Blogs from Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines, Asia - page 5

Saturday, 27th October 2012 The drive from our hotel to downtown Cebu City took about 40 minutes in heavy traffic this morning. We asked the taxi driver to drop us at Fort San Pedro - one of the chief sites in the city. These days, the fort no longer served its intended function. It is one of the last pockets of greenery left within busy Cebu. Fort San Pedro wasn't huge but it was nonetheless a peaceful spot amidst the downtown chaos of Cebu City. We took a walk through Osmena Boulevard which would lead us to Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, an impressive church that was built in the 16th Century. This is Philippines oldest church and certainly a site that all visitors - believers or non-believers should visit while in the city. The facade ... read more

Cebu City has long been thought of nothing more than a Visayan gateway, a quick stopover for travelers on their way to something more interesting or languid. But this image is quickly becoming old-fashioned in a region that has seen record number of tourist arrivals in recent years. In 2011 nearly two million tourists arrived in the island, and the figures rose by around 11 percent in 2012. Property developers are seeing the potential of Cebu City and are planning to focus on tourism starting this year. Much of the sprucing up takes place in the uptown area, especially around the Cebu I.T. Park across the Waterfront Hotel. The park has several popular chain restaurants, which serve as the hangouts of yuppies who work in neighboring call centers. The Waterfront is an attraction in itself -- ... read more

Ok. Vi ankom Denpasar flyplass ganske sent. Måtte kjøpe visum on arrival. Det står en bankomat ved siden av luka, men den tar bare mastercard. Har du ikke et slikt kort, ja da må du faktisk ut av immigrasjon (som du egentlig skal ha visum til) for å finne en ATM som tar visakort. Very clever! Og disse visum-folka er så vant til at folk betaler i dollar, så da Karina spurte hva beløpet ble i deres valuta ble de faktisk litt forundret. Vår valuta? hmm..øhh...Nåvel, Sigurd fikk hentet penger og betalt. Ut for å finne taxi. Vi kjente med en gang at dette er et sted som kun handler om en ting: penger! Du er nødt for å vite hva prisene er, ellers blir du lurt. Heldigvis spurte vi litt omkring og fant en taxi ... read more

Jan 24th The second day in Cebu city. Cebu city is really not much to be seen.... Saw an ad about Zipline, and decided to try it out, the slow day needs a bit adventure to boost it up !! This Zipline located on the top of mountain... the view up there is just breathtakingly beautiful, I can see the macatan island where I stayed, a lot of small remote islands... the whole city view...beautiful... Took a taxi there .. cost 350 Pesos from SM mall... the taxi driver is very cunning here... finding every excuses to charge you more!!! but anyway, after all it's totally worth it when I got there and saw the view... I tried twice 400 meters zip lines, once in sitting position, another in superman position... kind of scary at the ... read more

What a mission to leave the Nuts Huts! I had the choice of climbing a couple of hundred steps then the 15minute walk to the road with my bags or taking the boat across the river for 10pesos and walking the 1.5km into Loboc and taking the bus from there. I chose the boat and the 1.5km walk as that meant i could stop in Loboc and buy some of the delicious sponge/coconut hot sugar cakes that i discovered the other day when i visited and in the end it always comes down to the food! I was then able to easily catch the bus going to Tagbilaran, although it was abit squashed on the bus it was only for 40mins so it wasnt too bad, the driver wasnt crazy like most Philippino drivers and ... read more