Experience Davao! =)

Davao City, home to the famous Durian, June 20 - 22, 2010



We rarely got the chance to explore our country's best tourist destinations. Through Cebu Pacific, my gä and I got round trip tickets to Davao for just 110 pesos apiece. That's merely a taxi fare in the city. Getting the promo tickets though takes a bit of patience in booking it online during promo periods as their site will be very busy. Thanks to our friend Jamersonn, we didn't have to worry about almost anything from the whole trip. From planning, booking (with weather forecast), accommodation (their place), transportation (their jeepney), and food. It was a tour of its kind.

My gä and I, together with friends Jam, Lan-lan, Ron, Milmar, Chu-chu, Keh, and Marylyn, arrived in Davao at 6am of June 20, 2010. We're set for a 2-day full-packed adventure in the largest city of the south.

We ate our breakfast at Jam's place then left for our Philippine Eagle encounter. Also known as "Haribon" (Haring Ibon means Bird King), these birds are among the worlds strongest and largest birds.



Here are a few more pics at the Philippine Eagle park.





We also got a glimpse of the Owls of Ga'Hoole. =) Seriously, they're Grass Owls. Birds like eagles and owls would stand on one leg when at rest to reduce heat loss by half from their unfeathered limbs.



We then went to Malagos Garden for the Animal Encounter. We were welcomed by a folk dance presentation depicting Davao's rich culture.





They had a bird show featuring different species such as eagles, parrots, owls, ostriches, ducks, falcons, and even chickens.



There were other animals as well aside from the birds. A horse appeared from nowhere with its rider. There was an albino buffalo. Ducks lined up and paraded in front of us with their ducklings trailing behind. There was an ostrich, a rabbit, sheeps, and a whole lot more.







We had our lunch and prepared to go to one of the trip's highlights -- Outland Adventure's The Xcelerator zipline. This is the only US-certified zip line in the country, and is the longest speed zipline in Asia, where speeds can reach an average of 70-120kph. For more info, you may check out their site. It was both our first time to ride it.





Wooooh! After that adrenaline rush, we braced ourselves for another heart-pumping encounter with "Pangil", the 18-foot resident of Crocodile Park.






We ended our Day 1 with a dinner near People's Park.



It's Day 2, and were set to the second highlight of the trip -- it's wakeboarding time. We headed to Deca Wakeboarding. After a word from the instructors, we set ourselves to one of the most fun sports there is. This was another first time for both gä and I. And as expected, there were lots of falling, tumbling and dragging. The first few rounds was riding the knee board. Kneel then sit with your upper legs strapped. Bend rightwards to turn right, bend leftwards to turn left. Maintain rope tension to prevent sudden pulls by going in between the buoys placed in the outer part of the turns. If you survive that, your good to go and it's up to the strongest of arms to keep enjoying the loops.






The next one and final position was the most difficult (well, the most basic to those familiar with the sport) - the standing/bending position. It took me 5 falls before finally being able to do it! I was wakeboarding! I survived 3 loops before my knees finally told me its time to stop, but stop with a bang! Well, my goal was not only to complete at least one loop on standing/bending position, but to jump through one of the ramps! Ambitious, but that was my goal. Soon enough, I decided to stop after 3 loops with a finishing jump. I landed on my chest. Well, I tried. Next time, my goal will be a better landing. =) We all enjoyed it. It was one of the best experience we've had in years I was screaming my lungs out while wakeboarding! I was glad that God allowed us to have this vacation and just enjoy! =)




We loaded up and set off to our next destination, the Eden Park -- one of the most beautiful parks we've been. The park is really very big, 80 hectares to be exact. The rain was actually pouring when we got there and after waiting for a few minutes for the rain the stop which it didn't, we decided anyway to go on with the tour. We went through the park in a multicab-style vehicle. We saw plantations of cacao, durian, as well as plots of different herbs and spices. There were nice cottages and huts in different areas of the park. There is also this beautiful and relaxing place that my gä and I really loved. It was a simple half-opened hut with a view of a magnificent landscape and with vines draped over a cemented path. It was like one of those picture perfect places. There were interesting playground facilities in the park such as the Indiana Jones 'do-it-yourself' zipline. In the park, you can see deers separated by fences from the main routes of the park. But peacocks were free to roam the park and they did't seem to be afraid of humans. Some even reached the restaurant where we had our snacks. And we also saw an albino peacock. In the upper part of the park, there is this wide area where we enjoyed our time playing dodge freezebie.

We ate dinner and relaxed the night out in a nice coffee shop called, Blugre cafe. We played a "killer2x" game. It's played by having a moderator shuffle pieces of paper with different professions such as policeman, spy, doctor, engineer, teacher, and other professions, then there's the killer (disclaimer: being a killer is in no way a legally accepted profession Ü). The moderator rolls pieces of paper with these professions written on it, shuffles it, and allows the players to get one. Each player reads what's his role, remembers it, rolls it back, then surrenders this to the moderator so the moderator will know. The moderator now instructs the players to close their eyes, then asks the Spy to open his eyes and choose someone's rolled paper to open. In a way, he will secretly know that person's profession. The goal of the entire game is to capture the killer. If he fortunately picks the killer, he may or may not divulge it to the rest. Ofcourse, divulging it compromises his safety as part of the game's mechanics is the killers ability to kill anyone with the blink of an eye! (which I'll elaborate later. Hmmmf, this blog is getting longer because of this game's mechanics). After the spy chooses someone, he takes note of it. The moderator asks the spy to close his eyes. The moderator then asks the killer to open his eyes and choose his first victim. As soon as the moderator instructs everyone to open their eyes, the moderator will announce immediately the first blood. Along the way, it's now a guessing and bluffing game. As we silently drank our coffee, the killer freely kills anyone with a blink of an eye. The person whom he blinked at will immediately know and announce that he was murdered by the killer, but not announcing who it was exactly. But here's the catch, if he blinked at the Policeman, he's immediately captured and that marks the end of the game. But for as long as no one notices who's the killer (more of the blinker), the round will go on by guessing who is the killer by being an observant of every clues including mannerisms, eye movements (pupil dilation if you're good enough). The round ends by agreeing among the group by convincing each other who is the killer, and by that includes all the bluffs and sweet talks, including that of the killer's. So long as the policeman never catches the killer, someone is killed each round until the killers either ends up triumphant or captured. Get it? =)



We went back to Jam's place, later to find out that Ronald lost his wallet, maybe left it to one of the two taxi's we rode on our way home. The game seemed to enhance our inquisitiveness to use our CSI skills in a real situation by remembering all the clues of what took place as we track back where he could have left his wallet. We called the taxi operator, the coffee shop, and even went to the taxi stand hoping the taxi was still there waiting for another passenger. The next day, the taxi driver returned the wallet, cashless. We figured the cash could have been taken by one of the passengers of the taxi.

Anyways, it was a vacation full of extreme adventure with a mix of twists. Looking forward to our next escapade! =)