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I’m here again trying to ward off my writer’s block. It is the end of the month again and I almost forgot to write our February birthday travel to the stunning queen city of the south, Cebu.

I really wanted to go and experience Cebu and fortunately the girlfriend want us to celebrate my birthday a little differently from the usual drinking sessions with friends. I heard so many good things about Cebu that the excitement builds up right before the girlfriend asked me if I want to travel 4 months ago.

Cebu is diversely rich in culture. With limited time, we wanted to experience much of it as possible. I spent hours after hours every day scouring blogs and websites to compose an itinerary for our trip. I also asked some tips from my ever reliant friends and coworkers who already went there. There are several ways to spend your time in Cebu and it is hard to decide what route you will be taking. Endless possibilities await you once you step in Cebu.

The itinerary that we created seemed to cover the base and we have little leeway to wander off. We managed to extend our stay from 3 days to 4 days due to the usual incapability of Cebu Pacific to handle its operations, but I would say that this also might not be possible if the company didn’t released any promos and I bet all of you readers will agree that it helped a lot to us travelers who want to spend wisely.

Well, fast forward to the travel date; Day 1, it was a sunny morning and we got off at Mactan International Airport at around 9AM and then we hailed off a cab. We didn’t took the cab with a fixed rate and the one that has an additional fee; we opt to fall in line on the metered fare cabs.

Our first stop was Lapu Lapu Shrine and Magellan’s Marker at Punta Engaño, Mactan Island since it was the nearest spot at the airport.

There is no entrance fee on this destination, just a donation box for the maintenance. There are several tourists, mostly foreigners and we didn’t waste time and took several pictures around the place.

Next stop is Plantation Bay Resort and Spa. We haggled with a cab driver to take us there and use the meter. The girlfriend is eager to go to this resort to take a peek and experience high class resort amenities and we are not disappointed. We now head to Cebu City pier to get tickets to Bohol via fast ferry. Later on, I realized that we should have first tried eating at the famed Sutukil restaurants at the Lapu Lapu Shrine where you can buy fresh seafoods and have it cook 3 ways, Sugba, Tula and Kilaw. I cannot elaborate on this further because we haven’t experienced eating here but we will surely try this on our next trip to Cebu.

After getting our ferry ticket, we head to CnT restaurant at the front of SM City Cebu to eat our lunch and to order the lechon that we will be bringing back home. Unfortunately upon arriving, there are no more lechons and only the normal meals that they usually serve. We just tried the restaurants on the other block. After which, we now head to our hotel, Gran Tierra Suites, a boutique hotel situated near Osmena Boulevard to drop off our luggage.

After relaxing a bit, we hailed a cab going to Taoist Temple. The temple is fantastic and I cannot help but awe at its splendid awesomeness!

After taking the tour, we wasted no time, and we’re off to downtown and went to Magellan’s Cross, the most famous historical landmark in all of Cebu and a popular tourist attraction, due to the fact that it is the spot where Ferdinand Magellan planted the Christian cross upon arriving in Cebu.

The cross is housed in a small chapel with mural in the ceiling depicting the scene of the first mass.

Next to the chapel is the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino; a 16^th century church. This basilica is under care of the Order of St. Augustine. This is also Cebu’s oldest Roman Catholic Church.

It was almost 5pm and our adrenaline is starting to build up by simply thinking of Sky Adventure at the Crown Regency Hotel. We want to experience the Edge Coaster and see the Cebu skyline before dusk and do the Sky Walk Extreme at nighttime. But this was not the case. We are trying to find our way riding a jeepney, and we kind got lost without even trying to ask some locals for directions. We are almost heading off to Fort San Pedro, which was originally on our itinerary on our first day but we haven’t got the time to go, and there it is almost several meters in front of us without us even knowing it! We just rode the jeepney that drove us to our hotel to take some important things.

It was already dark and we went to Larsian near Fuente Osmeña instead to grab a bite of its famous street food mecca lined up with grilled meats and seafoods such as pork and chicken barbeque, chicken skin, gizzard, liver, intestines and also some chorizo, longganisa and different kind of seafoods such as squid, fish and a lot more. It is a gastronomic festival!

