Touchdown: Cebu & Bohol

This is a DIY/Amazing Race/Budget and Too-many-first trip.

I have never been in Cebu & Bohol, so planning and organizing trip have really racked my brain and it's the first out of town trip with my high school buddies + their boyfriends that involved an airplane, so I feel all the pressure to make this as smooth as possible, though no one really putting pressure on me (me being an over-thinker can really kill me one of these days)

This trip is supposed to be in Palawan, but you know how airline sales go in the Philippines, so we changed our target location and booked Cebu instead.  While searching for the Tourist Spot in Cebu, we learned that the beaches are 3 hours away from the city so my best friend suggested to go in Bohol since she's been there instead of spending some time in South Cebu, and this trip was born.

It was a 4 days & 3 nights DIY trip last July17-20 (except in Bohol in which we have an amazing contact ^^). I have mentioned that it feels like an amazing race, and it is. Our bound for Cebu flight was scheduled at 6:00 AM so we need to leave our house at 3:00 AM, so sleep is nowhere in sight that day. For this whole trip, we sleep from one place & woke up in another. 

My best friend, her boyfriend and I close our eyes when the airplane takes off, the last we heard was the plane was experiencing some turbulence and we woke up when the flight attendance were announcing that we have arrived at Cebu.

My bestfriend & her boyfriend I just wake up look when we reach Cebu.

While searching for our destination, I was taking some of their pics!

Our plan was to do some city sightseeing before we board the Bohol bound ferry. We act like locals so after lunch at SM Cebu, we went to Fort San Pedro via Jeepneys and walk towards the Magellan Cross (we have our luggage that time, so it's a bit of a hassle and the Cebu heat can compete with Manila). 

Us, taking some break from the Sun in Plaza Indepencia. 

When in Cebu, you must take a shot with Magellan's Cross!

After our must have tourist shot, we head to Pier 1 to wait for our Ferry Boat Schedule. I was worshipping their port because it saves us from heat (they are air conditioned!) and we have ample of time to rest from our busy itinerary.

Taking some selfies with the HS friends! (were incomplete here)

We spent the 2nd day with water related activities, such as Dolphin's watching (too bad I don't have a pic for that, but we saw them!), snorkeling, swimming with Pawikans and visiting Virgin Island. 

One thumbs up for the water activities 

Me trying to show the scuba diving spot, it was scary!

We did visit the bee farm and gained some knowledge about them, though what we have retained must be something our tour guide don't want to hear.

Trivia:

 * Jollibee's butt & twirl dance is actually a dance used by the scout bees to teach the collector bees the direction of where to get their food.

* All workers are female bees

* They have a very systematic system. 

What we have learned from the Bee Farm? 

* Some of the our guys wanted to be a Drone Bee, imagine you will be lazy all your life and wait for the queen impregnation days. Who wouldn't want a job like that?

* I will never be a scout or collectors bee, I have issues with directions

* I long to be a queen bee! haha 

Taking some picture with the bees! (We have the queen with us)

Our 3rd day was spent on appreciating Bohol's gift. We went to see the Tarsier and took some pics with the famous Chocolate Hills. We even ate chichaworm, which tasted like dried shrimp shell. We ate at Loboc Cruise & Buffet and listen to their famous choir and took some post card shot at Blood Compact Shrine.

Hello Chocolates!

We can't take a nice shot with the small tarsier, so their sign is a enough proof.

The Loboc Cruise & Buffet :D

Post card shot at Blood Compact.

The day 3 ended with us boarding the ferry going back to Cebu. Once we were in Cebu, we immediately checkin at our pension house, went outside to look for food before we took our rest for that day.

Our day 4 start a bit late, we have left the pension house near 11 PM and check out our things (The pension house was so kind to let us leave our luggage there so we could roam around the city). We ate at the local eat all you can seafood restaurant, their food is really good at an affordable amount . After our lunch, we proceed on visiting Temple of Leah and Taoist temple. The only way to visit the Temple of Leah was to ride a motorcycle, and so we rent one. The ride going to the Temple is really good, we enjoyed it since you have the chance to see the whole city.

A bit dramatic shot from Temple of Leah

Jumpshot from the Top!

We went to the Taoist temple after and we took some wrong turn that resulted in long walk,  then we had tried to walk again from the temple to our pension house that didn't end so well so we unanimously decide to ride a jeep before we all die from exhaustion. 

We are a big group so we decided that some of us will go to Tabo-an market, while the rest will go straight to the airport with the rest of our baggage. After our pasalubong hunts, it slips on our mind that a taxi can only accommodate 4 passengers, so my best friend and I decided to get another cab and let her boyfriend, and our other 2 friends ride the cab.

The taxi hailing was a bit stressful since it's already rush hour, and I swear we looked like 2 crazy girls hailing while walking because we were running out of time. Our flight was schedule at 9:20 PM and it was past 7. We were really lucky that one man told us to walk straight ahead since there is a near by mall, and the taxi driver wasn't picky, he let us board the taxi and turn on the meter.

Once we were in the airport, we had been informed that our flight was delayed. We stayed 4 more hours at the airport, and get on the 2:00 AM flight.

I would say this is a successful trip, and we actually met our budget! :D 

So I am pretty sure that we will have more trip in the future! ^^

Til our next trip! ^^

I will post a separate post about our itinerary, contacts, and cost for this trip! :)