Places of interest

MACTAN, Lapu Lapu City – Just last year, online real estate finder Lamudi picked Cebu as the number one place to live in Asia.

According to Katy Campbell, Lamudi’s global public relations director, Cebu is a “calmer place” compared to Manila, it has big shopping malls, business parks and universities and it is the country’s oldest city and cultural center with numerous Filipino-Spanish heritage buildings.

She says Cebu is exciting, different and affordable. Even the most luxurious apartments can be found for less than $1,000 and, moreover, food is very affordable as well, she adds.

It is not the first time that Cebu has earned this distinction.

So what makes Cebu tick? Why do I keep going back to Cebu?

Just recently, I had the opportunity to once again visit the Queen City of the South via an invitation from the Bluewater Resorts Group to stay at the magnificent Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort in Mactan City, just a few minutes from the Mactan International Airport.

Ahhh, just the thought of the sun, sand, and the sea, complemented by visits to Cebu’s lechon eateries, to sugbahans, to Taboan Market to buy dried danggit, squid,  longganisa or chorizo, and dried mangoes, made me disregard the fact that I was leaving at the height of Typhoon Lando.

With my excitement to get to Cebu, I forgot to have my bags covered with plastic wrap.

Upon arriving at the resort, I was pleasantly surprised by the groups of foreigners checking out and other groups waiting to be checked in. There was not a vacant seat around, but fortunately, checking in proved to be a breeze as I was immediately ushered into my very own humongous Royal Bungalow that had two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

I thought October was something like a lean period for the hotel and resort industry.

No longer true, explains the amiable vice president for sales and marketing of the Bluewater Resorts group, Margie Munsayac, who has been with the group for more than two decades.

The group, by the way, is composed of Bluewater Maribago, Bluewater Sumilon in Oslob also in Cebu, and Bluewater Panglao in Bohol.

Margie explains this is that time of the year when Koreans like to travel, mostly in groups. Koreans account for the largest group of foreign visitors to Bluewater Maribago, followed by the Japanese. And there are more foreigners staying in this resort throughout the year than locals.

But if one takes a look at the occupancy rate of the resort for other months of the year, you’ll find that there is no such thing as a low season as Maribago Resort which averages a more than 90 percent occupancy rate for any given year.

But if you take a look around Mactan City, you will see how Koreans have began to flock to this place, setting up spas, restaurants, hotels and inns, bars, among others.

Now back to Maribago Resort.

There are 168 well-appointed rooms (four Royal Bungalows, 23 premier deluxe, 50 Amuma Spa rooms, and 90 deluxe rooms), a 110-meter beachfront of pristine sand, a private island, three lagoon-shaped swimming pools with waterfalls, full-service restaurants and bars, and the famous Amuma Spa where I tried the Duot or deep tissue massage for 90 minutes. The Duot therapy is recommended for people with chronic pain as slow strokes and duot or firmer finger pressure are used to stimulate deeper muscle layer tissues to help ease tension, release toxins, and improve blood circulation. And true enough, my tense muscles seem to have eased up.

For recreation, one will never run out of things to do. Aside from swimming, one can go scuba diving, snorkeling, boating, play beach volleyball, fish, among others. But I like that part where you just eat, swim, eat, swim, lounge around, and sleep. And then shop and do sight seeing the following day.

No wonder tourists from all over love this resort. It is serene and fun at the same time.

I have been to all three resorts of the Bluewater Group and I can say, each has its own charm and it will be difficult to compare one with the other. But I can say, each is excellently managed. Given the stiff competition in the area, Bluewater Maribago with its high occupancy rate all throughout the year that even the owners (Julie Alegrado Vergara is the president; it was in 1989 when her parents Arcadio Castillo Alegrado who is a Cebuano and his Butuanon wife Marle Montalban Alegrado established the Bluewater Resorts Group with Maribago as the flagship) find it hard to get a room, definitely is unfazed by competition but stays on its toes by innovating and renovating, adding more rooms, improving existing ones, and reinventing itself to remain competitive.

But my stay in Cebu will not be complete without a visit to my favorite Rico’s Lechon. This time, I got to partake of the heavenly spicy lechon at their newest branch in Acacia which is much more comfortable and pleasing to the eyes than their original branch in F. Cabahug St. Even if the taxi fare costs me close to P300 and the terrible traffic took two hours from Mactan to Cebu City, it was worth all the trouble.

Imagine my excitement when I found out that Rico’s is putting up a third branch near the Marina Mall in Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City where another favorite lechon place of mine, Zubuchon, has a branch.

Then there is this new favorite hangout of mine in Cebu, the Cebu Brewing Company at the 1st level Qube Gallery Crossroads in Banilad where one gets to savor freshly brewed craft beer. My favorite is their sampler. For P150 (the smaller sampler costs P100), one gets to have five glasses of five different beer flavors –Raspberry, Hazelnut, Blueberry, Mango, and Almond. My personal favorite is Blueberry.

What I love about Cebu is the fact that one gets to have a choice of living either a fast-paced life or a slower one, unlike in Manila. Cost of living is cheaper. It is urban and rural, cosmopolitan and provincial at the same time. Definitely calmer than Manila.

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