Day 1 : Escape to Iloilo

Left Davao early in the morning to catch up my flight to Iloilo. I always love to leave either early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid the rush hour. Took a cab and it only took me about 20 minutes to reach the airport. I already checked in online and printed my boarding pass son I avoided the queue – well actually there was a short queue as there were only a few of us booked on that plane. No hassle at all. The plane even departed 10 minutes before our actual ETD.

Iloilo International Airport

Reached Iloilo ahead of my ETA and waited for a friend from Manila to arrive. After an hour, she arrived and we took the van going to SM City to meet another friend. We arrived in the city after 30 minutes and took our lunch at Langford Place.

Langford Place near SM City Iloilo

The food was just ok, but the ambiance was good enough to relax. The restaurant is just a walking distance from SM City.

Westown Hotel chalet and pool area

After lunch, we headed to Smallville – a popular night out place in the City. We booked a room at Westown hotel. We stayed in one of their chalet on our first night and transferred to a superior room the second day since the chalet was already booked. The place was good but the services were poor. The key card was not working and i had to go back to the reception 3 times before it actually worked, the bell boys were just talking with each other and the receptionist. They could have assisted me. Also, if you are sensitive to a noisy environment, you should get away from this hotel is surrounded by bars and it get noisy during the night up to dawn. I am not particular with noise so to it was tolerable.

San Joaquin Church – located in San Joaquin, Iloilo, was built by the Augustinian Order in 1869. It is known as the only church in the country with a militaristic facade, incoporating the bas-relief mural Rendicion de Tetuan.

San Joaquin Church

Campo Santo de San Joaquin Cemetery in San Joaquin, Iloilo

After resting for few minutes, we headed straight to San Joaquin to visit the San Joaquin church and Campo Santo cemetery. Instead of taking the jeepney, we took the Ceres bus going to Pandan and alighted at San Joaquin plaza. Taking the bus is more comfortable and less time consuming as the stops are limited.

After the photo ops, we headed to Miagao and visited the University of the Philippines Visayas and one of the UNESCO heritage site.

UP Visayas is very near to Miagao church so we just decided to walk and found ourselves eating some street food. It was very UP, indeed!

The Miag-ao Church was built in 1786 by Spanish Augustinian missionaries and was declared as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Baroque Churches of the Philippines” in 1993.

After the Miagao church visit we headed back to the city. The bus driver told us that they can take the passengers back to Molo terminal as there were not allowed to do so. The driver dropped us to Oton terminal. We took a jeepney going to Molo church and took some photos. The architecture of this church was also interesting. There was an on-going mass so we were not able to enter.

The Molo Church is one of the most familiar landmarks of Iloilo. Built in 1831, the church stands as a reminder of Iloilo’s rich history and a monument for Ilonggo artistry

Interior of the Molo Church

Then we took a cab going to Uncle Tom for our dinner. We had their chicken and steak combo. It was ok but again nothing special.

Chicken and steak combo at Uncle Tom’s restaurant

After dinner, we went back to Smallville, bought coffee and headed back to the hotel and started working. We still have hours to complete with our online job so we had to do some work.

At 1AM, we went out and the place was packed with part people. We went to Pierro Kaffee and tried their coffee and it tasted really bad. No wonder only few people were in the place. The worst coffee I had in my lifetime.

Pierro Kaffee

At around 2AM, we went back to the hotel and did some work again and slept. What a day that was.

Iloilo Day Tour – Itinerary & Expenses
11-Oct-12

		per Head	Total
6:00	Taxi from House to Airport	150
7:35	Departure Davao Int’l Airport (Promo Fare Roundtrip)	1000
	Terminal Fee	200
8:40	Arrival Iloilo Int’l Airport
8:45	Waiting for a friend at the airport to arrive from Manila (1 hour)
10:00	Ride a van from Iloilo Airport to SM	50.00
10:30	Arrival at SM / Lunch (Langford Place)	200.00
11:30	Taxi to hotel	50.00
11:35	Check Inn (2 nights) Westown Hotel @ Smallville / Rest	2000.00	4000.00
12:30	Left the hotel to Molo Terminal to catch a bus to San Joaquin (10 mins)	16.67	50.00
13:20	Bus departed Iloilo	50.00
14:15	Arrived in San Joaquin /Explore San Joaquin and Campo Santo
	Tricycle from San Joaquin Church to Capo Santo	10.00
15:15	Departed San Joaquin to Miagao	15.00
15:40	Arrived in Miagao (photo ops UP Iloilo & Miagao chruch)
	Snack (street food/sofdrink)	40.00
16:50	Left Miagao going back to Iloilo (Oton terminal) 1hr	35.00
17:50	Left Oton to Molo by jeep (10 mins)	8.00
18:00	Molo to Uncle Tom restaurant (20 mins by taxi)	23.33	70.00
18:20	Dinner @ Uncle Tom	266.67	800.00
20:00	Walk back to hotel (relax and work a bit)
	Cooffee take out from coffee break	70.00
0:30	Coffee time at Pierro Kaffee	100.00
	Grocery	85.00

		4369.67

Download Printable Itinerary & Expenses

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