The next series of travelogues that I will be sharing with you consist of three weeks worth of vacation, touring parts of Visayas and Mindanao two summers ago. This was the time when both of us were able to scrimp the P40,000 we saved up for this adventure and learned the art of backpacking by experience. Come, join us on our journey and explore the beauty of our country. Maybe next time, we can do a backpack tour of Asia and Europe as well. *crossing our fingers now*
~~~oOo~~~
Doing a pose outside our hotel room before heading to Veranda…
After our Plantation Bay tour, we went back to our hotel to rest for a while before we were picked up by Peter’s cousin, Wawa, who brought us to their really cozy bar, VERANDA, in Mandaue City. It’s quite popular in the area and you should try to drop by when you visit Cebu. They serve fairly priced food and drinks and bands are invited to play especially on special occasions like the Sinulog every January.
Left to right: Peter, me, Martin and Wawa hanging out at Veranda…
We didn’t stay until the wee hours of the morning (which is usually the case when we go to bars) since we still have an itinerary early the next day.
It was still quite early in the evening but I was already tipsy…
April 12, we woke up early, had our buffet breakfast (which was included in our hotel package) and hailed a cab going to the North Bus Terminal. We asked around which bus to ride if we wanted to go to Moalboal and they pointed to us this Ceres bus liner heading to the Southwestern part of Cebu.
Waiting for the other passengers… I wish they’d hurry! I can’t wait to go to Moalboal!
The ride took us around 2 hours. We told the driver where we wanted to go exactly (Moalboal beach) and he told us that he’d signal us when it’s time to go down. On the way there, we passed by the city with its colorful fieras as the main mode of transportation. An hour or so, we were already passing by forests, trees, hills and seas. The sights were really spectacular! And true enough, after a little over two hours, the conductor told us that we’d be going down soon.
Wonderful view on the way to the beach…
We were dropped off at an intersection where lots of tricycle line up. We rode one and told the driver to lead us to the beach. The ride took 20 minutes until finally, we reached this beach called Bas Daku. It’s a Visayan term which literally means BIG SAND.
Good thing the ride wasn’t bumpy…
And true enough, the beach has fine white sand. We hurriedly went to the beach. There were no people around except us. Wow! There were no entrace fees too. It’s paradise, all to ourselves, for free! WOW!
Paradise at last!
Without further ado, we hit the waters and enjoyed being one with nature! There were empty kubos nearby but we opted to make this trip as affordable as possible so we stayed by the beach with my sarong sprawled over the fine white sand.
This is THE life!
From where I was sunbathing, I saw someone windsurfing. We were not alone after all. Then moments later, I saw a foreign guy setting up his tent with his two kids and some locals enjoying their afternoon by the beach as well. But still, it felt like the whole place was still ours.
I hope we can do this too someday…
We stayed for a few hours. When we got hungry, Peter bought chippy and coke at a nearby sari-sari store where our tricycle driver was waiting for us (we asked him to do so coz we might not be able to find transportation on our way back). It only cost us P100 for the roundtrip transpo and that’s with tip already!
I wanna stay here forever…
Burnt to the max, we prepared to go home that afternoon. We just retraced our route and at the intersection, we waited for a bus ride. Fortunately, a public transport van picked up passengers on the same spot and since it’s heading back to the city, we got in it too.
Awww…time to go back to the city…
After another 2 hours, we were back at our hotel, charging our digital and video cameras in preparation for another little evening delight in the city.
Ready for a simple night life this time…
That evening, it was Martin’s (Wawa’s brother) turn to tour us. We visited Cebu Waterfront Hotel and The Village (which is similar to Bluewave along Disodado Macapagal Ave.).
This is the lobby of the Waterfront Hotel
Pa would love this place! It has its own casino!
At the end of the evening, we told Martin and her girlfriend that this won’t be the last time we’ll be visiting Cebu. It’s such a laid back and at the same time progressive city with lots of potential that we’d definitely be coming back soon (which we actually did, together with Pa, last February 2006).
The next day, we woke up to a brand new vacation…
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