The Longest Ride: Exploring Southern Cebu on a Motorbike

Before I begin, let me just thank Mam Malou aka meylou for sponsoring this trip. Thanks Mam Meylou and to your sister Mam Tensie! You guys are awesome! 🙂

Okay, so, the original plan was to go to Danasan Eco Park in Danao City. But my friend Karen of iBake wanted me to pick up the birthday cake and cupcakes that she made for me (woohoo!!!) in Naga City. So, the plan was changed and we decided that we’re heading south. Again. By the way, my friend Redjie decided to tag along because he said he was bored.

 

We left the city at around nine in the morning. The ultimate plan was to tour the whole southern Cebu via Barili. Quite a long trip, I must say. But why the heck not? We have enough funds! Hahaha!

Aguinid Falls is just W.O.W!

(BTW, sorry about the horrible post-processing.)

Anyways, we reached the city of Carcar at around 10:30 in the morning. As usual, we had breakfast at Jollibee Carcar (Jollibee Carcar and Jollibee Liloan should really give me a discount card!!!)

The gorgeous Carcar Rotunda is gorgeous.

View of the South National Road from the rotunda.

We also made a quick stop at the public market to get a tinap-anan. Mam Melou’s sister Mam Tensie asked if we could buy a tinap-anan for her. She said she and her husband love Carcar’s tinap-anan. She also gave me extra to give bas-oy a try. I don’t know what bas-oy is but she said that I’d love it.

The Carcar City Public Market is awesome. It has everything, I tell you. Everything!

Fresh fish, anyone?

Tinap-anan! I’m not totally sure but I think tinap-anan is smoked fish. Looks delicious!

Inun-unan!

After the short trip to the market, it was time to hit the road.

The drive from Carcar to Barili was a breeze. The roads are great and traffic was very light. We only made a few stops to pee or take some photos. Before we could reach Dumanjug however, one of Redjie’s side-mirrors detached itself from his bike. So, we had to make an unexpected stop to fix it.

Redjie fixing his bike’s mirror.

Good thing though the view was breath-taking!

While we were fixing his mirror, a group of locals who were videoke-ing on the other side of the road waved at us. And upon seeing that we both had cameras, they asked us for a shot. Haha!

Well, no. We weren’t able to fix the mirror. So, we decided to stop in Dumanjug to buy a new pair. We did find a small motorcycle parts shop just before we reached the Poblacion. But the guy seemed to have a hard time installing it. So, we waited for at least thirty minutes before everything was ok again.

When we reached Dumanjug, we decided to check out the newly-opened Gaisano Dumanjug to buy something to eat. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a foodcourt. But, yey! Dumanjug now has a Gaisano! Congratulations, Dumanjug!

After the Dumanjug stop, it was a straight ride for us. We breezed through the towns of Ronda, Alcantara, Moalboal, and Badian at 70kph. We didn’t make any stops because it was already past noon and we still hadn’t reached the southern tip of the island.

By the time we were nearing the Badian-Alegria border, Redjie signalled that he was starving. Well, I was starting, too. Who wouldn’t be? It was already 2:00 pm!

After a few hundred meters of nothingness, we finally saw this. Houses! Yahoo! We were hoping that we’d find a decent restaurant in town.

Don’t you just love the ole southern town feel?

Wait a minute!!!!!!!!! Is that a restaurant WITH FREE WI-FI???????????

Redjie and I agreed. This was the restaurant that we were hoping/looking for. Haha. Cosina Organica!

While waiting for our orders, I walked around for a little. Here is the view from the back of the restaurant. Wonderful!

And our orders are here! Mango shake with umbrella! Sosyal! Hahaha!

We ordered a lot!

Beek steak!

Calamares!

We ate a ton each. And we were quite alarmed when the bill came because the restaurant was a bit pricey. But, hey! Once in a lifetime, man! Haha.

After lunch, we checked out the town church and the town plaza.

And just look at that church. Gorgeous, ain’t it?

Town church from the town plaza just across the street.

Beautiful!

I love how well-maintained it is.

The baluarte. A watchtower similar to the ones in Oslob and Dalaguete.

And look at that restaurant! A-MA-ZING!

After the short stop, we were back on the road. Time check, 3:00 PM. Uh-oh.

We were speeding through the town of Malabuyoc when we saw this. Their ‘People’s Palace.’ I’m guessing that’s the municipal hall. But, wow!

It even has a public restroom in front!

By 3:30 we were in the town of Ginatilan.

Checking out their also awesome town square.

Sea-side! Lovely!

We also checked out the town church. See that gate which leads to the beach? That’s also similar to the one in Argao. That’s called . That’s common among sea-side churches in Cebu.

An elevated platform right in front of the church. I guess this is a stage for religious activities.

The Ginatilan town church is beautiful.

Of course, we dropped by Ginatilan’s pride: Inambakan Falls.

On our trek to the falls, we saw these local guys on the other side of the river.

The trek to the falls.

And there it is. Isn’t she a beauty?

So huge! Not the guy’s tummy. But the falls!

Lovely.

Dog: Humans and their stupid photo sessions!

We didn’t stay long as there were many people around. We both agreed that we’d swim in Aguinid instead. Aguinid is in Samboan. Only one town away!

We reached Aguinid at approximately 4 pm.

Here’s the short trek to the falls.

The first drop. Redjie was in awe. Haha.

Like Oslob’s Tumalog Falls, Aguinid is not your typical falls.

But it is a real beauty.

This big pool is deep enough for jumpers. Lovely, right?

And there’s Redjie enjoying Aguinid.

We stayed for at least an hour before we realized that it was a horrible idea to travel after dark.

So, since we were in a hurry, I decided to drive back to the city in my wet shorts. Haha.

We finally reached the southern tip of the island at around 6 pm. Haha. Too late!

By the time we reached Oslob proper it was already completely dark. We didn’t know how dark the road can get at night. It was scary. We had to drive side by side because it was completely dark and Redjie has this weird idea that ‘someone’ else might ride behind him. Haha.

We reached the town of Boljoon at around 7 pm. The town church looked amazing so we decided to snap some photos.

A long way from home, but who cares. Boljoon is awesome!

Lovely!

By the way, Redjie was snapping some photos when he noticed something. In one of his shots, he saw a cloud-like figure complete with eyes, nose, and mouth near the church arch. Haha. We were both aware that the archeaological diggings (which revealed more than 30 prehistoric bodies) were done on the very spot where we were standing. We were basically running back to our bikes after we saw the photo.

 

 

After the exciting Boljoon stop, we were finally on the last leg of our trip. This trip has got to be the most emotionally-draining trip ever. Hahaha. It was drizzling and the road was wet. The road was dark and we were very hungry. PLUS we never made any stops until we reached the city of Naga where my friend Karen was waiting. That’s seven towns (Boljoon, Alcoy, Argao, Sibonga, Carcar, San Fernando, Naga.) I couldn’t feel my butt when we finally stopped at the Gaisano Market in Naga.

But, of course. Everything was well again when we saw these! Thanks Karen!!!!!! i.BAKE is awesome!

We ended the trip with a late-night dinner at Jollibee Bulacao (AGAIN? Hahaha.)

This was probably my longest motorbike ride ever. That’s a total of 12 hours on the road. With at least 8 hours of no-stop travel. I can’t believe I survived it. Next time, I’ll try a north trip to see which one is longer. Haha. But it was all fun and awesome!

Thanks again, Mam Malou! Hope you enjoy the photos!

Note: Will do a separate post for the spots soon! 🙂