Manila Guide Online

After the long wait, Robinson Dumaguete has finally opened its wall to the public. It has a wide area of different stores, tianges, restaurant, entertainment and more. The Roninsons Land has been planning for their operation for quite some time, and released the opening will be midyear of 2009. I’m really excited to visit Dumaguete again and see the wonders of the different version of Robinsons.

This two-level shopping mall development is centrally located along Dumaguete South Road, a busy intersection where commercial establishments are presently proliferating. Schools, public transport terminals, call centers among others are situated nearby, while travel time is a five to 10 minute drive from popular city landmarks Rizal Boulevard, Silliman University, St. Paul’s University, the Provincial Hospital to mention a few.

Local retailers as well as popular store chain operators are expected to open alongside Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons Supermarket, Handyman Do It Center, Robinsons Appliances, Toys R Us, and Robinsons Movie world. Robinsons Dumaguete, Robinsons Malls’ 20th shopping mall, will also have an al fresco dining area, a kids’ section, health and beauty outlets, service and IT outlets, a drug store, quick serve restaurants, and a bookstore.

There’s actually so much to do in Robinsons Dumaguete since its quite huge compared to the Robinsons in Cebu. Robinson is also entertaining queries for the project, or those who are interested in putting up a store in the mall.

Interested parties can call 683-6100, locals 179, and 816 or (034) 441-1842. For further information, log on to Robinsons Land Corporation Official Website for more information.

During Holy Week it is a must that our family visits the Celestial Garden in Banawa. The Celestial Garden is located in Banawa, Cebu which is the local’s favorite for the Stations of the Cross. It is really beautiful to go there at dawn and see the sun rise as you climb higher as the stations increases. There are also life sizes or bigger statues that represent the Stations of the Cross.

The Celestial Garden is one of two prominent gardens in Cebu City. It is actually a cemetery and memorial park that is owned and managed by the Tanchan Foundation, Inc.

The park and garden is set on 12 hectares of rolling hills surrounded by various plants and trees. The entrance to the park is highlighted by two imposing arches with the statues of two saints on top of the left and right side of the arches.

The place has become popular with locals and tourists for its panoramic view of Cebu City and for the life statues depicting the passion and death of Jesus Christ.

The Celestial Garden is most visited by thousands during Holy Week, which usually occurs either late March or early April. Many of them are Roman Catholics who go to the park to commemorate Holy Week by praying at every station of the 12 Stations of the Cross. The Catholic tradition of praying and meditating in every station of the cross is called the Way of the Cross.

If you have time, do visit this beautiful and religious place during Holy Week or any other day. Jesus opens you with open arms.

For a 3 hour drive from Cebu City is a small town in the Province of South named Oslob. It is rich with white sandy beaches, old churches and heartwarming locals. Upon reaching Oslob you’ll get to see an island across Oslob. The island is Sumilon Island. It can be reached through boat transfer.

Sumilon Bluewater Island Resort is located on tranquil Sumilon Island. The Island remains as one of Cebu’s best kept secrets and is found on the southeastern tip of the mainland. It is 125 kilometers from Cebu City and is in close proximity to Dumaguete. The island has an area of 24 hectares and is surrounded by crystal clear waters with varying aquamarine hues. It is the first marine protected area in the Philippines and was made a fish sanctuary in 1974 under the guidance of Siliman University Marine Reserve. During dives, one will find varied marine species and even occasional sightings of black tip sharks. Pristine white sand beaches are situated in different areas in Sumilon.

The island can be enjoyed through snorkeling,bird watching, cave tours and romantic picknick beaches. You can bring your family down there or your special someone to lounge at the island. The island also has its own restaurant wherein you can enjoy fresh sea foods. Usually the south is covered with sparkling stars at night, so you might enjoy watching the stars together with your friends, family and love ones.

Just across Cebu is a huge island set before my eyes. It has a beautiful city and every holidays I long to discover more about this vast and glorious place. It is filled with small cafes and bistro just across the boulevard overlooking the oceans and ships. This city is Negros City. Dumaguete City is the capital of Negros City. There are so many things to discover at Dumaguete. Upon reaching Dumaguete by boat, you can reach Sibulan where it is famous for its Twin Lakes.

The town’s most popular attraction is located in Enrique Villanueva, Sibulan, the twin lakes is located about 20 km from the town center and situated 1,000 meters above sea level, the entrance to this is actually accessible from the next town, San Jose.

 The two inland bodies of water, Lakes Balinsasayaw and Danao, are surrounded by lush tropical forests, with dense canopies, cool and refreshing air, crystal clear mineral waters with brushes and grasses in all hues of green. Biodiversity in the area is known to be one of the richest in the Philippines. 

