HOTEL PROFILE
The Crown Regency Hotel and Towers is a hotel complex in Cebu City, Philippines. The main building, the 38-storey Fuente Tower 1, is one of the tallest hotel buildings in the country at 140 meters (459 ft). Adjacent to this is the equally majestic Tower 2, Ultima which hosts the executive suites, dining and recreation facilities It is likewise the tallest building in Cebu City and the country’s tallest building outside of Metro Manila.
The top floors of the hotel tower feature an amusement facility which includes a roller coaster that runs around the edge of the building, and a stroll around the edge of the building with the protection of safety harnesses. It is only half of an hour away from the Mactan – Cebu International Airport. The hotel gives easy access to major commercial hubs and scenic tour destinations. This hotel offers the highest level of comfort and convenience in each of its 341 rooms and suites.
Crown Regency Hotel & Tower is only minutes away from Cebu, Philippines most finest and most popular Shopping Centers such as Ayala Center, Century Plaza, Colonnade Mall, Robinson’s Place, Rustan’s Dept. Store, & SM City Cebu; Business and Financial Districts including Cebu Business Park, Mactan Export Processing Zone; Hospitals; Transportation which includes taxis, tricycles, jeepneys and pedicabs; Centers of Tourism and Culture such as Magellan’s Cross, Fort San Pedro, PlzIndependencia, Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, Taoist Temple and beaches.
INTRODUCTION
Educational tours or field trips are learning experiences outside the classroom. These trips supplement classroom learning by providing students with an opportunity to see the actual places, artifacts, flora and fauna, or phenomena that are described in textbooks and lectures. They also enrich the students’ experiences by exposing them to situations that are new to them.
Educational tours may also be undertaken by family groups, whether homeschooling or not. At the vocational and college level, highly specialized field trips may be taken in order for students to gain firsthand knowledge on their major. Field trips help students interact with what they are learning. The experience goes beyond reading about a concept; students are able to see it, manipulate it or participate in it physically. Students are able to see elements with their eyes rather than reading about it and believing what they are told because it’s in print. Visiting a farm and milking a real cow is much more powerful than reading about milking a cow. Field trips provide entertainment for students.
They often serve as a powerful motivator for students, stirring up excitement as the trip nears. Breaking away from the routine provides kids with a refresher that might make them more focused back in the classroom. Learning and fun make a great combination. Field trips are considered fun, but the children learn as well, whether they realize it or not. So our haven of wisdom conducted a field trip to Cebu City which is the capital city of the province of Cebu and is the “second city” of the Philippines. With a population of 866,171 as per the 2010 census, It is the fifth most populated city in the country. Cebu City is a significant center of commerce, trade and education in the Visayas region.
The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu Island. It is the first Spanish settlement and the oldest city in the Philippines. Cebu is the Philippines’ main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country’s domestic shipping companies. It is the center of a metropolitan area called Metro Cebu, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay. Metro Cebu has a total population of about 2 million people. To the northeast of the city are Mandaue and the town of Consolacion, to the west areToledo City, the towns of Balamban and Asturias, to the south are Talisay City and the town of Minglanilla. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan Island.
The name CEBU came from the word “sebu” which means animal fat. Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, Cebu was a fishing village ruled byRajah Humabon. We visited the different centers of Tourism and Cultures that Cebu has. Our first destination is the Magellan’s Cross which is a Christian cross planted by Portuguese, and Spanish explorers as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan upon arriving in Cebu in the Philippines on April 21, 1521. This cross is housed in a chapel next to the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino on Magallanes Street (Magallanes being the Spanish name of Magellan) which is our second destination area, just in front of the city center of Cebu City.
A sign below the cross describes the original cross is encased inside the wooden cross that is found in the center of the chapel. This is to protect the original cross from people who chipped away parts of the cross for souvenir purposes or in the belief that the cross possesses miraculous powers.
