventures.
DAY 2: CANYONEEEEERING!!
Good morning, Cebu! Woke up with excitement as we are having our meal
for Php100 each for the set of Tocilog and Cornsilog breakfast by the
beach with a cup of coffee. After some time, my eyes caught one of the
most lovely marine creatures swimming visibly in the water just 10meters
away from us, sea turtle!
We were fetched by Kuya Bernard and Kuya Lito
at 9:30am and after 15 minutes of habal-habal ride, we've reached the
Kawasan Canyoneering Station. Php1500 per head inclusive of helmet, life
vest, tour guide, snack and lunch. We signed a waiver and wear our
proper gear and we're ready to go. It's another 15-20minute habal-habal
ride to the registration booth.
We started trekking until we reach the
canyon. The stream is very cold and blue; rocks are not slippery and the
view of pure nature is stunningly beautiful. The ultimate adventure of
Cebu had just started. We've experienced sliding with the water flow,
cliff jumping, climbing, rope swinging etc. Dancing in every good spot
with the same dance steps has become one of the highlight of our
canyoneering adventure plus the very entertaining and witty words of our
tour guides which made our tour more exciting, we are one crazy bunch!
We've encountered different level of cliffs and my highest cliff jump
was only in 20 or 25ft high. I can no longer able to jump higher than
that! My sister has the most of epic jumps! The future brother-in-law
refused to jump in some of the cliff but quite fearless when he jumped
into the highest cliff which is 50ft; and JV, the bravest of all,
jumped in all of the cliffs without a second thought. That's my man!
In the middle of the trail there is a store of barbecues for
quick break. We ordered grilled longanisa, hotdogs and chicken barbecue
for Php15 each stick then continued crossing canyon until we reached the
main attraction, the Kawasan Falls.
LOVELY KAWASAN FALLS
Dameeeet!! This is so damn beautiful.
How come its water is literally blue. My God, what a perfect view. Most
lovable falls I've ever seen and probably my newest favorite! Good thing we have life
vest which enables us to swim despite its deep water. The falls were not
that crowded or maybe because it isn't peak season yet. It ain't too
spacious than I expected it to be. Just a huge waterfall in front of
bluesy cold water with some bamboo raft which they offer for Php500 per
ride for the waterfall massage that we definitely refused, like hello!
Massage!? Are you out of your mind!? Foreigners are shouting with either
excitement, pleasant or pain during the so-called massage. It could
break my spinal bone so so hard if I tried it. Lol.
But on a serious
note, this falls is one precious treasure found in the Philippines. It's
a kind of place that can touch me straight to my heart. This is the
falls that is worth falling in love for. 5 hours of canyoneering just flew
away after seeing this gift of nature.
All of it was so perfect before I
notice something unappealing to my sight which makes me feel sad, no,
angry rather, why the hell there are traveler's inn just 5-10 steps away
from the falls, colorful cottages, umbrellas, vendors, what a trash!
How could government of Cebu let that happen. Didn't they realized that
they're ruining the nature. We left the place carrying its loveliness,
adventure and a serious hope that one day they will take good care of
Kawasan Falls with the realization that they don't need to improve
something in this place just for the convenience of tourists but to let
those tourist choose sitting in the stones and eating barehanded facing
one good creature before it's too late.
On our way back to the station,
we grabbed some fresh buko juice and had another one hour of walking
before we've finally reached the place. Kuya Lito served us fried
chicken with rice and pansit guisado with a bottle of soda. Since we are
terribly tired, asked Kuya Lito to take us back to the hotel right
after we finished our meal. We just took shower and straightway packed
our things up. As we checked out, we added another Php360 for the 6
hours extension of our stay. Took us almost 1hour of waiting before the
bus going to Oslob finally arrived. We paid Php42 each for another 1hour
travel to Bato Terminal. As we reached Bato terminal, we decided to
have tricycle ride to Oslob which cost Php50 each instead of Bus going
to Tanawan, Oslob.
TANAWAN OSLOB, CEBU.
