Heading To Cebu/boracay In January, Suggestions On What-Where?

[jojones]

For Boracay:

Getting there:

I've found that it is reasonably priced to fly to Caticlan but high priced when leaving (to Manila). Anyway from and to Kalibo airport I recommend Southwest Tours which have nice buses with plenty of space. They have a desk inside the Kalibo baggage collection area. It is slightly more expensive than the mini vans but I really think it is worth it. They include the boat price. They also have a desk when leaving Boracay port. If you get a regular bus when leaving Caticlan they drop you off in Kalibo town so that is not ideal. The mini vans can be very cramped and once it broke down, another time the aircon was broken. Southwest is good value and there is always someone looking out for you e.g. helping direct you.

Where to stay:

My preference is to stay just north of D'Mall so you are close to the action, on a good bit of beach and it is not too busy. I like to use Ti Braz as a base because they have good food and nice loungers on the beach. They also have a couple of rooms if you want to stay right on the beach. Behind Ti Braz is Club Ten where you can negotiate price when they are quiet. In early January you will have to pay the published rate in any hotel though. It has decent enough rooms 30 seconds walk from the beach.

If you want cheaper beachfront rooms walk 2 minutes north of Ti Braz until you see a sign for Fiesta (not sure if it is Fiesta hotel/villa/apartments). They have very basic beachfront rooms for a fair price. If you want a quieter area 15 minutes walk north will have you in the heart of Station 1. The beach is big and whitest here and the best value rooms can be found at La Residencia which is a nice family run place. All the others in this area will be double the price.

Personally I would avoid Station 2 south of Ti Braz as it is really busy especially in early January. Station 3 at the south end of White Beach is quieter and has some backpacker style places like Daves Straw Hat Inn. I've not stayed in this place but I remember seeing it got good reviews. Sand is more yellow here but it is still nice. It is quite a trek to D'Mall from here though.

[MacBubba]

Peanut Butter and Horseradish sandwiches

Sounds like something my wife might fancy.

[GregZ]

IT is a REALLY CRAPPY day! :SugarwareZ-037: Sadly, I must withdraw this offer of Cebu tour guide for now. We just got a call from the hospital. My lady has to go to Manila on Tuesday presumably to start TB treatment. :89: If I understand the process correctly we will be moving there for 6+ months. We are happy that it is discovered and she will get the treatment NOW!!! Nothing matters more to me than HER so... Maybe in a couple months I can offer Manila tours. :hystery:

Enjoy the maps and I'll still be online from my NEXT NEW home. That makes 6 in less than a year! All this moving is KILLING my budget... I was soooooooooooo looking forward to some free food and drink for service provided.

:shooter: :7_4_17[1]:

IF ANYONE has Manila tips I'm open to them. We have a 1 jeepney ride from St. Luke's probable apartment lined up. I'll start another topic for comments about that.

get a feel for Cebu in 4-5 days.

Good topic as I am looking for the same advice.

You know Greg.... If enough people start taking you up on your offer, your food budget could go to pretty close to 0 pesos

Book me in for mid Jan...... I'll do beer AND chicken :thumbsup:

Edited December 7, 2012 by GregZ

[GregZ]

If your plan is to spend most of your time in the central Philippines, my suggestion is you learn Bisaya, otherwise known as Visayan or Cebuano. *** Agree, however, Tagalog is a national language and English is pretty much the language of money here. Tagalog and Bisaya have common words also... so the gap is not enormous between them.

Last year, I conducted a mini survey of Bisaya speakers on Cebu Bohol and Leyte. I asked if all their Filipino friends and relatives can speak Tagalog. 100% of people said no. *** New survey needed: 100% of my girls relatives understand and can communicate in Tagalog (PREFER NOT TO). Pretty much everyone with a television understands Tagalog even if they don't admit to it. This is especially true for the women as the love their soap operas. :hystery:

I asked if they wanted foreigners speaking to them in Tagalog. All but one said no. The person who said yes, said it was his job. He is a tour guide on Bohol. *** I bet the tour guide prefers English over Tagalog. MINE did because English tips better than Tagalog!

:cheersty:

I find that most of the people around me in Cebu City understand English. They prefer not to speak TO ME in English as they are afraid of making a mistake. BUT, they like for me to talk to them in English; they like the way it sounds and are learning. They REALLY like it when I speak in Bisaya. I still don't quite know why. :hystery: :hystery: :attention: ANY language is good language!!!

[OnMyWay]

IT is a REALLY CRAPPY day! :SugarwareZ-037: Sadly, I must withdraw this offer of Cebu tour guide for now. We just got a call from the hospital. My lady has to go to Manila on Tuesday presumably to start TB treatment. :89: If I understand the process correctly we will be moving there for 6+ months. We are happy that it is discovered and she will get the treatment NOW!!! Nothing matters more to me than HER so... Maybe in a couple months I can offer Manila tours. :hystery:

Enjoy the maps and I'll still be online from my NEXT NEW home. That makes 6 in less than a year! All this moving is KILLING my budget... I was soooooooooooo looking forward to some free food and drink for service provided.

