Welcome to Cebu!
- Tara Larkai
- May 25, 2016
- 6 min read
Five minutes into the drive to our hotel and I could tell I would love Cebu. Looking around this “hectic” (how Chloe describes it) city just looked familiar. I felt at home looking at the countless hawkers set up by the roadside selling various types of street foods, the overloaded Jeepneys with catchy phrases written on them, motorcycles speeding by with 4 people squeezed on them, people walking around with no care in the world and the weather (although was humid, I loved every bit of it). You guys already know I am Asian in my head so this definitely confirmed it. I was home!
Security to our hotel was tight. That’s the consistent thing I noticed in the Philippines. There is plenty of security everywhere especially at hotels, malls etc. We stayed at Sta Barbaras suites located in Banilad. After settling in, we headed across the street to Montebello hotel for dinner, a hotel that our uber driver initially dropped us off at because he thought we were staying there.
Dinner was fabulous. It was a great start to our paradise vacation. Montebello is one of the "luxurious" hotels in the city of Cebu. The décor and setting in the dining area was very romantic and inviting. We dined under a cabana next to their pool. Their flavorful food made up for all the nonsense we had been through in Manila. So we ate, drank, laughed and made some friends at the hotel.
Jackson and I ended our day by booking a private massage to our room. The hour massage was only $8! Can you believe that? That price cannot be beat. The massage was everything!!
The next morning, after waking up refreshed and ready to take on another adventure, we realized that we were deep in the city. All the touristy things that we wanted to do were far away. Traffic in Cebu is so bad that it makes everything far. Our agenda for the day was to visit the renowned Lapu Lapu city. Chloe and I got a room at the Crimson hotel, a 5-star hotel in Lapu Lapu because we did not want to trek back to Banilad after. Uber ride to Lapu Lapu took almost an hour with traffic but it gave us a chance to see Cebu in the day time. We thought it was busy at night until we saw it in the day. “Hectic Hectic Hectic” that’s all Chloe kept saying. I loved every bit of though. This is the culture that I came to see. I was fascinated by everything because It reminded me so much of home. South Korea was nothing like this.
Security to the hotel was very intense. We went through about 3 security check points before arriving at the hotel. That area was very different and almost seemed like a different country. Crimson is located within a gated community. We didn’t see any hawkers, motorcycles, jeepneys or tricycles there. I am sure they aren't allowed within those gates It was very calm and neat.
The décor inside the hotel was even better. It screamed luxury. We instantly knew this was the bliss that we came to see. The staff at the hotel were super nice and welcoming. Their welcome drinks…very delicious and refreshing! It was so good that we had 2 rounds and wanted a 3rd round but didn’t want to embarrass ourselves. Lol
After a short beach session, Chloe and I booked a massage at the Crimson spa. She had missed out on the massage the night before so she was very eager for this one. Obviously it was not $8 being that it is a luxury hotel located in Lapu Lapu city. An hour and half massage with herbal pounding and mani/pedi came to about $70. It still was not bad considering that it would have been double in the USA. This was by far the best massage I have ever had in my entire life and I have had many massages in different area codes lol. The staff were amazing. They were gentle, respectful and treated us like royalty (that we are). They used rose petals to clean our feet in a bamboo bowl and gave us the option of choosing our own oils. No amount of words could describe the incredible treatment that we received at the Crimson hotel spa. You just have to experience it for yourself. We felt so rejuvenated afterwards that all we wanted to do was eat and sleep and that is exactly what we did. Oh and of course drink too. We even made friends with the bartenders at the hotel and got free shots before our night ended.
We were sad to be leaving Crimson the next morning but we had things to see. Kawasan falls was the adventure for the day. We asked for adventure and that is exactly what we got. Getting to Kawasan falls consists of taking a 3 hour bus ride from the South terminal then a 30 minute trek to the falls. We considered all other faster options like taxi or uber but they were way too expensive so although we didn’t want to spend 3 hours on a bus, we settled for it anyway. The bus ride was actually not bad at all. They call it the “Ceres” bus and they have an A/C option and a no A/C bus. Obviously the bus with A/C is a little more expensive. We went with the A/C bus of course. It was very comfortable and even nicer than the greyhound buses we have here. The only thing is that they still pick up passengers even when all the seats are occupied. The trip itself would have been 2 hours or less if we did not make so many stops. This trip gave us a chance to see other parts of Cebu Island.
Upon arrival at Kawasan , we were met with plenty of tricycles and motorcycles parked out front with their owners next to them persuading us to allow them to give us a ride to the falls. Don’t do it unless you have money to blow. The walk was actually not bad. In fact, we enjoyed it. We walked along a body of water that guided us to the falls. We saw kids playing in the water, some fishing and others washing their clothes in the water. We also saw several vendors set up along the way to the falls selling souvenirs, snacks and fruits.
The beauty of Kawasan cannot be described with words. It was spectacular however it was smaller than I expected. We got there around 11am and it was already crowded. It is one of the famous tourist attractions in Cebu so everyone flocks there during their leisure and the best time to go is early in the morning when there isn't a lot of people. The local hustlers swarmed us immediately and pointed us to sit at a particular table and then began to persuade us into getting on the bamboo raft in order to get closer to the falls. After contemplating for a few minutes we decided to do it because we did not come this far just to sit on the sidelines. We negotiated the price down a bit. I cannot remember how much it was though.
It was such a great feeling to get that close. Now mind you none of us can swim so we were very cautious on that bamboo. It was so much fun and we definitely gave everyone a show with our poses. We did not get under the falls though because we did not want to get our hair wet. lol Black girls and their hair! lol
We were suckered into paying for our table after we got back. WTF! They didn't tell us the table wasn't free. We were pissed! We thought they were ripping us off but there was no way to prove it so we paid up. We were ready to leave at this point but we couldn't leave without making some friends...plenty of friends who were fascinated by us being black. We took several group pictures with them and then they took turns to get solo pictures with us. lol It was quite entertaining.
We took our misery to Moalboal on a no A/C ceres bus. The no A/C bus wasn't too bad because the windows were opened and the breeze felt good. The only way to get to the resort area in Moalboal is by a tricycle. Cars don't go there so we squeezed our big butts on the first tricycle that approached us. We had lunch at the "Last fueling station", a resort in Moalboal. The food was basic but it cured our hunger.
We did not have to endure another bus ride home instead we found a taxi that was heading back into the city. He was super nice and took his time to get us home. Although traffic was not on our side. We go back very late. Of course we ended our day at Montebello for dinner. Stay tuned for our island hopping from hell.
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