PANORAMA OF DEVELOPMENT. SM Seaside City-Cebu (left) gets direct access to Mactan Island via the city’s newest icon, the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (right). Photo by Bong Lacson
ALMOST THREE years of pandemic grounding – last flight to Kaohsiung in December 2019 yet – turned me into a travel tyro all over again. You know that “promdi” feel upon setting foot on an airport for the first time: of excitement and trepidation, of awe at the swirl of the surrounding – this time all the more magnified by the magnificence of the CRK New Terminal. Truly, awed.
Only, to be jolted to the harsh
reality that we – passengers of Cebu Pacific’s flight 5J157 to Cebu that early
morning of June 3 – could not avail ourselves of the “welcoming and inclusive spaces…at
the heart of CRK” as promised by then-BCDA chief Vince Dizon in one of the
pre-opening media sorties at the airport, “where we embrace a positive
atmosphere and treat everyone with utmost respect.”
Yes, herded as we were at the waiting area of Gate
9, prevented from crossing over to the aforementioned spaces, depriving us of
the promised “sense of place” evoked with a view of majestic Mount Arayat at
sunrise while lounging on those sinuous sofas of rattan and wood crafted by
Betis artisans.
Reduced to marveling at
the ceiling “reminiscent of the Zambales mountains” rendered in wavy massive
glued laminated timber, instantly drawn to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was I
to post on FB a photo captioned: “CRK. So world-class that even Spiderman came
over and left his web.” Or maybe CRK is just planning a
Halloween theme this
early, hence the accumulation of clouds of cobwebs at the rafters.
All pre-flight bitterness
turned all-too sweet upon boarding 5J157, starting with the sunny disposition
and welcoming smiles of the flight attendants, to the fine service onboard.
And yes, my past – both
remotely and immediately pre-pandemic – experiences with the airline hold: CebPac
is never on time, it is always ahead of time. Be it in Narita or Chek Lap
Kok, Itami or Suvarnabhumi, Macao or Changi, in Davao, Iloilo, and Cebu, but of
course.
It’s the nth time I came
to the Queen City of the South, but the feeling was no different from my first
in the 1980s. In Cebu, never did I succumb to that been-there-done-that ennui of
the jaded traveler.
Foregoing the usual must-see
sites of Magellan’s Cross and the Basilica
Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu, Fort San Pedro and the
Mactan Shrine, the 17th century Yap-San Diego Ancestral House and
the Osmena Residence, our itinerary, courtesy of the Department of Tourism-Region
7, took us to the city’s newest destination – its highlands. Yea, Cebu is not
all beaches and cultural heritage, it has mountains too.
The Highlands
Buwakan ni Alejandra. Photo courtesy of Borj Meneses
Taking the pre-eminent spot is Buwakan ni Alejandra, a 700-square-meter expanse of rolling hills blanketed with plants and flowers – “buwak” in Cebuano, hence the name – of all hues found in the LGBTQ+ kaleidoscopic flag, and more. The garden lies along the Cebu Transcentral Highway, about an hour from the city center.
Second is the Adlawon
Vacation Farm in its eponymous mountain barangay that offers staycation of
“buhay probinsya” right within the bounds of the metropolis.
Unfortunately, ours was not even a stay
overnight but a quick look-feel of 15 hectares of forest green of mighty mahogany
and majestic acacia trees, a sprinkling of other forest and fruit-bearing
trees, flower gardens and vegetable patches, as well as plant nurseries and
animal pens. The Lodge is the main structure at the farm, housing guest and
function rooms, a library and lounge, an entertainment center and a viewing
deck. A Chapel of the Resurrection stands at the farm too.
Adlawon Vacation Farm. Photo courtesy of Borj Meneses
All-organic, all farm-sourced was the sumptuous
lunch served us at the Kusina Luche by hands-on owners Atty. Danilo Ortiz and Dra. Melinda Ortiz themselves.
Really wished
we had stayed overnight, if only to witness the farm’s claims of spectacular
sunsets and magical moonrises.
