Although we got in late last night and didn't go to bed until 3 AM, we are still early risers and was up by 7:00 AM. I couldn't sleep in, there was so much to do and see! I did want to take it easy and not have any "set in stone" plans that required booking a tour or reservation.
We had the breakfast buffet at our hotel restaurant that was included in our $50.00 room rate. There was a great variety of offerings for both Western and local travelers. The buffet had common items such as pastries, pancakes, sausages, cereal, cheese, fruit and an omelette station. There were menu items that caught my eye that aren't typical in Western breakfast buffets such as: mango/fish sauce salad, chicken Marsala, fried rice, and fish and chips.
For the locals and Asian travelers, there was white rice, shumai and congee bar. My favorite was the congee bar because I was able to customize the breakfast porridge bowl to my preference. I added scallions, chicken, pork, salted eggs, radish and lots of garlic.
Although we didn't indulge in any sweets, I thought it was cool that there was a dessert bar at breakfast.
After breakfast, we hung out by the hotel's roof top pool. We practically had the whole roof top to our selves with the few occasions of other hotel guests coming up to see the city view. The infinity pool and lounge area was beautiful. The hotel gave us a small fruit platter and we nibbled on it poolside. It was very nice to relax and unwind.
It started to drizzle a little bit, so we wanted to find an indoor activity. We took the complimentary shuttle to Ayala Mall. We walked around and window shopped. The mall is composed of 6 floors with many well recognized brands and restaurants. We didn't buy anything but we did take care of our sim card while we were there so we can have internet on our individual phones, you know to keep up to date with Facebook. :)
The 6 floor mall was massive. It had a movie theater, specialty cake bakeries and even a large grocery store.
I thought the Dunkin Donuts kiosks throughout the mall was cool. It seems that everyone is a big fan of munchkins.
We checked out of our hotel and we're off to check into our next hotel in the Banlidad area of Cebu and then off to dinner.
We had the breakfast buffet at our hotel restaurant that was included in our $50.00 room rate. There was a great variety of offerings for both Western and local travelers. The buffet had common items such as pastries, pancakes, sausages, cereal, cheese, fruit and an omelette station. There were menu items that caught my eye that aren't typical in Western breakfast buffets such as: mango/fish sauce salad, chicken Marsala, fried rice, and fish and chips.
For the locals and Asian travelers, there was white rice, shumai and congee bar. My favorite was the congee bar because I was able to customize the breakfast porridge bowl to my preference. I added scallions, chicken, pork, salted eggs, radish and lots of garlic.
Although we didn't indulge in any sweets, I thought it was cool that there was a dessert bar at breakfast.
After breakfast, we hung out by the hotel's roof top pool. We practically had the whole roof top to our selves with the few occasions of other hotel guests coming up to see the city view. The infinity pool and lounge area was beautiful. The hotel gave us a small fruit platter and we nibbled on it poolside. It was very nice to relax and unwind.
It started to drizzle a little bit, so we wanted to find an indoor activity. We took the complimentary shuttle to Ayala Mall. We walked around and window shopped. The mall is composed of 6 floors with many well recognized brands and restaurants. We didn't buy anything but we did take care of our sim card while we were there so we can have internet on our individual phones, you know to keep up to date with Facebook. :)
The 6 floor mall was massive. It had a movie theater, specialty cake bakeries and even a large grocery store.
I thought the Dunkin Donuts kiosks throughout the mall was cool. It seems that everyone is a big fan of munchkins.
We checked out of our hotel and we're off to check into our next hotel in the Banlidad area of Cebu and then off to dinner.