Parkmall, Cebu's Premier Shopping Hub

Cebu thrives further with the rise of another shopping mecca, the Parkmall located in Mandaue Reclamation Area, Manduae City, Cebu, just across the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

Parkmall offers a modern style architecture matching peoples urban shopping lifestyle, gaming and entertainment wants and world class dining needs. Shop all you want with its variety of specialty stores from apparels, jewelries, books, electronics and accessories, health and beauty, home furnishings, grocery among other related services. Play from the child friendly Worlds of Fun to adult drew Casino and dine with the best local and international restaurants. Everything was almost here except that it doesn't have a movie house.

What I like about this mall, the parking lot, lesser crowd and goods were cheaper than SM or Ayala.

What I don't like about this mall, location, it's far from the city proper. Security also is a huge treat with the malls surroundings, it makes you feel uneasy. Worst, all the good and fun stuffs happen in nighttime here with all the local bands playing among others. As much as I want to stay longer, the more I feel disturb because I might get robbed when I go out of the mall late night, or something like that. But that was me, I maybe wrong with this impression.

Anyways, here are some of the malls outdoor view, enjoy!

Read More

Cebu City on a Nokia N8 Snap

I was in Cebu City last weekend for personal matters giving me an opportunity to enjoy, relax and roam around, a well needed break I would say from a static schedule I had for the past few months. Its not easy balancing personal life, work, law school and these blog, one way or another, one or two was neglected but nonetheless I was able to pull it through. I'm not sure though if it will still be the same in the coming semester knowing the fact that law school becomes more and more complicated as we venture deeper.

I have been in and out of Cebu City a lot of times but whats different in my recent trip was that I have a Nokia N8 with me to account my travel escapade. And as expected, it did perform exceptionally well capturing my best images of the city so far.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, the Queen City of Southside Philippines!!!

Basilica Menore Del Sto. Nino

















Magellan's Cross









Ayala Center Cebu











Mactan Bridge











Water Front Airport Hotel (Left), Muelle Osmena Opon Lapu-lapu City (Right)











Pancake House' Banana Caramel Wallnut (Left). Chandelier (Right)











You really don't need to carry a still camera to take casual images, all you need to have is a mobilephone, the Nokia N8 no less.

Read More

Rush Ahead Cebu City 2011

The moment this post comes out, I’m already gone to the airport heading to the Queen City of the South, Cebu City, Philippines which I missed visiting for more than two years now. I’m taking a vacation for three days, visit great friends and wander around the city and its neighboring attractions berserk-ly like I haven’t done before.

I had already mapped out all my plans; friends to visit and meet, places to discover and re-discover, things to do, food I longed eating, etc. It will surely be a blast! c",

A short peeped to the Sto. Nino Church and Birhen sa Regla is as always two of my primary destination as soon as I arrive. These places were my refuge for a long time and will always be a my priority destination.

Colon, the oldest street in the Philippines is a walk away from the Sto Nino Church so it’s a day 1 destination as well. I heard they have now stalls and barters to visit by sunset so let’s see how it works.

I’m a big mall rat so I will be stomping in every mall in the city. I heard there were new shoppers haven opened like SNR, the Banilad Town Center and Park Mall, well, it wouldn’t be new anymore once I put my mark on it. ;)

What else, food trip! I have to visit the Siomai house in Urgello St., they have like the best steam rice in the city, Larsian Cebu for the best barbeque, and run over one of the Eat All You Can place as one of my friend suggest. Of course I’m have always been a food adventurist and so I will be trying every food that looks interesting enough.

A dipped to Shagrila Mactan might be considered as again suggested but it remains to be seen as my time is very limited.

Unfortunately I cannot share my adventure online as it happen because I'm short of a smartphone at the moment. I can only share still camera images afterward in the blog, watch out for it. c",

Anyways, I will be off blogging for 4 days! Cebu here I go!

Read More

Religious Journey: Birhen Sa Regla

One of my most missed activity in Cebu was my devotion to the Birhen sa Regla of Lapu-lapu City. It was quite a weird devotion because I'm single and I don't definitely pray to bear kids as most of the devotees who have been beseeching Virgin Mary for miracles. It was a devotion I didn't expect to commit in to.

