January 16-18, 2014
Another Cebu Pacific airfare promo. Round trip tickets for two were worth almost 3.5k. We stayed at Viajeros Economy Inn at 1k+ per night. We booked an Eden-Philippine Eagle-Crocodile Park tour from Davao Tours for fun at 2.5k/pax for January 18.
Plan A for Day #1
On the wee hours of January 17, we would go to Bislig to visit the Tinuy-An Falls. Usual travel time was 6-7 hours via Bus from Ecoland Bus Terminal. We booked at Viajeros because of the fact that it's near the bus terminal. Sadly, due to the heavy rains last week, several roads were damaged and the travel time was extended from 6-7 hours to 10 hours. :( Maybe I'll visit the Falls next time. So off we go to Plan B.
Plan B for Day #1
Since we didn't book any tour to anywhere in Davao because of Plan A's possibility, we decided to visit Samal Island's Hagimit Falls and Monfort Bat Cave, Museo Dabawenyo, San Pedro Cathedral, Jack's Ridge, and buy some goodies from Lola Abon's Durian treats.
January 16, 2014
We arrived in Davao at 8pm. Get on a taxi to go to your hotel. Don't worry, Davao City is quite a safe place. You could even walk the streets late at night.
When we arrived at the inn, we ordered 2 cups of rice and a bowl of Tuna Sinigang at Yellow Fin Restaurant. The Tuna Sinigang had a big slice of tuna. Enough for 2 not-so-hungry people to share. Viajeros Economy Inn offers a delivery service of food ordered from the said restaurant for an additional 10% of the order's price. After eating, we walked to the Ecoland Bus Terminal to see if there's a scheduled trip to Mangagoy. We asked about the fare (320php/pax) and the number of hours of travel (according to the person we asked, it would take us 6 hours). So we went back to the inn to get a good night's rest for an early travel to Mangagoy.
January 17, 2014
We woke up at 3:30am and started walking to the Bus Terminal. We bought 4
pandesal that costs 5php each. It was bigger than my fist. We were the only passengers for the bus bound to Mangagoy. It was a blessed thing when the conductor greeted us and informed us that the route will be different and it will take us 10 hours to arrive at mangagoy. So much for my excitedness. >.< We got off the bus, returned to our inn and slept again until 7:30am.
Breakfast at Taps
Before our flight to Davao, I did a little research on where to eat and where to go. I suggested to my mom that we eat our breakfast at
Taps, just to try something other than Jollibee or Mcdo
. It's a bit far from the inn so you could ride a tricycle for 10php/passenger. We visited the branch across Ateneo along Gen. McArthur Highway right beside Jollibee. I ordered a
Leckasilog = 90php (
lechon kawali-sinangag-itlog -or- deep fried pork-garlic fried rice-fried egg ) and my mom had a
Bangsilog = 90php
( bangus-sinangag-itlog -or- milkfish-garlic fried rice-fried egg ). My mom preferred her rice to be plain steamed rice. I suppose that you could request the fried egg to be scrambled instead of the typical sunny-side up. Sorry I didn't get to take a photo because I was hungry and it wasn't anything special to take a photo of. In my opinion, nothing can beat the taste of
bagnet (
also lechon kawali but can be bought at Ilocos ), the milkfish lacked salt and pepper and the sunny-side up was undercooked. After breakfast, we bought our lunch at Jollibee ( just to be sure that we'd have something to eat in case restaurants/canteens aren't available at the location ) then we rode a taxi going to Sasa Wharf to ride the ferry going to Samal Island.
Trip to Samal Island
From Taps to Sasa Wharf, it cost us 200php riding a taxi. If I were with someone else, I would've ridden a tricycle to Quimpo Blvd. ( the highway parallel to Gen. McArthur ), rode a jeep to Magsaysay Park then rode the Island Express Bus going to Peñaplata. But I wouldn't want to stress out my mom so early in the morning so we rode a taxi instead. Proceed to the gate where you pay 10php/pax to ride the ferry. It was a short ferry ride.
Hagimit Falls
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| Lower tier |
If you want to go to Hagimit Falls, do as what we did-we rode the Island Express Bus to Peñaplata for 20php/pax then hitch on a motorcycle for 25php/pax to the Falls ( I wasn't sure if it was really the lowest rate but we wanted to get there immediately so we just agreed to pay the rate ).
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| Upper tier |
On the road going to the falls, you will be asked to pay 5php/pax as environmental fee. Pay 40php/pax at the Falls' entrance.
It'll take 97 steps going down to reach the falls. The falls would've been nice if it weren't for those cottages. I wish the cottages were situated in just one section. An open cottage costs 150php and a closed one costs 250php.
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| Separate falls from the first two |
I would've wanted to lie down on those big rocks but we're on a tight schedule. We still have a lot to explore and that changing room located underneath those cottages is just so d*** creepy. There were no people when we went there (except for the caretaker), probably because it was a weekday. After a short picture-taking session, we just ate our lunch and went on our way to Monfort Bat Cave.
Monfort Bat Cave
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| Colony of fruit bats |
From the falls to the cave, it took us approximately 30 minutes. It was a scorching motorcycle ride. The entrance fee to this location is worth 100php/pax. Yes, it was that expensive.
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| One of the caves filled with bats! |
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| Guinness World Record |
The "tour guide" wasn't much of a tour guide. We just walked our own way. I had known more from the motorcycle driver - probably the reason why we had to pay more. From the falls, the rates going to each location on the island are displayed on a black board. Falls to bat cave = 80php/pax and bat cave to ferry boat = 30php/pax so I assumed that we'll pay 210php. But in total, he charged us 280php. Maybe he charged us for waiting up during our bat cave viewing. After our adventure in Samal Island, we went back to Davao City and rode a taxi ( fare: 170php ) going to Museo Dabawenyo.
Note: According to the motorcycle driver, the reason why there's still the ferry boat instead of a bridge going to and from the island, is because the tribal chief in Samal Island disagreed to the idea in order to control the flow of tourists. It's commendable on the part of the local government to respect the wishes of the tribal chief.
Museo Dabawenyo
If you're planning to visit Davao, it would be helpful for you to go here to gain more appreciation for this city. Thanks to our museum guide (Sorry I forgot her name) for giving us an enriching tour. Don't forget to take a picture of the art made from durian. The left side is taken without the flash and the right side is taken with the flash. Entrance is absolutely free!
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| Without flash |
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With flash - you can clearly see the
male and female person, eagle,
waling-waling, and the fish |
After our museum tour, we rode a jeep ( fare is 8php ) going to NCCC mall and from there, we took a taxi going to Lola Abon's delicacies to buy
pasalubong. We asked the driver to wait for us ( + 40php on top of the meter ) and proceeded to Jack's Ridge.
Jack's Ridge
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| Jack's Ridge playground strictly for children |
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| Jack's Ridge amphitheatre and the view |
We planned to eat here. Little did we know that the restaurants will open at 5pm and it was just 4:30pm. Since we wouldn't want to stay late outside AND we didn't know that we could call for a taxi to pick us up later on, we decided to just have a look around and it costs 20 php/pax. Could you believe that? Anyway, we didn't wait for the restaurants to open. After a long and exhausting trip, we just went back to the inn. We ordered Tinolang Native Chicken (comfort food!) for dinner from Yellow Fin restaurant.
