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I hadn't thought of checking-in at a pension house downtown. The grime alone in that part of the city turns me off.
But its seems Pacific Tourist Inn has its own attractions. First of all, the aircon rooms are cheap (it probably are the cheapest in Cebu). More on the plus side, you only pay for what you need.
The inn is just a few steps away from restaurants and is within the shopping district. It is near Metro Gaisano, Colonnade, and Unitop (Ayala and SM is just a jeepney ride away).
I ate breakfast at the Manila Foodshoppe / restaurant which is a stone's throw away. I had early dinner at the La Fortuna bakery and restaurant which is across the street.
The cheapest rooms at the inn have no windows and no television.
Pacific Tourist Inn also has a wifi facility and a cafeteria called East Cafe.
For reservations, Pacific Tourist Inn contact numbers are: 256-2796 or 253-2151 to 57
If someone asks me about my favorite foods, I'd say anything edible and interesting to my taste buds. I get bored easily so the more variety and creativity goes into the cooking the better. Of course, good, rich flavor should also be a major part.
Filipino food will always be close to my heart, but I'd rather go for an international menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My relatives actually think that maybe I live to eat but what the heck. I love eating.
So whenever I go to some place new, I check-out their delicacies and specialties. It's part of cultural learning. I also look at their buildings' architecture and infrastructure, but food is always number one for me.
I can't understand tourists who go to a foreign place and expect to have their own comfort food which usually includes hamburger, french fries and fried chicken, not that I have anything against these edibles. But, c'mon, there's a big world out there and a humongous variety of eatables. Why settle for the usual.
Still, most tourists spend several dollars to go outside of their country yet expect foreigners to cook food the way they do back in their own country ?!! Preposterously insane.
There is wisdom in getting out of your comfort zones once in a while. It will not kill you unless the food has Salmonela.
Remember that tourist who refused to eat native food? Well, he got food poisoning from, of all things, lettuce. So, eat native but insist on recently cooked food to be on the safe side.
When I was in Bangkok, I had Phad Thai, Tum Yum soup and melon-mango shake. Here in Cebu, I visit restaurants that serve international food such as The Gustavian, Persian Palate, Krua Thai, Nonki, etc.
An unpretentious place, Sugbutel follows the capsule hotel concept popular in Japan. They have bunk beds with curtains for privacy.
At a price of Php 250.00, shower and comfort rooms are shared. Bed sheets and blankets can be had for a few more pesos. Sugbutel at the north reclamation has centralized airconditioner,
a convenience shop, laundry shop, internet cafe, canteen and food stalls. There's an entertainment lounge with free wireless and internet connection.
I just stayed in this place for 6 hours. I had to get away from the heat at the polling place during election day. The cubicle where I was in had around four bunk beds with curtains. When I went in, there were two teens talking in low voices about their exam results.
The bed Sugbutel gave me was covered in dark brown leather. I felt I like I was lying down on a sofa. But the room temperature was cool enough for six hours of sleep. For overnights, I don't think I would be recommending this place unless you're really short on cash.
Although staff are smiling, you get this feeling of uncongeniality. It probably has something to do with the ambience. Sugbutel is located near the seaport area, and so staff have advised lodgers not to roam outside at night. There have been incidents there of hold-up. The area is OK during the day though.
Owing to its very low room rate and walking distance to one of the largest shopping malls in the country SM City, Sugbutel is usually fully booked during the Sinulog season.
So this is suppose to be a blog on travel and my weekly exercise. Although I'd really like to go somewhere every weekend, the summer heat has been so intense it has caused me regular headaches.
I noticed I was hibernating more on pension houses and hotels rather than mountains and seas. Give me a break, even Baguio, the country's summer capital, has warmed up.
Rather than whining over a depressing situation, I decided to blog on pension houses and hotels where I've stayed. In that way I'd be doing travelers to Cebu a favor.
First thing I look when I pick hotels or pension houses is, of course, the price. I'm a certified "kuripot"; not exactly stingy like Scrooge but a bit more careful with my spending. I guess its how I've been trained by Mama. After price, comes sanitation. I'm a no-frills kind of person; but no-frills doesn't mean being amenable to staying in a pigsty.
Basic amenities in my room are important:
airconditioner, a window that doesn't directly face the sun (having no windows is actually OK for me), absolute quiet (location that is not near a street or pedestrian traffic or a karaoke house), no television is fine with me (I'll either be writing or reading anyway), clean sheets and a fluffy pillow, dressing table large enough to write, hotel/pension house should be near a restaurant, sari-sari store or cafeteria.
With the above criteria, I first came to discover Golden Valley Hotel in Pelaez Street. It's beside a campus. The area was relatively quiet when I arrived as it was school vacation time.
Golden Valley has its own restaurant so eating breakfast or dinner was convenient. The food was well cooked and appetizing enough. There were newspapers at the lobby and restaurant which is a plus for me. I enjoy reading on the news. What's more they had Manila Bulletin newspaper on a Saturday. I like MB's excerpts of features on the New York Times.
Overall, I'd recommend this budget hotel. It's value for money.
It was almost 9:00 in the evening when I passed by the new schotel (school and hotel) of the University of San Carlos on my way to a jeepney waiting area in Cebu City.
The Carolinian Inn is the training hotel of the University of San Carlos. It was built and designed to give students of the Department of Hospitality Management a chance to work hands-on in an actual hotel atmosphere.
Rooms are a bit expensive at Php 1,600.00 a day but the location is good for those who want easy access to malls and offices. For those visiting during Sinulog fiesta when almost all hotels are fully booked, this is the ideal place because it is near the parade route.
Before I forget, USC also has a new pharmacy a few steps away from the schotel.
Indulgence is defined in the online dictionary as gratification of whims and desires. This was exactly what happened with me last weekend. The summer sun in Cebu has made walking outdoors physically unhealthy for me. I sweated so much and developed a regular splitting headache. I guess I probably had at strokes and didn't know.
So, last weekend, I decided to indulge my whim: I went to a hotel and booked myself an air-conditioned room to sleep-in for hours starting in the morning In late afternoon, I had a full body massage at Thewi Thai.
During national election day, I voted and proceeded to have a foot massage at Little Asia. I then checked-in at a cheap (Php 250.00 a day) capsule hotel (bunk beds with curtains) called "Sugbutel" just to escape the summer heat and the election noise and to sleep for six hours.
