Four nights in the Philippines

Dates of travel: 18 January 2015 - 22 January 2015

This entry is just a quick one, and really is mostly a hotel review. After I finished up in Indonesia (see previous post, "Indonesia will please ya"), I headed up to the Philippines to visit another customer for a few days. I had four nights in the city of Cebu, towards the south of the main islands, and I stayed at the Parklane International Hotel, so this entry covers mostly my experience at that hotel.

My journey started with a flight from Jakarta up to Manila. To the left is one of the many picturesque gardens in and around Jakarta airport; all of the departure lounges are surrounded by these. The only downside being that I don't think you can actually get out there! That's probably a security risk anyway...

But very nice to look at!

The obvious choice for the flight was Philippines Airlines. Now... I know I'm somewhat above average in height, and I know Asian people are generally pretty tiny... but seat - see right - this was a little bit ridiculous! It's not uncommon for my knees to touch the seat in front of me. But in this case, they dug in quite hard. Luckily it was not a really long flight and I somehow managed to shimmy myself into a somewhat comfortable position.

The flight left about 30 minutes later than scheduled and this had me a little concerned about my connection in Manila down to Cebu. We ended up arriving at about 7pm and I was scheduled to board at 7:35pm. Seems okay, but I still had to pick up my luggage and pass through Customs and then get the luggage transferred... but, I made it! I then sat in the departure hall of Manila airport for about 40 extra minutes than scheduled because this flight was late for departure too. So really, I had worried about nothing!

In the end, I got to the hotel at about 10:30pm and was ready to pass out right away. I was a little disappointed to find out I would be staying in a room with two single beds (as opposed to a double/queen/king), but by that stage, I just didn't have the energy to complain! The room was okay; nothing special, but nothing particularly wrong with it either. The view from the room was quite nice, albeit just a mountain-backed city. A quick check of Google Maps tells me my room was facing inland, to the north-west-ish direction. I suppose the rooms facing towards the south would have had a nicer view: towards the ocean. But those rooms probably also cost more!

The Cebu Parklane International Hotel has a couple of options when it comes to food.

On the first night, I went with the option in the lobby: Manuel's. The obvious accompaniment to my first night in the Philippines was the local iconic beer, San Miguel. A very fresh, light beer, for those playing at home. Not too bitter and very refreshing.

Manuel's does offer an a la carte menu, but it's selling point is the buffet. For about $20, I was treated to two of these tasty beers and a wide array of food from many corners of Asia as well as western flavours. It really was a very tasty way to finish my first full day in the Philippines. Oh, and there was a little vegetable-man standing guard. To top of an already full stomach, one of the restaurant staff insisted I try a traditional Filipino dessert known as "Halo Halo", seen to the right. Basically, you take whatever sweets, nuts and fruits that you want and pile them all together in a glass. Then, on top, add some finely crushed iced and some milk, and then let it all melt and mix together. It's somewhat like a a big melted sundae. Very tasty! Overall, I quite enjoyed Manuel's.

On my second night, I tried the hotel's Cebuan restaurant named "Kan-anan". The restaurant is located on the semi-outdoor fourth floor, next to the in-house gym and swimming pool. Being a nice night, I opted to sit out under the stars... but couldn't see any. But hey, that's not uncommon in a cityscape. The menu offered a very wide selection of local style dishes. Included among these was "stewed bull's gonads"... which I chose to NOT order! I don't remember what the names of the dishes I did get are, but they were (left first, the right) some kind of fried noodles with chillies and then goat's meat with capsicum, onions and other vegetables. Mixed the some rice, it was all quite tasty. I have to say, though, the rice was quite clumpy; not sticky like normal rice, but would be stuck together in large clumps that didn't separate properly. It tasted fine, but was just inconvenient to serve and eat: I made a bit of a mess! The other downside I would say is that the waitstaff seemed to more involved in doing other things at the bar, so service was a bit iffy. But apart from those two things, I can certainly recommend Kan-anan for a tasty Cebuan feed.

On my final full day in Cebu, I had a day off, chilling at the hotel as my job had finished one day early. Around 11am, I decided to be a good boy and head down to the gym for some cardio. I had planned to have a late lunch in the afternoon and thereby skip dinner. But after about 3km joggging and 6km on the bike, I was starving by 2pm. As I was still monitoring work emails, I couldn't really leave the hotel, so I decided to try the hotel's room service. A simple "Chef's Burger" and accompanying beer took my fancy. The meal arrived within about 15 minutes and I can honestly say, it was absolutely delicious. The burger itself was soft and juicy, smothered in melted cheese and a nice slice of pineapple. It was a very good burger. Joined on the plate with some tasty but generally mediocre fries, it really did hit the spot... but probably negated all the hard work I did in the gym, and then some!

So that about sums up my quick visit to Cebu, The Philippines. I will be back here later in the year to see this customer again, and I will make sure I can write about something other than the food, then!