Haller Cebu!

Blogger's Note

I started blogging circa 2004. Apart from my slightly poor grammar skills then, my mind was very different at the time. I threw away majority of my previous journal entries out of shame 😅 . But some made it to the cut, like this one, just something to laugh at or roll eyes with.

August 2006

Haller Cebu!

Thanks to Cebu Pacific’s Piso, Sampung-piso, Whatever-piso promos, my dreams of going to places in the Philippine Archipelago came true. I have just arrived from my Cebu Trip. It’s already 12 midnight and the post trip excitement is still lingering. Here are the main characters of my Cebu Escapade:

Rica – COSS Batchmate, College Blockmate and Batchmate, former actress;
Au – COSS Batchmate, College Batchmate and Housemate for 2 years, pretty like me
Kel – COSS Batchmate, College Batchmate and Housemate for 2 years, shock absorber
Sim – COSS brod, College Housemate for 1 sem, a multi-talented individual;
Cars – COSS sis, Rica’s former officemate, single and available (?)
Mye – Cars’s friendship, possesses the height and body of a beauty queen; powerful questioning skills
Carlene – Rica and Cars’s former officemate, quiet and “soshal!”
Nadia – COSS sis, Cebuana, one of the few vaklers in the country
Mich – Au’s officemate grew up in Cebu (but not sure if a Cebuano), our very friendly tour guide
And of course, the star of the show: me myself and I!

The Budget Trip

We were traveling on a tight budget. As for me, I really have to budget since I had another trip just two weeks before Cebu. I love traveling with “budget” people. It was fun having that “pa-mura-han” challenge with Kel and Sim in buying of food and other stuffs. My budget was, like Bora, 4000. And I have achieved less than that. We thought, we could go back there later on, when we’re richer and have more savings. That is the time when we could enjoy Cebu lavishly.

I guess this blog could serve as the audit trail of my Trip.

So here’s the start of my expenses:

Trip to the airport: 50 (commute to glorietta to meet everyone) + 70 (taxi, I have to pay for the taxi since I was like one hour late) = 120
Terminal Fee: 200

Sub Total #1: PhP 320.00

Cream-O Desperation

(intermission only) I was expecting a snack, Cream O specifically to be served on the plane. But no, there was no cream o served. I was disappointed. Just want to share. Even in our return-flight, no cream-o. It was sad.

SM Cebu

Mich, who had his flight booked earlier, fetched us in the airport. Thanks to him, the hassles of commuting (taxi/rent-a-car services) didn’t reach us. He was the one who took us to Cebu places.

Since our flight was almost lunch or after lunch, we weren’t able to eat a hearty lunch here in Manila. Mich took us to SM Cebu, to meet Carlene (who also booked her flight earlier). Actually Mich and Carlene were in the same flight, but they didn’t know each other yet. There at the SM Food Court, we ate our lunch. Other people say that Cebu is just like Manila. I guess they were right. The only difference is that almost everywhere you go, if you grew up in Manila, you won’t understand what the people around you say. Obviously they speak their language.

I may have the talent for a lot of things. But in terms of that quick grasping of language, I have none. Unlike the other multi-talented Sim, he can quickly absorb languages, as told to us in one of his million true-to-life chikas.

Here at SM, kel and I started the “pa-mura-han” challenge. We ate a nice sizzling plate meal in less than a hundred peso each.

Day#1 Lunch: PhP 85.00

Sub Total #2: 405.00

Pasalubong Muna

After lunch we proceeded immediately to “Pasalubong” centers. We talked about this strategy in the airport. That since our flight on the last day is at night time, we could do our “educational” tours at daytime. We should spend our first haggard day buying pasalubong so we could enjoy the last whole day of our stay in Cebu.

So we went to the Gaisano Mall, and there we bought the Cebu delicacies – dried mangoes and the famous shamrock otaps. Aside from the other delicacies, we bought our chichirias for our beach outing the next day as well.

So here’s my gastos:

Pasalubong: 460.00
Chichiria: 70.00

Sub Total #3: PhP 935.00

The Verbena Pension House

Since we’re on tipid mode, we decided to get the cheapest accommodation (with a nice bathroom) that we could find… just a space for us where we could put our things on, sleep, watch TV, and do bathroom stuffs. And yes, it’s cheap. I forgot how much the fee really is, but my payment at the end of this blog later on costs less than 500 for my whole stay.

We described the house as some chaka inns in Cebu City. It’s like a UPLB Dormitory. And since my roomies, sim, kel, au and I were former housemates, and are used to the UPLB apartments, we were able to adjust and eventually enjoyed the stay in the chaka house. It’s not that chaka after all. There’s air con, nice big beds with pillows and mattresses for each one of us, a bathroom very much better than the CR we had in our previous UPLB apartment, and TV.

The Puso and Barbequehan Special

Nadia, who were staying and working in Cebu already, went to the Pension house to meet us. She told us about the stretch of Barbeque-han in some place near our house, where they served the “puso”.

We were curious about this Puso thing so we went there in that barbeque stretch to eat our dinner. Puso is basically just plain rice that’s wrapped in pandan(?) leaves, about the size of a fist, and shaped like a square. I ate 9 of those for only 18 pesos! A Puso costs only 2.00! We ordered the grilled foods. I had 4 barbecues (4.00 each), 1 chicken skin in bbq stick (10.00) – masarap, 1 chicken liver in bbq stick (12.00) – they’re the best! And a 7Up (12.00).

So here’s my dinner:
9 Puso – 18.00
4 bbq – 16.00
1 chicken skin – 10.00
1 chicken liver – 12.00
7up – 12.00

Dinner Total: 68.00

Isn’t it great, a 68.00 peso dinner with a stomach’s so full?

Day #1 Total: PhP 1,003.00

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Im a little sleepy right now… so I would just list down here my other chapters/expenses…

Cebu Beach Club: Entrance Fee (consumable) – PhP 350

Plantation Bay: PhP 0.00

Videoke turned Bo’s Coffee: PhP 165.00

Nadia’s House: PhP 0.00

Ayala Center Cebu: PhP 300.00

Magellan’s Cross: PhP 0.00

Aling Ether’s Dried Fish Store: PhP 100.00

Mich’s House: PhP 0.00

Dejavu: Terminal Fee: PhP 200.00

Other stuffs:

Accomodation: PhP 350.00
Mich’s Gas and others: PhP 250.00

Babay na!

Commute to home: PhP 50.00

Total Expenses: PhP 2,768.00
Grabe ang galing! Hopefully next time, we’ll reach more destinations and stay in Waterfront. (dreams) Despite the super tipid that we implemented, it was really enjoy.

By the way, thanks to sim, here’s a new gay term learned: “level”

I’ll explain the meaning later. But if you know it, good for you. Good night muna.