I must admit, I was a fan of Cebu Pacific promo before. Everytime there's a promo, I always wanted to book flights either domestic or international. All I can think of, is to just grab the opportunity and buy cheap tickets. During those days, there are times that we have to rebook our flight or even cancel it so unfortunately I have to undergo on their horrifying refund process, not even sure if they have process at all.

Now I am reading some comments from PinoyTux weblog "Cebu Pacific sucks" (nice title!), and I can understand their anger, I mean I really am. Kung 50 cents nga lang di ka sinuklian ng jeepney driver, nakakainis na e, hehe. There was a point that I really have to go to the Cebu PAcific office and asked for someone in-charge from their refund or accounting department, but it was useless. I can't blame their call centers, I know that it is somehow not their fault, except if they are not good in documenting all incoming refund request. I think the problem is in their accounting department that handles refund, I don't really know what's going on in their office, and I don't feel that all the people who works there especially the managers are doing their job.

One of the most stupid thing they customer service did to my friends is that: they cant refund a flight which was double charged on credit card due to internet error because they said that it was tagged as a promo, they said it because its what their system says. Because of this, I tried to help my friend, called the customer service daily, I took names of all the agents who answered it and asked for a manager. Whew, it is not easy to do that, ive undergone through many many follow-ups until I got hold one of their managers and finally have received their refund.

So..based from my experience, I just wanna share some few pointers When is the best time to call?

When it is your first time to request for a refund process, asked for the name of the agent who took your request and I think now they will provide a reference number to that request so they can track it back when you call back again

When they say 60 working days, start to mark your calendar! Wait for that 60 working days to give time to all those Cebu Pacific employees to do their "very difficult" job. Expect the worst.

While waiting for that 60 working days, pay your credit card bill first, don't expect Cebu Pacific to pay it back so quickly or else you'll regret paying the interest too.

And finally, when that 61st day comes, try to call your bank and ask if there is a refund payment coming from Cebu Pacific. If they say they have not receive it yet, then be prepared by bombarding calls to their customer service hotline. I'm sure that you'll hear hundreds of alibis why it was taking so long. And don't forget to ask for their names before initiating into a conversation, you'll never know if they will hang up on you if you lose your temper. Dont get intimated from those Cebu Pacific customer service, just come to think that they are only local call center agents and you earn So be patient, this is like a stress test, pag pikon ka talo ka, hehe!

Lessons learned: as much as possible, if I am planning any vacation, I would go to Philippine Airlines website first. Cebu Pacific had somehow built its bad reputation about their refund process, no need to prove it, its all over the internet. I hope Gokongwei clan would look into this, bad bad bad for business.

If you're the type of person who sees Holy Week as the best time to spend a summer vacation...where will you be? Sometimes it is very hard to decide if you're group does not have any definite plans. It always depends on time and budget. If you're from Manila and if you don't want to go on very far places, you can either choose Batangas on south area or Subic on north, both are just 2-3 hours drive.

Besides from Boracay, there are other alternative places you can go. You can try Coron Palawan, this is where you can find the cleanest freshwater in the country. Picture shown below is taken from a view deck found in Cayangan Lake. In Coron, the most common location on where you will stay is in the town of Coron, then you will just have to hire a boat to bring you on its best places, you can go to Cayangan and Baracuda lake, Sangat and Black Island for a fine white sand... and Calauit island to get a Safari experience. For more info click here .









Another place to be... is Batanes which can be found at the northern tip of the country, close to Taiwan, you can even get radio signals from Taiwan. I think everyone dreams to be in this place, ever since college, i always wanted to be here. Some folks are scared because of weather conditions, the safest time to be here is just during summer. But for our experience, we went last December, we took our chances... thanks for ZestAir for a cheap ticket price, we bought it for less than P5000.00 because of its promo. It was a fine weather but very windy. The wind was so strong that it can stop you while you are riding a bike, hehe. We stayed in town of Basco, i don't know if you can rent a jeepney to tour you, we brought our own bikes to roam the island, pretty good experience. Place to see is Sabtang island which is famous for stone houses, you can also visit the Honesty store and also the Marlboro country to witness green grass landscape as if you were in Scotland or Ireland (that's what they say) .

You won't survive in China if you don't know how to speak Mandarin, thanks to my friend, Dex, hehe. Here are some of the videos he made, nice edit!


The Best Peking Duck



Explore Beijing



Shanghai 1st Day



Dining out at Shangahai



Just Arrived at Beijing

We spent 2 nights on a train, from Shanghai to Beijing then the other way around.

The train ticket that we got from Shanghai to Beijing is just a seat ticket because all the sleeper tickets are sold out for that day, now I believe that you need to buy train tickets in advance in order to have a sleeper tickets. That's what been said on http://www.seat61.com Seat tickets are cheap ( 228RMB i think ) but not so comfortable ( literally, it was a pain in the ass! ) hehe, so we learned our lessons.

