Not to make up numbers... but this has to be one of my most memorable trip till date. To be honest, I was quite skeptical and nervous about the trip because I really do not know what to expect from the trip. And indeed, there were too many surprises to me.
Flight and accommodation booked and I still don't believe that I'm going. Haha. But of course we did.
Took us almost the whole day to get to our first night stay and also the place for the next 4 nights.
Flight to Cebu -> Taxi to Cebu Port (Take the white taxi only - by meter) -> Fast ferry to Tagbilaran Port (about 2h30min) -> Taxi/Tricycle to resort (depends on how people, we had 6 and were offered 600P to get us to the resort in one 9-seater. Somehow we managed to get another cheaper one at 500P).
The owner/staff of the resort was waiting at the door for us, and once I showed him the email, no other questions asked and we were brought to our rooms. Not the most fantastic place but it was cheap and acceptable. Thinking that we spent about 60+ per pax for the 5 nights there, I guess we can't complain too much. Moreover, they were friendly and helped us in our requests in many ways.
Because we were rushing for the ferry, didn't really have a good lunch, all we had were biscuits, water and my brilliant idea to bring a packet of honey butter cashew nuts. haha. Even though we were already super hungry, we walked all the way to have a atas dinner at another resort about 15min away. Saffron Restaurant at Amorita Resort - yup, as the name suggests, the most expensive. HAHA. And that's it for the first day after eating honey ice-cream that tastes a little salty but the koropok-liked cone is really nice!
2nd day was exciting! Gotten ourselves a boat to do island hopping, recommended by the resort. We went dolphin watching (we saw many many and they are so cute!), before we proceed to Balicasag Island. Gerald so cute, he didn't bring out the newly and specially bought full face mask to the island even though I was quite sure we mentioned snorkelling. And that was pretty much the only time we needed it. So poor him never got to use his mask at all, and had to rent the normal one which failed on him in the end. Honestly I was quite impressed with the mask because I'm able to put my head in the water for a longer time. Saw some giant green turtles at the first spot (250P) and then many small fishes at second spot (250P). And I got sea-sick at the 2nd spot, so eventually I didn't really swim for very long. Even puked into the sea a few times, while we were standing in the water and on the boat about to leave. Lol. Embarrassing but thanks to that I'm able to lend the mask to Gerald so that he could enjoy for a while. And after that I was okay already.
Went back to the island to have brunch/lunch. From this meal onwards, I realised the trend of the Philippines food - they are so salty. This is probably my most made comment through the meals. Hahaha. But the bbq grilled chicken and pork are so nice! (And probably also the only popular kind of food around the places we went because those were what we ate most of the time).
Went to Virgin Island after that. An island that will be submerged during high tide. It's really small, but the moment we landed on the island, we were swamp with people selling pearls, live seafood like abalone and sea urchin. Because they were cheap, we decided to try lor.
But too much time was spent choosing and taking some funny photos that we didn't really walked the whole island. And because we didn't see how the person prepare the abalone, we eventually didn't know how many abalones were served to us, so please check and watch them do it if you go there. But still, it was cheap. (sea urchin 4 for 100P, abalone 1 for 100P)
Went back to resort after that already. We were tired but still, everyone was good to play SGS. HAHA
It's funny that we had cup noodles for dinner even though we were back early because we were a little tired and lazy to go out after bathing. LOL. So 2 kind souls went out to dabao for us. :)
Day 3 started really relaxing! Decided not to do extreme stuff while Van and Boyi goes diving at Balicasag. The rest of us went to Dumaluan beach after seeing pretty photos of it. We went in via Dumaluan Beach Resort and apparently they charge an entrance fee for it and it may differ from resort to resort. Don't really understand but we went in already anyhows. The beach was really beautiful. Sand so fine that the swimsuit trapped so much of it and it was impossible to wash them off entirely; Water so clear that we could even see some white fishes above the white sand. And water so cool at some parts that we it too good to just lepak in it.