One of the major driving factor of this was my likeness to travel and sea breeze. Living along Urgello Street Cebu City, Lapu-lapu City is a far away place to travel and one of the best and the fastest way to reach it is through a boat ride cruising along the Cebu Mactan Channel and thats how it lead me to choose this place to worship, the boat ride. Sto Nino Church would have been my best choice because near and accessible being within Cebu City proper.

Its like, I have to crunch half day of my Sunday for this which I would usually start at around 7am. From the house, my first stop is the wharf of Pier 3 where I am to ride a boat, Metro Ferry going to Opon wharf where the church was located.

The ferry boat cost at around 15 pesos for regular passengers while student and senior citizens discounts have less 3 pesos. The trip will last for 30 minutes and you will be indulge into a breezy and relaxing boat ride with a pinch of sight seeing along the Mactan Cebu channel. You will see this scenery's.

Read More

Remembering Cebu: Gift and Souvenirs!

If you happen to be visiting Cebu City and its vast religious antiquity and you want to buy Gifts or a memento to help you relieve your fun experience, think of delicacies and souvenirs uniquely Cebuano.

I have been to a store that offers everything you need, souvenir T-Shirts, Food, Native Delicacies, Key Chains, Figurines among others. Its located along airport road, MEPZ intersection in Mactan along the vicinity of the Marina Mall and can easily be spotted when your on your way or leaving the airport. It is a regular shop, single floored, with customary store area but then enough to contain ample products and comfortable shopping.

What I like about this place is the thought of having everything souvenir turfed into one so I don't have to look from various stores and places for stuffs I want to buy and every company brand is here so you don't have scout further if you prefer variety of brands for different items, nonetheless an all in on shop.

Some of Cebu's famous delicacies, Otap, Dried Mangoes and Chicharon. Otap is an oval and thin puff pastry or biscuit created from a combination of flour, shortening, coconut, and sugar. It has a distinctive texture as result of a two-stage baking process that gives a crispy and tangy coarseness. I'm a personal fan of this delicacy because of its sweet and crispy smack to my taste bud in fact I never leave Cebu without towing this with me. Dried mangoes, from the word itself, this were ripe mangoes stripped into thin slices and then sun dried. Good thing about this food processing was that, the sweet taste of the Mango is preserve within the strip with water evaporated leaving behind a gummy and lucious fodder. Chicharon is a pork skin rinds, fried and dried and usually eaten with vinegar or with bagoong, lechon liver sauce. This delicacy can be dated back to the City's Spanish Era where it has become one of the most favorite food of the inquisitors. It have been taught and adopted by the local folks and now becoming one of Cebu's favorite food basque.

Nuts, Lace and T, among the famous souvenirs up for grabs in this shop. As you can see in the images, the nut products were pretty nutty, package into different variants. I personally like the sweet nuts, sugar coated and the super hot wiki chili. Necklaces, tons and tons of them spread over this corner of the store is a good souvenir to own. You can choose from variety of designs, types, style to fit your very preference. Lastly, T-Shirts, dubbed as the most famous and well known souvenir all over the world. The best thing about T-Shirts are that you can wear them to you hearts desire and brag them everyone. Huge prints about the place you visited specially if its a famous place brings you a sense of gratification and self satisfaction, a shout out that you've been to the place and proud that you have been.

Anyways there were several other souvenirs you can disdain like Paper Clips, Pen Holder, Figurines, Stick Up's among others and they're all in this small shop. This images by the way was taken form my all powerful Nokia N82. Happy Shopping!

Read More

Larsian Cebu

Barbecue and Cebu City, a good combination isn't it, the most enticing food in the world in the most desirable place in the country and where can you find the best barbecue in the metropolis, I have no idea, but I been to one of the most famous center of barbecue in the Queen City of the South, Larsian Fuente, located beside Chong Hua Hospital, Fuente Osmena.

It's a place where you can find several stalls of Barbecue vendors, more than 30 I guess, squeeze into one venue. I wouldn't say that they have the best tasting barbecue but you would definitely love the ambiance, the clean and tidy environment, the tantalizing smell of the marinated meat, the smokes coming out of the grill, people who were eating their hearts out among others.

