Entry 37 - Back From Cebu

I'm back from my 5 day vacation and I must say, it was a very relaxing one.  We had planned an itenerary, but we were only able to follow it on our first day.  Our original plan was to go around Cebu City for our first two days, then go to Mactan Island and Bantayan Island for the rest of the trip.  That was the plan, but what happened was on our first day, we went around Cebu City, got to visit Sto. Nino Church and Magellan's Cross.  We also went to the Crown Regency Hotel, where the Edge Coaster and Skywalk was.  After that day, we suddenly decided we wanted to stay at Shangri-La Mactan resort on Mactan Island.  Initially, we planned on staying for only two nights.  We would stay one night, go to Bohol for one night, then stay another night at Shangri-La Mactan.  But we weren't really into getting to a lot of places, what we really wanted was just to relax and take it easy.  So in the end, we decided to book the rest of our stay on Shangri-La Mactan.  Three days, quite expensive but I feel it was worth it.  The rooms looked great, all the facilities you'd expect was there.  Swimming pools, health clubs, beach, even a Timezone arcade.  Breakfast buffet every morning.  I was always looking forward to the morning where I would be able to eat a hearty breakfast, and lots of fresh fruit too.  We only went out of the resort a couple of times, one to eat dinner at Sutukil (this was very disappointing experience) as well as visit the Lapu-Lapu shrine.  We also ate dinner at Hola Espana, they served great tasting pasta and pizza.  On our last day, we visited a market in Cebu (forgot the name) which sold lots and lots of dried squid and an assortment of dried fishes.  We also didn't enjoy that experience as the taxi ride was really long and the place smelled, the type that sticks to your clothes and hair.  But I guess you really can't have it all, as we were really having a great and relaxing time at the resort, maybe some stress was needed to balance it out.

That Shangri-La Mactan was really a wonderful place to stay at, just a little expensive, but I feel its worth it.  Felt really relaxed and rejuvenated, felt my skin became a little smoother from this vacation.  But now, it's back to reality, maybe I'll add vacations like this as one of my motivations.  Really work hard, be sucessful and earn money that I can use for these kinds of vacations.