You can select what your heart or should I say stomach desire and then it will be grilled to perfection. You may then eat it as is or with puso, or the hanging rice. The price is reasonable and for sure satisfaction will not be left behind! After this eating escapade, together with the long lost cousin of the girlfriend, which eventually became our tour guide around Cebu, we now went straight to our hotel to call it a day.

Our bodies are so tired and aching of this entire day exploration of the city. I forgot to mentioned that the hotel by the way is quite new, the room is spacious enough with amenities that you will see in first class hotels, the staff are accommodating and very friendly and you would not have a hard time hailing a cab or ride a jeepney. It did not even crossed our mind to change hotels after our trip to Bohol, but that is for another day.

Tomorrow is a different day as we will try to see the sights of the countryside of Bohol on our Day 2 Cebu-Bohol trip.

For details on the trip, you may read on these related posts:

• Day 2 Bohol Experience
• Blood Compact Shrine: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• Baclayon Church: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• Dine at the Loboc River Cruise: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• A Day with the Tarsiers: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• The Magnificent Chocolate Hills: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• Butterfly Center and Man Made Forest: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• Crossing the Hanging Bridge: Day 2 Bohol Tour
• Pasalubong galore at Aproniana Souvenir Shop: Day 2 Bohol tour

A really delayed post about adventure and team camaraderie.

Fostering team solidarity is one of the objectives of our trip to Phillip’s Sanctuary and is also what the owners are promoting in this eco-recreation park. Of course, we’re also here to have fun and relax our hearts out from the hustle and bustle of city life and the nerve shattering work at the office.

The trip started late afternoon on August 29-30, 2009, a little late because of some delays and the usual city traffic, but when we are already outside the city, the feeling of going out of town is in the air, all are excited and we filled our rented vehicle with laughter and hilarious jokes.

It’s quite late when we arrived at the site, and we are not aware that the place does not have electricity. Well, given the remote location, it is expected. There is an electric generator beside our log cabin that provided just enough light in the lodge and will be off before midnight. We did not waste any time and we started unpacking and set to cook. No gas stove or whatsoever but just grills. Well, no problem because we really intend to grill pork barbeques and fish and have an already packed lunch so the food that we grilled was our “pulutan” for that evening’s main event!

We enjoyed the rest of the night unwinding with a couple of alcoholic drinks and lots of stories and pictures to be reminisced after our teambuilding.

The only downside that evening was the nonstop pouring of rain since we got there. Without electricity before we sleep will be a real hassle for most of us who are not used to staying outdoors, but the rain that night is also a good thing because it kept mosquitoes from pestering us and the cool breeze acts as nature’s air-conditioning.

Come morning, and everyone is anxious what await us. We took a light breakfast and off we go to the real adventure. First, we are introduced with the owner’s grandson Steve who will be our facilitator. He mentioned a brief description of the place and the amenities and activities. We are also grouped into two and we need to cooperate with our own team and compete with the other.

The first thing we do on our adventure package is the zip line. Everyone had their share of screaming and excitement. Lots of pictures were taken already. I actually tried it twice because I could not get enough!

Then, we tried to squeeze ourselves in a series of holes in a web-like rope structure. It really busted our brains and physically challenged us on how we can transfer ourselves to the other end without touching the rope structure.

The other obstacles are net climbing, mud crawl, tight rope walk, river log balance, hanging bridge, and lastly is the tarzan jump. Personally, I like the mud crawl because it brings out the beasts in us! No more hesitation on our female teammates and we all crawl like pigs and bathe in mud like water buffalos!

I will not elaborate more how we managed to do all of these but laughter and lots of photos are not missing on any of these activities!

I will definitely endorse this place. If you are all bored of the usual venue for teambuilding like swimming, videoke and drinking sessions, then this is for all of you!

We are at first uncertain to try, but we are not at all disappointed of what came out because we really enjoyed our short stay at the sanctuary.

You can see the album of our teambuilding at my facebook, multiply and friendster accounts at

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=100634&id=691877087

http://mlvnz.multiply.com/photos/album/14/Team_Ian_TB_at_Philip039s_Sanctuary_082909#

http://www.friendster.com/viewphotos.php?a=295914535&uid=3201165

For inquiries, you may also visit Philip’s Sanctuary at http://www.phillips-sanctuary.com