Sunday, January 10, 2016

Entering the Northern gate of Mindanao: Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental adventure - Settling down

Day 1 - December 11 2015 (Friday) – Settling down
It was just another SOSO (same old, same old) day at the office, missed my midnight lunch (I work at night), had to stay 1 hour past my shift to make sure all my deliverables
 were properly endorsed since they won't be able to get a hold of me for few days.
12:00 NN We arrived at NAIA terminal 3

TAXI FARE: PHP 200.00
We were able to pass thru the 2 major security scans at the airport without any incident of “LAGLAG-BALA” it was a relief to our part because we’ve been worrying about it since it became an issue on Philippine airports.
Supposedly we should be boarding at 1:50 PM but when I looked at my watch, it’s already 2:17 PM and we’re still sitting at the pre departure area. We were advised though that our flight will be delayed because the turnaround flight hasn’t arrived yet. We were both born as a very patient human being that’s why we decided to eat rather than rant about it on Facebook.
 
AIRPORT SNACK: PHP 115.00

2:30 PM we started boarding and at 3:00 PM the flight crew started their safety demonstration.
3:15 PM we are already on the move.
4:15 PM after an hour of uneasy trip (since I wasn’t sitting on the window seat) our pilot announced that we are now preparing for our final descent. We were welcomed by a great view of water and a huge chunk of land. The view is so majestic, makes me love our motherland more as I always say. 


One thing I’ve learned this day is “always” ask the tourist assistance officer inside the airport. Our case was we exited the airport right away and we went ahead to the nearby security guard outside to ask what is the common transportation going to Cagayan De Oro proper – he said that we have to ride a van, then a man approached us to offer a van going to CDO, I asked him the fare, he said it’s PHP 199.00 and it is about to leave. When we rode the van, there are only 4 of us. As promised it departed the airport immediately. I am not sure if that is their normal fare but there were booths set up outside the airport offering direct trips to CDO. 

5:30 PM the van drop us off to Plaza Divisoria, we couldn’t really locate a good place to stay, we walked, step after step as the sky started to close its light on us then we stumbled upon this huge “yayamanin” like Maxandrea hotel. We opted not to inquire inside since it really looked sophisticated and pricey but good thing at the back of that luxury hotel we spotted small cheap inns/travel lodges. We chose to stay at Amarea travel lodge since it was the nearest and we don’t want to look for other place with lower price anymore since we’re both tired and haven’t slept in ages plus the room for 2 is affordable already.

PHP 795.00/night (sharing)

The room is already air conditioned, with cable TV and hot/cold bath. The WIFI connection is good too! probably because we are on the ground floor, but I don't want to assume. The bed is quite big for us, you will get what you paid for.


Amarea Travel Lodge Location: Aguinaldo St. Cagayan De Oro, Misamis Oriental (Near Cogon Market and Mosque).
Trivia: We found out that this lodge is also managed by Maxandrea Hotel.

You know what I notice upon our arrival in CDO? Most of the establishments closes early but we're still lucky that we spotted a mini mall nearby were we ate our dinner at Mang Inasal.

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