Return to Hong Kong

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Grace’s officemate Ms. Arachel “Chel” C. Borja was leaving for Hong Kong with her kids to accompany her husband who was to attend a convention and Grace and I decided to join them.  We all left Manila for Hong Kong on 6:30 AM flight, arriving at Kai Tak International Airport by 8:10 AM.

This was to be our last entry into Hong Kong via this international airport. Landings at this airport were dramatic to experience and technically demanding for pilots.  A little over a year later, on July 6, 1998, Kai Tak was closed and replaced by the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, 30 kms. to the west. There were plans for the site of Kai Tak to be used for housing development.

From the airport, we all took a bus to the city proper and checked out our accommodations at Payless Pension along Nathan Rd..  Grace and I found it quite rundown and decide not to take it.

BP International Hotel – Twin Room

We all had lunch at a MacDonald’s outlet then dropped off Chel and her family at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  We then decided to check in at one of the BP International Hotel’s 529 guest rooms.

Check out “Hotel and Inn Review: B P International Hotel“

B P International Hotel: No. 8 Austin Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.  Tel: (852) 2376 1111. Fax: (852) 2376 1333. E-mail: enquiry@bpih.com.hk. Website: www@bpih.com.hk.

Tops Lookout (Cebu City, Cebu)

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After breakfast at the Zodiac Restaurant at the hotel, Grace, Jandy, Cheska and I joined Grace’s fellow EGI employees who were going, via van, to the popular Tops Lookout (better known as “Tops”), a must-visit viewpoint situated 2,000 ft. (610 m.) atop Busay Hill. On our long drive up the hill’s steep, winding road, we passed by Cebu Plaza Hotel where Grace and I stayed over a decade ago for our honeymoon. 

Tops Lookout

About 4 kms. past the hotel, we finally reached Tops and paid the required parking fee and admission fee for each of us.  This modernist, fortress-like and well-maintained viewpoint has kiosks where we could buy snacks and drinks; toilet facilities and benches where we could sit and have a breathtaking, panoramic view of Cebu City, Mactan and Olango Islands and Bohol in the  background.

Our breathtaking view

It was very windy and a bit chilly while we were there.  Other ideal times for a visit are during sunrise or sunset up to the wee hours of evening when you can see the city basking in lights.

Tops Lookout: Brgy. Malubog, Busay, Cebu City, Cebu. Admission: PhP100/pax

EGI Resort and Hotel (Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu)

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Right after Christmas, 10-year old Jandy and I flew to Cebu, arriving on the early morning PAL flight with Grace’s fellow E. Ganzon, Inc. (EGI)  employees Cecille Marquez and Mary Jane Malamug.  Grace and and 6 year old Cheska were to follow the next day.  We were picked up at Mactan International Airport and shuttled, in about 15 mins., to the 8-storey E.G.I.-owned EGI Resort and Hotel, located amidst a strand of world-class resorts and hotels in Mactan Island.  

EGI Resort and Hotel
Upon arrival at the resort, we checked into a corner airconditioned suite with cable TV, a fridge with minibar, NDD/IDD phone, bath (with bathtub and shower with hot and cold water) and a private balcony with a beautiful view of the sea and the nearby Club Kon-Tiki Resort (with its man-made white sandbar) and Cebu Mactan Island Member’s Club.
 
Our suite
This resort, the only condominium resort hotel on Mactan Island, also has a restaurant at the Zodiac Pavilion, function rooms, a free-form swimming pool and a small stretch of white sand beach.
 
The resort’s swimming pool
EGI Resort and Hotel: Pajac-Maribago Rd., Brgy. Looc, Maribago District, Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan Island, Cebu.  Tel: (032) 232-3111 to 15. Fax: (032) 232-3117.  E-mail: egiresort2003@yahoo.com. Website: www.egiresortandhotel.com. Manila sales office: 29/F, EGI Taft Tower, 2339 Taft Ave., Manila.  Tel: (632) 302-6418.  Fax: (632) 302-6420.

Club Panoly Resort (Boracay, Malay, Aklan)

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Club Panoly Resort

During our 1990 visit to Boracay, my first such visit, we made an ocular visit of the new (opened November 1989), 4-hectare, Singaporean-owned (CTW Group) and operated Club Panoly Resort, the first triple AAA resort in Boracay. A year later, the resort was the site of the 1991 RPN-9 mini-series Boracay which starred Dina Bonnevie, Fe Delos Reyes (singer/comedienne), Joel Torre, Rollie Quizon and Noel Trinidad (the fictional resort owner).

Posing at the resort entrance

Six years later, Grace and I decided to plan our next stay on the island on this world-class resort, staying here for 5 days and 4 nights.  Together with our kids Jandy and Cheska, we departed for Kalibo on the 9 AM Philippine Airlines flight, arrived by 10 AM and, from Kalibo Airport, boarded an airconditioned  Boracay Star bus for Jetty Port in Brgy. Caticlan, arriving there by 11:30 AM.