It's 8PM when we reached Casa Bonita Inn which was
recommended by Kuya Lito. We paid Php2,000 for the family room and after
checking in we've gone for a walk to hunt for place to have dinner. We
ended up in this small eatery named "Nila's Sutokil". We picked fresh
parrot fish for sinigang and huge squid for sizzling with butter. After
minutes of waiting, they served boiling sinigang first followed by squid
which we requested to change its recipe into adobo. Our dinner by the
shore was very peaceful. Our table contains satisfying dinner with beers
plus the sound of the waves. Awesome! It was indeed a long day full of
adventure. Saying goodnight to Cebu once again, hoping for a better
tomorrow.
DAY 2: WHALESHARK WATCHING
Good morning, Oslob! It's 5:30AM when we woke up. We walked to
the resort where we got fetched up by a multicab which is their own
version of jeepney. We paid Php500 each for Whaleshark watching
activity, another Php100 each for resort's entrance fee and Php500 for
waterproof camera rent. We reached the beach at almost 6:30am. We were
able to witness sunset in Oslob. Started the short briefing then we
clambered to our respective boat and started the activity at 6:43am.
The
routine feeding of whalesharks is every morning that's why it's a very
perfect time for the tourist to swim with those marine monster and to
have picture with. For us to be able to swim and take photo opp with the
whaleshark, we removed our lifevest while wearing snorkeling gears.
Tour guides have to push us three to four times deep down to the water
for the sake of perfect shots. We had lots of photos and videos taken.
It was certainly a very exciting and rare experience one could have.
Imagine swimming with mini bus-sized whalesharks! They looked like babies
whose waiting for their food to be thrown into the water. So cute! How I
wish I can touch them. I can see their white spots sprinkled in dark
blue body and big tails!! I can't believe that I have witnessed one
amazing masterpiece in their habitant.
There is only one thing that's a bit frightening
about their feeding habit, they could lose their natural way of eating
or hunting foods which is no good for animals like them, they are
depending on the boats that are coming every morning. What if one day
that routine will be restricted. Would they be able to live normally
like before? Yeah, this is a great experience for us human but I just
hope people of Oslob know how to set limit on this.
We finished our
activity at 7:13am which is exactly 30minutes as stated. We went back to
our hotel to avail our free breakfast of hotdogsilog and cup of coffee.
After our meal, the boys went back to the resort to get the copy of our
underwater shots with whalesharks. Had some rest inside the room while
browsing our funny shots underwater but nothing beats the face my bro-in-law made while trying so hard to have a good shot with whalesharks.
SUMILON SANDBAR
At 9:00am, we were again fetched up
by their jeepney going to Bluewater resort for Sumilon Sandbar trip. We
paid Php1500 for four of us for the 10minute boat ride to the island.
We reached the island as the sun has already risen which made the water
crystal and sands whiter. We touchdown in the end of long sand bar.
Water is really clear that I could compare to Boracay. It was my first
sandbar experience and I must say Sumilon didn't disappoint a first
timer. Here is where we enjoyed our vacation the most, by means of
relaxation and not nerve wrecking adventure! In my age of 23, I still
find joy in swimming like a little kid. I always prefer a travel with
adventure and a pinch of swimming as a reward especially in this kind of
clear, crystalline water. Forsooth, I'm a beach lover!
We went back to
our hotel to refine ourselves, took showers, prepared our things up and
grabbed our late lunch in the restaurant nearby. We had Altuna pizza and
buttered chicken with Iced tea lemonade in Bora Pizza.
CARCAR CITY:
HOME OF LECHON CEBU
It's already
2:00PM when we rode in a bus and paid Php120 each for the fare going to
Carcar city where I was told perfect place to try Lechon Cebu. Dropped
off at 4:00PM, hunted for the Lechon area and there is only 3-4 stores
left. We ordered one kilo of chopped lechon for Php300, we ate in the
eatery just in front of the market with rice and soup. Compared to
ordinary lechon we always had, this is more tasty and no sauce or
condiments needed, just a cup of rice to make it perfect. Though we
didn't had the chance to try the lechon in one of the best selling store
in the market, however, we've tasted one of the most savory lechon
ever.
