Date of Travel: 23/01/09-28/01-09
Number of pax: 7 Adults, 2 children, 1 infant
Purpose of trip: Family gathering for Chinese New Year
Hotel in Manila: http://www.mabuhaymanor.com.ph
One premium room and one manor suite
Hotel in Cebu : Crown Regency Hotel, 2 bedroom apartment at Club Ultima
From Kuching
22/01/09 Night - LTK and family fly to KK for an overnight stay.
Hotel: Tune Hotel at 1 Borneo Shopping Mall (Double room RM23 per night)
http://www.tunehotels.com/sabahKK_room.aspx
23/01/09
Afternoon flight KK-Clark, arriving around 6pm.
(This arrangement is made due to a higher cost of air ticket from Singapore to Manila comparing from KK to Clark(Manila). I actually make a mistake. I didn't know that Clark airport and Manila airport are two different places and takes more than two hours of journey. If I knew it earlier, I would have put everybody to fly from Singapore.)
From Johor Bahru
23/01/09 - Morning flight from Singapore to Manila, arriving 2.00pm, complimentary airport transfer to hotel. The pick up is okay. We check in to the room and walk to Chow King at the back of hotel for a late lunch.
We want to check out their LRT station. We walk to Baclaran, the nearest station from hotel.
There are stalls selling shoes and clothes along the way, but road is dirty, the station looks old and dirty from outside. It's a five-minute walk.
We have to go through a police check point before entering the ticketing counter. One way ticket cost 12 peso per person. We get down at the next stop, Edsa.
We planned to go to Ayala Musuem via Taft Avenue but there is a long queue at ticket counter. As the Musuem is going to close, we decided to walk back to the hotel, it's just a 15 minutes of distance away along a dusty road. I bought two t-shirt at the stalls at 150 pesos.
We go back to the hotel for a rest. LTK and others took a cab at Clark airport around 6.30pm. I walk to a nearby Saloon and have my hair cut at 60 pesos, cheap but not well cut. The taxi driver managed to find our hotel after a few calls and arrive around 8.30pm. As it is already late, we have our dinner at the hotel. The food is quite delicious. The first bill is 1,150 pesos, we pay 1,500. The second bill came and the price become 1,210 pesos.
Our first dinner in Manila.
Our premium room with two double bed. The other room I booked is Manor suite. The Jacuzzi inside the suite is not functioning. The suite is quite old and not worth the money compare to the premium room.
24/01/2009
We go for breakfast around 8 something. The choices are pretty good. All are ready for the move after 9. As we walk the front door, the hotel staff approach us for their van rental at 1,500 pesos for 5 hours. We decided to take the LRT. We took the tricycle on the way to Baclaran station, one cart charged us 40 pesos for a ONE MINUTE RIDE !!!
The office hour is over, not many people at the station. We go straight to U.N. Avenue at 15 pesos per person. From UN Avenue, we walk towards Rizal Park and Intramuros. As it was a pretty long way to reach Fort Santiago, we took tricycle again for the last leg. It was agreed 20 pesos for two in one cart, three sat inside. When we arrive at the entrance, the price became 45 pesos.
The monument on our way to Rizal Park. Locals playing chess in a park.
A colourful jeepney on the road.
Entrance to Intramuros.
Fort Santiago
We stay at Fort Santiago until close to 2.00pm. There is a souvenir shop in front of the entrance gate but nothing interest us. The price is also expensive. We stop two taxi to Glorietta. One taxi's meter showed 112 pesos, we gave the driver 150 pesos. The other taxi's meter showed 270 pesos, we pay 300 pesos. The second taxi stop right in front of Tony Ramos. The other taxi stop at the other side of the building and we have to spend some time searching for each other. Anyway, we had a great lunch in the Restaurant.
At about 4 something, we take a taxi to Mall of Asia (MOA), one taxi charges us 90 pesos, we pay him 100. The other taxi press the adzos hard at the traffic light to get price meter running, we gave him 95 pesos.
We walk around MOA for about 1 hour and stop at a local restaurant for dinner. As all of us are still full after a heavy lunch at Tony Ramos, we only order a few dishes. We don't like kare-kare, the rest are okay. Bagoon Rice is good.
