ELEAT: June 2010

And just when summer is about to end, Eleat and Co. went on an unforgettable adventure in Central Philippines! Yes! Level up na kami ngayon! Out of town na ang drama! Weeee!

QUEEN CITY OF THE SOUTH

You know you’re in Cebu when, while riding the cab, you pass by a store named “DAPNEY” (Daphne)! But I love it anyway. Yay for seeing my dad after a month!

Getting There

An early start for the weekend! Bryan, RB, Frank and I met up at the Davao Int’l Airport already, while Chic came in from Manila, and Lady was already in Cebu. I won a little basket during the in-flight game in Cebu Pacific! :) Our flight left Davao 30mins early. There’s supposed to be an hour difference in our flight and Chic’s but because of the change in ETA, we decided to meet up with everyone at the condo already instead of the original plan of waiting for Chic at the airport.

Accommodation

Thanks to my Tito Jerry for the free lodging in Cebu! We stayed in his condo unit (right across the hallway from my dad!) for a night! Weee! The girls stayed in the bed while the guys made do with the couch and the floor!

Transportation

We took a plane to Cebu, and while we were there we used public transportation before my dad went to pick us up in The Terraces for dinner! From then on, free ride! :)

Just for fun: we bought our Cebu plane tickets on sale last February. We spent around 2,300php for round trip tickets. And for the benefit of those going to Cebu, public transportation (Jeep!) costs around Php7 generally. Taking a cab is also not so bad. The traffic’s a little heavy but if you’re going somewhere near, I think it would be okay.

Tip: At the airport, do not take the yellow airport taxis or the fixed rate taxis right outside the Arrival Area. Instead, cross the street going up to the Departure Building and walk up the stairs. Turn left and head to the other end of the building and there you’ll see the regularly metered taxis!

Food Trip

Moon Cafe

We decided to have lunch at Ayala’s The Terraces. It took us a while to choose which place to eat because there were just lots of seemingly nice restos! In the end, we settled for Moon Cafe. With its name, I originally thought it was a Chinese Restaurant (read: Moon Cake), but it turned out to be a Mexican-inspired food haven.

The place was pretty warm – not so good considering it was scorching outside – and super packed. It was obvious the restaurant is popular in the metro. The food was also delicious! Of course we had to get Chimichanga because we don’t really frequent places that serves them! Nom nom nom.

Must Try: Baby Back Ribs! Not so expensive and oh so yum yum!

Casa Verde

When my dad agreed to have dinner with us our first night, we both decided to bring the crowd to IT Park’s Casa Verde. My sibs had been ranting about it when we were there last year, and because I haven’t been there, I decided to try it with the friends.

My gosh. You really wouldn’t believe how affordable the food it – considering their serving size! Daddy and my brothers were right, the food there is divine!

Must Try: Brian’s Ribs. For only Php188, you’ll get a plateful (and more!) of awesome steak goodness!

Sight Seeing

We actually didn’t have much time to sight-see while we were in Cebu. We went to Ayala for lunch. Bryan, Chic and Lady said that The Terraces looked like a mix of Trinoma and Greenbelt. We also went to SM. I wish we also have a North Wing version here in Davao! The boys went with Lady to her school at CIM. And later that evening we had dinner at The Walk in IT Park. IT Park is pretty self explanatory. Most major call centers in Cebu are located there so there are a lot of 24/7 establishments outside the area. It’s like Cebu’s very own version of The Fort.

Of course, the best sights of Cebu can be seen from the 38th/37th floor of Crown Regency Hotel via the Edge Coaster and the Sky Walk. From there, you can see a great view of the city including their White House inspired Capitol building.

Before leaving Cebu for Bohol, we couldn’t miss going to Basilica de Sto. Nino and Magellan’s Cross. The church never fails to give me goosebumps when I go there. Oh, not the creepy kind! It just feels so holy and happy when I’m there. :)

MUST TRY

When going to Cebu, never miss the opportunity to drop by Crown Regency Hotel’s 38th and 37th floors! The Extreme Adventures that are the Edge Coaster and the Sky Walk are a must! For the Edge Coaster, you will be seated in a coaster that goes around the side of the building, and that can incline up to 55 degrees, giving you a view of what lies below the 38th floor. It’s stomach churning! I don’t think we dared incline it to it’s full angle – that’s how scary it was for us, but we sure had fun! As for the Sky Walk, while the waiting takes a really long time, it’s very exciting because you get to walk in a glass pathway that surrounds the outside of the hotel’s 37th floor. The only thing between you and the ground are the glass and the harness.

The downside to these activities though are the cost of the photographs. The rides are ok, but the photos are way over priced! We had to pay 550php per pair for only 6 photos for the edge coaster; and 1300+php as a group for 20 photos for the Sky Walk because we weren’t allowed to bring our own cameras. BOO. HISS. But the expense notwithstanding, it was a pretty cool experience!

That’s it for Cebu! Watch out for my next blog on Bohol! :)

telai