How an Overnight Cebu Trip Turned 5 Days

Even I can't believe it. I didn't even have plans of joining my friends but I ended up staying there for almost forever. I was dragged by a friend straight from a Saturday night party  to the airport to catch the earliest flight to Cebu. Since the first flight was fully booked, we had to take the next one. We bought our plane ticket there and we didn't even get a ticket back home.

Instead of posting a lot of photos here, I just made a video of the trip. Feel free to comment below if you have any inquiries. 

#CebuHits from Roycie S. on Vimeo.


Here's a rundown of all our activities in that 5-day trip:

Day 1

We left first thing on a Sunday morning, went straight to our friend's hotel, the Big Hotel to check-in and take a nap. Then we had breakfast at the hotel resto. Right after breakfast, we were informed that our JCI friends from JCI Mandaue have prepared a boat party so we joined them. We went on a food trip and we had crazy drinking games while on board. 

We rushed back to the hotel to prepare for JCI Womandaue's induction and turnover ceremonies. After the event, we had drinks at the hotel bar. Then some of our JCI Cebu Inc. brothers invited us for a karaoke party at the KTV located next to the hotel. It was at around 1am when we moved to our friend's acoustic bar/KTV lounge, Open Mic, where we continued our craziness until 3am! That was a really crazy night.

Day 2

We all had lunch at a restaurant in SM Cebu. Then we chilled at Ibiza Beach Club at Movenpick Hotel and Resort in Mactan 'til after sunset. For dinner, we headed to a restaurant owned by our friend, Ampersand, wherein we had the best steak in Cebu, and all other sumptuous dishes and drinks.

A photo posted by Roycie S. (@royciepoisie) on Mar 18, 2016 at 12:34pm PDT

Day 3

We had our lechon fix at Rico's during lunch then we visited a new acquaintance's auto shop, Euro Technik for coffee. It was a lazy afternoon so while some of our friends headed to the airport to go back home, me and some of our Cebu-based friends indulged on a 1.5-hr foot and back massage at the Park Mall. It's my first time to try a massage conducted by blind people, and it felt so good. For dinner, we've gone to a local restaurant (like a big carinderia -- which I forgot the name of) that's known for their native chicken. After dinner, we had tea and dessert at Tinder Box. But just when we thought our night was over, we craved for wine and cheese so we headed to La Vie en Parisienne to satisfy our cravings.

Day 4

And out of our spontaneity, at 3am, after our wine sesh, we headed to the port to catch the first barge to Bantayan Island. That was a 2.5-hr drive, which can usually take 4-5 hours during the day. Anyway, we we're only able to catch the 2nd barge at 6:30am and it took us an hour and 15 mins to cross the water to Bantayan Island. In Bantayan, we had breakfast by the market, then we shopped for really cheap seafood. How cheap? Like Php 20/kilo of scallops. OMG! We headed to SantaFe Beach Club, where we checked in. We had the seafood we bought at the market cooked in the hotel and that's what we had for lunch. We were extremely full that we fell asleep after. We failed to wake up in time for our trip to the cove so we just headed out for dinner at Chef Panyang's. The food there were really cheap and yummy. If I come back to Bantayan, it would probably because of two things: the beach and the food. We got free dessert c/o the restaurant's manager. We were also able to have a JW Gold Label we just bought from a store nearby. We continued our drinking sesh at our hotel by the beach front while watching a movie on laptop.

Day 5

The next day, we woke up late again. We felt guilty for having the boatmen wait for 1.5 hrs for our island hopping. Our first stop was at Hilantagaan Island where we bought fish, rock lobsters, and crabs for our lunch. Next stop was at Virgin Island and I super loved it there. It's a lot better than Boracay. While we did some snorkelling, our boatman prepared our lunch. After lunch, we just rested for a bit and headed back to our hotel in Bantayan to catch the soonest flight we can get back to Manila as we still have a formal event to attend to in Taguig. At the airport, we bought our plane ticket and while waiting for boarding, we had our last dinner together.

