Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 5: Temples, Flowers, and a Great View!

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AND HERE WE GO! It’s time for the final installment of this trip report series! After 5 articles and over 15,000 words, we’re finally at the end! But don’t be sad, a new trip report series is coming your way SOON! And I can’t wait to share it with you guys.

But first, let’s go through our usual bit of housekeeping. Remember to subscribe to my Youtube channel @ Stephen Flores Travel, like me on Facebook at Passport Perspective, and follow me on Instagram / Twitter / Tiktok @StephenJFlores. And now let’s get on with the report!

Introduction

After an exhausting two days, I unsurprisingly slept-in for an hour on my last day, which delayed my plan for a bit but honestly I needed that extra hour of sleep. This was the first day in three days that I wasn’t waking up at 4am so I needed it BADLY.

Today was also check-out day so upon waking up I packed all my things quickly because, like I said, I was already behind schedule. I was pretty efficient, though, and had everything packed and ready in 30 minutes. I then proceeded to the lobby to check-out. The hotel graciously allowed me to leave my suitcase with them while I explored the outskirts of Cebu City.

There were four attractions that were on my list for the day: Sirao Flower Gardens, Tops Lookout, the Temple of Leah, and the Taoist Temple. Theoretically, you could actually do these attractions with the Historical Cebu itinerary in one day, but the downside is that you would be rushing to go through each attraction and would probably need to book a tour, like this one, to take you to all these places (which would just add to your expenses). If you want enough time to soak up each place without feeling like you’re rushing, then splitting the attractions into two days would be good for you.

The Hills Are Aliiiiiive With the Sound of Muuuuuusiiiiiic

All the attractions I visited today were up in the mountains of Cebu, so I got in my car and drove to my first stop: Maharlicup! I had planned for today to be a food trip day as well, so you’re gonna get a bunch of restaurant content on this trip report.

I arrived at Maharlicup and was greeted with a jaw-dropping view of the Cebu mountains. Imagine rolling green hills reaching up high into the sky. It made me stop when I saw it. Pictures don’t do it justice as it was just so beautiful.

I ordered Corned Beef-silog (if you’re ever in the Philippines, if an item ends in -silog it means it comes with egg and rice) which costs Php 185 ($3.23) and was very tasty (or maybe I was just hungry). I have to say, seeing that view and eating that really good breakfast made me kind of sad that I was leaving in 12 hours. I always feel sad every time a trip comes to an end, but I also always remember that a trip has to end if you want the next one to happen. That and we still had 12 hours of sightseeing to do today! So I finished my food, took one last look at the view, and headed for Sirao Flower Gardens

Flower Gleam and Glow, Let Your Power Shine

I got in the car and headed to my next destination. What you should know about the Sirao Flower Gardens is that there are two of them: the PGCS gardens and the Little Amsterdam gardens. When researching this trip I saw that the Little Amsterdam garden was cheaper and bigger than the PGCS garden so I was set on just going to that garden then moving on.

I was following this stretch of highway for a while before my directions told me to turn right. I ended up turning on an unmarked, one lane road that seemed to lead to nowhere. At first I thought that Google Maps might have messed up and led me down the wrong road, but after 5 minutes, the parking lot of the two gardens came into view and I breathed a sigh of relief. I drove past the parking lot of the PGCS gardens and headed to the Little Amsterdam Gardens. I paid the parking fee (the amount of which I can’t remember right now) then paid the Php 100 ($1.74) entry fee to enter the gardens.

Once you walk down the vine covered walkway (which is about 30-40 steps), the gardens open up to you, with flowers and various installations for picture taking peppering the gardens. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be and looked like a rainbow was flowing down the side of a hill. The installations were pretty cute too, with some of them being hearts or windmills or giant hands (weird, I know, but it did look kinda cool). All in all, it took me about 20 minutes to walk around and see everything.

Now don’t get me wrong, the flowers themselves were a sight to behold. They had every kind of flower you could imagine and more, with some of them being very vibrant. But that aside, the garden kind of felt a little rundown and dilapidated. A lot of the pictorial installations had faded paint and cobwebs on them. Also, a large swath of the gardens was bare because they were in the process of replanting the flowers. Overall, this was a quaint place to spend 20-25 minutes in, but I wouldn’t write home about it.

Now, thankfully,  I can’t say the same for the PGCS gardens. If you’re going to go to these gardens and can only pick one, pick the PGCS gardens! At first I wasn’t planning on touring the PGCS gardens since I was disappointed by the Little Amsterdam gardens, but then I saw an empty parking spot at the PGCS parking lot and took that as a sign that maybe I should head inside and check it out. So I parked, walked up to the entrance, paid the entry fee of Php 70 ($1.22) and the parking fee of Php 20 ($0.35) and headed inside.

What greeted me when I entered was this beautiful, tiered garden that reminded me of rice terraces but with flowers. They also had small houses that had birds perched on them eating bird feed. The whole area just had this certain charm to it, and it had much better photo spots than the other garden. The variety of flowers was better too, with them also being more colorful and better maintained than the other garden. The only downside to this garden was that it was smaller, but that just means you can really take your time to take pictures and soak up the views. I would definitely recommend going to this garden if you only have time for one. Plus there were little huts that you could rent for the day and a swimming pool at the top of the gardens in case you fancied a swim while you’re here.

