Sinulog is known for a yearly festival that is held during the 3rd Sunday of every January in Cebu, Philippines. Sinulog is the celebration of the Sto. Nino. The celebration includes Parades along the road, family and neighbours gathering, party events, drinking session and lechon time!
Ticket to Cebu City
Here's the video of the trip. Don't forget to read the blog after watching ✌
My boyfriend Ryan is from Cebu, so pretty much he plan this trip. Ryan and his Pirata boys went to Cebu first and I reached there on January 16, 2016 (Saturday). I took the earliest flight in Cebu Pacific at 9:45am. I was super shocked as this is the first time that the plane was full of foreigners and not Filipinos. After 3 hours, the plane finally landed in Cebu Mactan International Airport and as soon as I reached the Immigration counter, the crowd was filled with tourists. All of them are here for the Sinulog festival, how incredible! The line for the Philippines Passport was very short (I guess it's the first time in my experience). Ryan and his little brother Christian picked me up from the airport. The first thing I said when I first saw Ryan was "You look shit face!". Apparently they had a drunken night and he's obviously still drunk. But I really appreciate it that he came to pick me up under any circumstances. Love him!
Alta Vista Palacio is the villa we were staying in, It is quite far from the main area but this place was stunning. The villa was huge, it consists of 3 floors with 4 rooms, swimming pool and garden, games room with billiards and mini bar, a huge and complete kitchen (as in it has everything) and family size dining room and living room, This is truly a dream home. What I did first thing is to unpack my things and hit the swimming pool. It is really cold back in Hong Kong and I have missed the water and sun.
Alta Vista Palacio
The perfect home for families
Our view for the next few days
This is my dream kitchen. It has everything you need for cooking.
Huge living room
On my first night (their 3rd night) we went to Mango Square to buy our t-shirts for tomorrow's festival. Then we went to eat some "Isaw Isaw" (grilled street food) and plenty of Red Horse beers.
Beer shopping before heading out. This is how we roll
Nughout with the Pirata's
Isaw Isaw are the best!
Rice in leaves. Best rice ever!
Sinulog (Sunday, 17th January 2016)
Breakfast early morning for Sinulog
So today is the official Sinulog festival. We all woke up early today and had a nice breakfast like a big happy family. After that we head to the road and start our Sinulog walk to the Mango Square, where the party place is. It was super hot and sunny. The heat was too strong, along with a huge crowd but we made it to Mango square before nightfall and it was a relief and I'm actually happy that I did the Sinulog walk. It was my first experience and I get to see some Filipino celebrities in the parade such as, Solenn Heussaff, Richard Gutierez, Maya Salvador, Noy Volante and Coco Martin (in his black leather jacket, why though? It's hot isn't it?).
Jeepney ride to the start of the walk
Big happy fun crowd
This is amazing. First to experience this kind of festival.
We started our drinking session with some Pulutan (snack food) in Mango square. I don't recall how many buckets of beer we had ordered for that night actually. It was crazy and wild. People are showering people with beers and one of our guys joined and just made even more fun.
Drinking session at Mango Square
Night time at Mango Square
With the crew
Eventually we moved to another bar in J'Ave Superclub. The place is so cool and we got the VIP table and dance and dance the whole night.
J'ave Club!
And we party all night, till sunrise
DJ Frac Attack in the house
Happy kiddos on front stage
Dancing is what makes me happy
At midnight, Me and Ryan decided to go to his Grandma's shop. It was quite a long walk as it is super hard to get a taxi at that time. It was great to see his grandma again after for so long and she seems pretty happy seeing us too. We went back to our villa after a while. My feet was so tired but I'm glad that I survived walking with my 3 inches boots for the whole day.
Danasan Adventure Park (Monday, 18th January 2016)
The next day we all wake up pretty late due to the great night from yesterday's festival. It was awesome though and the hangover was definitely worth it. But of course we didn't want to waste our day without doing anything so we hired a van for Php3,000 to go Danasan Adventure Park. It was a long ride and a rough one too but that's okay, It's part of the adventure.
Rented a jeepney to go to the adventure park
When we finally reach the adventure park we were very hungry but the food will be ready in about 30 minutes, so we though of doing 1 activity first while waiting for the food. We went for the ATV ride. It was very muddy and fun.
A muddy ATV ride
After the ride we dig in for our food and after that we went for the Zipline and Horse-riding.
1..2..3..
Gooooooooo!
Yeeeeeh!
Horseback riding. yeeeeh haaaah!
Ryan and Netra went to do the Sky Drop as a tandem and while the others did the wake boarding. I, on the other hand did not participate in any of it (first, I didn't wanna get wet and second I didn't know how does Sky Drop feels like). I actually kind of regret not doing the Sky Drop as it look very fun after watching them doing it (maybe next time ?). So for dinner we had BBQ night in our villa.
Sky drop!
Bandian Kawasan Falls (Tuesday, 19th January 2016)
Today we decided to go to Bandian Kawasan Falls to do the Canyoneering. It was not as far as yesterday's ride. We paid Php1,000 for locals and Php 1,200 for the foreigners (sucks for the guys haha!).
Motorbike ride to the starting point
The package includes:
A motorbike ride to take you to the starting point
Helmet, life jacket, slip resistant shoes and waterproof bag
2 guides
When we reach the starting point, there is already a big fall for you to jump. I was the last in line and I couldn't jump as I am afraid of it. I just couldn't do it at that time, my heart was beating so fast so the guide bring me to another way to get down (actually regret it after jumping a few not-so deep jump).
Jump! Jump! Jump!
Deep deep water
The Canyoneering lasted for 3 hours. It was exhausting, the water was very deep and I accidentally fell to one of the rock. i slipped while I was trying to jump over to a big rock. It was very clumsy of me. i had a big scratch on my knee but at least i only scratched my knee and not my face or my head. It was a great adventure though and this is my first time to do this kind of activity although I didn't do the big jump but I am still glad that I made it to the end of the trek and there's always a next time for me to do that kind of big jump. I should always remind myself that I should never let my fear overwhelm me, I just need to do it without any second thoughts (A lesson learned indeed!)
Slippery but worth it
This is very peaceful
Group picture in our wet looking look
The highest point
Such a beauty!
Ending of our canyoneering
Paranoma view
Will come back to this place one day
Last night in Cebu
More likely it was my last night as I am going back to Hong Kong first. We all felt very exhausted to go out. So we just stayed home and cooked some food. I cooked Sinigang with Salmon Head and Chef Prem cooked some chicken and beef dishes. It was a lovely dinner and I was sad to having to pack my stuff and go back to Hong Kong and back to work. But that's okay, I will be on my holidays again in March for Phuket. I won't be vacation-lag for too long.
Overall, this whole Sinulog trip was awesome. I had an amazing time with the people I am with during the trip and It was better than my first experience in Sinulog. This is my 4th time in Cebu and I would consider this as one of my favorite and unforgettable trip. I can't wait for my next trip!
Yours Truly,
Michelle Chan