A photo posted by Roycie S. (@royciepoisie) on Mar 16, 2016 at 11:25pm PDT

That Cebu trip was probably the best and most spontaneous trip I've ever done! It's so exciting to not have exact plans, not even a return flight because it gives you a lot of freedom. Just remember to overpack (while packing light -- to avoid paying for extra baggage) a bit. Be sure that you have extra clothes for any activity -- casual (shorts, tank tops, shirts, skirts), beachwear (maxi dress, short summer dress, cover up, swimsuit), smart casual (polo and pants), footwear (flats/sneakers, flipflops) -- so you won't have a problem.

Why I Love Shopping in Japan

Japan is my most favorite country to shop at. Yeah, Hong Kong only comes next, and Bangkok comes third. While many think that shopping in Japan is ridiculously expensive, I'm here to be a myth buster. Shopping in Japan could be more expensive than shopping in other Asian countries. However, the technique here is to know where and when to shop in Japan just so you could get a good deal, most especially for signature items.

All of my previous trips in Japan were during Spring; and as far as I can remember, I was able to catch a lot of bargain items due to the changing of the season from Winter to Spring. I remembered shopping a lot from H&M and in Harajuku. Well Shibuya 109 is their fashion center but everything there is just expensive no matter what season it is. The brands there are all local designer brands and those shops really set the trend.

The best time to shop in Japan is from mid-December to mid-January. This is when you see the SALE sign everywhere! One weekend in December, we went to Yatsugatame Resort Outlet (outlet shops of local and foreign brands) and we've gone crazy shopping at Coach Factory where we shopped for an hour. We got 2 wallets, 3 bags, 2 bangles for just 100,000 yen or less (around Php 40,000). The Japanese people are too shopaholic that there are a lot of outlet malls/parks all over Japan. The biggest of which is the Mitsui Outlet Park Shiga Ryuo in Kyoto with 237 stores. The one we went to was the nearest to our place (less than an hour drive), located at 4000 Kobuchizawa-machi (town) Hokuto-shi (city), Yamanashi-ken (province).

The craziest shopping day is the New Year's Day! Yeah, what a way to spend so much on the first day of the year haha! Every New Year, most of the shops, most especially the local brands are preparing HAPPY BAGS. Each happy bag is filled with an entire set of outfit or multiple random items from a store and it's available on promo price. The usual price of a "happy bag" is 10,000 yen or Php 4,300. But its content is actual worth more than that. However, the catch here is that, you don't know what exact items are inside -- the style, design, color. What you only know is the size and the actual worth of all the items inside. Well, I've seen some that displayed the actual content of the bag but they're more expensive than the surprise ones. I watched in the news that there's this shop wherein a lot of people have already lined up at dawn to get HAPPY BAGS worth 10,000 yen each but are filled with items worth 100,000 yen or Php 43,000. Can you just imagine how awesome of a bargain that is?!? (I actually took photos of the happy bags but I lost them 'cause I failed to sync them to my laptop before deleting them)

So on New Year's Day, I went shopping in Tokyo with my cousin and aunts and I spent 2 hours in H&M because there were a lot of ridiculously discounted items and a lot of customers as well. I bought 10 items for only 5,000 yen of Php 2,200. That's a mix of dresses, shorts, tops, and skirts. I could've bought more but I limited my spending and my family has been waiting for me for so long at a resto across H&M. haha!