While waiting for the bus, we luckily caught a taxi and offered us
Php700 fare for a ride going to the City. It was a smooth ride
departing from the province to the city.
BACK TO THE CITY
We've reached Robe's Inn at
6:00pm. Paid Php1500 for the family room. Everyone's craving for a good
sumptuous dinner so we quickly booked GrabTaxi going to one of the
famous hang-out place in Cebu, the La Viet Parisenne. It's a very cool
and elegant place at the same time. It has a store of wine, pizza corner
and french cuisine dinning area. Very romantic and classy place.
We've
decided to have our dinner first with the french cuisine. I didn't take
note the food we ordered but that was one of the most delightful dinner I
had so far. Not so into french food, or literally poor for that kind of
meal. Lol.
After our dinner, we had a hard time
picking the right wine to drink. We chose Shanpel Raspberry sparkling
wine for Php320. Sat in one of the ideal spot in the area to have a sip.
We talked about our adventures and sum up of our Cebu trip. It was
truly a nice night. Another moment for relaxation. Good place, nice
weather, superb choice of songs, glass of pleasant-tasting wine, my love
beside me holding my hands, everything is perfect!
After we finished a bottle of wine. We headed back to our hotel.
Last night in Cebu, I don't wanna sleep!
DAY3: MACTAN CITY TOUR
Good
morning, City! We checked out at 9:00am. Grabbed an Uber. Alighted in
front of Magellan's Cross. Quite surprise of how small it is than I was
expecting. We offered candles for Php100 consisting five colors: Yellow,
blue, red, green and red. The old cebuana was the one who prayed for us
in the offering while dancing. She said it's a prayer for good health,
safe travel, happy and healthy family, long-lasting lovelife and
bounteous blessing. We also visited the church where the original Sto.
Niño which given by Spaniards is apparently located. In front of the
church is a souvenir shop. We had a quick shopping of goods, keychains,
ref magnets and t-shirts before heading to the Airport.
GOOD BYE FOR NOW, CEBU.
Almost 10:00am
when we arrived in Mactan-Cebu International Airport. We grabbed our
brunch at Cafe Cesario. Found another shop for pasalubong and bought
delicacies such as Masareals, Peanut Browas, Butterscotch, Rosquillos,
Dried mangoes etc. I also didn't waste the chance to have Lechon Cebu
taken home, I bought 1/2 kilo in Lechon to-go store for Php375. Our
scheduled flight is 12:55pm we still have plenty of time so we had some
coffee, my travel routine, while waiting. Our flight was delayed and the
takeoff was at 2:00pm. Leaving Cebu with a thankful heart and a goodbye
with "see you soon" at the end. Landed in Manila at 3:00pm. Traveled to
Bulacan and reached home at 6:00pm, safe and sound.
I've always wanted
to be a Queen one day. But that title requires so much goddess. To be
able to be a Queen, one must have the beauty of the outside times two
for the inside. The power to reunite and the confident to serve its
people. Cebu, the finest beauteous Queen of the south undeniably has the
characteristic to be one gorgeous City she is right now. A place where I
don't expected to be one of the icon I will look up to. She's a very
strong woman with countless reason to fall in love with. Visiting this
place is truly one of the best decision I've ever made. The tourist
spots it has that will definitely make you move your feet, very kind and
friendly locals and an urbanized city. Cebu is clearly blessed with
nature that you couldn't find in any part of the Philippines nor any
part of the world. This has been one spot here in our country that is
very intriguing to foreigners. We just got lucky that Lord provided us a
perfect weather to explore Cebu. Our trip here was such a surreal
experience and I believe that in this place, there is still so much to
see. You're a paradise, you're a goddess, the prettiest, the
loveliest..a masterpiece. I am looking forward for another trip with the
Queen. Daghang Salamat, Cebu!!
Challenge your body with
adventure and pamper your soul with surprise. Live your world, chase
your dream; because discovery of places is discovery of yourself.
Lotsa
love, Journeying Queen.
