Yes, we took advantage of the CNY holidays. Yes, the kids are skipping school on Monday. I think it is mostly celebrations anyway.
We have been talking about going to Cebu but every time we tried, we hit the monsoon period. February is perfect and the air tickets (Scoot) were very reasonable. Let’s go!
Our flight was 8.20am this morning. We were up at 5ish and out at 6am. Mochi must be puzzled with the whole family leaving the house at the same time and lugging big bags too.
We got the same sitter to come by 2x a day to feed Mochi for the next 4 days. The auto feeder has been set up too.
We arrived on time and have no checkin luggage. Each of us lug a big bag, stuff to the brim for whatever we think we need for the next 4 days.
Holidays are always good.
Terminal 3 was very crowded. We couldn’t even find a table in the common area for bfast and had to go to a more atas eating place. The bfast cost us $50. Then we bought new ear pods for Zaky; he lost his. Even before we stepped out of Singapore, we had spent over $150. It is ok, we are on a holiday.
The shop has interesting mini arcade game machines.
One of the WWF cyclists is a Filipino and lives in Cebu. So coincidentally, we bumped into him at the airport. He was on the same flight as us, heading home for the CNY break. I didn’t even bump into him while in Singapore lor.
I sat with the kids and Scoot is surprisingly quite spacious. Daddy Lim didn’t mind sitting on his own, bcos I bought him extra leg space.
It was a 3.5 hrs flight. Nana snoozed a large part of the flight. I brought a ton of snacks and there wasn’t any need to buy inflight meals for Zaky.
The flight was uneventful but we were so surprised at the long Q at the immigration. There was a huge crowd and the Q snaked the entire hall. We had to do an e-arrival card and I usually do those right before departure. This round, I decided to do that the previous night and it was an absolute right choice bcos the declaration was so tedious. We have to register everybody 1st then make the declaration. Zzzz.
It took us over an hour to exit the immigration. We grabbed a quick bite of sandwiches and croissants at some cheap looking cafe but the lunch cost us S$30. I think it is bcos we were at the airport. It better be. Food can’t be so expensive in Cebu, right?
Our only activity of the day is a kayak mangrove tour. The tour is not expensive, costing about $130 for the 4 of us. The booking voucher says that the meet-up point is at The Beach Park - Hadsan. I checked and saw that it is on the same Mactan island as the airport and is about 30 mins drive away. We got a private taxi to send us there from the airport bcos the normal taxi Q was very long and the taxis were far and few. Cebu feels like Malaysia, also Bali and Bangkok. It was Valentine’s Day and it seems like a big thing. The roads were congested and so many people carrying and selling flowers.
Daddy Lim said that a Christine messaged him, informing that Ryan is our guide and to meet at some restaurant, with a Google map link. Christine SMSed me earlier too, telling me the same about this Ryan and I didn’t respond bcos it is an unknown number, it was a SMS and I duno what guide. Anyhow, when we arrived at the Beach Park, we couldn’t find this tour that we booked. When we checked the link that Christine provided, the meeting place was at the end of the island, about 22 mins drive away. Huh?!?
We managed to link up with Christine, who arranged for Ryan to pick us from the Beach Park but we had to wait 30 mins for him. We tried grab but there was no car, maybe bcos of the location. One of the staff at the Beach Park was very kind and tried to help get us a cab but to no avail. We actually saw this Ryan at the airport earlier picking up some folks. I didn’t arrange for such pick up as I didn’t know there is such service.
Ryan finally got us at 4pm. That was 1 hour from the initial activity booked time. The reason for the mess up? The Beach Park is the old venue where they used to conduct the tour. They had moved but didn’t change the documentation. Zzzzzz.
Ryan drove this Subaru that was with many barangs and we almost couldn’t fit in. Nana had to rest her legs on somebody’s bag the whole ride. I was expecting the activity to be bad bcos it started off so badly. Ryan assured that we would have enough time for the activity. After 30 mins drive to some super ulu place, we got out of the car and were told that if we needed to change, we can do so in the car. What!?? We all decided to just get on the activity in what we were wearing, which weren’t too bad. I was just glad that nobody needed to pee, else the bushes would be our toilet, like we saw a group of ladies did.
Then, we had to help to pump the boards for the standup paddle. When booking the tour, we would given a choice of SUP or kayak and I opted for the kayak. Apparently, there was no choice? My heart dropped another notch. Why like that?
It was starting to drizzle when we finally got into the water. The water was surprisingly warm. We got excited nevertheless bcos we have not tried SUP. I had opted for kayak bcos that was a safer choice but I had always wanted to try/ learn SUP. I am not sure if that is the best situation to learn; we weren’t given proper instructions or provided with life vest but Ryan assured that the water is just very shallow.
The drizzle become a passing storm. The wind was howling and we had to take shelter behind some mangrove trees.
Thankfully, the storm really did pass quickly and we continued our journey. I don’t think any of us were paying any attention to the mangroves; we were just happy with the SUP.
The whole area is very strange. There were mangroves and the water is salty and the seabed is really shallow for like forever. We took another rest after a while and we were in the middle of nowhere, but the water is only ankle high.
This was also when I stood up.. for pictures only. I eventually did do standing up and once I got the momentum, it was actually quite fun and easy.
Remember Ryan was picking somebody from the airport? They had booked a sailing tour and we met the duo while at another rest point. They had wanted to try SUP and we ended up swopping. The “captain” told us that he had designed the boat himself and offered to bring us do a tour.
We had a “Moana” moment. The boat was very fast and we took turns to paddle. With the wind assisting, it was so much faster than the SUP.
When we came back, the duo and Ryan were gone. The kids went back to the remaining 2 boards while Daddy Lim and I rode the boat. We then “pulled” the kids back to the shore.
Nana had such relaxing time, such that when we were nearing the shore, she realised that she had lost her paddle. The sky was also darkening. Zaky turned back to search and Nana followed shortly; the paddle floats but not the easiest to find in the fading light. Thankfully, he found it floating not far away. I was worried about losing the kids and Daddy Lim must have shared our anxiety too.
We ended the tour at about 6.30pm. It was so worth it; we got to try 2 things for the price of one. We totally enjoyed myself and I was originally thinking of leaving a bad review. No need le.
That place was so ulu and Ryan kindly sent us to a nearby dinner place that was so packed. He ended up sending us to a MacD that was equally packed but there was a huge outdoor eating market beside. We used the MacD toilet before heading to the outdoor market.
It was so crowded and we were probably the only foreigners. We had no idea what to do and anyhow found an empty table and ordered some Korean food. Our table was super far away from the stall and we were worried that the staff wouldn’t be able to find us but they did.
They did. Yum, yum, chomp, chomp. We also ordered from the BBQ stall right in front of our table but it was this stall that messed up our order. We had to purposely stand in front of the stall. They eventually served us but the food was cold; the food was BBQed in advance. Then why take so long??!! Angry.
We managed to book a cab via Grab to our hotel - Elizabeth Cebu, which is in Cebu City. While the traffic was busy in Mactan bcos it was Valentine’s Day and Saturday night, there were just so many cars in Cebu City. After crossing the bridge, we had to slowly jam until a point to make a U turn and jam again.
Anyhow, we got to our hotel safely and it was already 9pm. Yawn.
Mummy Lim
