Cebu

Our trip to Cebu last July 27 - 30 was the BREAK I was looking forward to since June (a break before I start with a new organization). I decided to take the last flight out from Manila and spend Friday night already in Cebu to be fully recharged for the next 2 1/2 days.

First day was spent in the city. Cebu City compared to Manila is nothing different and it's not even my first time. Actually, it is my first time time to walk around on vacation mode. Everytime I'm in Cebu it has something to do with work and given the limited time for pasyal, I always end up visiting relatives (who I seldom see). So this time it's perfect for (window) shopping and strolling. Our legs need to take a break and that's sundae for us at McDo Ayala Town Center.

Welcome to Banilad Town Center, which is like Metrowalk of Manila. Best to visit BTC at night -- this is your gimik place.

I also don't know if it's psychological but hearing people speaking a different dialect really made me feel that I am far from home. Here's an incident at Bo's coffee, I ordered for a short non-fat latte and what they served was a short hot chocolate and a separate cup of milk (tsk!tsk!).

Second day was spent at Costabella Beach Resort located at Mactan island. I was quite disappointed with the buffet -- no shrimps, crabs, squid, oysters but more on meat and chicken. Since rice cakes are my favorite, I got so excited with this bibingka (don't mind the face...sumisingit!) only to find out that it was made of flour.

However my fetish for beach and white sand took reign over my disappointment.

This time we brought our scuba shoes (P179.75 @ SM)

The beach and pools are surrounded by very cozy beach chairs which are perfect for sleeping (so you can now guess what we did after the buffet lunch). 3rd day, we had to do last minute shopping for pasalubong at ATC. It was an adventure riding their coded public transpo and getting almost lost. Well, I look forward to our next trip and this time it's going to be on the northern part of Luzon.