That got us till noon before we decided to eat at the resort cafe because each of us also has some credit to use from the entrance fee. So overall it wasn't too bad lah. And it was true that the part of the beach managed by the resort is cleaner and less crowded, compared to the portion further down. Lunched at the cafe and the food is not bad at all. Only the potato/sweet potato is too much. hahahaha. we couldn't finish those. and not exactly to my liking though I tried to finish as much as I could. Took a tuktuk back with 2 of us sharing one and it was omg. we didn't expect the space to be that small. And they even wanted to take 4 of us at one go? HOW AH! But we didn't and it was already squeezy enough. :/
Met the others back at the resort and then went out to find food (again) after everyone washed up. Walked a whole lot of road before we got to the restaurant. It's an Italian restaurant which is highly recommended on trip advisor. Still, my sense to food in philippines is still salty. haha. The portion was really generous though, probably the reason why it was recommended. We were in between meal times and that probably explains why there was no other people in the restaurant. Food took really quite a while to serve though. (happens everywhere in Philippines)
Went to the city thereafter. Managed to hitch one of their bus-like private vehicle. Have to count ourselves lucky I guess. So got to the mall which is like 20-30min away in the city of Tagbilaran. (Can't rmb the name of the mall though). Walked around a little, played a little arcade, and went to get some stuff from the supermarket (got the chef tony's popcorn there), and decided that we want to eat Jollibee. HAHA. It was kinda late when we finished so there weren't any more taxis or buses we can get. We found a driver at first but it was a normal car and 6 of us had to squeeze?! (not small size somemore lol) So we had to try our luck again by the road. There really weren't many vehicles on the road already. They also kept asking us to take the tuktuk but it was so far away so we weren't very keen. Managed to stop another bus-like private vehicle to drive us back. But it was a special extra trip so we just had to pay a little more lor. No choice right cos the road was really clear. SGS works well for an early night back too ;)
Day 4 was a tour to many places. First to Baclayon Church. The first catholic church in Bohol and it was built out of coral stones. None of us were catholics nor christians but we visited the museum anyhows and I'm probably already the one with most knowledge on Catholicism. Lol. The interesting thing was all of us were only drawn to this huge piece of music and we were trying to make sense from the music sheet and the notations.
Then to the Sipatan twin hanging bridge which is made of bamboo, intertwining. To be honest it was quite scary to walk through because some parts of the bridge just doesn't look convincingly safe. Walked through but was looking intently at the steps all the way. hahaha
Went to find tarsier next at the Tarsier Sanctuary. They are actually quite cute ah, but the eyes are so big! Considered lucky as the tarsiers are free to roam so they might not be at the feeding point all the time. We managed to see a few and I even had 1 really looking into my eyes or something alike. Amazing.
Lunch was at Loboc river cruise. Quite cool least the rain that happened suddenly while we tried to take photo at the deck. There was even entertainment midway. BBQ satay sticks are really nice. HAHA
Next was butterfly at Habitat Butterflies Conservation Center. Because Boyi studies butterflies, he made the trip even better although the guide was also very good. Touched a caterpillar for the first time ever. No, I didn't allow it to crawl on me. Thanks but no thanks. lol
Went to chocolate hills next and little did I know it will be my nightmare. Haha! So we traveled with ATV and it made me realised how lousy I am with motor. Motorskills = 0 zero. lol! Record keeper for the number of times I got into the bush on my right. And the last bang was so bad that I had a cut that bled and a bump that I still have them on my feet today (already more than 1 month after the trip). After the experience, I kind of decided that I'm a little afraid of speed (that I create on my own). But we did fun stuff at the pitstops. With guides who are good with photos from all their experiences.
After that we went back to the Habitat center because night safari is also there. Like wow it was a lifetime experience. Sat on the back of a motorcycle for the first time ever. Shhhh... and the forest was in total darkness by the time we start the walk. We clocked about 20000 steps that day, so you can just imagine how much we did. By the time we finished, it was almost 9pm and we were famished I must say, having no dinner. Tabao-ed Mac for dinner/supper that day and everyone was too tired to do anything else so we just sleep.
Day 5 was pack up day to go back to Cebu. Still, we had some time to visit the last place in Tagbilaran - Sagbayan Peak and Danao adventure park. Basically we just did the megazip there. The view was so pretty and it wasn't exactly scary except for the last part where i could scratch past the trees. It was also not as fast as I expected. The driver got us to the other ferry terminal, got tickets and then had lunch at their local roadside stalls. It was good! Although the staple is still roasted chicken and bbq pork and fried chicken. Hahahaha. we didn't buy the fried chicken though. And the rice (kueh tupat) was only 3P! Some had maggi mee and some had their version of caifan. Quite satisfying. And we had our last bee farm ice-cream at the little mall beside before going to the ferry.
Dinner at KSM Mall because our hotel was just beside. To think of it the hotel is really convenient to go anywhere. It was kind of crowded so we chose anywhere with seats. HAHA. So it was Gerry because the food pictures look quite nice. Food was not bad in my opinion. Grilled squid was yummy at least. Had a short walk around and had dessert - Churros! :D We were happy.
