apple juice dispenser with the Apple logO, a Cebu speciality!

On to Bohol

Singapore to Manila, Cebu & Tagbilaran — Day 1 of 3

This post is about my first day of my trip to Philippines.

For a long time I wanted to go for a weekend trip, away from Singapore but that didn’t actually happen for a long time, until recently.

After spending some time surfing the net, asking people around, the destination happened to be the Bohol Island, in Philippines.

The route was simple: We’ve started the journey from Singapore, flew to Manila, followed by a domestic flight to Cebu. From Cebu, took a ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol.

Manila

This is the “umbrella tree” in front of the Manila domestic terminal. I couldn’t be able to find the Latin name in Wikipedia. Looks weird & kind of funny.

On our first stop, Manila, we had a couple of hours to our next flight; settled in a 24/7 cafe and decided on what we should do for the next few days. Nothing much about Manila, sorry.

After the planning, we got into the airport and greeted by a bunch of girls flying from/to a beauty contest. Better than nothing.

Cebu

Nevertheless, leaving the girls behind, we’ve landed to Cebu. Hopped into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to a place worth seeing. He dropped us to Magellan’s Cross and from there, we’ve visited Basilica Minore del Santo Niño.

Basilica Minore del Santo Niño

Lechon shop opposite of the Cebu Airport. A scene we are not used to.

We concluded our tour in Cebu by walking down to the sea side, to the pier, hopping to a ferry to Tagbilaran.

Bohol

The usual commute option around the island

Now is the time for the final destination. We had a place in mind for the night, directly went there to drop our backpacks and started walking around. It was exciting to see a new place but sad that couldn’t find a place to relax and chill —best option was Mc. Donalds!—. After a long walk, covering most of the place, we ended up sitting on a bridge, leading to the Panglao Island. While talking about what to do next, a guy spawned next to us and suggested to take us to a place where “people like us” spends time. We hopped into his tricycle.

That place happened to be the Alona Beach in Panglao Island, just below Tagbilaran. This was the place to chill so we were lucky to find here. After a nice —but short— walk in the beach, settled in a restaurant, let our feet to sink in the cold sands. End of day one, continue to day 2.