H&M Harajuku

at the roof deck of Tokyu Plaza (Harajuku)

will never get tired of shopping for bargain finds

In Japan, we live in the province but we're just a minute or two away from boutiques and department stores. I think we go shopping like at least twice a week. On weekends we go to the malls in nearby cities such as the Aeon Mall in Kofu (Yamanashi), Don Quijote (Matsumoto, Nagano), etc. Imagine how much this trip damaged my pocket. But still, I was thankful 'cause I got a lot of free shopping from my aunt, uncle, and cousin.

my cousin is my forever shopping buddy

Bangkok Valentine's Weekend: Arrival

My bestfriend and I have been wanting to go to Bangkok. However, the cheapest air fare that we used to find was around Php 12,000. But luckily, we stumbled upon a seat sale via Cebu Pacific late last year. We immediately booked a roundtrip flight, which cost around Php 7,000.

After booking a flight, I informed a Thai friend of mine (whom I met in a conference here in the Philippines in 2009) that we're coming on February 2013. My friend offered to give us free accommodation in Bangkok. He's a CEO of a land valuation company in Bangkok, so he booked us at a hotel near his office. And other than him, I also met the daughter of his bestfriend at the same conference. She is around 4-5 years older than me, but she's now about to graduate on her PhD, and a director (but acting CEO since her CEO father is sick) of their land valuation company. They really impressed me because they're very down to earth and really kind and very accommodating.

Anyway, if you're going to Thailand, have your peso changed into baht here in Manila before leaving. In our case, we had some of our peso changed into baht via BPI (thank God for a friend who's working there and was able to endorse us to the right person) because Czarina didn't have baht. During our previous travels, we got our money changed into won, HKD, and RMB/yuan there, given that we had them reserved. Unfortunately, not in the case of baht. 

We had our traditional BFF Valentine's dinner at the airport because our flight was at around 9pm. Then we finally boarded the plane for a 4-hour ride!:) Our flight was on Feb. 14, but we arrived in Bangkok at around 12am of Feb. 15; and we were there until the night of Feb. 17, 'cause our flight was past midnight of Feb. 18.

Upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, we took a cab to Nararam Suite 3 (88/15 Narathiwas Soi 28, 30 Nonsi Road, Chongnonsi, Yannawa, Silom / Sathorn, Bangkok, Thailand 10120). It's important to bring a map with the address written in Thai and be sure to have the hotel's contact number ready. In our case, we printed out the address and map but it wasn't written in Thai. Just when we thought the dispatcher (can speak and understand English but not so much) was able to relay our destination to the taxi driver well, we got a bit lost. I was forced to turn on my data roaming because we badly needed Internet and GPS. Apparently, we were brought to condo nearby our hotel; it's just that we can't get through because the road is being closed every night. We had to go the longer route to get to the hotel. Good thing the cab driver was nice enough to ask people for directions, and thank God, he's not an irate driver.

pink taxi

We paid him 400 baht even if our meter was only 350 baht because we were really grateful of him. But actually if we didn't get lost, our meter would only be less than 300 baht haha! Also, other than the cab fare, we also paid for 2 toll fees from the airport. One was 25 baht and the other was 45 baht. The airport is kinda far from the city proper. So upon arriving at the boutique hotel, we just told our host's name and we were given our room key. We're happy with our accommodation because besides the fact that it's free, it's actually a nice suite. I really recommend it because it's in a peaceful neighborhood and the room rates are affordable. It just costs an average of Php 1,200 per night for 2 pax; however, it's not that close to downtown where the malls and party places are.

Here's what we have initially spent:

Manila

1. Airfare (via Cebu Pacific) - PhP 7,000
2. Accommodation (3 nights) - FREE
3. Terminal Fee - PhP 1,620
4. Travel Tax - PhP 550

TOTAL: PhP 9,170 each

Bangkok

1. Toll Fee 1: ThB 25

2. Toll Fee 2: ThB 45

3. Cab Fare: ThB 400

TOTAL: ThB 470 or PhP 655 (PhP 328 each)

Exchange rate: ThB 1.39 = PhP 1.00

TOTAL: PhP 9,825


xoxo,

city girl

We Survived Shanghai!