Cafe Punta Bunga

At the port, we boarded the resort’s shuttle boat and arrived at Club Panoly in time for lunch at Cafe Punta Bunga, the resort’s coffee shop.   Sprawled throughout this luxurious resort are 8 native-style octagonal clusters with 5 cottages, all fully air conditioned, with hot and cold shower, cable TV, minibar, complimentary coffee and tea and 24-hour IDD telephone facilities, all standard features in all rooms. The custom-designed furniture were made with indigenous creativity and materials. 

Lounging by the swimming pool and poolside bar

Aside from Cafe Punta Punta, the resort also has a restaurant, a bar (El Capitan) and a beach bar.  There’s also has a swimming pool (with poolside bar), a plexi-paved tennis court, two jacuzzis, spa, sauna, multi-purpose conference room, billiards, children’s playground, souvenir shop, seaport and offers waterskiing, windsurfing, jetskiing, diving, paddle boating and speed boats.

Trying out the jacuzzi
Club Panoly Resort: Sitio Punta Bunga, Brgy. Yapak, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan. Tel: (032) 288-3011. Fax: (036) 288-3134.  Metro Manila booking office: International Vacations Corp.,  G/F, ACT Tower, 135 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Salcedo Village, Makati City.  Tel: (632) 812-2233 local 107 or 403.  Fax: (632) 812-6455 and 812-6434.  E-mail: info@thepanoly.com.  Website: www.thepanoly.com.

Residence Inn Zoo (Tagaytay City, Cavite)

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From the 41st Division P.A. USAFFE Shrine, Jandy and I continued on our way to Residence Inn.  As it was along the highway, it was easy to find.  There’s an entrance fee.  The inn,  which also has an excellent view of Taal Volcano and Lake, has airconditioned accommodations and a restaurant.

Check out “41st Division P.A. USAFFE Shrine“

However, we were just there on a 1-day tour of its mini-zoo which is more like an interactive petting zoo as, at the entrance, fresh fruits and other food  are sold to visitors who want to feed the animals (except the tigers).  The zoo has a menagerie of 30 or so animals,  some caged while others were free-roaming.

Jandy beside a free-roaming cassowary
A caged tiger

The first animals we saw were the noisily chirping parrots and cockatoos, some caged while others were out, tied loosely to their perches.  Also near the entrance were pythons, fishes and a tiger cub.  There were also screaming monkeys, caged Malay civet cats and tigers, free-roaming peacocks, ponies, llamas,  a free-roaming cassowary, wild pigs and crocodiles.  The zoo could actually be toured in an hour.

A caged crocodile
A python in a glass case

Residence Inn: Km. 65, Brgy. Neogan, Tagaytay City, Cavite. Tel: (632) 899-9829 (Manila)

41st Division P.A. USAFFE Shrine (Tagaytay City, Cavite)

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After my jobsite inspection at La Residencia de Laguna and lunch in Tagaytay City, Jandy and I went out of our way to visit the Residence Inn Zoo.  Along the way, we made a stopover at the 41st Division P.A. USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East) Shrine, beside the City Hall and Tagaytay Convention Center.

Check out “Residence Inn Zoo“

41st Division P.A. USAFFE Shrine

Within the shrine are marble walls etched with the names of all 6,000 servicemen of the 41st Division, Philippine Army, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Vicente P. Lim.  Coming from Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Tayabas (now Quezon) and Palawan, these men mobilized on Tagaytay Ridge on August 1941.  Here, they set up camp and trained for war, prior to joining the ensuing Battle of Bataan. A bas-relief sculpture also helps tell the heroic story of the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.

The bas-relief sculpture

41st Division P.A. USAFFE Shrine: Km. 59, Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, Brgy. Kaybagal South, Tagaytay City, Cavite.

Leyte Landing Memorial (Palo, Leyte)

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From the Sto. Nino Shrine & Heritage Museum, we were next driven 12 kms. to the next town of Palo where we visited our final destination, the Leyte Landing Memorial along Red Beach, 2 kms. north of the Palo town center.  Marking the spot of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s Leyte landing, this beautifully landscaped memorial was established in 1973.

Leyte Landing Memorial
The memorial contains the 7 bronze statues (1.5 times bigger than lifesize) of MacArthur (taller than the others to create perspective, it was designed by the late National Artist Leandro V. Locsin), Pres. Sergio Osmeña, Sr., Brig.-Gen. CarlosP. Romulo, Gen. Richard K. Sutherland (MacArthur’s Chief of Staff), Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid followed by two staff members, standing on a shallow, man-made lagoon.
 
Red Beach

Fifty meters away is the Philippine Commemorative Rock Garden of Peace, designed by Renato L. Punzalan and built in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the landing.  It has messages of peace from leaders of different countries etched in stone slabs indigenous to these countries.  These are set around a bronze sculpture of the Eternal Flame of Peace.

Rock Garden of Peace

Leyte Landing Memorial: Brgy. Candahug, Palo, Leyte.

