| Cebu | |||
| August 2008 | |||
| Cost | Per Person | ||
| Air Transfers | |||
| Cebu Pacific | Php 3,928.96 | Php 3,928.96 | |
| Manila Domestic Terminal Fee | Php 200.00 | Php 200.00 | |
| Cebu Domestic Terminal Fee | Php 200.00 | Php 200.00 | |
| Airport Transfers | |||
| Manila (Two way) | Php 340.00 | Php 340.00 | 1 |
| Cebu (Two way) | Php 150.00 | Php 50.00 | 2 |
| Accommodation | |||
| Golden Valley Hotel | |||
| Family Room w/o breakfast | Php 2,400 | Php 800.00 | |
| Transportation Expenses | |||
| Taxi and jeep around Cebu | Php 1,279.00 | Php 468.00 | 3 |
| Food Expenses | |||
| All meals including snacks | Php 2,870 | Php 2,870.00 | 4 |
| Miscellaneous | |||
| SD Card | Php 700.00 | Php 700.00 | 5 |
| Personal shopping | Php 570.00 | Php 570.00 | 6 |
| Internet | Php 30.00 | Php 30.00 | 7 |
| Souvenirs | Php 919.50 | Php 919.50 | 8 |
| Total | Php 11,076.46 |
1 This was kept low because I spent the night at my friend’s house in Makati, and on the way home, I took a regular taxi, instead the expensive airport taxi I usually take.
2 The was also kept low because I shared the cost of the taxi with Melo and Eric from the Mactan airport to Cebu. For our return flight, Melo and I rode Shangri-La Mactan’s free airport shuttle service.
3 It was mostly taxi, but since there were three of us sharing, the cost was kept at a minumum. The most expensive taxi ride was the Php 250 from our hotel to Shangri-La Mactan (unmetered).
4 We eat a lot. A huge chunck of this was due to Acqua, Shangri-La Mactan’s awesome Italian restaurant. The price is not so awesome though. Cheapest meal was the Php 88 dinner at Larsian.
5 I bought an extra SD card because I was anticipating that I would be taking lots of videos. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my battery.
6 The bag! It was too cute! I can’t NOT buy it! T_T
7 That Php 30 Internet went a LONG way. Net Express across the University of San Carlos offers Php 8/hour Internet rates during off peak hours, and Php 12/hour during peak.
8 I bought an Island Souvenir T-shirt for my niece, some cellphone charms, Cebu Chorizo, dried mangoes and Shamrock otap.
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Great hotel deals in Cebu via Agoda
Three icons of the Chinese culture: the 8-sided pagoda, the lion and the dragon
First in the itinerary was the Taoist Temple. There’s a huge population of Chinese and Chinese-Filipinos in Cebu, and the influence of the culture can be seen where ever you go. The temple is not easily accessible — located inside the posh Beverly Hills subdivision, you’d have to take a taxi to go there. From the area of the Fuente-Osmeña Circle, the fare is around Php 80. The Cebu Taoist Temple is best visited early on in the day or in the late afternoon, when the sun is not too hot. There are 99 steps to climb to reach the main temple, and from there you are rewarded with stunning views of the city below, as well as the islands of Mactan and Bohol.
The Cebu Cathedral
From the Taoist Temple, we took another taxi to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. Since it was a Sunday, the cathedral was packed with people hearing mass. We only took some outdoor shots and made our way to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu. The two churches are within comfortable distance from each other. Like the Cebu Cathedral, the Basilica was likewise packed. The church was located in a main thoroughfare, so most public utility vehicles are driving by. There are tons of street vendors outside the church, selling clothes, flowers, balloons, and even prayers.
Burning candles outside the Sto. Niño Basilica
Right beside the Basilica of the Sto. Niño is the Magellan’s Cross. The shrine is filled with tour groups filing in and out at intervals. There are ladies milling around the shrine. For a fee, they will perform the traditional Sinulog — a prayer done while dancing and waving a bunch of candles.
The Oriente at Colon Street
From the Basilica, we made our way down the road to Colon street, the oldest street in the Philippines. I was getting pretty tired and hungry at this time, and I just wanted to breeze through Colon. It turns out that there is plenty to see in Colon. Like the rest of Cebu, there are plenty of beautiful architecture that’s just begging to be photographed and restored to its full glory. Unfortunately, the traffic, the banderitas and the powerlines made for an annoying photoshoot, so we cut it short and hopped on a SM-bound jeep.