I call to the hotel earlier to arrange a pick up at 8.20pm. The driver come early, we have two people to reach the pick up point earlier while the others continue shopping. We arrive on time, but he seems very impatient waiting for us and keep asking what time will all of us be ready to go. We didn't give him any tips.
As we reach the hotel, I am informed that we have to pay for the pick up which I thought is free from their information slip. Each person is charged 20 pesos, children are free.
25/01/09
We wake up at 6.30am and have our breakfast at 7.30am. Me, mum, Linna and the kids stroll around the market to buy some clothes while the others take LRT to the Chinese Cemetery.
After half an hour's shopping, we decided to go to the Chinese Cemetery. I ask at the ticket counter and the person told me to get down at R. Papa. But the gate to the Cemetery is closed. We have to walk a very long way (around 20 minutes) to the main entrance. We pass by A. Santos station, it's about 10 minutes walk from this station.
"Terrace Houses" for the deceased. We did not see the "bungalow" as it was further inside.
When we arrive at the entrance, it is very hot. We just walk up the front street and turn back. The kids and my parents took the tricycle back to A. Santos station, 10 pesos per person.
By the time we reach Baclaran, it's already 11.00 am. On the way back to hotel, dad and mum each bought a pair of sandals for themselves.
I book the hotel Van to airport at 11.30am. The cost is 250 pesos. We reach airport before 12.00pm. The check-in procedure is very strict. Everybody have to take out their shoes. We took our lunch after that. After lunch, there was an announcement about flight delay for one hour.
When we reach Cebu airport, we took the airport Van to the hotel. We initially book two taxi, 292 pesos per taxi, eventually they gave us a Van for 600 pesos. There are meter taxis on the upper floor.
The Van driver told us he can arrange Island hopping, including lunch at 1,200 pesos per person. An 8-hour city tour is 3,500 pesos, if including Tops, that will cost an additional 500 p. We just took his name card and went in to the hotel.
There are two rooms, each with two double beds and one double sofa bed at the living room. There are enough beds for all of us. I have made booking at Shamrock Pension house earlier (890++ per night), we walk across the road to the Pension to inform about the cancellation.
Our rooms in Hotel Crown Regency Cebu
It's Chinese New Year eve today. We took buffet dinner at the Chinese Restaurant on 20th Floor. It cost us 599pesos per adult/children. There are lots of variety, and delicious too. It includes a tasty glass of Iced tea.
There is a lion dance as well. Outside the restaurant is a veranda where you can look at the night view of Cebu from 20th floor. A well-worth dinner indeed.
We finished our dinner at 8 something, return to the registration counter to enquire about laundry shop. There is one down the road so we went back to our room and get everybody to pack their clothes for laundry the next day.
26/01/09
It's already 7.30am when everyone is ready. We took two cabs to Pier 1. We want to buy ticket to Bohol. The ticket by ocean jet is 500Php one way and 800Php returned but all sold out. We just bought the one way ticket and was planning on staying on the Island in case we couldn't get the returned ticket.
Ticket for children is slightly cheaper while for infants, the parents have to write on a boarding pass in order to get on the boat.
As we have to check in soon, we just bought some simple breakfast nearby. There are only some small local stalls around the area, all selling local food.
We get in the boat around 9.25am. The boat started to move slightly after 9.30am. We sit on the top part, which means we can watch the ocean view. The journey took about 2 hours. We reach Bohol at 11.30am.
At the exit, we saw a lot of drivers selling the travelling package. We just go straight to the ticket counter to search for returned tickets. We bought from Weesam, leave Bohol at 4.40pm, but later than we discover that Oceanjet still have tickets available at 5.30pm.
One driver follow us the moment we walk out from the terminal and continue to persuade us after we bought our boat tickets. He offered us 2,500pesos instead of the normal price 3,500pesos as stated in the standard brocher. His van is very old.
We went to the nearest Jolibee for a quick lunch. At 12.30pm, we started our journey to Chocolate hill, which is one and half hour away from here.
We stop by a mini tarsier centre (a private one) for phototaking.
We pass by Loboc River, saw the cruise and tourist taking their lunch. There is also a man-made forest along the way.