The night of our Day 3 was the schedule of our flight back to Manila. We took the Metro Line 2 from East Nanjing Road to Pudong International Airport, which took us a little over an hour in the train. We checked-in at the Cebu Pacific counter, but since it's already 11pm, most of the food places there were already closed. There's one open somewhere near the boarding gates, but it's quite expensive there. We chose to spend all the Yuans left in our pockets here! haha! (But when I got home I actually found a left over of around 140 RMB in the deepest part of my bag haha)

survivors! haha!

 we were too hungry that we forgot to take a photo of the ramen we ordered lol

just so you won't get bored at the airport

After all the misadventures in our 3-day trip in Shanghai, I can say that we really had fun. We had a lot of discoveries and we learned a lot from this trip.

Although we initially planned to visit Shanghai Zoo, the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, the Jiang'an Temple, the Jade Buddha Temple, and the buffet at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, we were not able to do so due to our very tight itinerary. We could've gone to all of those places if we stayed there for 5 days. But of course, that would mean more expenses. So here's a quick estimate of our expenses:

Round Trip Airfare (Manila-Pudong Shanghai-Manila) - Php 5000+ each

*Our trip was dated Sept. 20-24 and we bought it on promo on the 1st week of June.

Accommodation for 2pax (3 nights) - Php 4100 (so Php 2,050 each)

*We booked it via Agoda and paid through credit card. Among the Jinjiang Group of Hotels, Jinjiang Inn in Donbaoxing had the highest ratings, and we agree!:)

Philippine Travel Tax: Php 1620 each

NAIA Terminal 3 Terminal Fee: Php 550 each

ERA: Intersection of Time (Shanghai Circus World) - Php 1254 each (or 190 RMB)

*We're supposed to by the farthest seats at 90 RMB but we missed the day we originally reserved those seats so we had no choice but to use a credit card to pay for 190 RMB each on the night of the show (since 90 RMB seats were already full); but it's worth it!:)

Pocket Money (shopping not included) - Php 7500 each

*We had this changed to Yuan at Czarina Money Changer in Makati Cinema Square. Just make sure you reserve Yuans 3 days prior to the day you'll have your money changed. To cover transportation, food (and cocktails haha) expenses, entrance fees to attractions and some "pasalubong" to our common friends. It's always better to bring a credit card or contingency funds.

Emergency Expense (Airport Hotel Accommodation for 2 pax for 12 hrs) - Php 2,625 (or Php 1312 each

*Cebu Pacific flights are always at 8:20pm and you arrive there in Shanghai at midnight. It is better to book that as your first night in your hotel because that's our mistake. We thought we could stay at the airport 'til the Metro opens at around 5:30am but Pudong International Airport was just a dead zone by midnight 'til before sunrise. So we ended up booking an airport hotel (15 mins away from the airport w/ free transfers) at 398 RMB even if we stayed there for only 8hrs. Thank God for credit cards!

So we spent a a total of Php 21,400 each in our 3-day trip. Could've been cheaper if not because of that emergency expense haha!

Some quick tips:

1. Do a lot of research so you can plan your itinerary and come up with a budget.

2. Download these apps: Trip Advisor, Wow Shanghai, Shanghai Metro, Guidepal Shanghai.

3. To be updated of the events, log on to www.smartshanghai.com.

4. If you're a CouchSurfer, there are a lot of CS members there who have available couches you can surf. Although I wasn't able to meet with any of them due to our tight schedule.

5. Make a reservation online for your ERA tickets and just pay upon pick-up before the show.

6. Be sure that your check-in baggage weighs exactly as the allowable baggage weight or else you'll end up opening your baggage there and pulling out your stuff to make them your carry-on baggage. I suggest you bring an extra bag (a foldable one) so if you have to remove stuff from your check-in baggage, you can move some of your stuff to your extra bag for carry-on baggage.

7.Bring food and water all the time because you might be skipping meals trying to accomplish everything in your itinerary.