Prices were cheap as well, maybe because of the stiff competition, having 30 other sellers in one place would definitely trigger price cuts to attract customers, not to mention the warm reception from representatives of each stalls waiting in the entrance to lure customers coming in to go to their respective stalls and dine.

Barbecue products, ranges from pork, chicken, to fish, chorizo, longanisa, internal organs such as the intestine, liver among others. I personally like the chorizo, intestine and liver, this are always present in my order list everytime I visit here, its a combination of sweet, bitter and tangy smack to the taste bud, toppled with a hot and spicy sauce, it becomes a perfect feast.
If your visiting Cebu City, Philippines, drop by in this place and try barbecue, Cebuano style.

Read More

Digging Cebu's Tourist Spots

And I'm not done yet with my Cebu City feature, this time, tourist spots and everything else uniquely Cebuano. All images where taken from my all powerful Nokia N82.

First on the list, the Heritage of Cebu Monument, located on the original Plaza Parian, the Heritage of Cebu Monument parades the significant and symbolic events in the history of Cebu and honors the heroic contribution of the Cebuano people to the entire nation as a whole, from the time of Lapu-lapu to the recent beatification of Cebuano martyr Pedro Calungsod. The monumental sculptural tableau is the work of national artist Edgardo Castrillo and inaugurated in Dec. 8, 2000.

Next stop, Fuente Osmeña Circle, constructed in 1901, this structure have been the primary site for the Cities long history, it was once center for cultural, social, and political events. It was converted to a skating ring during the 80's and now re transformed its original purpose, a park and a host of the City's major activities and events. The Rotunda is now sorrounded by business establishments like malls, food chains and hotels making it on of the busiest area in the City.

The Basilica Menore Del Sto Nino, the country's oldest Roman Catholic Church , built in 1565 by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi as the San Augustin Church. It is purportedly built on the exact spot where the image of the Santo Niño, a sculpture depicting Jesus as a black Holy Child, was found by Spanish conquistadors in 1565 preserved in a burned wooden box which was left behind during the 1521 Magellan expedition. Destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt twice in 1602 and in 1735 and by the orders of Cebu Governor Fernando Valdes Y Tamon it was constructed out of hard stone materials during the 1930's. Nowadays, it still stood as the heart and soul of the City bringing on devotees of as much as a thousand daily.

Colon Street, named after Christopher Columbus, it is known to be the oldest street in the Philippines. It traces its origins to the town plan by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the Spanish conquistador who arrived in the Philippines to establish a colony in 1565. It is the site of fashionable shops, offices and movie houses then and was once the heart of Cebu City's shopping and business activity, but in recent years much of this activity has shifted inland to uptown areas leaving it a bit run-down now a days. Moves have been taken to restore its epitome, restoring old architectural buildingd and by creating a night market every weekends, a splur of shopping booths and barter shops that sells the best and the cheapest home made products and goodies.

More Tourist Spots to come, stay tuned..

Read More

Cebu City, Religious Center

Aside from being a business and travel hub, Cebu City is the considered as the country's Religious capital being the place where Christianity started in the Philippines. History fortales the arrival of Magellan, a Spanish discoverer bringing with him Roman Catholicisms, conquest and upheaval change to the island. It was here that the historical Magellan's Cross was erected, the very first Spanish christian colony established and the very first mass conversion happen, the very first catholics in the island nation, the very first christian church erected, among others.

Among Cebu's religious historical spot was the Basilica Del Sto. Niño Church where the oldest Sto Niño Relic was house. As you can see in this picture, the church exudes prestige and grandeur. It speaks about Spanish colonial memoir rooted to the very heart of its architecture. Such an upholding stature for the bearer of the islands heart and soul, the Senior Sto Niño.

It was said that this miraculous relic dates back to Magellan's arrival in the island and has stood the test of time, the most important jewel in the christian nation. This is the closest image I can get since taking close picture of the relic is prohibited but then you can still see here its Holiness, the figure that brings miracles to millions of believers.

