Cebu, the Philippines

My friends Allison and Tyson and I decided to go off for a quick weekend trip to Cebu, one of the Philippines’ 7,000-plus islands, this past weekend. My friend Willa was visiting from New York (she was in Hong Kong staying with me for three days last week), and then she headed to the Philippines to travel and visit some of her family there, so we decided to meet her for a bit over the weekeend. (Click here to see the full set of my photos for the weekend.)

Cebu is a long, narrow island and is one of the Philippines’ most developed provinces, though the province also includes more than 160 smaller surrounding islands. It has a population of around 3.5 million. But what it’s best known for, of course, is its beaches:

We took overnight flights there and back (leaving Hong Kong at 1 a.m. Saturday and returning Monday around 1 a.m.) on Cebu Pacific, where round-trip tickets were only around $200 each. We stayed at the island’s best resort, the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa Cebu (which we only could afford because it was one night and it was shared among several people!). I highly recommend the resort.

Unfortunately, it was so nice that we never even left the grounds all weekend except once, to go to an amazing, excellent dinner of Mexican food—a real treat since Mexican food as we know it in America is virtually unobtainable in most of Asia—not even to go see the sites like the shrine to Magellan, who was killed here in 1521. So I don’t have any photos or glimpses of what actual daily life in the Philippines looks like—that will have to come on another trip. But enjoy these photos of the resort and beach.

Pool and resort grounds:

The one good thing about arriving just after 4 a.m.: It makes it much easier to see the sunrise!

The added bonus of staying at the Shangri-La is its included breakfast buffet. I’ve never seen so many breakfast foods in one setting: Cereal, granola, eggs, pastries, bread, cheese, an omelet bar, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, baked beans, fruits of all kinds, lunch meat, noodles, sushi, tomatoes, pancakes, French toast, mini pizzas…I’m pretty sure it had everything you’d possibly want.

Everything at the hotel was surprisingly affordable after the room rates, even for a five-star resort: Snorkeling was only $6 an hour, beers were just $3, afternoon snacks (chicken satay, coconut shrimp, etc.) were about $7.  And off-resort it’s even cheaper. That Mexican dinner we had? Just over $23 per person for a main course each, five appetizers to share, and two to three beers/margaritas per person. The cheap prices are definitely the perk of traveling in Asia; I can’t imagine anywhere in America where you could get things this cheaply for similar quality.

The only hitch was our flight apparently was running on “Filipino time,” or what people refer to as everything there inevitably starting or running at least an hour behind schedule. But it was a great trip.

I went snorkeling in the ocean and saw lots of cool, neon fish. I had real(ish) Mexican food. I have tan lines. They even let us take photos out on the tarmac without a mention. And I rewarded myself a bit for finishing that giant eight-month project! Now, I’m ready to go back again and explore more islands.

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