Cebu Trip Day 1

Cebu is always mesmerizing. And everytime I go back, there’s seems to be something new that I have to discover and experience. So last Saturday, off I went to the Queen City of the South for a weekend of food, food and more food!

I actually bought my plane ticket last March during a promo period and was looking forward to the annual Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival in Cebu. Unfortunately I missed the bullseye. The Cebu Provincial Government moved the festival a week AFTER my plane ticket date.

And since promo fare tickets are non refundable, non rebookable, and non reroutable. I went ahead to Cebu Just to enjoy the place even without event.

Mica went ahead to Cebu a day before my trip. I arrived in Mactan Cebu Intrnational Airport at around 9:15AM of August 8. An hour later Aaron and Xie arrived from Manila.

The four of us were booked at a hotel near a shopping mall.

Since it was almost lunch time, Aaron, Xie and I decided to have a lunch in CnT Lechon, which is said to be the province’s best.

For our lunch we ordered a kilo of the famed Cebu lechon and a serving of Lechon Paksiw.

I guess a kilo of lechon is just too much for us. Sobrang Dami! Xie even said, “That’s OK. We’ll just take out the lechon if we can’t finish it, for our diner”.

So off we had a pig out session. Lamon kung lamon! Guess what, the three of us finished the entire kilo of lechon and the lechon paksiw! Haha

From CnT, we then head back to our hotel and wait for Mica to bring her bags to our room.

Later, Sinjin arrived to fetch us. Since it was first time for Aaron and Xie to be in Cebu, Sinj and I toured them around the city.

First off, we headed to the Basilica Minore del Sto Niño. Upon arrival we then went to the queue where pilgrim can pay homage to the image of the infant Jesus which is located at the left side of the altar.

From there, we then head to the adjacent Magellan’s Cross. Probably one of the famous icons of Cebu.

It is said that the original cross is now kept inside the Tindalo casing as to protect it from people who tries to get a piece of it, believing that it has supernatural powers.

While we were inside the Magellan’s Cross chapel, I asked an old woman to perform a Sinulog Prayer Dance Ritual for my petitions.

From Magellan’s Cross we took a brisk walk leading to the Cebu Cathedral. Unfortunately, the entire cathedral area was closed. No one is allowed inside the gates as Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia’s daughter Christina Garcia-Codilla tied the knot at the Cathedral. Her husband is Duke Frasco, the mayor of town of Liloan. (Off topic: Liloan is known for the best Rosquillos in town!)

The only photo I had in Cathedral, Courtesy of Sinjin

The event is uber exclusive, and police security is at its highest level since the guests during the wedding is no less than Philippine President Gloaria Macapagal Arroyo and former President Joseph Estrada.

So without having success at taking photos at the Cathedral grounds, we just left the place and headed to Calle Colon. Colon has the distinction of being the oldest street in the Philippines. A lot of Art Deco buildings can still be found here. It’s just so sad that the entire stretch of Colon is a bit dark and dingy now. I just hope that the City and National Government will rehabilitate this stretch since a lot of tourists still go to this place to experience history.

Camwhoring at the intersection, kaya nyo to?! LOL

Camwhoring moment in Colon! That’s what we all did there. And who said that picture taking right in the middle of the intersection is not allowed? Only Aaron Xie and Sinjin can do that! LOL

What surprised me while I was in Calle Colon is the presence of Lanzones. Wow. It’s August and Lanzones is already in the streets of Cebu. When I asked the vendor if its from Mambajao, he just nodded. I tried one and yes. it is very sweet with very small seeds. It is indeed from the Lanzones Capital of the Philippines, Mambajao, Camiguin! But what is surprising is that Lanzones season peaks at around October.

From Colon we went to the Ayala Mall to buy some personal necessities and to freshen up before heading to our next appointment: The Cebu Bloggers Meet up/Dinner. Before we left Ayala, we met Mica and Jhelo at the Taxi queue, who’s also heading to the CBS Dinner.

Everytime I go to Cebu I always ask the Cebu Bloggers Society (CBS) members to meet over lunch or dinner for a few hours of chika chika and all. So for this trip we agreed to have dinner in Larsian, a popular barbecue grill located near Fuente Osmeña.

Juicy gossips and fresh updates were shared over barbecue and puso^. I am also glad to meet the new members of the CBS team. Grabe, everytime I go to Cebu, their number is just getting bigger and bigger.

After dinner, we then went to the IT park for some ice cream dessert and some more chismis. Hahaha I know, chismis is always part of the itinerary and should never be scrapped from then list LOL.

Later that evening, McBilly who’s also a CBS member joined us.

We ended our night at around 30 minutes past midnight. It was a really tiring day. knowing I only had 2 hours of sleep but it was just so fun seeing all my Cebu blogging friends again!

Abangan ang part 2 and my detailed posts about the places I have been to.