Cebu Tips and Tricks
With airfares plummeting to an all time low, getting around the
Philippines has never been easier. With a little patience (and luck,
perhaps) in promo scouring, a long weekend, extra moolah to spare, and Dora the Explorer's sense of adventure, you're ready to jet set and travel within the country.
And in case you find yourself in Cebu, the Queen City of the South, here are some tips and tricks to getting your way around.
Make the map your travel buddy.
If you've gotten yourself a tour group and a guide, good. If not, don't worry. Anyway, Dora the Explorer's sense of adventure entails nothing but reliance on the good ol' map.
Nothing beats the excitement of exploring a new place by encircling target destinations and making path lines. Cebu is relatively simple to navigate so even the ones with poorest sense of direction will find their way easily.
Secure one of the EZ Maps which can be purchased in local bookstores. Most of the travel destinations in Cebu can be found in Mactan, Mandaue and Cebu City, so make sure your map has those three highlighted. Landmarks such as the Magellan's Cross, Carbon Market, and the historical churches can be found there. All you need is a little strategy on which place to visit first.
To kick off your search, you might want to encircle the following landmarks:
Mactan Island
Lapu-Lapu Monument
Magellan's Marker
Mactan Tourist Sports Complex
Guitar Factories
Magellan's Cross
Cebu City
Fort San Pedro
Colon St.
Magellan's Cross
Basilica de Sto. Niño
Carbon Market
Ayala Center Cebu
Taboan Market
Basilica de Sto. Niño
Inside the Basilica de Sto. Niño
Be at the center of everything.
The key to a successful and budget friendly trip is knowing where you're headed and finding a place to stay within the proximity. Hotels and inns abound the island and the decision where to stay depends largely on what activities you'll partake.
For those who plan to spend all their days in the beach, resorts in the Mactan Island are aplenty. But for those who will be opting to spend more time in the Cebu City proper, an inn or hotel in the area around the Fuente Osmeña circle is your best bet as it is close to pretty much all the tourist destinations. You'd want to save those taxi fares for pasalubong shopping instead, right?
Locals know best
Our map was teeming with circles and path lines when we arrived in Cebu. But on our first stop at the Lapu Lapu's Shrine, we readily erased and changed our penned plans -- thanks to a local named Ivan and the mamang sorbetero who were more than enthusiastic to provide us with a list of must sees in Cebu.
If not for the two of them, we wouldn't have known that the so-called SuTuKils are just behind the stage we were fronting. If not for Ivan's advice, we would have spent way too much by availing the pricey snorkeling rates of the resort we were staying at. We might have also made unnecessary taxi trips in place of the cheaper 7-Peso jeepney rides.
So the next time you find yourself clueless (or not) on your whereabouts, don't be afraid to ask. Make instant 'bays (friends) and be ready for better travel bargains.
Food, food, and more food!
Ah, yes. What's a trip to Cebu without having a taste of the local food?
Cebuano food is altogether a different hodgepodge of cuisine and delicacies. A long weekend in Cebu isn't suffice for you to try all the wonders it has to offer, but with proper planning and pacing, at least you'd cover those under the "never-leave-Cebu-without-trying-these" category.
*For a list of restaurants you can try in Cebu, click here.
As discussed in my previous travel article, you haven't been to Cebu if you haven't tasted their esteemed lechon. Cebu lechons abound all the major areas of the city, but you can't go wrong and lost with CnT Lechon.
In terms of popularity, the SuTuKils probably fare next to the lechon.
These 'you-choose-we-cook' al fresco restaurants are just behind the Mactan shrine (which can be your first stop since it's nearest the airport).
SuTuKil stands for Sugba-Tula-Kilawin, three ways your seafood can be cooked. With their proximity to the fishing villages, there's no arguing that they have the freshest catch of the day.
For more on the SuTuKil experience, watch out for my next travel article.
Lastly, the street food capital of Cebu -- Larsian -- is one thing you'd be sorry to pass up.
This huge indoor complex houses numerous barbecue stalls offering grills of every possible kind: chicken (wings, thigh, skin, breast, feet, intestine, blood), pork (meat, liver, intestine, chorizo, tocino, etc.), stuffed squid, and fish of different sizes and sorts.