Speaking of
Dreamland, Summit Galeria Cebu more than fits the bill. The Sinulog Premier
Room where I nested for two nights provided not your usual starred-hotel amenities
but customized luxuries – a king bed, finest linens, ultra-soft non-allergenic
pillows, a living room tastefully decorated with art pieces.
Sinulog Premier Room at Summit Galleria. Photo by Bong Lacson
Why, Summit Galleria Cebu even indulged the mallrat in me with a direct access to Robinsons Galleria, and most pleasurably at that, via Café Summit, the hotel’s all-day restaurant serving diverse dishes ranging from the classic to the exotic. A letdown though – no “danggit” for breakfast in the two mornings I was there.
Food
trip
At the mall, we
indulged in a feast of the senses of sight, smell and taste at The Chocolate
Chamber Café, with Cebu’s Chocolate Queen herself, Ms. Raquel Choa, raising to
the level of performance art the preparation of “tablea” into a “sikwate” for
all of us to drink. So remarkable was her performance that it merited a
separate short feature published as a sidebar story.
Tablea. Photo courtesy of Borj Meneses
A food trip this coming to Cebu did turn out, indeed. Contrary to my wont in my usual travels, I did not have to dispense with my innate Capampangan culinary conceit this time to enjoy whatever the table offered.
Dinner at all-day
buffet CAFÉ bai with its multiple live cooking stations dishing out the best of
East and West cuisines was no simple gastronomic experience but a gluttonous
excess. Made superbly wonderful by the presence of bai Hotel’s GM Alfred Reyes,
a dear friend dating back to his days at Widus Hotel in Clark. The night view
of Mandaue City from the hotel’s Twilight Roofdeck Lounge + Bar capped the
evening’s delight.
Mandaue City nightscape from bai Hotel’s Twilight Roofdeck Lounge + Bar. Photo by Bong Lacson
Next night’s dinner at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu made an almost perfect duplication. The evening tryst though starting not ending with cocktails at Blu Bar & Grill overlooking the city with GM Roel Constantino. A brief look-see at selected rooms and facilities of the hotel led to a feast at the Café Marco – easily proving its claim as “Cebu City’s favorite international buffet.” Native grilled salmon head, in all its tasty simplicity, easily became my favorite dish there though.
Buffet station at Café Marco, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu. Photo by Bong Lacson
We were given a
sneak peek of the complex’s Fili, the five-star brand of Robinsons Hotels
Resorts, now nearing completion. Two other hotels are in various stages of
construction at the same site of Nustar Resort and Casino, the flagship project
of Universal Hotels and Resorts, a privately owned corporation of the Gokongwei
Group focused on gaming and integrated resort developments across the
Philippines, so the collaterals say.
Cebu’s premier 5-star integrated resort. Photo by Bong Lacson
Charles Lim,
president of our host Selrahco PR, easily pulled our legs when, on the way to
Nustar, he referenced it as “a small version” of the Clark Freeport’s flagship
Hann Casino Resort. Nustar is Hann four times, with more to spare.
Luxury
defined
While Nustar,
still a work in progress, is blurbed as “redefining luxury,” I experienced the
full meaning of the word at the Crimson Resort and Spa-Mactan. A private beach,
arguably the most magnificent infinity pool in the whole of Cebu, cocktails at
the Azure Beach Club right at the water’s edge, food, glorious food at the Enye
restaurant, a deluxe garden villa all my own – if only for a night – ah, the pesante
took a bite, albeit a small one, of the life exclusive to the rich and
famous.
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Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan. Photo by Bong Lacson
A wonder too how the resort hardly showed any remnant of the battering inflicted upon it and the rest of the city by Supertyphoon Odette only last December.
Recovered, even
renewed, from disasters meteorological and pestilential. Yes, both boon and boom
are back in the city. So delighted to take this first foray into post-pandemic
travel nowhere else but Cebu.
(Cebu
Pacific flies Cebu-Clark-Cebu daily from the CRK)
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