Day 6 - Feels good to not have to wake up too early the next day. haha. But it was city day tour! Had breakfast in the hotel and went to Carbon market first, it was so huge that we can't really tell if we finished the place. There were different zones and goods range from fruits, vegetables, daily food needs, raw fish, live poultry to household items, lights and anything you can think of. Lunch was at Jollibee (yes, again) before we head to the city center with the first cross of the city, and Basilica del Santo Niño - Minor Basilica of the Holy Child. The question about this Santo Niño was in suspense for very long because we couldn't exactly answer who is he and why is he being featured and being called 'baby Jesus'. Also went to Metropolitan Church, the Heritage of Cebu Monument, Yap-San Diego Ancestral House and then the Museo Sugbo (Cebu history museum alike) where many questions were answered by the very friendly guide who was an intern at the museum.
Dinner was at Larsian bbq. Sticks by sticks we ate, yummy food I must really say though mostly it was still bbq pork, grilled pork, grilled chicken and all those. HAHA And so we walked to this Fuente Osmena Circle after dinner because there's like a bazaar there and they were having this K-pop cover awards ceremony. Stayed a while and went back to the hotel for SGS night plus foot massage. Van and I did because... we died first in the game. LOL!
Day 7 - Our split-up day again because Boyi and Van booked a diving trip. The rest of us had breakfast at hotel and went to the bus terminal to catch a bus to go Kawasan Falls. The bus trip took us almost 4hours. So it was almost noon when we got there. Walked to the first point and had our lunch there, also it's the point with most people. Oh wells. Tourist trap some may say. Taking up a table will cost you 300P before you do anything. We had decided not to do canyoneering because we thought we didn't have enough time. We did the raft to the waterfall, honestly it was quite okay, only I looked bad in my sports bra and bikini bottom (Yup, should have just wore the set). Lol or brought an extra shorts. Surprisingly, boyi and van appeared before us just as we exited the waterfall. Little did we know they had a guide so we thought they just went up to the other points on their own. So we also went up to the other 2 points. Holy it was quite difficult I must say esp when I was wearing slippers. It was also quite far away so it took us quite long to get to Tier 2. We headed up to Tier 3 because we haven't met the 2 of them yet. So the adventure begins here. hahaha. Finally met them at the top and realised they were doing canyoneering. Rach wanted to do the cliff jumping too so the guide was nice enough to get us all up again. Everyone did. OMG I can't believe I did it. Yolo max. Run and jump out. I could feel my heart drop when I got out of the cliff before dropping. Vividly still could remember the feeling, though the drop into the water was okay and it was pretty cool to swim in the waterfall pool (with the life jacket on i.e) Less effort needed but shiok.
Slippers not really the ideal so I decided to walk back down with chengjun (also on slippers) and gerald (who was already traumatised by the first jump cos the landing was bad) while the others continue in the water to Tier 2 for the next jump. I guess this one is the scariest because it's kind of jumping into the waterfall itself, into the plunge pool below. Later we did another jump at Tier 2 (slightly lower and not into the gushing water direct) but it requires me to just step out instead of running and jumping out so I was a little freaked and hesitant. But I did it anyhows. YOLO!!! Don't think I will have the same courage to do it again ah. HAHA It was pity I didn't bring my phone out that day because I would have clocked more steps. :/
Done with Kawasan Falls and it's also our last activity day in Cebu! :( Wished we had more time to walk around in the city and explore. But it wasn't too bad. So we went back and ended up having KFC for dinner. LOL! Us and fried chicken I know. It was Boyi's original idea to have kfc in different countries but we concluded that Jollibee was better in PH. Hah.
Went back to hotel for our massage before the last round of SGS which started only at midnight. I don't even know how we did it honestly. Because anyway the next day we all looked kind of shag. hahaha.
Day 8 - OH! before rushing to the airport, we made the decision to go for suckling pig only to be slightly disappointed by it and even had some fried chicken next door because the suckling pig wasn't delivered yet. And plus our last min shopping at the family mart opposite because I haven't really bought anything from Philippines at all. LOL
Had to kind of rush to the airport. Not too bad that everything was in place for the trip. Thankful for friends who did a lot of homework for the trip and I sort of just tag along, other than looking booking the flights and accommodation, I pretty much did nothing in the planning. The fear and uncertainty in my level of participation in the activities was totally slashed because I never expected that I would do (almost) every single thing in this trip. And I'm really glad I did something like that while I still can.
I must say, my most spontaneous and adventurous group of friends. Thumbs up!
Photos were minimum for me cos no waterproof camera and there wasn't much chance to use a normal camera. hahaha. But the enjoyment has been remembered. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment