A Wanderlust Bug

I was here several years ago, Vietnam food cravings funnily enough, but try to eat a lot of Vietnamese eateries in Manila and which have not seen any shop selling delicious noodles at all. Always find out what the new open shop Vietnam not to seek answers to the question: "What shop sells the most delicious noodles in Manila?".

Pho Hoa is bland, cold soups interrupts, such as noodles, the rice-noodle stalks. The other shop like she said, she is a little better but Foreign soups still tasteless, like eating noodle soup, but the other items are okay to eat well. Then there is one open shop in Greenbelt 5, nothing like French name but sells Vietnam, open for a while, then inexplicably shut always, this shop I just fried ice cream to each stop. Recently there is a shop near my house, whatever it Vina Trang, Da Lat your open person must, noodle soups it also ok, but served too bored, her day crying broken rice plate which carries out normal completely different than the picture, then piece of bacon smoky fires blackened because (hardware inside is still immature ...), so staff had also lied when asked why the visitors scored the broken rice which normally serve rice. She eats with her one day that reflects the whole chicken noodle chicken bones, but also blood red, too. ... I completely disappointed, sad at the time, thought not know when I was eating delicious noodle bowl here.

That was about two weeks ago, naturally Saturday and then the two of us discovered a new noodle shop called Annam Vietnamese Noodle Bar, this shop specializes in the sale of Singapore but pho and Vietnamese noodle dishes (including pasta Quang always which have not yet tried) answered the question "best pizza shop yet in Manila?" mine. Yes, but the quality Vietnamese rice noodle Singapore, beautifully decorated restaurant, very neat, polite, good service and, more importantly, eat too delicious pho, noodle bowl driven from spiraling, soft noodles, and Australian beef too delicious too soft, soups it and not say it, the first time I was eating delicious noodle so that Manila. Besides shops sell many products from Vietnam such as tea, coffee, fish sauce haha. Well you eat there always try spring rolls, delicious and light, extremely fragrant lotus scented tea always. He ate that compliment my lover forever. But food prices are higher here than in other places (that's money that haha, Australia, the beef noodle soup is expensive of course). The address you see on their website at: http://annamnoodlebar.com.ph/ offline. Who in Manila had to try it and see, how delicious, delicious not over toinau feeding, try to be haha ​​bad.

I only had 3 days in Cebu, so did not have enough time to visit the islands. However, in order to save time and have more comfortable resting on the beach, I decided to go to the private beaches of the two luxury hotels and resorts in Mactan -  Shangrila and Mövenpick to visit. Shangrila is visited in the morning, and Mövenpick in the afternoon. Visiting the private beaches in some nice hotels not only brought me new experiences but also there were many activities, restaurants, clean bathrooms, handsome guys and gals. Here is my travel experience Mactan, Cebu, Philippines. 

In order to get to these two places, you can ride a jeepney from the city of Cebu. We went to Park Mall from Colon by jeepney to get another jeepney to Mactan (don't forget to mentioned with the driver you want to go to Shangri-la to make sure you not get on a wrong jeepney). Jeepney fare from Colon to Parkmall is 10 peso only. You will pay a bit higher to get to Shangrila or Mövenpick from Park Mall. If you want to get there by taxi from Cebu to Mactan (Mactan airport area), it's about 200-300 pesos, if there is bad traffic, you may have to pay up to 400 pesos. After arrival, just tell the guards of the hotels that you want to go to the restaurant, then you can play there all day comfortably. Juices from Shangrila in Mövenpick restaurants are also not expensive, only about 130peso-250peso / glass depend on what types of drink you want, if you drink a cocktail or wine and some other things can be more expensive.
For me, the beaches of Shangrila is more beautiful, white sand and blue sky, and the beach in Mövenpick is much smaller but the design of Mövenpick is more modern Not to mention Mövenpick has a cool bar on the beach, very suitable for the activity you like to do at night. Also both these hotels have other activities like diving, boating on the sea ..., and swimming lessons.Who is traveling Mactan in Cebu, the Philippines, do not forget to visit these 2 decent hotels, or if you do not have enough time, you can choose Mövenpick for the evening to enjoy there great bar at night.
Here are some pictures in Shangrila Mactan, Cebu, Philippine


Here is the photos from Mövenpick Hotel

Hello guys, I visited Cebu, Philippines last weekend with a friend from Vietnam. So excited to share my trip with you.

We spent 3 days 2 nights in Cebu and Mactan. For the first day, we decided to visit Osmeña Peak in Dalaguete.

Osmena Peak is my motivation for traveling to Cebu. I don't remember where i saw its photo but I immediately told myself I had to climb it once in my life when I see the stunning landscape there. It is like a mini Bohol in Cebu which doesn't need to spend so much time to travel to. Although it is the highest peak in Cebu, no worries the habal-habal will ride you to the jump-off point and from there you will need to walk up only 20-30 mins to reach the summit and enjoy the view.

I could take only Friday off, so this trip to Cebu is kinda short. I was able to just climb Osmeña Peak, visit Kawasan waterfalls, several places in Cebu City, and relax at the beautiful beaches of two hotels Shang-ri la and Movenpick Hotel in Mactan, but anyway I still want to share a little about my Cebu travel experience to all of you. With just a little of time in Cebu, you can also manage to climb the mountain, visit the waterfall, the sea, and the city.