Some people, however, believe that the original cross had been destroyed or had disappeared after Magellan’s death, and the cross is a replica that was planted there by the Spaniards after they successfully colonized the Philippines. After we got to Basilica Minore Del Santo Nino, we go to Fort San Pedro which is also called Fuerza de San Pedro.
It is a military defence structure, built by Spanish and indigenous Cebuano labourers under the command of Spanish conquistador, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spanish Government in Cebu. It is located in the area now called Plaza Indepedencia, in the Pier Area of Cebu City, Philippines. The smallest, oldest triangular bastion fort in the country was built in 1738 to repel Muslim raiders. In turn, it served as a stronghold forFilipino revolutionaries near the end of the 19th century. This served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. The fort is triangular in shape, with two sides facing the sea and the third side fronting the land.
The two sides facing the sea were defended with artillery and the front with a strong palisade made of wood. The three bastions were named La Concepcion (SW); Ignacio de Loyola (SE), and San Miguel (NE). It has a total inside area of 2,025 square metres (21,800 sq ft). The walls are 20 feet (6. 1 m) high, 8 feet (2. 4 m) thick and the towers are 30 feet (9. 1 m) high from the ground level. The circumference is 1,248 feet (380 m).
The sides are of unequal lengths and the one fronting the city is where one may find entry into the Fort. Fourteen cannons were mounted in their emplacements most of which are still there today. Work first started on May 8, 1565 with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi breaking ground. We also get there at Museo Sugbu.
This is housed at what was once called Carcel de Cebu, the provincial jail of Cebu. It was designed in 1869 by Domingo de Escondrillas, the lone architect in Cebu at the time, the Carcel de Cebu was originally proposed as the Carcel del Distrito, the main prison for the Visayas District. This accounts for its relatively large size at the time it was built. After a flurry of endorsements and independent review in Manila, the project was approved and construction probably commenced around 1871. It is believed that most of the coral stone blocks from the Parian Church–which was demolished in 1878 after the Bishop of Cebu won a long-drawn court case against its parishioners in the 1850s–were used to build parts of the Carcel.
After twenty years of use, a renovation was ordered in 1892, which added more buildings behind the main structure that now serves as the first six galleries of the museum. Records are not clear as to when the second story of the main building was added. But the architectural design suggests this to be during the American colonial period.
The Carcel de Cebu housed not only criminals in its 135-year history. During the Revolution, many of the Katipuneros were incarcerated here without trial and many of them were eventually executed in nearby Carreta Cemetery. During the early years of the American period, the Carcel served as a stable for horses competing in the Hipodromo nearby. But it was eventually used once again as a prison, both for the city and the province.
During the Japanese Occupation, guerrillas were imprisoned here after enduring torture under the hands of the Kempei-Tei, the Japanese secret police. After the war, many of the collaborators in Cebu were also imprisoned here. From the 1950s to 1976, the front section of the Carcel served as the city jail, while the three structures behind were used as the provincial jail.
The Carcel changed names twice, first during the American to the post-War periods when it was called the Cebu Provincial Jail. In the 1980s, the name was changed to Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC). The transfer of CPDRC to a more spacious and modern prison complex in December 2004 occasioned the conversion of Carcel de Cebu by Gov.
Gwendolyn Garcia fittingly into Museo Sugbo, the repository of Cebuano heritage, a feat that was achieved when the first four galleries of the museum were inaugurated on August 5, 2008. On August 13, 2009, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, chair of the National Historical Institute, led dignitaries in unveiling a National Historical Marker at Museo Sugbo.
The governor and Ocampo also inaugurated the Visayas Branch of the Museum of Philippine Political History. Directly opposite this branch museum, the governor and National Museum director Corazon Alvina also inaugurated the National Museum Cebu Branch Galleries. Both museum branches occupy separate buildings within the Museo Sugbo complex.