The lakes are separated by a narrow ridge with no visible outlets to the sea. To get from Lake Balinsasayaw and Lake Danao and back there are row boats and kayaks available for rent.

The area is surrounded by lush tropical greens and vegetation. Age old trees, giant ferns and other exotic plants and orchids are among its natural inhabitants. Wild rare vines freely cling to the barks of the trees. The Almagica Tree, the tallest tree of the Philippines growing up to 60 meters tall, can still be found here. It is also the habitat of many rare species like the Japanese Night Heron whose presence in the vicinity was recorded in the 1970s. The dipterocarp forest is rich in bird life.

Sibulan famous for its rich diversity has made a splendid way of attracting people to visit Mother Earth and interact with them.

I just recently went to Dumaguete and found home twice. The city opens to you welcomes you with its humble locals and never ending mini shops. I visited sans Rival, the home delicacy of Dumaguete City.

Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries is a pastry shop where the popular Silvanas in Dumaguete are made.

For delicious baked goodies in Dumaguete, Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries is the place to go to. This pastry shop has a wide variety of home-cooked cakes, pastries, cookies, and other baked goodies. The old time favorites are the Sans Rival and its cookie version, the Silvanas.

Tita Trining Teves-Sagarbarria is the original owner of Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries. The pastry shop was first opened in 1977 in Dumaguete. Tita Trining, as she is fondly called, has a passion for cooking and baking. For every cake and pastry that she creates, her passion is evident in them. Her children inherited Tita Trining’s cooking and baking prowess.

Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries’ success and expansion came with the help of Tita Trining’s children. At the present, Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries have branches in Manila and in California in the United States. The new branches have the name of the business changed from Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries to The House of Silvanas Bakeshop.

The shop is very cozy and is accented with Caribbean blue colors. The pastry shops not only offers cakes and pastries, but other pastas.

Three years ago my family and I visited an island full of surprises. Everything in the place was surreal. Corals, fishes, and dolphins were spotted in this island. Just an hour from Cebu Mactan is a small island covered with birds, exotic fishes, shells, and more. The island is called Pangan-an. Tourist are also advised try out snorkeling. Snorkeling allows tourist and locals to enjoy the bountiful marine life. There are several island nearby where you spend your time with your family eating lunch and dinner.
One of islands usually recommended by boat operators and locals for tour destinations, Pangan-an in Lapu-Lapu City boasts of white sand and clean and clear seas.
Water around the island is shallow so big boats like yachts can only anchor a few meters away from the shore, but snorkeling is possible at this deeper part since this is where fishes congregate.
Small outrigger boats can dock at certain areas of the island, for those who wish to explore it or sunbathe at its white sand beach.
You can also dive to a depth of 50 members at the eastern part of Pangan-an. KI Marine Sports Center offers diving services in the area.

Pangan-an is three nautical miles from Mactan island and is south of the smaller island of Olango. It is an hour and 30 minutes from Barangay Maribago in Mactan. Locals say that when it is low tide, a sand bar connecting Pangan-an to Olango appears and it becomes possible to walk between the islands.
Pangan-an island has a household population of 302 as of the 2000 census. Most of the people living on the island are fishermen.
The island has electricity courtesy of the Pangan-an Island Solar Electrification Project. Its photovoltaic mini-grid system gets electricity from around 500 solar panels that trap light energy and turn it into 90 kilowatts of power available daily.
The refreshing breeze would surely keep your mind at peace and your family entertained through the holidays. Enjoy more and sun and snorkeling at Pangan-an.

There’s always a great way to spend your holidays with your love ones this Christmas Season. Ayala land has recently opened a luxurious way for you to spend your time this holidays. The Anaya Cove has carved a niche for itself in leisure development with Anvaya Cove. With the excitement of a seaside resort and the tranquility of a mountain retreat, its unique combination of tropical features provides its residents with the best that nature has to offer.

The Anaya Cove is located at Located in Morong, Bataan, only 20 minutes away from the Subic Bay Freeport, Anvaya Cove offers an accessible escape from the city-making the simplest and grandest pleasures of life within reach.

Aside from this, you also get to appreciate its beauty mainly because they have are achieving environmental sustainability. They have created a foundation which is called Clam Seeding for Reeforestation.

