Oh! Cebu is known as the
“Queen of the South”. I have been
hearing a lot about Cebu, their beaches, their food, their people, etc. During
a small gathering with my friends on June of last year, I decided to ask them if they
would want to travel to Cebu, since there are on-going seat sale in Tiger Airways during that
time . We looked it up, and found out that it was indeed cheap. It was roughly
1,500 pesos/ pax for a round trip ticket, with both having a checked in baggage of 30-40kgs, with the travel date on the first week of February of this year. And right then and there, we booked the tickets
and slowly planned where to stay and where to go.
The day has come and finally, we
are flying to Cebu! We are all smiles and excited when we all met at the
airport, everyone is really looking forward for this trip, especially me.
This is not only my first time to be traveling with friends via plane, but
it is also the farthest location that I will be traveling with friends. Our
initial flight was 10AM, but when we got inside the waiting area, we were all shocked
and pissed off to know that our flight will be delayed for 3 long hours! We
went to the costumer counter to ask why and how did it happened. The
person-in-charge told us that there was delay during their first flight,
because of aircraft problem or some sort of. We were all saddened by this news, merely because
of the 3 hours that would be wasted by being stuck here in Manila, and we
couldn’t do anything about it! While waiting, we tried to entertain ourselves
by chatting around, goofing around and just enjoying each other’s company.
It was only almost an hour travel
period from Manila Domestic Airport to Mactan International Airport. Just outside
the airport, we saw taxi service being offered. And since we are a group of 5
people, we decided to just avail their service and they offered a van to take
us to South terminal. If I’m not mistaken, the van service is 700 pesos. Since
we are going to travel together and pay almost the same amount for our transportation
fees, we decided to let one person hold our money- we called it sort of our
community fund, and he will be the one responsible for any transportation payment
need. In that case, we need no to always sum up and divide our expenses amongst ourselves along
the way since we have our initial funds already.We arrived in the South terminal
and chose to ride the Ceres Bus Line in going to our first destination: Oslob,
Cebu.
Whale shark watching in Oslob, Cebu
The travel time from South
Terminal in Cebu to Oslob, Cebu was around 3 ½ hours, and the bus fare is 145
pesos. It was already 7 or 8 in the evening when we have arrived in our stay in
Oslob in Garden Stay . We paid 410 pesos/ pax
for an overnight stay. The room was big enough for our group, it was
fully air-conditioned room that has 1 double deck bed, and 2 king size bed
with one common restroom. We played
monopoly until midnight and turned-on all our alarms to wake us up. It was
around 5:20AM the next morning when we left the Garden Stay, and the owner had us one of his
helper assist us for the entire day. We were waiting for almost 20mins for any
bus to pass by, but there was none. So when we saw tricycle, we asked driver to
bring us to the resort where we can have our whale shark watching activity. Since
it is a special trip, he demanded for an additional fee (50 pesos) and we all
agreed. 
After 20 minutes ride, we arrived
at Aaron’s Beach Resort. We paid 50 pesos for the entrance fee, and 500 for the
30 minutes whale shark watching fee, which also includes the boat ride, tour
guide/ photographer, snorkel and life
jacket. For the underwater pictures, you need to give them your memory
card, and an additional fee of 150pesos/ group but it is unlimited shots for 30
minutes stay with the whale shark. Your time of 30 minutes will only start when
you’re in the designated spot for the whale shark watching. But before that, we were
first guided to the briefing area wherein the snorkel and the life jacket were
distributed to us. During the briefing, two important things stuck to my mind.
FIRST, putting on sun block is prohibited as it can contaminate the water and
natural habitat of the whale shark. SECOND, there is a 4 meters safety zone
that needs to be observed while taking underwater pictures with whale shark.
After our whale shark encounter,
we decided to have our breakfast in the resort and we are on to our next
destination: Tumalog Falls.
Tumalog Falls, Oslob, Cebu
You need to ride their “habal-habal”
or motorcycle ride in going up the mountains for the tumalog falls. After the
10 minutes of motorcycle ride, we chose to walk for 15-20 minutes going up and
down the road. And we reached our destination! Tumalog falls is like a hidden
gem in between mountains in Oslob, Cebu. It has like a bunch of mini waterfalls within a
waterfall. With cool breeze of fresh air blowing on your surroundings; cold and
clean fresh water with visible little
fish swimming freely; free-flowing fresh water gushing through the water falls
like they are music to your ears; birds chirping on a breath-taking view of
mother nature, it is definitely on the list of must visit places in Cebu!
Sky Adventure in Crown Regency
Hotel
After packing our baggage, we
rode the Ceres Bus Line going back to Cebu City. We rode taxi going to Crown
Regency from South terminal. If you have lot of baggage like us, you can look
for the information counter located on the ground floor and ask if you can
leave you baggage and since we will be availing for the Sky Adventure, they
agreed and gave us our baggage number. We chose the package of Sky walk
Adventure + Edge Coaster + dinner buffet which is 900 pesos. You will be given
a certificate for each ride, but photos are sold separately which is 150 pesos
for a photo that is taken by their photographer. We first rode the Edge
Coaster. I actually have a fear of heights, but seing the pictures posted; I
thought that it would be scary for me. And so I sat together with my friend,
and the ride started. At first, it was fun because you will be able to see the
city view, but when it started to slowly tilt to a certain degree, I started
shouting. I may sound crazy but I really did felt scared. It is not only
because we are tilted on a certain degree that makes me feel like I was
falling, but also the speed of the ride was really slow that we stayed for that
position for a minute or less, but I felt that it was quite long time already.
I couldn’t stop shouting to ease my fear. After we got out of the ride, I
couldn’t stop laughing at myself for being over-acting by shouting, but hey! I
have fear of heights, but I was able to manage it well, so that’s a thumbs up
for me, right?
Next ride: Sky walk! It was raining that
night so the wind is cold and the path walk is wet. So I was really very
careful not to get slipped or anything. Both our guide were nice and full of
humour. As a defence mechanism, I think I talk a lot during that time, to calm myself
down. The view is really nice, since it is night time, you can see the city
lights and night scenery of Cebu City, just do not try to look down if you have
fear of heights like me. It was still a
fun experience! It is dinner time! We went down to their dinner buffet. They
have a wide variety of food cuisine you can choose from. And I am not a good
food critic, as long as my palate likes it, it will be a two thumbs up for me!
Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island
Cebu
From Crown Regency, we rode a
taxi going to our sanctuary, Mövenpick! Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu is a
five-star beachfront hotel located in the luxurious and tropical island of
Cebu. It is said to be only 10 minutes away from the Mactan Cebu International
Airport and 30 minutes from the city of Cebu. The room that we booked has 2
rooms( 1 with one king size bed, 1 with 2 separate bed), 2 bathrooms and it has living room and dining area. It has
3 balconies. And we just had our dinner, we decided to look around the hotel.
The view in the swimming pool with the lights on is really nice! We stroll down
and went to the Ibiza Beach Night Club whose view is really captivating!
Zubuchon
We stayed in our hotel for the the entire day. But before we head back to Mactan
International Airport, we had our dinner in Zubuchon – they are well-known for
their Cebu Lechon, a must try food in Cebu. Without sauce needed, the lechon is
still flavourful with crispy skin. As for the drink, their Kamias Juice blends
best with their cebu lechon.
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