After staying about 30 minutes, I headed out and continued on with my day.

Stephen and the Chocolate Factory

Before heading to the next destination, I stopped by a coffee shop called Outback Servo. Now I’m not a coffee drinker (and will probably never be one) but I had to stop by when I heard this place had a really good iced chocolate drink. Chocolate to me is the best thing mankind has every created, so I knew I had to have some. I quickly stopped by and shelled out Php 179 ($3.12) for the drink which was WORTH IT! It was like an explosion of chocolatey goodness. I sipped it happily as I drove to my next destination.

Up in the Air

As I was going up the side of this hill heading to Tops lookout, I thought I was going the wrong way. There were a lot of nondescript streets with no signage that made you feel like you’re entering someone’s private property. But eventually I made my way to the parking lot of Tops lookout. I stopped at the attendant’s booth and was told to pay Php 100 ($1.74) and, after I paid, I parked in the parking lot. At the time, I was the only one parked at the lot, and the place from the outside looked a little decrepit. It was all colored grey which gave it this unappealing look.

But all of that would change once I entered through the semicircular barrack-like structure that hugged the outer portion of this complex and saw the view. And let me tell you, that view was one of the most picturesque I’ve ever seen. Cebu city was sprawled out below me, with Bohol visible on the other side of the Cebu strait. I may have mentioned this before but I’m a sucker for a good view. There’s just something about being that high up that just stirs something inside of me. Everywhere I travel to, I always make it a point to see the view from high up someplace, whether it be a building or a mountain. I just love it. And what added to the whole experience was that it was quiet. The whole area was very serene and peaceful…

…until some other people arrived and started ringing this bell that could be found on the left side of the complex facing the view. I wondered what they were doing with the bell, so I went closer to find out. Apparently, if you hold hands with whoever you’re with and ring the bell a certain number of times, it’ll either bring you a “firm partnership” (1 ring), a friendship (2 rings), or everlasting love (3 rings). I for one did not ring the bell as I was alone, but I hope those who did find what they were promised.

I took a few more minutes to admire the view and proceeded to head out to go to the next stop of the day.

Taj Mahal: Cebu Edition

The Temple of Leah is known locally as the “Philippine Taj Mahal” because of their similar backstories. Like the Taj Mahal, this temple, which is more of a mausoleum, was built by a grieving widower for his late wife. The man who built the Temple of Leah, Teodorico Adarna, did so to preserve his wife’s legacy. The temple acts almost like a vault that keeps and preserves everything she’s collected over the years from books to knickknacks to jewelry.

When I drove up to the entrance of the temple, I was told to pay Php 100 ($1.74) for the entrance fee and Php 50 ($0.87) for the parking fee. Once I saw it, its grandeur made my jaw drop. There was a huge marble floored courtyard that had amazing views of the city (only second to Tops Lookout) which also had a huge fountain in the center that had ceramic angels on it. Then there was the temple itself, which was patterned after the Parthenon in Athens.

If you walk up the stairs you’ll be greeted by a lobby that contains two marble staircases that lead to two small balconies that overlooked the lobby. In the center of the staircase is a statue of Leah herself, and above her are intricate chandeliers. Off to the sides of the temple were open-air hallways with huge columns which were perfect for picture-taking. You could even look inside the wrought-iron windows and see some of the artifacts that the family has collected over the years. At the time we were there, there was also a violin-player who was playing covers of pop songs.

It was an enchanting location. I could see why it was popular with tourists given how elegant it was. I would definitely recommend coming here but just note that parking is limited and if you can’t park inside, you’ll have to find a way to park outside the temple, which is limited. But on the bright side, if you do park outside, you won’t have to pay the extra Php 50 for parking.  I stayed at the temple for about 30 minutes and was just people watching as tourists took pictures and videos of the temple. Honestly, with the music in the background and the clear blue sky and view, this was such a serene and peaceful moment for me. I wish I could capture that moment in a bottle, but as always we had to move on with the sightseeing. So after looking at it one last time, I decided it was time to move on to the next attraction.

Lunch at the Top of the World

For lunch I headed back to the area where Tops lookout was located and ate at a restaurant called Balay sa Busay. At first I thought it was closed given that there were no cars parked in the parking lot across from the restaurant, but when I went inside a kind server showed me to a table. This place serves quintessential Filipino food and I would highly recommend it, even if the restaurant felt a little old. I ordered some barbecue and white rice which cost about Php 200 ($3.49). While it tasted amazing, I wish the portion sizes were a bit bigger, especially for the price I paid for them. I quickly ate my lunch, paid my bill, and exited the restaurant to head to the last tourist attraction I was going to visit for this trip: the Taoist Temple.

Stairs…Stairs…and More Stairs…

I drove down the Cebu mountain roads until I reached the cusp of the city limits. It was then that Google Maps led me to what looked like an affluent gated community. Now I did visit the Taoist Temple before when I went to Cebu 15 years ago, but I don’t remember entering a gated community to get to the temple. Upon entering the gated community, however, the Taoist temple soon came into view.