The barbecues go well with 'puso,' the Visayans' take on rice.
This no-frills food haven located near the Osmeña Circle and the Cua Dong hospital is simply too good and too cheap to be true. When I was there, numerous groups, local and foreign alike, are all in their respective hubs, busily chewing their grilled fare off the sticks, not minding the smoky atmosphere in the poorly ventilated complex.
Those with asthma should definitely beware and take caution. But for the rest, enjoy!
Always have something to bring home...
...and get them in the right places. You can always do your last minute shopping at the airport for pasalubongs but of course, expect to pay more. Find time to personally visit and haggle at the pasalubong meccas of Cebu. These include the Taboan Market, several streets away from Colon, where all the danggits and pusits await. Don't make this your last stop before heading to the airport lest you want to be barred. Once you get yourself in Taboan, prepare to be stinky!
For your otap, barquillos, ladyfingers, turones de mani and dried mangoes requests, head to the Mabini St. or Fuente Osmena for the Shamrock Outlets. As locals say, otap isn't otap if it isn't Shamrock.
I admit. Three days definitely isn't enough for a place as beautiful and as diverse as Cebu. In a province blessed with an irresistible stretch of pristine clear beach, historical roads and structures, and an ever dynamic metropolis, one would never run out of ways to enjoy.
Nevertheless, those few days in Cebu are sure to be worthwhile and memorable. Oh, thank God for cheap plane fares! http://www.clickthecity.com/travel/?p=5174
And in case you find yourself in Cebu, the Queen City of the South, here are some tips and tricks to getting your way around.
Make the map your travel buddy.
If you've gotten yourself a tour group and a guide, good. If not, don't worry. Anyway, Dora the Explorer's sense of adventure entails nothing but reliance on the good ol' map.
Nothing beats the excitement of exploring a new place by encircling target destinations and making path lines. Cebu is relatively simple to navigate so even the ones with poorest sense of direction will find their way easily.
Secure one of the EZ Maps which can be purchased in local bookstores. Most of the travel destinations in Cebu can be found in Mactan, Mandaue and Cebu City, so make sure your map has those three highlighted. Landmarks such as the Magellan's Cross, Carbon Market, and the historical churches can be found there. All you need is a little strategy on which place to visit first.
To kick off your search, you might want to encircle the following landmarks:
Mactan Island
Lapu-Lapu Monument
Magellan's Marker
Mactan Tourist Sports Complex
Guitar Factories
Magellan's Cross
Cebu City
Fort San Pedro
Colon St.
Magellan's Cross
Basilica de Sto. Niño
Carbon Market
Ayala Center Cebu
Taboan Market
Basilica de Sto. Niño
Inside the Basilica de Sto. Niño
Be at the center of everything.
The key to a successful and budget friendly trip is knowing where you're headed and finding a place to stay within the proximity. Hotels and inns abound the island and the decision where to stay depends largely on what activities you'll partake.
For those who plan to spend all their days in the beach, resorts in the Mactan Island are aplenty. But for those who will be opting to spend more time in the Cebu City proper, an inn or hotel in the area around the Fuente Osmeña circle is your best bet as it is close to pretty much all the tourist destinations. You'd want to save those taxi fares for pasalubong shopping instead, right?
Locals know best
Our map was teeming with circles and path lines when we arrived in Cebu. But on our first stop at the Lapu Lapu's Shrine, we readily erased and changed our penned plans -- thanks to a local named Ivan and the mamang sorbetero who were more than enthusiastic to provide us with a list of must sees in Cebu.
If not for the two of them, we wouldn't have known that the so-called SuTuKils are just behind the stage we were fronting. If not for Ivan's advice, we would have spent way too much by availing the pricey snorkeling rates of the resort we were staying at. We might have also made unnecessary taxi trips in place of the cheaper 7-Peso jeepney rides.
So the next time you find yourself clueless (or not) on your whereabouts, don't be afraid to ask. Make instant 'bays (friends) and be ready for better travel bargains.
Food, food, and more food!
Ah, yes. What's a trip to Cebu without having a taste of the local food?
