Don’t have an idea where to bring your significant other for a romantic date? Well, the 10,000 Led roses cafe can be your best bet. The 10,000 roses cafe is located near Lantaw Floating restaurant in Cordova, Cebu.
Cebu is a chest of beautiful spots both natural and man-made. The Cebuanos were quite hyped when Sirao Flower Farm made rounds in social media. It was also a big thing when the butanding watching in Oslob made a considerable noise on the internet.
Lately, a new beautiful spot within the city made rounds again on the internet. Inspired by the 20,000 lighted rose garden display in Dongdaemun, South Korea, the 10,000 Roses Cafe is established by an avid fan. The cafe is here to brighten the city of Cebu with 10,000 illuminating white roses filling the front porch of the cafe.
The hype on social media about this new place is spreading like a virus. In just a matter of weeks after the place was opened to general public, it has gained its social momentum and had drawn a lot of visitors.
Last weekend, in response to the invite of my fellow blogger, foureyedlaagan, wanderingfeetph and the bisaya vlogger Glenn Abucay, we went to the place.
How to get there?
From SM City North, take the hired Van (v-hire) bound for Cordova. Travel time is around an hour. The fare is 35 pesos each person. Alight at Gaisano Grandmall Cordova. From there, hire a tricycle going to Lantaw Restaurant. The fare for the tricycle is 15 pesos per pax. Alternatively, you can hire the pedicab (padyak) but it would be faster if you will get the tricycle.
The 10,000 Roses Cafe Experience:
The trip was agreed two hours before the meetup time. It’s one of the most spontaneous trips we had together with these guys.
The gang agreed to meet up at SM City North at 3 PM, but due to traffic, we gathered together at around 4 pm. We then take our ride immediately to catch the sunset at the 10K Led flower café. The vlogarkada (as foureyed called it) arrived at around 5:20 PM.
We were a bit shocked when we saw the remarkable number of tourists in the area. If the café has 10,000 roses, the tourist around it was about the same number. 10, 000 people around! Would you believe that? Of course, I’m exaggerating things here. Yes, there are a lot of tourists who flocked the place (not really 10,000 though).
All you can see from afar are the countless heads of people around the area. The tourists can’t get enough of themselves taking a lot of pictures with the flowers. It’s almost the same as the crowd when Sirao Flower farm had its moment.
It’s a bit frustrating that the tourists are stubborn. We went around at the back of the coffee shop to check the place. Even at the back of the café has a lot of visitors chilling. Some say that the official opening of the café will be on Feb 14, but it opened last weekend, Saturday, Feb 11, 2017.
The café offers a variety of beverages and snacks. Unfortunately, we didn’t order any as they have a few more unavailable on their menu. Besides the café is full of guests at that time.
Being a responsible tourist:
When I walked around at the other side of the café, I quickly noticed the guard on duty. He was the only one at that time, busy watching the visitors and asking them not to enter the restricted area. I was a bit annoyed that few visitors were too stubborn and did not even pay respect to the guard.
It was the time that I decided to stop taking pictures as I have enough already and have a quick chit-chat with the guard on duty. I found out that the café is supposedly not to open soon, but due to the social media hype, the owner decided to open the café for business ahead of schedule.
The guard on duty was a bit pissed off, as there are a lot of visitors that would always try to get into the middle of these artificial flowers for picture purposes. They even don’t mind what will happen to those flowers, whether it can damage the flowers or whatsoever.
I even asked if the owner has plans to impose an entrance fee to at least minimize the crowd coming in and out. Or even put more barricades in order for the guard not to exert extra effort keeping the watch to those not so mindful tourists.
The guard said that the owner has no plans on imposing any entrance fees. He said that the owner just wanted the place to be a romantic getaway, a place where friends, family or love ones can chill and have peace of mind.
It is really commendable what the owner of this Korean themed 10,000 roses cafe has in mind. They just wanted to bring the look and feel of Korea within the city without spending a buck going outside the country. However, the destructive minds of the people can sometimes be uncontrollable.
I guess, the saying that goes, “If you are living a good life, live it and don’t tell anyone. People tend to destroy beautiful things.”
The Future:
We had this weird thought of coming to this place as early as possible due to the fact that anytime soon the place might get destroyed. And it doesn’t take long actually. The next day, I was both saddened and pissed off by the news, and maybe not only me, that some flowers were destroyed.
It was making rounds in social media and on the news that the place was temporarily closed until the flowers were fixed.
And still, the owners are very kind not to get pissed off by what happened. Instead, they just handle things gracefully. And decided to fix it.
Hopefully, our fellow tourists will be responsible enough. It’s not really bad to enjoy every moment whenever we travel but let us take into consideration our impact on the place we visited in.
Let’s travel with fun but let us minimize the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of our presence whenever we are. Let us generate greater economic benefits for local people and enhance the well-being of host communities.
For sure, this 10,000 roses Cafe can be the next romantic haven when we are not going to destroy it. Let us travel responsibly.
How about you? Are you planning to visit the 10,000 roses cafe? As a traveler, how would you promote or be an advocate of responsible tourism? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
Tips, Do’s and Don’ts:
- Go there early to stay away from heavy traffic.
- Stay at the café till evening to appreciate the beauty of the roses when lit.
- Be a responsible tourist. Obey the rules and don’t dare break them.
- Respect begets respect. Thus, respect the staff and authorities for crowd control.
- Do not enter restricted areas and trample the flowers. The flowers have electrical wiring and can cause an electrical shock when not careful.
- When getting back to Cebu City, do it after the rush hours to stay away from heavy traffic.