8. Wear comfortable clothes, most especially your footwear! Flats or sneakers will do.

9. Bring Chinese Yuan. Reserve Yuan first at Czarina Money Changer.

10. Do not trust the 1st price they give you. Haggle to death! Be kind always but try to act as if you're leaving so they'll chase you and give you the price you want.

11. Get a city map at the airport. It will navigate you to the famous attractions there.

12. Bars and Clubs are primarily located in Fuxing Road, plus some are in Century Avenue and The Bund.

13. In crossing the Huangpu River, take the ferry as its way cheaper and better than The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel.

14. Dedicate an entire day for shopping. We were not able to do it!

15. Get the number of the Shanghai Translator (maybe online).

16. Roam your mobile phone. Data roaming is available at promo rates with Globe because of the Bridge Alliance. For Smart, data charging is per KB usage.

17. Ask the person from the check-in counter to put a "Fragile" mark on your luggage so they won't torture your luggage.

18. They don't have Facebook and Twitter there but there's Foursquare, Path, and Instagram.

19. It's super hard to find a free wifi hotspot there. There's an open wifi at O'yamee in Century Avenue though haha!

20. They said buffet's good at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower revolving restaurant. Lunch is cheaper than dinner, and it's priced at around Php 2000 - Php 2500. We missed that because we didn't have much time.

So that's a wrap! Hope this can guide you as you plan your trip to Shanghai.:) Check out my previous posts for more detailed tips:

http://www.citygirldiaries.com/2012/10/surviving-shanghai-day-3.html

http://www.citygirldiaries.com/2012/10/surviving-shanghai-day-3.html

http://www.citygirldiaries.com/2012/10/surviving-shanghai-day-1-official.html

http://www.citygirldiaries.com/2012/10/surviving-shanghai-arrival-mishaps.html

xoxo!

Surviving Shanghai: Day 3

It's our last day in Shanghai and our itinerary as we planned actually covered People's Square, Shanghai Museum, and West Nanjing Road (for shopping). However, we got some kind of deviation from our originally itinerary.

We're supposed to start our day early but we ended up waking up late because our beds and sheets were too comfy! haha! So we had breakfast at Mcdo, which was two blocks away from our hotel. Then we walked to Baoshan Road station, passing buy a market of surplus goods. Well it looked like Divisoria of gadgets, kitchenwares, industrial stuff, etc. There were lots of people even in the streets so we didn't bother to take a look anymore.

 Double Cheeseburger and it's cheaper there than in the P.I.

We went off at People's Square station. Then we walked a couple of blocks to get to the Shanghai Museum. The museum is open from 8am to 5pm and admission is free. It's super worth our time because we got to know China even more. I've been familiar with Chinese dynasties since high school, and it's so cool to have images and artefacts to associate with  what I've learned those days about the Chinese history.

Shanghai Grand Theater

flowers!:)

inside the museum

ancient pottery

Chinese calligraphy

bad hair day lol

please excuse the kid behind me lol

panorama shot via iOS 6

I forgot the name of this road but it's a strip of restaurants and some boutiques

After a little over an hour inside the museum, we headed to West Nanjing Road, thinking of finding a bazaar in the street but there's none. We walked towards the East Nanjing Road until we found a building which looked like the Silk Market in Beijing or 168 in Divisoria. I got to practice my bargaining skills with a cute leather bag/clutch that we bought. The initial price offered was 620 RMB, and I was like...seriously?!? That wasn't even branded! She did a demo wherein she tried to burn the bag using a lighter and it didn't show any mark. So I haggled a lot of times and whenever the saleslady wouldn't agree, we were acting as if we're leaving, then she's been stopping us every time. Until we arrived at the price of 120 RMB. Imagine that?!? Well they speak good English so you can always negotiate with them without the charades haha! But I suggest, be kind when you haggle because it gets them guilty for overpricing that's why it's easier to haggle. (wasn't able to take a photo of the building)

