Talon Lang: The sun is shining high in Sun City.

So our plan to go white water rafting on the Chico River had to be cancelled because the river's water level is not high enough ergo the end of the rafting season. Bummer! This was supposed to be the "highlight" of our trip.

To make up for this, we decided to make the most out of our resort instead. According to the itinerary we would practically just be sleeping in the resort but because of the change of plans, we get an entire afternoon of just bumming around.

Cheapskates that we are, we didn't rent a van to take us to Sta. Ana, Cagayan. We took a traysi to the Don Domingo market (P50) where the public vans plying the Tuguegarao-Sta. Ana route can be found. Fare in a non-aircon van to Sta. Ana is P180 per person. Fortunately, we found someone who had an air conditioned van charging P200/head. There were 7 of us and the driver said that if we're willing to pay for 10 people then we can get the entire van to ourselves. Sold! Van rentals cost somewhere between 4500-5000 including gas. We got the same service for less than half the price. Score!

The ride to Sta. Ana was an uneventful 2hrs 45mins. If we took public transportation the ride would have been between 3-4hrs.

Somewhere in the middle of a relatively barren area stood this huge white complex called Cagayan Holiday and Leisure Resort or more popularly known as Sun City. The grandeur of this place somewhat stuck out like a sore thumb amid the corn fields and wooden roadside shacks. Previously Sun City was only open to the mostly Chinese foreigners who frequent the resort for its casino. Sometime last year, the resort became open to the Filipinos. It's about time!

Sun City Reception Area

The place looked exactly like the pictures I've seen. Check-in was relatively quick. The Pinoy receptionist just had to ask the Chinese receptionist if we should be charged for the 7th companion since the villa we got was only good for 6. Good thing, we weren't. Full payment had to be made plus a deposit equivalent to one night. After that, a golf cart was dispatched to bring us to our villa.

Fancy the use of a speedboat for your island hopping?

Villas and your the primary mode of transportation to go around the resort.

The villa had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. There was a spacious living room and dining area. Very posh. Not bad for P8,400. Plus it already includes breakfast. (Their rates went up last Feb. 16 from P7760 to P10,500 but we were given a 20% discount because we made the reservations prior to the rate increase but were not able to make the advance payment to keep the old rate. This turned out to be a good deal though because P8400 with breakfast is cheaper than P7760 without breakfast since ala carte breakfast costs P180-220).

It was almost 5pm and we still haven't eaten lunch. Our eating schedule was badly messed up during this trip. Plan is to have late lunch in the resort's noodle house then have an even later dinner at the dampa outside.We got confused trying to find the noodle house. It didn't help that the staff kept pointing us to the wrong direction because they were too pre-occupied arranging the folk dance welcome for the congressional spouses who just arrived. Anyway, we ended in the resort's fine dining restaurant. We were ushered into one of the private rooms. The staff told us that we can order from the noodle house and eat there so they went to get the menu. There were about 5 people attending to us. The restaurant was practically empty save for another group in the other room. However when our orders came we were somewhat frustrated to find out they got our orders wrong. An extra order of this and a missing order of that. The staff were very polite and apologetic but we surmised that some miscommunication happened when our orders were sent to the kitchen which was manned by a Chinese staff who barely spoke English. Anyway, no one really made such a big fuss about it.

Restaurant lobby

Casino building

After our very late lunch we decided to check out the infinity pool for some night swimming. We had the place to ourselves and all my friends had fun goofing around in the pool. I was content with lying down and catching up on my reading.

Tomorrow is reserved for our island hopping. Luckily our golf cart driver has a brother who rents out his boat. We got his number and promised to text him early in the morning to inform him what time we want to get picked up. The cool part is he told us we don't have to go to San Vicente port anymore as the boat can dock right on the resort's shore. Perfect!

Infinity pool. The spa and the gym are to the right and behind, respectively.

Wooden dock to the beach.

Back at the villa some of us got hungry and ordered room service. The burgers sound very appetizing on the menu. That's as far as it got. It wasn't worth the price in my opinion. Anyway, after a few drinks it was time to call it a night.

As far as accommodations and amenities are concerned, Sun City is worth the price. However it is sorely lacking in the service department. For a five star resort it's service still can't compare to the likes of Bellarocca. I make this comparison, probably unfairly, mostly because of some similarities like villa accommodations, golf carts etc. Anyway, to us it wasn't such a big deal but to those who might be looking for superb service, you might be a bit disappointed. This doesn't mean to say that the staff in Sun City aren't polite and friendly because they really are. No complaints there. Maybe it's more of lack of adequate training that is the problem and not anything else. I'd still stay here again if given the chance because for all it's flaws I think it's still worth my money.