this short strip of white sands sufficiently creates an idyllic view and the almost clear turquoise waters completes the tropical delight. if we only had enough time to laze under one of those pretty white umbrellas, we could be lounging in the sun bed in a heartbeat!
if you want to get away from the crowd and even from a slight chance of half-clad sunbathing vacationers, this is a perfect little hut for a nice chat, while your gaze is set upon the horizon, with the sea reflecting the clear blue skies.
and when the sea would inevitably have its lowest tides, there's always the swimming pool or pools rather because shangri-la does have several man-made bodies of water spread out in the hotel's territory.
aside from the hotel's amenities, i also instantly fell in love with the landscape! the green grass never fails to create a relaxing and laid back ambiance. sun beds under the coconut trees! just why not!
with everything nice and dainty, shangri-la has also the nicest resort staff and that as we made our quick tour around the area, one would never fail to greet us. i was even surprised with the maintenance man whom i also got the same greeting and it was not the languid and automatic kind of greeting. you can really tell there's the sincerity to it.
i can't deny that sadly, there's that type of customer service commonly practiced which is only of service to the foreign tourists or the rich-looking ones. i can't count how many times i had cursed under my breath because of such treatment. anyway, i don't hold any negativity in me but i hope everyone in the people-facing business would take that extra effort.
anyway, the shangri-la staff are more than willing to take your picture!
these were our cool blue wristbands that we had to wear the entire time and the stub would be removed when you redeem it. we only got to redeem our lunch and the dinner discount was a throwaway.
if you're like us who don't drive a car and you're wondering how to get there that won't cost an arm and a leg, shangri-la provides shuttle service from sm city cebu with the following schedule. the fare is only Php100 per person. one mistake we had while going there cost us Php450 for our cab from sm city cebu. at least, i can gauge the actual difference.
there are actually several shuttle services by various resorts in mactan, which pick up guests from sm city cebu. however, i don't know the arrangements of other resorts. the pick up point is at the exit near laguna café in sm city cebu's north wing.
well, for our mistake, breinn read out the time table for hotel departure instead of sm departure. we thought that we missed the shuttle service at 11AM but all along, we could be in the 11:50AM. i only found out this boo-boo when i was cropping the above photo by breinn's nifty camera phone. but no regrets! shuttle service doesn't anyway operate on time.
in going back to the city, the staff at the entrance will call a taxi for you and they would even give you a paper with the taxi's information. it would come in handy in that unfortunate instance when you'll get ripped off by your taxi driver. anyway, i commend their staff for helping out the guests who were charged incredulously by their taxi driver, while breinn and i waited for our ride back to cebu city.
another incident noteworthy was when we paid for our day use. i was amused with the woman who's primarily in charged of the boutique for philippine handicrafts but handled as well our day use tickets. breinn and i were talking to each other in dialect but she addressed to us in english the entire conversation! it just felt weird having casual conversation in a foreign language in your home country.
but one fact remains, cebu would always have a special place in my heart, cheesy as it may sound. it even granted me a perfect weather in july for my quick beach getaway when it had been raining the previous days! see you again cebu! soon...
o-O
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