Cebuano food is altogether a different hodgepodge of cuisine and delicacies. A long weekend in Cebu isn't suffice for you to try all the wonders it has to offer, but with proper planning and pacing, at least you'd cover those under the "never-leave-Cebu-without-trying-these" category.
*For a list of restaurants you can try in Cebu, click here.
As discussed in my previous travel article, you haven't been to Cebu if you haven't tasted their esteemed lechon. Cebu lechons abound all the major areas of the city, but you can't go wrong and lost with CnT Lechon.
In terms of popularity, the SuTuKils probably fare next to the lechon.
These 'you-choose-we-cook' al fresco restaurants are just behind the Mactan shrine (which can be your first stop since it's nearest the airport).
SuTuKil stands for Sugba-Tula-Kilawin, three ways your seafood can be cooked. With their proximity to the fishing villages, there's no arguing that they have the freshest catch of the day.
For more on the SuTuKil experience, watch out for my next travel article.
Lastly, the street food capital of Cebu -- Larsian -- is one thing you'd be sorry to pass up.
This huge indoor complex houses numerous barbecue stalls offering grills of every possible kind: chicken (wings, thigh, skin, breast, feet, intestine, blood), pork (meat, liver, intestine, chorizo, tocino, etc.), stuffed squid, and fish of different sizes and sorts.
The barbecues go well with 'puso,' the Visayans' take on rice.
This no-frills food haven located near the Osmeña Circle and the Cua Dong hospital is simply too good and too cheap to be true. When I was there, numerous groups, local and foreign alike, are all in their respective hubs, busily chewing their grilled fare off the sticks, not minding the smoky atmosphere in the poorly ventilated complex.
Those with asthma should definitely beware and take caution. But for the rest, enjoy!
Always have something to bring home...
...and get them in the right places. You can always do your last minute shopping at the airport for pasalubongs but of course, expect to pay more. Find time to personally visit and haggle at the pasalubong meccas of Cebu. These include the Taboan Market, several streets away from Colon, where all the danggits and pusits await. Don't make this your last stop before heading to the airport lest you want to be barred. Once you get yourself in Taboan, prepare to be stinky!
For your otap, barquillos, ladyfingers, turones de mani and dried mangoes requests, head to the Mabini St. or Fuente Osmena for the Shamrock Outlets. As locals say, otap isn't otap if it isn't Shamrock.
I admit. Three days definitely isn't enough for a place as beautiful and as diverse as Cebu. In a province blessed with an irresistible stretch of pristine clear beach, historical roads and structures, and an ever dynamic metropolis, one would never run out of ways to enjoy.
Nevertheless, those few days in Cebu are sure to be worthwhile and memorable. Oh, thank God for cheap plane fares! http://www.clickthecity.com/travel/?p=5174
Paco Park
Paco Park
One of Manila's underrated landmarks is Paco Park - a former cemetery, and now a National Historical Shrine. Located right across the Paco Fire Station in San Marcelino, Paco Park is a beautifully structured place where anybody can enjoy is peaceful and intimate atmosphere for an entrance fee of only Five Pesos.watch a video here http://www.clickthecity.com/clipcast/?v=337
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Animals Abound In Zoobic Safari
Animals Abound In Zoobic Safari
Ever wanted a close encounter with animals of the wild? At Zoobic Safari, the country's only tiger safari, you get to be up-close with different animals (and yes, tigers!) in a forest atmosphere.
Located at the Ilanin Forest of Subic Bay, Zoobic is a huge 25-hectare area dedicated to entertaining and educating people about animal life.
For an Entrance Fee of P395/person, you can tour Zoobic Safari for about a couple of hours. Entrance Fee for children 4 feet and below get P100 off the price, while kids 3 feet and below get in for free. No food and beverages are allowed inside, as different stores and vendors are in the area already. Since the entire place is built around a forest, prepare for an outdoorsy experience - wear comfy clothing and shoes. You will walk a lot. Bring a fan or some wet wipes if you easily perspire, as it tends to get humid and hot.