The remains of the Magellan's cross is another religious spot in the island. Its being house near the Basilica, in front of the City Hall. This is the symbol of Christianity foreground embrace and love through the decades. Another islands pride. As you can see in this picture, the cross looks solid and sturdy to think that it was erected 3 decades ago, indeed, it was, only embodied and wrap by a new wood to preserve its original figure. Now it stood still bringing towering glory and honor.

More religious spots and events in my future blog, I'm planning to come back to Cebu by Sinulog, the mother of all festival in the country and the grandest feast of Senior Sto Niño. I'm going to share with you blow by blow accounts for you to live and experience what it feels like to be part of this religious celebration. Till then folks c",

Read More

Excerpts; The Badjaos and Cebu

Badjao is a tribe that originate from Sulu, southern province of the Philippine archipelago. They live mostly in houseboats, which occasionally cluster in moorings near certain strands and beaches and their way of living, barter their sea products for farm produce as fruits, vegetables among other root crops.

This was how the past describes them, not anymore today, as this tribe migrated to different parts of the country reaching as far as Cebu City to escape from the harsh condition of their home province and this is how the new generation see them now (inset images) beggars on boats.

Being a tribe with different culture, tradition, dialect and way of life, its difficult for them to thrive in a big city like Cebu and their only way to survive is begging, the oldest job in the world, only that it evolve into a different form, adapted to a culture of boat people and living on the sea.

As you can see in this photos, they welcome arriving passenger ships from different surrounding islands and province using boats to beg for coins, food among others. They usually come in bunch bringing with them their family and asking passengers to throw coins on the water for them to swim and look for it, but what disturbs me was that they carry with them children as young as 4-6 months old so they can lure people to throw coins on them for sympathy, exposing them to harsh and cold environment being wet at all times. A harsh and inhuman treatment they can afford to inflict to their children just to earn money. A sickening truth.

How come this activities were not check by the authorities? They must be blind not to see this scenarios and to think that this practice exists for quite sometime now. Obviously, people of Cebu doesn't care also because they let this happen, a Catholic rich city with deep religious history, don't they think God wanted them to do something about this situation?

Read More

Ayala Center Cebu, Philippines

Welcome back friends c", It's been awhile now that I haven't feature Malls on my little blog and since I was in Cebu lately, I didn't let it passed by without visiting one.

I love malls, its not because I love to shop or buy just about anything, but because I applaudetheir granduer and unique ambiance, the atmosphere of hapiness, excitement and fun. People come to malls to shop or window shop, eat, watch movie or hang out. It had become a living entity that breaths to peoples desires.

I have been to a lot of Malls around the country and only few stands out, one of them is Cebu City's pride, Ayala Center.

My recent trip to Cebu was a hectic one, given only a day with business matter as the priority, I have only few free time to spare thats why I visited the Ayala mall late night but not in vain because I was in the right moment to see this incredible scenery.

This is the east side entrance of the mall, a very grandoise welcome. Look at all those flood lights, it brought a classy ambiance, its like a mall abroad and my powerful N82 capture every detail of it.


A few steps away from the entrance and this splendid site will great you. A park with a beautiful landscape at the middle of the mall. They call this the TERRACE.



A closer look at the main mall, the park is oblong shape sorrounded by the malls structure. I took this at the balcony/hallway of the south part facing the main mall on the north. I was standing on a second floor structure that gave me this view.


This is the west part of the park, eluding the same imposing view. Love it.



This is not part of the park, just took a picture because I like the scenery. The pathway seen is going to Marriote Hotel, a 4 star hotel were I stayed c", just kidding, can't afford one.


I took this photo on the west side part of the park showing the southeast. The 1st and 2nd floor of this building houses mostly fine dining restaurants, pizzeria, steakhouses, grills and coffee shops, all expensive and can't afford again.



The south building has this huge leaf style ceiling covering a part of the park. I'm taking this on the center ground of the park facing south, a gigantic facade!

If only I have images of this mall before, it would have been a great comparison. The transformation of this mall was really amazing. This is just one of the very reason why Cebu is a tourist hub, its world class facility coupled with great attractions that has historical and religious flare. Definitely a place to be.

Read More