As we wanted to head south of Cebu to swim with the whale sharks we spent a day here and there at Le Village Guesthouse as a stopover.
We arrived at Cebu Airport and then took a metered taxi from the entrance of the building. The total fare does vary because there are lots of traffic jams in Manila. We hadn’t really experience any in Manila but we were thinking how great it was to get a metered taxi and not having to barter with the fare and getting ripped off. However we were so wrong. The sat in a traffic jam all the way from the airport into the city. At one point it was 45 minute and all you can do is hope that the cars start moving. There was a lot of road works at the time but mainly because there were too many cars. The total fare amounted to 350 Pesos when actually it would have been a lot less as it was only 20 minutes away.
The hostel is nice with tables at the front to socialise and relax with. There is also a pool table and a free beer or soft drink for staying the night. There are a lot of dorm rooms here and we stayed in a what seemed to be a recently refurbished room. However the second time we stayed in the room next to the reception and it was terrible – noisy and smelly as it was attached next to the bathroom and you could smell the sewage. We did get use to the smell and it was only for one night so try to get the dorms away from the reception.
The dorm beds are nice, basic and clean. Not all of them have power sockets that were working. There was a big cabinet to store our belongings and also lockers near the bathroom to lock away valuables. Note that the lockers are very small. The aircon worked really well too. The bathroom was basically 3 showers and 3 toilets all lined up next to each other in a big room. Sinks are available on the other side. The one problem was the flushing situation as Cebu was experiencing a draught you could only flush the toilet using a bucket and pail, which was really annoying because a trickle of water would come out to refill the bucket and many people did not flush the toilet properly. I don’t think the staff cleaning the toilets would have been happy.
Other things to note:
- The wifi is okay (although to be fair it is slow anywhere in the Philippines!). You can only access it in the reception or outside seating area.
- There is 2 ATMs nearby – BDO, which charges a 200 Peso fee for a withdrawal and the Metrobank further down the road, which doesn’t charge.
- Sometimes the electricity goes out (again, common throughout Philippines).
- The lockers are small and they have a key provided already.
- They do cooked food and cold drinks and a free water dispenser. You can use the kitchen area but it is self service only.
- There are also food shops nearby and a fruit shop right outside.
- Taxis cost roughly 70 Pesos to the bus terminal if you are catching a bus to Boljoon.
Overall for the price of 450 Pesos it was a good nights sleep and we learnt a lot of places and things to visit by talking to other people, who also stayed there.
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