~ Cebu Manila Trip - Day 1 @ Cebu ~
Walking our way to the waiting area for boarding. There is still an hour of waiting and we all slept while Denver played his PSP. The sunrise in Philippines is earlier... at 5am, we can see the rays from the sun. We were on board again by half past 6 taking the transit flight to Cebu. ^_^
We finally arrived at Mactan Airport at 7:40 am! The kids enjoy waiting and spotting our luggages while Hubby and I on the other hand are busy making sure they are still with us.
Lutchie's brother, Tim is already waiting outside the airport and helped to send us back to the hotel. Along the way we saw people selling all sorts of stuff (papers, cigarettes, baskets etc) in between the roads. There are fewer divider lines and you can see jeepneys and cars.
We reached Diplomat Hotel at 9:10am. Our room is 308. It is a Delux Room located at the Old Wing with a Double and Single bed costing at 1360P per night. (~ 43 SGD). The room is rather old but spacious. The toilet is small and their tiles are old. I would appreciate if the water flow is stronger and the bedsheets are cleaner. Other than that, all is ok. It is located near Midtown where there are some shopping malls. The hotel staffs are also friendly and helpful. http://www.diplomathotelcebu.com/
3pm - Woke up after a good rest and we all wash up and now it's the time to explore MidTown. With the recommendation from 1 of the hotel staff, our first stop is Raintree Mall where we are sending in our laundry. It is also about 10 mins walk from our hotel near Robinson Plaza.
Just a few shops down, we saw Ice Castle (Halo Halo & Ice-Cream House). We ordered siewmai, halo halo special and boracay (banana split). When you come to Philippines, Halo Halo is a must try! (from Tagalog halo means "mix"). It is a popular Filipino dessert where I read that there is no specific recipe for this dessert. Generally, a wide variety of ingredients are used.
Boracay is the Banana Split with 3 flavours of ice-cream. Yummy for the kiddos. Total Cost - 239p (~$7.50 SGD) for all the great stuff!
It is also rather dark inside as only a few shops had lights. The security guards are walking around with their tourch lights and we stood by one of the stall selling Lechon which is lighted. As you can see, they have HUGE Roasted Pig for sale! Basically, they will chop on the spot for the amount of meat the customer needed.
On the other hand, Denver is rather frastrated as the mall is getting hotter and he is getting tired of standing. We told him that he should understand how lucky he has been and that he should appreicate things more. It is really a Good Experience for all of us. How many times will we have black-out here??
The power eventually got back and we finally make our purchases. Not knowing if it will go off again, we quickly bought cakes at Goldilocks and even had a Fruit Salad (Mixture of mango, corn, watermelon, coconut etc. - 49p) at one of the stall. :p
We did not went back to the hotel... instead, we continue to stroll around midtown area and spotted Crown Regency Hotel. It was a good choice that we decided to go visit as there are quite a couple of stuff you can enjoy there.
From 25th to the 38th floor, there are sky ride/walk experience adventure. However, there is a height limit and hence Gladys is not allowed to enter. Anyway, we are not that adventurous as a start. :p But it will be good for those who are keen to have a view of cebu city from the top. :Dhttp://www.skyexperienceadventure.com/main/
Instead, we went for the 4D Theater and was just on time for the 8pm show. We bought tickets for all the 3 shows which is about 10 mins each. (The Lost Island, Dino Rampage and Deep Sea Adventure)... Unfortunately, Gladys is afraid after the first show and I took her out when the 2nd show (Dino Rampage) is on. I guess the sound effects, water splashing and visual experience is too real for her.
The staff there is very nice and he return me the tickets as Gladys & I did not watch them. He mention we can return the next day to watch again.. So sweet. After resting for awhile, I asked Gladys if she is keen on watching the last show (Deep Sea Adventure) where the staff says it's not scary and more suitable for children. Kudos to her for agreeing to make the attempt and going in for the last show! She was still scared with the effects even though it was not as bad.. We have to carry her and cover her eyes. Denver on the other hand enjoyed it.We took a cab back to our hotel and rest for the night.. That's a lot of excitement for Day 1 so far!