The first thing I noticed was that it looked like there were about 100 steps I had to climb to reach the very top of the temple. Stairs are the bane of my existence, so when I saw them I began to mentally prepare myself for what lied ahead. I parked in the parking lot below (which was free) then entered the temple (which was also free). There were about 50-70 steps to get to the first floor of the complex and so i trudged my way up there. When I got to the first level of the temple, there were multiple very ornamented altars that had interesting ceiling paintings and decor. I would show you what they looked like, but we were told by signs and by people manning the altars that we were not allowed to take photos of them.

I then headed to the right side of that level to see the one thing I remember from when I visited all those years ago: the green dragon that graces this side of the temple. It was nice getting to see it again and it looked like they just repainted it too. I instantly got a dose of nostalgia as I remembered how this dragon was huge to me when I was younger. Now that I’m grown it was a lot smaller than I remember, but no less impressive.

I then made my way to the side of the main altar at this level and climbed up the stairs to reach the final level of the temple. It also had a fairly big altar in the center of it and, off to the left side, was a koi pond with about 4-5 koi fish in it. To the right of the altar was a little water feature that had a couple of statues in it and a few silver bowls that you were supposed to throw coins in. I don’t know what throwing a coin actually does, but I decided to do it for the experience…

…and of course it didn’t go in, much to my embarrassment. And that was the last peso coin I had and I tried shooting it into the closest bowl too. I guess my hand-eye coordination isn’t as good as I thought it was. But after admiring the temple for a bit more, I descended all those steps I had climbed up earlier and got in my car.

This is the End

And we’re done! I’ve finished every single thing that was on my itinerary. Like I said earlier, I felt a little sad to be leaving, but that just meant new adventures were ahead of us! But the journey wasn’t over yet because I had about 5 hours left before I had to check-in for my flight.

I made my way back to my hotel to pick-up my bags. Since I was going to return the car at 5pm and it was around 2:30, I decided to go to a coffee shop to hangout before my flight. I found this coffee shop called Commonly Uncommon and made my way over there.

It was there that I started writing the first installment of this trip report series. Did I know that I would only finish this series 3 months later? Absolutely not, but I remember the feeling of excitement that came with putting words down on this trip report for the first time. I knew then that I was hooked by this whole blog-writing thing. The rush I got from putting pen to paper is hard to explain, but it just felt right.

I lost track of time a bit while I was writing and soon enough it was 4:30pm, which meant I had to go and bring the car back to the rental place. I packed up my stuff and went to the nearest gas station to fill up the car. If you’ve never rented a car before, they usually ask that you return the car with a full tank of gas, so I headed to the gas station near the rental place and filled up the tank.

Afterwards, I went to the rental office and returned the car. I got back my deposit and they were kind enough to drive me to the airport using the car I rented.

I arrived at the airport about 2 1/2 hours before my flight. After going through the initial security check, I approached the check-in counters. It was there that I got the final surprise of the trip: there were seats available on an earlier flight and the guy at the check-in counter offered to change my flight to the earlier flight at no extra cost. The flight would leave an hour an a half earlier than my original flight, which meant I would get home faster. I, without hesitation, said yes and soon enough I was transferred to the earlier flight.

I went through security and got some dinner at a restaurant, the name of which escapes me, and it cost Php 230 ($4.01). I then waited about 45 minutes before they announced that my flight was boarding. I got on the plane and, after a little more than an hour, I safely landed in Manila.

And that, everybody, concludes my first trip report series! I can’t believe it’s finally done (and clocked in at north of 10,000 words). If you stuck with me through the whole thing, I want to applaud you for your dedication and express my sincerest gratitude for reading all of this. This series very much felt like a “testing the waters” situation where I was seeing what styles of writing worked and what didn’t and what I want to keep or change about these moving forward. If you liked this series, tell me what you liked about it in the comments below!

And that closes the chapter on this Cebu series of articles too. I have a few more I plan on publishing, but I’m ready to move onto my next destination, which I am going to announce right now!

Drumroll please….

…the next destination…is…

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA!

I know, what a jump right? From a beautiful, tropical paradise to one of the most famous cities in the world. It’s enough to give you whiplash. But if you didn’t already know, I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the last year as I pursue my MFA in TV Writing and Producing. I realized last August, less than two weeks after my Cebu trip, that I never really explored LA after living in it for a year. So I set aside four days and did everything LA had to offer! Highlights included Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Boulevard, the Getty Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!

You can find the first installment of that trip report series here: COMING SOON!

Again, thanks so much for reading and I’ll see you all in the next one!

-Stephen

Want to experience this trip report of my Cebu City Outskirts Adventure on video? Click here to view my vlog for this day!

Links to the other installments of this trip report series:

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 1: I Almost Got Scammed

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 2: Melting Through Historic Cebu

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 3: Swimming with Sea Turtles

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 4: Cliff-Jumping and Canyoneering

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 5: Temples, Flowers, and a Great View!