Shopping there wasn't enough so we headed to the Super Brand Mall, a 13-storey shopping mall in century Avenue. We didn't have much time to shop because we had to catch our flight later that night. Surprisingly, we spent about an hour in H&M on the 1st floor of the building and we had to do a 15-minute grocery shopping for "pasalubong" in the supermarket at the ground floor. After that quick shopping, we took a cab back to the hotel, fixed our things, and left the hotel. The security guard of the hotel called a cab for us and we thought they already talked about where we're headed to. But apparently, they didn't. The taxi driver couldn't understand that we wanted him to take us to the East Nanjing Road station since that's the nearest Line 2 station from the hotel, and that's the metro line headed to the Pudong International Airport. The driver was too kind and resourceful that he used hi cellphone to call the Shanghai Translator call center. He passed his phone to us then the agent on the line said, "This is the Shanghai Translator. Where do you want to go? I will translate it to your driver." It's super cool! I suggest you search its number online because it will be useful if you don't want to do charades haha!

About our departure, I'll share it on my next post. I will also include a summary of our trip, some tips and a bit of an estimated expense to help you guys on planning your trip to Shanghai.

xoxo

Boracay November 2011 (Day 1)

It has been my tradition to go to Boracay twice a year. One during Summer and another before the year ends, usually on the weekend nearest to the Bonifacio Day holiday. This time, my Boracay trip was totally different from my previous trips. I can say that this was my most extreme Boracay experience. Extreme in the sense that it's the most relaxing, yet the most stressful also. Wanna know why? Then read on...

Day 1 (Nov. 24) - Arrival

It's my first time to fly via Zest Airways. I've always been scared of it since it used to be the same franchise as the Asian Spirit which never had a good record. Anyway, I booked my flight 18 days prior to my departure. It only cost around Php 1500 roundtrip! I was supposed to fly with my other girl friends, but certain circumstances kept them from leaving Manila, and that's why their tickets were gone just like that. So i flew alone. My flight was at 7:50 am so I left the house at around 5:30am. I arrived kinda early. Our flight was on time too.

 nice plane :)

So I was at the airport at 9am, waiting for my friend who's from Kalibo/Boracay. He got stuck running errands and was able to pick me up only around 1:30pm. Imagine how long I have waited! Good thing i brought my Netbook which allowed me to watch my homework video for my class. When my friend arrived, he drove me to the shuttle/van terminal. First time to ride a van without an aircon from Kalibo to Caticlan. Instead of paying Php175 (w/ a/c), I only paid Php 100. The driver was fast so it took us an hour of travel only.


Upon arriving at Caticlan, I asked the van driver to take me to Boraland, a port for passenger boats for Boaracay locals. These were just small boats which can hold around 5-10 people only. Life vests were there but were not required to be worn. It only cost me 20 bucks! haha! It was just a 5-minute ride. Then I took a tricycle to the guest house which was being owned by my friend's Aunt. I only paid Php 25 for the tricycle. Anyway, the staff of the guest house met up with me along the road and we walked to the beach front where the room was located. So I stayed at the Vera room, 2nd Floor of the Sunshine Place in Station 1. While waiting for my other friends who took a later flight, I decided to take a nap. But because it rained hard, I got into a deeper sleep.


it was only at 9pm when my friends arrived. We had dinner at Smokey's in D Mall, went back to our room and watched TV. After an hour, we went out to meet our other friends. We had a couple of drinks in Guilly's Island and checked out Juice Bar. But since it's about to close, we moved to Summer Place, where we only had grilled isaw and hotdog. Since our night started late, we were only out for a few hours. We were already home at 3am and not tipsy at all. It's a very rare Boracay experience for me. haha!

we really thought this kid at Smokey's was a boy, until we realized she's wearing a skirt!

with our couple friends in Guilly's Island

 with my roommates, cousins Maze and Almeric

 and we capped the night with "isaw" haha