Cebu’s CNT Lechon
SM wasn’t really our destination — it’s what’s across SM that we’re after. CNT Lechon’s restaurant across SM was our target. It was already 1pm, yet the restaurant was still packed. This is not a fancy restaurant, mind you. The place was not airconditioned, and it’s like a glorified turo-turo wherein you go up to the counter and point at the dishes you want to order. A trip to Cebu isn’t complete without a taste of the local lechon, and CNT delivers with the cripy skin and flavorful meat that doesn’t have you reaching for that bottle of Mang Tomas.
Guitar from Guitar Master
Our Cebu lechon craving satisfied, we headed out to Mactan, to look for a Cebu guitar factory or store. We ended up at Guitar Master, and after a passionate sales talk from Mr. Ronie, we headed back into Cebu to look for danggit. Tabo’an Market is the place to go for anything dried: they have danggit (rabbitfish), dilis (anchovy), pusit (squid), and every variation of daing (dried fish).
Daing at Tabo’an Market
We were welcomed with mini mountains of every variety of dried seafood. After a round of photos, it was down to serious pasalubong shopping. While everyone is busy buying danggit, I opted to buy some Cebu chorizo, something I just discovered and tried the night before. A kilo of danggit goes for Php 400+, while the chorizo goes for Php 190 per kilo. Apart from the chorizo, I also bought some packets of Guadalupe brand dried mango strips, a brand I read about in other blogs, and something I am longing to find in Manila because it’s so good.
University of San Carlos
With our plastic bags tightly sealed (the dried fish tastes good, but it has that strong smell when uncooked), we jump into a taxi and headed back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting the Cebu bloggers. By the time we changed our clothes and headed out, the sun was almost setting, casting a fine soft light on our hotel’s neighboring building, the University of San Carlos.
Meeting the Cebu-based bloggers was an experience. It was great seeing and meeting new faces. Fresh new faces at that… they were all so young! To Arnold, McBilly, Jorich, Wilhelmina, Aileen, Empress, Xerxes, Kevin, Rodel, Sinjin, Maibe, Winston and Mark, thank you for meeting with this weird group of Manila travel bloggers 
Great hotel deals in Cebu via Agoda
Being avid travel photographers, going to a Cebu guitar factory or store is in the itinerary. We hopped on a cab and told the driver to take us to Mactan island, where most of the guitar shops are located in Cebu. We ended up at Guitar Master, and was met by Ronie, a passionate man who believes in making good quality guitars without the expensive price tag. The conversation turned technical, so I resorted to playing around with the Canon Ixus’ video feature and patched together this little piece.
I’m not a music expert, but that guitar sounded pretty nice.
Guitar Master
Quezon National Highway
Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu
Philippines
Phone: +6332-495-2412
Mobile: +63920-224-3767
Contact: Ronie Pangatunan
How to get there: From Cebu, take the Mandaue-Mactan bridge to cross to Mactan Island. At the first intersection, turn left. Guitar Master is on the right side.
Great hotel deals in Cebu via Agoda
Here’s a very short video clip, a tiny sampling of the contingent’s street dancing perfomances during the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo. I was anticipating that I’d be taking a lot of photos and videos for this trip, so I bought an extra 2GB SD card. Unfortunately, my foresight didn’t extend to my camera’s battery — it died shortly after the contingents started dancing their way from Mandaue City Hall to the CICC. >_<
Great hotel deals in Cebu via Agoda
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After the heat of walking around the city and feeling the fatigue settling in (I had the grand idea of working and NOT getting any sleep before my 5am flight), I decided to have an early lunch at Abuhan’s.
It was pretty pricey for one person, I thought as I look at the menu. At Php 260 per bowl, it better be worth it.
And it was. The bowl was HUGE. One serving was enough for 2 – 4 persons, so the price of one bowl can go as low as Php 65 per person.
I was pretty dehydrated by this time, and a big soup fan, I happily sipped the broth. It devine; the beef was very tender, the veggies crisp and the soup was very tasty. Abuhan’s pochero is unlike the pochero we know in Manila. While our pochero is red with tomato sauce/paste, their is more like a bulalo. It is served with a small knife for cutting off beef still attached to the bone and a popsicle stick for digging out the marrow. Mmmmmmmmm.
I read somewhere that there are two Abuhan branches in Cebu, Abuhan 1 and Abuhan Dos. I went to Abuhan Dos, which is at F. Ramos, near the Fuente-Osmeña Circle. It’s also less than five minutes away from Robinson’s by foot.
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