We arrive Chocolate Hill at 2.00pm. We walk up the stairs to the view point and come down at 2.20pm as we still have a few more places to visit on the way back.
Stair case to view point
The chocolate hills
The next stop is Baclayon Church, a very old church where part of the church is made of corals.
We stop for phototaking when the van pass by Blood Compact Site.
Next to it is the Product showroom. There are quite a number of souvenirs but we don't have much time to really make a selection. The time is already 4.15pm.
We pay the driver 2,700 pesos. It was raining when we leave Chocolate Hill and the back seat was wet. The driver said he has just gone through a bypass surgery and have to mortgage his house to borrow money from the bank to pay for the operation.
Driver and his van.
As we reach the terminal, we rush to the ticket counter to pick up our tickets and check-in immediately. The boat from Weesam is newer and more comfortable. We sit inside the boat with air-cond. The boat moves faster and we reach Cebu Pier 4 at 6.25pm.
Our Speed Boat
Locals at the Pier at Bohol.
When we reach Cebu Pier 4, there are someone who help to arrange transport. We got a Van to SM City Mall at 200 pesos. On the way, we ask the driver for city tour and Island hopping prices.
City tour from 12.00pm is 2,000 pesos, one full day, 8 hrs cost 3,000 pesos. Going to the Top add another 200 pesos. We confirm on the city tour on 28 February. We took the contact no. for Island hopping and leave the Van.
We went in to a local restaurant with lots of people. The dishes are pretty good.
After dinner, the rest went for shopping while I use the public phone to call the in-charge person for Island hopping. The man quote me 3,500 per person, 3,000 for children. I spent about 100 pesos on the phone and the line cut off when we don't have anymore coins to insert. I feel its too expensive anyway, and its already 9.00pm. All shops are about to close.
We took two cabs back to hotel. One fixed at 80 pesos and another's meter run to 67 pesos, we pay him 80.
We ask about the pier to Island hopping at hotel counter and was introduced by a staff to a travel agent. The price is 2,800 per adult, children is free. Though still sound expensive, I confirm the deal immediately, as its among the cheapest.
27/01/09
The Van arrive at 8 something to bring us to the pier at Mactan Island. LTL did not join us today. Its about 30-45 minutes drive. We stop at a Travel Agency to pick up our snorkeling gear and to confirm on the Islands that we are going to.
We had a very big boat ourselves. We had our first stop for swimming and snorkeling at the area called Hilutungan. Not many variety of fishes around the area. I think Tioman and Redang is even better.
We continue on our sea journey after the swim. There are three man and one lady on the boat with us. The lady is in-charged of our seafood barbecue lunch. The boat anchored in the middle of the sea and let us have our simple but delicious seafood lunch.
We stopped by at Caohagen Island after lunch. We have to take a small boat to get to the beach. I specially requested for a stop at this Island. This is a private Island bought by a Japanese for his retirement. There are quite a lot of tourist having meals here.
The pier at Caohagen Island.
(Our boat is too big, we have to use a small boat to reach the beach.)
Children on the Island
Guesthouse
Full of Visitors
After this, we made another stop for snorkeling. Mandy is ready to go into the water now. She enjoy being in the water so much that she doesn't want to come out of the water.
We returned to the pier before 5.00pm. The same Van brought us back to the hotel. We took a bath and walk to Robinson for dinner and shopping. Then back to hotel to pack our luggage.
28/01/09
We had an early breakfast nearby, then check out from hotel and get ourselves and all our luggages into the van. We visited the Heritage of Cebu Monument, The Cross of magellan, Basilica Minore de Santo Nino and the Carbon Market which are all nearby to each another. I thought I can see a lot of local products at Carbon Market but it looks like a mass, very disorganized and dirty. I didn't find any local produce and souvenirs as stated in the travel book. The weather is very hot so we decided to leave the place.
Heritage of Cebu Monument
Basilica Minore de Santo Nino
Believers praying to the holy child Jesus inside the Church
The Carbon Market
We had our lunch at Kan-anan ni kuya "J" as recommended by the travel book. We like the scallop.
After lunch, we proceed to SM City Cebu for final shopping until time to airport.