The 2009 event added four more galleries to the Museo, bringing the total to 10. Two more galleries are currently being developed and set of inauguration in 2010: a Provincial Art Gallery and the Cebu Media Gallery. A reproduction of prison life is also being planned within one of the bartolinas (isolation cells) in the former prison complex. One of these bartolinas is also being developed into a gift shop. We ate our lunch at ROYAL CROWN restaurant. The place is attractive to the guest because aside from the appealing ambiance of the place, the food they offer is really a mouth watering delight that zest my appetite.
They offer Japanese and Filipino Cuisine Our next destination area is the Taoist Temple which is located in Beverly Hills Subdivision in Cebu City, Philippines. The temple was built by Cebu’s substantial Chinese community. With an elevation of 300 meters above sea level, the temple is a towering, multi-tiered, multi-hued attraction accessible by three separate winding routes. The temple is open to the worshipers and non-worshipers alike. A ritual among devotees is where one prays to the gods to grant one’s wish. The ritual includes washing of hands, going inside the chapel barefoot and dropping two blocks of wood. If the blocks of wood are both face up then one could make a wish.
If not then it is not yet the time for one’s wish to be granted and one has to come to the temple some other time. The temple is the center of worship for Taoism, the religion which follows the teachings of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Zi. Another ritual among Taoist devotees, which is done during Wednesdays and Sundays,[3] is the climbing of its 81 steps (representing the 81 chapters of Taoism scriptures) to light joss sticks and have their fortune read by the monks. The entrance to the temple is a replica of the Great Wall of China. The temple includes a chapel, a library, a souvenir shop and a wishing well. The spacious balconies offer a scenic view of the downtown Cebu. The place is very peaceful and placid. Serenity will be observed.
We get there also at Mactan Shrine where the battle for supremacy and freedom took place between Ferdinand Magellan and Lapu-Lapu. Because of the success in Christianizing some native, Ferdinand Magellan a Portuguese explorer crossed the channel to Mactan Island in the hope to spread Christianity in the area. But even before reaching the shore, Magellan along with his 49 Christian soldiers were defeated by the chieftain of Mactan, Lapu-Lapu, along with his approximately 1,500 warriors armed with barong, spears, kampilan and kalasag on April 27,1521. Magellan and several other men were killed. This was later recognized as the historic Battle of Mactan.
The other soldiers were held prisoner. On May 1, 1521, one of Magellen’s ships, The Victoria, under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano sailed from Cebu and anchored at San Lucar de Barrameda, Spain on September 6, 1522, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the earth. Magellan’s body was never recovered and on 1866, a marker was raised on the spot where the great explorer died. The Magellan Marker or Magellan Shrine is located inside Mactan Shrine. It is a big memorial tower approximately 30 meters high, put up to commemorate the great Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan. The spot is purportedly where Magellan was killed.
CONCLUSION
To all the things happened, knew, saw and experienced, I therefore conclude that Cebu Tour and Hotel exposure activity at Crown Regency Hotel And Tower have improved, developed and gained more knowledge and new experiences in terms. It taking us into new environment that gives us the experience of travelling in a group and teaches us to be respectful of the locations we are visited. It gives us opportunity to spend time with each other in a new environment at the same time we learned. We get to visit a place which we have never been before. This could be particularly advantageous to us who are less fortunate and don’t have the opportunity to travel.
We find that we want to learn more about the subject on which the trip focused.When we are together outside the classroom, new educational environment and new experiences are possible. We may have the opportunity to observe many things that are not physically present and available at school and only on books will be found. FUN No matter how much we learn during the tour, our favorite memories maybe based on our enjoyment of the day. Getting at a new destination is always exciting and highly anticipated.
RECOMMENDATION
I do recommend that the length or the duration of time of tour will be extended for two to three days for us to visit all the historical places and events that Cebu city have. This is for the reason that the more we are exposed, the more we retain and gain more knowledge and new experiences as well as more fun and excitement. This photowas taken from Museo Sugbu me and my clasmates at Cebu Port as you can see, there’s a big dragonabove me.