It is the fastest and easiest method to repopulate the reef. Giant Clams are self sustaining with its mantle full of brown symbiotic algae which provides them food. They are also hermaphrodites (both male and female) and at certain age of maturity from 8-10 years, they spawn millions of sperms and eggs into the reef. Their sperms and eggs are fish food which will eventually attract a number of small fish in the area. Of course larger fish would then be attracted to the small fishes until we go up to the food chain until the reef becomes populated again.

So get a fresh start at Anaya cove and be one with Mother Earth this holidays.

I am always proud to be a Filipino, despite the tragedies and misfortunes that has bestowed upon us. I believe that if we work together as a team and as a nation, we can achieve more unity. Like the Ifugaos, they collaborated and created one of the wonders of the earth. The  Banawe Rice Terraces. They attain this through helping everyone and planting rice diligently.

Since it has been dubbed as the Eight World Wonder of the world, it has gained more tourists every year to see the beautiful works of our Filipino brothers and sisters.

Another thriving economy in the Banaue Rice Terraces is tourism. The Tourism industry has developed a number of activities for visitors which may include the traditional sightseeing of the terraces and visits to the tribes at the foot of the terraces. A Mumbaki  is also recommended  to visitors, these doctors can perform spiritual healing rituals. Domestic tourism however has gone down over the past few years. A contributing factor to this is the treatment of Domestic tourists by the local guides in the area where it has been reported that on a few occasions the guides drop you the instant a foreign visitor comes along. Batad Environmental Tour Guides Association (BETGA) in association with the Batad Baranguay authorities are currently laying a concrete track down from the Batad Saddle to the village proper.

One of the Ayala Terraces food establishment includes Italian ice cream that are rounding up everybody. Just across Seattle’s Best, ground floor of the Ayala terraces in Cebu is a small scarlet haven,Gelatissimo. I actually tried it once, and never got hold of its splendid taste. For an amount of P95 , you get to have a scoop to choose from different flavors. One of the amazing things you can do at Gelatissimo is free tasting. That’s right, you can enjoy tasting all of them if you want to and nobody’s stopping you.

Gelatissimo’s two-scoop serving of gelato at 150 pesos is just about enough to satisfy my craving for this frozen Italian treat. The nearest comparison to gelato in popular dessert is ice cream, though the two couldn’t be more different.

Gelato is made from milk and sugar combined with flavorings and fruit, chocolate, spices, or nuts. It does not contain cream like ice cream, and could be more aptly described as ice milk.

Gelatissimo has two branches in Cebu: one in The Terraces, Ayala Center and another, a stall, in SM City. Both branches serve a scoop of gelato at 90 pesos, two scoops at 150 pesos, and three scoops at 180 pesos. The Gelatissimo in Ayala also serves sundaes, which combine gelato with whipped cream and other ingredients. An example is Gelatissimo’s “nuts about you” sundae, which has five scoops of gelato in the flavors of “pistachio, roasted almond, hazelnut, choc hazelnut, and chocolate layered with whipped cream, flaked almonds, chopped peanuts, hazelnuts, pistachios; drizzled with chocolate and hazelnut syrup; and crowned with Ferrero Rocher chocolate, fan water, Poco stick, and Maraschino cherry.” It’s priced at 475 pesos.

Its quite mouthwatering actually to just look at the glass with those cup filled flavors. They have almost every flavor you could imagine and you will still crave for some more.

I’ve never gotten the idea of having to stand beside a snake , let alone stay with it in a cage. Snakes slithers and gives me goosebumps. In the recent facts, snakes has been famous and well known as props and others. But despite these changes, snakes are still considered dangerous and venomous. Located and placed in a small sanctuary in Bohol is a Python famous for its size and has been known as the Living Anaconda in Bohol.

Just a few hundred meters is a Python sanctum which is 5 years old in existence with a length of approximately 23 feet and an estimated weight of about 300 kg. The biggest python in captivity ever known. Named after its captor, Prony, it loves to eat during feeding time. The winding barangay road leading to the sanctuary and the majestic sights along the course keeps one feel the prime of nature.

The Animal Kingdom Federation, Inc. (AKFI), a SEC registered, non-profit and non-stock animal welfare organization registered with the Animal Welfare Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry recently vowed to build an animal sanctuary here. The AKFI made this commitment after hearing reports on the 23-foot long python locally called baksan, owned by Sofronio Salibay in Barangay Sta. Filomena, has been fed with stray dogs.

Although there has been a complain that they are violating the Republic Act No. 8485, otherwise known as the Animal Welfare Act. The mayor made some agreements and made an alterntive way of feeding it.The python has also attracted locals and foreigners to visit this enormous snake at Bohol. Personally I think it is very huge and could attack anyone near it. The animal has now attracted people and every year has been visited.