The moment we arrived in Beijing, we bought tickets going back to Shanghai for a soft sleeper tickets in advanced. It was great, nice bed, you have your own room, quite expensive ( 478 RMB for upper deck and 499 RMB for lower deck ) but all worth it. The food was great, an extra rice would only cost 1RMB ( cheaper than the price in Manila, hehe)


Subway is the cheapest and fastest form of transportation in Beijing, it only costs 2RMB, no matter what station you go or you will come from.

Watch our train video made by my friend:

Cebu Pacific flights going to Shanghai from Manila is usually during night time. ( if you have enough budget to take another airlines, please do so, i don't recommend this airline ). Arrival in Shanghai is around midnight, you can't expect to ride in Maglev train going to the city but taxi are always around.Taxi's flat rate is 11 RMB sometimes its 10.
If you plan to go to Beijing by train on next day, there is a small chance for you to buy a sleeper train ticket since tickets are already on sold for 10 days in advance before the day of departure. If you prefer to travel on your own, here is our own itinerary:



Day 1 - Shanghai
9:30PM - Depart from Manila
12:15AM - Arrive in Shanghai
1:00 AM - Stay on our friend's house ( 30 minutes ride from Pudong Airport)
2:00 AM - Party @ Windows Bar in Shanghai
5:30 AM - Breakfast @ City Diner
6:00 AM - Go home to sleep
10:00 AM - Wake Up call, buy tickets going to Beijing
11AM - 5PM - Roam around Shanghai
6:00 PM - Go to Shanghai Railway Station near People'S Square
7:30 PM - Train departs from Shanghai ( 11 hrs of travel going to Beijing) 228RMB for seat train tickets ( sleeper tickets are soldout ). Go to seat61.com to read more of train details.

The rest... spend a night on the train ( pain in the butt! )



Day 2 - Beijing

7:30 AM - Arrive in Beijing, go straight hostel, we stayed at Leo Hostel. Twin bedroom is worth 260 RMB, there are dorm rates that are much cheaper but with shared bathroom.
10:00 AM - Buy tickets going back to Shanghai for the next day ( RMB 499
for the soft sleeper train, this is recommended ) Eat breakfast
11:00 AM - 6PM - You can go to Forbidden City, Shanghai Museum, Beijing Olympic Statdium, walk around Quianmen Road

Entrance Fees:
Forbidden City - 40 RMB
Beijing Olympic Stadium - 50 RMB - its just a ticket to go see the stadium, there arent any games for you to watch.





7PM - Dinner, we tried a Pecking duck worth 90RMB ( single serving only )
9PM - Party at bar, goodluck if you can find english music, hope you'll enjoy.
12AM - Go home. Lights out.


Day 3 - Still in Beijing



6:00 AM - Wake Up Call
7:00 AM - Leave hotel and go on a tour to Great Wall ( 2 hours ride going to Mutianyu )( 260 RMB for the tour which includes transportaion only and no guide, that's the hotel rate, pretty expensive, entrance fee is included )
9:00 AM - Arrive on Great Wall.


9 - 12PM - Walk walk walk on Great Wall ( worth 56 RMB including cable car going up and tobogan slide going down the mountain, pretty fun! )
2:00 PM - Back to hostel.
3PM - 6PM - Watch dvd in hostel, hehe, we watched Borat although ive already seen it.
7PM - Back to Beijing Railway Station. Spend a night again on the train but we have the soft sleeper train, the food is great on the train restaurant.

More Links from Pinoytourist:

• Best of Mt. Pinatubo Photos
• December 2005.MT PULAG, BENGUET
• Kota - Kinabalu ITINERARY
• Jan 2006 - MT KINABALU, MALAYSIA and BRUNEI
• March 2005 , PALAWAN

Day 4 - Back to Shanghai
7:00 AM - Arrive in Shanghai again
8:00 AM - Check in to the affiliate hostel of Leo Hostel which is Mingtown Etour Youth Hostel,

better room than Leo with same rate on twin room ( 260 RMB a night with private bathroom)
9AM-6PM - Shanghai Zoo to see a panda, walked around the city
8PM - Dinner with friends staying in Shanghai
9PM - Bar hopping ( 2 bars only, hehe ) We went to The Shelter and then back to Window's bar with Filipino waitresses.
4AM - Go home.Lights out.



Day 5: Still in Shanghai


12PM - Check out hostel but we still left our luggage.
12-5PM - walked around the city ( Nanjing Road, Pearl Tower, The Bund Grand Raffles Mall )
6PM - Picked up our luggage in hostel, had rest for a while
730PM - Back to our friend's house. Packed our things.
10PM - Arrived in Pudong Airport, terminal 2 if youre on Cebu Pacific


Day 6: Manila, Philippines
4AM - Back to Manila! whew!