:shooter: :7_4_17[1]:

IF ANYONE has Manila tips I'm open to them. We have a 1 jeepney ride from St. Luke's probable apartment lined up. I'll start another topic for comments about that.

get a feel for Cebu in 4-5 days.

Good topic as I am looking for the same advice.

You know Greg.... If enough people start taking you up on your offer, your food budget could go to pretty close to 0 pesos

Book me in for mid Jan...... I'll do beer AND chicken :thumbsup:

Greg, sorry to hear about this but I am sure everything will be fine after the treatments. We will keep her in our prayers!

[Curley]

We just got a call from the hospital. My lady has to go to Manila on Tuesday presumably to start TB treatment. If I understand the process correctly we will be moving there for 6+ months. We are happy that it is discovered and she will get the treatment NOW!!! Nothing matters more to me than HER so...

Very sorry to hear that Greg, best wishes for your lady.

[Thomas]

If anyone knows of someone who could provide such as service for a reasonable cost, please let me know!

All Filipins, who aren't to occupied :)

[Thomas]

Going off topic a bit, but I was wondering how hard it is for a native Tagalog speaker to learn Visayan??? Jim, not sure if you know but maybe someone else can comment.

Why? My GF is from Bohol and speaks Visayan and Tagalog. Her 8 year old daughter has lived in Laguna all her life so only speaks Tagalog. I was wondering how hard it would be for the 8 year old to learn Visayan if we move to Cebu.

The languages are much different. The official language isn't exactly the same as the native language in Manila region, but close.

Children learn fast normaly, specialy girls concerning language.

Many with other language than Tagalog as native language, are pissed the government made an other language than their own official Filipin language. So many don't want to speak Tagalog even if they can, while others mix English, Tagalog and the local language making it hard for translators :hystery:

IT is a REALLY CRAPPY day! :SugarwareZ-037: Sadly, I must withdraw this offer of Cebu tour guide for now. We just got a call from the hospital. My lady has to go to Manila on Tuesday presumably to start TB treatment. :89: If I understand the process correctly we will be moving there for 6+ months. We are happy that it is discovered and she will get the treatment NOW!!! Nothing matters more to me than HER so...

Sad to hear. Is she very ill allready, or was the illness found early? (Or is she just CARRYING the bacterias? A lot Filipins do, but rather few of the carriers get ill.)

If I'm correct informed TB treatments are FREE in Phili, BUT only in some hospitals, needing to go to them very often to get the med of some odd reason :unsure:

If early found I suppose you can soon live "anywhere" again, if you want and can afford to pay the med yourself, if not having a free TB hospital close enough.

[GregZ]

Sad to hear. Is she very ill allready, or was the illness found early? (Or is she just CARRYING the bacterias? A lot Filipins do, but rather few of the carriers get ill.) If I'm correct informed TB treatments are FREE in Phili, BUT only in some hospitals, needing to go to them very often to get the med of some odd reason :unsure: If early found I suppose you can soon live "anywhere" again, if you want and can afford to pay the med yourself, if not having a free TB hospital close enough.

No symptoms, so maybe just carrier. Whatever it is we are GLAD :dance: that it will get taken care of NOW so there is no problem LATER, for her or anyone else. We will know more Tuesday after seeing the doctor. Since it was found at the medical for fiancee she will have to go to St. Lukes in Manila every day for "supervised treatment", I THINK. That will take 6 months. We NEED their clearance to travel to USA so whatever they say on Tuesday.

Just more adventure time!!! :thumbsup:

[Thomas]

Sad to hear. Is she very ill allready, or was the illness found early? (Or is she just CARRYING the bacterias? A lot Filipins do, but rather few of the carriers get ill.) If I'm correct informed TB treatments are FREE in Phili, BUT only in some hospitals, needing to go to them very often to get the med of some odd reason :unsure: If early found I suppose you can soon live "anywhere" again, if you want and can afford to pay the med yourself, if not having a free TB hospital close enough.

No symptoms, so maybe just carrier. Whatever it is we are GLAD :dance: that it will get taken care of NOW so there is no problem LATER, for her or anyone else. We will know more Tuesday after seeing the doctor. Since it was found at the medical for fiancee she will have to go to St. Lukes in Manila every day for "supervised treatment", I THINK. That will take 6 months. We NEED their clearance to travel to USA so whatever they say on Tuesday.

Just more adventure time!!! :thumbsup:

Antibiotic cures for TB take 6 months normaly.

But in medical point of view it's waste to have to go to hospital every day to fetch medecin. Medical checkings aren't needed to be done that often, so they could solve it much more effective both in their own work point of view and in point of view of the ill (expensive living elsewhere, extra travelling, time wasting.) OK if they make the FIRST checks in few places, but I find it very odd they don't leave meds for longer periods at the same time, and have the meds handling (and perhaps checkups) much more spread geographical.

NOTE! It's very important to not quit antibiotic cures, before it's done, because it can make the bacterias resistant,