Philippines Pt. 1- Plantation Bay, Cebu

 We spent the first three nights of our trip to Philippines at an amazing resort in Cebu called Plantation Bay. A friend was kind enough to offer her husband's corporate discount for our booking, which was an offer we couldn't refuse! We really loved the resort- the staff were so friendly (and tipping is not allowed there, unlike other resorts, so they didn't even have ulterior motives- they just were nice!), and it seemed like every detail had been thought of to make it a fun and relaxing stay. 

 The girls loved the huge jacuzzi tub in our hotel room. I think the bathroom was probably bigger than their bedroom is here in HK, so we enjoyed the extra space!

 We had a "poolside room", which meant we had a little patio leading out to this pool, which was shared with the other rooms in a little cluster. The water wasn't deep, and our girls are thankfully old enough that it didn't feel dangerous. They loved swimming in it and playing around it, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. 

 Walking to breakfast on the first morning. 

 The resort had several "jeepneys" that you could hop on if you wanted to go from one part to another. 

 The whole place was practically one big pool. There were lagoons and waterslides and even though it was all man(human)-made it was still really nice. You wouldn't think so if you read the reviews on Trip Advisor though. Why do people complain so much?! 

 The beach was really small, but the sand was soft. I've seen pictures and have been told of amazing beaches in the Philippines, but I think you have to island-hop to get to them, and with young kids, traveling directly to Cebu was the simplest for us. We just were surprised that the beaches were so small, and in the case of the next place we stayed, basically non-existant. 

We were told that they were filming a Filipino movie on the beach. 

This girl loves the water! Never gets old!

  

 In addition to the Jeepney's there were also horse-drawn carriages to take you where you wanted to go (or to give you a ride just for fun!). Like seriously, how can you complain about a place like this?!

 After going down the waterslide countless times and swimming in the ocean, Annika still wanted to keep on swimming and playing in the water. 

 The view of our room and patio. 

 There was even a Chinese New Year parade complete with drums and dragons! 

 We didn't even need to battle the crowds of Hong Kong to see this...

Annika on the waterslide that she loved so much.

One final glance from the lobby as we checked out of beautiful Plantation Bay!