Sto. Nino Shrine & Heritage Museum (Tacloban City, Leyte)

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After lunch at Agus Restaurant, Grace, Jandy, Cheska and I, with Manny, Paula, Mark, Nenette, Dad, Mom and Cheska’s new friend Kookie Bal, continued on our tour of Tacloban City, this time visiting the Sto. Nino Shrine & Heritage Museum, one of 29 presidential resthouses built by the late Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos and Tacloban’s top tourist attraction because of its association with Mrs. Marcos.  This 20-room, colonial-style structure, designed by Arch. Jorge Ramos and built from 1979 to 1981, houses former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos‘ vast collection of art objects from all over the world.  

Sto. Nino Shrine & Heritage Museum

At the ground floor is the 100-pax chapel, lit with beautiful chandeliers from Czechoslovakia; with narra pews and a replica of the image of the Sto. Nino of Leyte (made with Italian ivory) as the altar’s centerpiece.  This is where the Sto. Nino connection ends.  Everything else speaks of the Marcos family, especially the former First Lady.

Posing in front of the replica of the Sto. Nino de Leyte

On the chapel’s periphery, elevated by 2-3 steps, are 13 tastefully decorated guestrooms of varied Filipino motifs, each unique and exceptional as they represent the different regions of the country. Each room had a diorama of the First Lady.

One of the themed guestrooms
At the second floor is a spacious ballroom, a 30-pax dining/conference room and 7 magnificently designed and decorated private bedrooms for the First Family.  Imelda’s bedroom had a very large bathroom.  The whole place just screams grandeur, power and magnificence. 
 
Wooden bas relief of Malakas and Maganda
The whole mansion was furnished with original paintings done by by the late National Artist Fernando Amorsolo, Amadeo Y. Manalad and Malang; the 14 Stations of the Cross done by Filipino painters; priceless furniture; musical instruments; fine English, French and Chinese porcelain; Austrian mirrors; Argentinian and Persian carpets, grandfather clocks; Italian tiles; wooden bas-relief of the legend of Malakas and Maganda, ivory and wooden sculptures of local and foreign  origin; Russian dolls; Chinese Qing Dynasty vases: a whole glass case filled with ivory carvings; and other priceless collectors items. 
 
One of the 7 bedrooms
Sto. Nino Shrine & Heritage Museum: Real St., Tacloban City, Leyte.  Tel: (053) 321-9775. Admission: PhP60 (maximum of 6 per group).  Open daily, 8 AM to 5 PM.  Guided tours from 8 to 11 AM and 1 to 4 PM.

CAP Building (Tacloban City, Leyte)

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Back in our van, we made our way back to the city proper.  Near the wharf, we made another stopover at the CAP Building.  Formerly the Price Mansion, this American colonial house was built in 1910 by American businessman Mr. Walter Scott Price, founder of the Leyte Transportation Co., Ltd. (Letranco). During World War II, it  was used as a Japanese Officer’s Club. 
 
CAP Building
For three months during the liberation, it served as Gen. Douglas MacArthur‘s headquarters and residence.   Here, the general escaped injury when a Japanese bomb penetrated the roof over his room but failed to explode.  The hole left by that attack can still be seen.  It is now the headquarters of the College Assurance Plan, Inc..
 
Aside from being the company’s office, the building also houses a MacArthur memorabilia room (second floor), an art gallery and a conference center.  On the right side of the mansion, facing Romualdez St., is a statue of Gen. MacArthur and Pres. Sergio Osmena.
 
Statue of MacArthur and Osmena
CAP Building: Justice Romualdez cor. Sto. Nino St., Tacloban City, Leyte.  Tel: (053) 523-9856.

San Juanico Bridge (Tacloban City, Leyte)

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After breakfast at the Filamor Residence, Grace, Jandy, Cheska and I, together with Manny, Paula, Mark, Nenette, Daddy, Mommy and Cheska’s new friend Kookie Bal left for our tour of Tacloban City.  We secured the services of a guide and a van at the Department of Tourism Region 8 office.  Our first destination was to be the San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in the country as well as Southeast Asia.   At the foot of the San Juanico Bridge is the 15-hectare, Japanese-funded multi-million peso National Maritime Polytechnic, a  merchant marine training school and the most modern graduate institution for seamen in Asia.  

Posing along the San Juanico Bridge
 
We finally made our way midway up the bridge and made a short stopover.  Here, we had a panoramic view of the San Juanico Strait, located between the islands of Leyte and Samar.  It is considered the narrowest but most navigable strait in the world.   The strait has a number of beautiful islets.     The San Juanico Bridge, which crosses this strait, is also called the Marcos Bridge.  Inaugurated on July 2, 1973 and located 10 kms. from Tacloban City, it is a major link in the 3,000-km. Pan-Philippine Highway.  
 
San Juanico Strait
 
This impressive S-shaped bridge, said to be the most beautifully designed bridge in the country, is 2,162.4 m. (7,092 ft.) long, 10.62 m. wide with 43 spans and towers 41 m. above the sea at its highest point.    The S-shaped structure on the Samar side had to be adopted to make use of the importance of the existing islet, the Cabalauan islet that lies in the middle of the strait.  This islet serves as resting point and provides added support to the massive structure soaring over the swift currents of the strait.