They have different attractions, and the tour will first take you to the Zoobic Park to meet some of their wild and farm animals. Some of the farm animals roam around freely, so watch your step! A goat or a duck may just be behind you while you trek the forest.
Afterwards, guests will be lead to the Rodent World. In this attraction, I learned that most non-flying mammals are rodents. The more common ones include mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rats. Zoobic is also selling cute little Abyssinian Guinea Pigs (P249 each), if you wish to take a critter or two back home. Right after this attraction, the next one is the Serpentarium, where they have different common and exotic kinds of reptiles.
Some of Zoobic's cuter critters
Next is a short ride to the Tiger Safari! You can opt for the Adventure Ride using the Zooper Train (P50 per head, per trip). It's a customized tram with tiger stripes and colors. The ride is optional, since you can also choose to use your personal vehicle to get to the other farther attractions.
Zooper Train
Zoobic houses around 20 tigers, and they have one white tiger named Snowy. The White Tiger (or Panthera Tigris) is commonly mistaken for an albino tiger. The white of their fur is a result of gene mutation (recessive gene).
White Tiger
Tiger Safari
You can also get some animal chow to feed the animals yourselves! At the Tiger Safari, you can feed them Chicken (P200) while you're inside the caged vehicle. At another attraction, the Croco Loco, you can feed the crocs some Chicken (P50), too.
We got ourselves one chicken and boarded our well-protected vehicle to enter the tiger safari. Earlier, we saw different kinds of animals in cages. Now, it's the other way around as we enter their habitat while on board a 'mobile cage' to get to see them up close.
Our guide teased us with tiger trivia: if we observe a tiger coming towards us with its tail moving up, that is a signal that it will urinate. Add to that, the stench of luminous (!) tiger pee according to them, sticks to you for 3 days. That was enough to make us all the more excited as they ambled toward our side of the vehicle, eyeing our piece of raw chicken intently. There were only several inches between me and the tiger, thank goodness for the reliable metal bars in between us! It was fun and scary to watch them gobble up the meat and even climb on top of our jeep!
After the safari, there is a tiger Close Encounter where several cages are lined up and you walk about a feet from the tigers. After the safari, this was easier to do, although the fear of getting sprayed with tiger pee lingered.
Our next stop was a short Zooper Train ride to the Savannah, where ostriches abound. While I can obviously say the birds were tamer, a lot of shrieks came from our train as they walked closer and closer to us. Since there are no glass windows and the animals can pretty much kiss us if they like, it was fun to dodge around and take photos as close as we can.
After the Savannah, we headed to the Bone Museum for a short while to view some preserved animals and bones on exhibit, then moved along to the Aeta's Trail. It was a cooler area with the tall trees, and we sat for several minutes to watch some Aetas perform their ritual dances. It was amazing to see them move with such grace in their animal-like movements. They danced the Tutubi (dragonfly dance) that signals neighboring tribes of a change in weather; the Unggoy (monkey dance) which they perform during hunting season; and the Pagbabayani (war dance), performed whenever they need guidance for a victorious fight.
Aeta's Trail
Afterwards we saw hundreds of Philippine freshwater crocodiles at the Croco Loco. There were so much that you see more crocodile skin than the ground! They looked like statues because they barely moved.
Croco Loco
Before heading home, you can also take a short trip to the Zoovenir Shop, where they have a lot of Zoobic merchandise like shirts, bags, and animal stuffed toys, that you can give to the kids or bring home as pasalubong.
Close encounters with tigers and ostriches at Zoobic really made our overnight trip more fun. This popular Subic Bay attraction has a good mix of activities for friends and family that will both be educational and entertaining. Aside from the thrilling tiger encounter, it was my first time to see a Cassowary (a flightless bird from New Guinea) and our local Palm Civet Cat up close and within the same area where Bearcats and Otters hang out. The sights and sounds of Zoobic was a good escape from the gray buildings and urban noises that I am exposed to everyday. Head on to Subic for a zoo-per time!
Zoobic Safari is open 8am to 4pm daily (including Sundays and Holidays). Their Animal Parade begins every 3pm during weekends and holidays. Visit www.zoobic.com.ph for more information.
http://www.clickthecity.com/travel/?p=5062