I bought air tickets from Air Asia but I have to say that Air Asia was really bad at delaying. They don't even give us any food or drink during the delay from 9.30pm to 1.30am. We were staying there while staring at the Cebu Pacific passengers eating their food.

Osmeña Peak is kinda easy to hike and it takes only 30 mins to be on the summit, so you don't need to walk up early to go there. I woke up at 6am and started to go at 7am to South Bus Terminal.
Below is how to go to Osmeña Peak from Colon, Cebu City. It's very easy to get to Osmeña Peak from Cebu city to be honest.

Altitude (1,000 masl)
Hiking time: about 1.5 hours to climb up and down, and take scenic photographs there. We started at 7am in the morning and got back to Cebu city around 8pm.
Getting there: take a taxi or jeepney to South Bus Terminal and get a bus toward Bato, you just ask people there then, they will help. This bus station is very clean so nothing to worry about. The bus heading Bato left at 8am, buse is with air conditioning, comfortable seats as well. You remember tell the ticket seller to drop you at Dalaguete junction (just tell them that you want to go Osmena Peak). Bus fares is around 100peso (forgot how much, but not over 170peso). Travel time is about 3 hours. However it was really traffic in the afternoon so it took 4-5 hours to travel back to Cebu.
After arrving Dalaquete junction, you can take a habal-habal. The price is 200peso/each/2ways.It will take around 20mins to 30 mins for the habal habal to ride you to the jump-off point.

Entrance fee is 30 peso/each. Tell them you do not need a guide since the trail is very easy to walk. Bring your hat because it's crazily hot there.

Hello guys,

I can say that I'm a hiking lover. I love mountains than seas. I love the feeling to be on the summit after a hard hike. More than that I hate the noisy and pollution in Manila, so I try to get out of the city every weekend or at least visit some parks to calm myself down and breath some fresh air.

Mt. Batulao is quite popular and easy to climb, about 2 hours away from Manila by bus, and extremely easy to go, just take a bus for 2 hour then walk or use tricycles. I chose the walk. Pretty beautiful mountain, during the climb, I met many weekend climbers, including foreign kids hiking and camping there in a big group. However, remember to bring with you enough water, hat, because it was very awfully sunny and hot. The whole mountain is covered with grass bushes.

Last time I didn't really enjoy my climb to mt. Gulugod Baboy since it was too crowded. I needed to wait for the others for so long and it was a bit hard to get to know others. This time I decided to hike alone, so I chose the easy and crowded mountain to climb.
Here is how to get to Mt. Batulao from Manila (Pasay).

Mt. Batulao (811+)
Difficulty: Easy but too hot
How to go to Mt. Batulao from Manila: If you stay in Makati, you can get a jeepney or taxi to LRT Buendia, DLTB bus station, then ask the driver to drop you at Batulao (111peso). When you arrive at the junction, there are a lot of tricycles waiting out there, but you can walk. It's just around 30 mins walking. Just warm your body up before the climb.
Guide: no need to hire since it's crowded here and the way to the summit really
Entrance fee: I didn't pay for that even though I saw a board which asking to pay for entrance fee, but it doesn't look legit so I continued to walk till reaching the jump-off. I just need to register my name and phone number there.
Total damage: around 500peso

Two months ago, I followed Rosheena group on Facebook to climb Gulugod-Baboy. I have written about it in my Vietnamese blog but still want to share with you again here. In the moring I went there by vans. The group is quiet crowded. I remembered there were 20 people. However, I had something to do in the early afternoon, so I decided to go back Manila by public transportation.

Gulugod-Baboy is a pretty low and easy to climb mountain. I even didn't feel tired when reaching the summit. The view is just awesome. It's not only the mountains, hills, trees, but sea and islands. Moreover, we combined it with swimming and diving in Philpan Dive Resort Anilao after the hike. We gathered at 3.30 am and went to Anilao. Started the hike at 8.30am. Here is how we get to Mt. Gulugod-Baboy from Manila.

• Mt. Gulugod- Baboy (525+)
• Difficulty: Easy (good for beginner)
• Time to summit: 1-2 hours
• View from the summit:Batangas Bay and Balayan Bay.
• How to go from Manila: get a taxi of jeepney to DLTB bus station near LRT Buendia, then get a bus to Batangas (157peso), get down from last station at Grand Terminal, get a jeepney to Mabini (30-35 peso, it takes around 30 mins). After arriving Mabini, get a tricycles to Gulugod-Baboy, 30peso/person.
• Going back to Manila from Gulugod-Baboy: tricycle to main road-30peso, jeepney to Batangas Flyover is around 30peso, cross the street and get a jeepney to Grand Terminal around 7peso, then get a bus back to Manila. If you stay in Makati, get a bus to LRT Buendia.
• Entrance fee to Gulugod-Baboy: 100peso/ person for dayhike, 200peso/person for overnight. For camping, 300peso/tent/night.
• Swimming fee at Philpan Dive Resort Anilao: 100peso/person/day
• Lunch in Philpan: 75peso for personal meal including chicken adobo + 1 rice + 1 boiled egg (but there was no fork or spoon, they ate by hands but i borrowed spoons from a friend there).
• Total damage:
  • Case 1: just hiking - no swimming: ~600peso/person (excluding drink and food)
  • Case 2: hiking + swimming: ~ 700peso/person (excluding drink and food)
  • If you want to do diving, please add 2,500peso.