Davao Day 1: Eden Nature Park and Deca Wake boarding Park

More than a week had passed since I first set foot in Mindanao. Like any first timers, I got excited the moment I saw the Davao International Airport signage from the plane. From the airport we were fetched by the van daughter had previously arranged online.  We knew we were too early to check-in but we proceeded to our hotel just the same.  We were allowed to leave our luggage with them thus it sets us free to start our tour of the city. But before we started off, we had our breakfast at the dormitel's cafeteria.  They serve combo meals consisting of a cup of rice with two kinds of viands plus coffee or juice. I thought I could already claim our free 2 sets of breakfast but I was told and realized as well that we haven’t checked-in yet.  So I had to pay for all the orders.

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After filling up, we began our day's journey. Our very first destination was..

Eden Nature Park –  This is the  mountain resort found at the foot of mount Talomo almost 3,000 feet high  above sea level.  It is a 40 minute drive from our hotel in Mt. Apo Street in Davao City.  We reached Eden Park at mid morning and people were already converging at the  reception area. The park offers recreational activities like fishing, horseback riding, zip lining and swimming but didn’t try any of those time consuming activities.  

 

We only wanted to see as many places as we can that day.  The guided tour cost P100 and the compulsory lunch or snack is P450/pax  and  P180/pax respectively. We chose the latter coz we preferred to lunch at the restaurant suggested by our driver cum tour guide. After paying at the reception, we boarded the shuttle service and were brought around the magnificent nature park. The breathtaking vastness of verdant greens and colourful flowers are amazing. There were so many lovely spots to see and appreciate. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to see all the gorgeous spots. 

After a few more treks around, we boarded our rented van and proceeded to have lunch.

Penong’s Barbecue and Seafood Grille Restaurant.   We were told it’s one of the best in the city. I could say the food is really good especially their Chicken Inato.  I like all the food listed in their menu and mind you, the prices are surprisingly low! 


   

 We’re so filled up and satisfied with less than a P700 lunch for five (that’s the four of us plus our driver). Then off to the long desired sport activity of the big kiddos.

The Deca Wakeboard Park.  It’s a serene place of massive lake not far from the greeneries of the mountain side.  Located within the Deca Homes Residences, the place I think. is still an on-going project.  

There wasn’t too many wake boarders at the time probably because it was already 3pm.  That gave the big kiddos opporunity to enjoy the activity without queuing unlike in CWC.  It was more than two hours of extreme physical exhaustion for these herd of mine but I saw the great satisfaction on their faces when we left the place.  This wound up our first day of Davao tour.  Then we were back to our hotel.

Green Windows Dormitel - The place is a hotel and a dormitory in one  located in the 5^th floor of FTC Towers in Mt. Apo Street.  Room rates are very affordable so we booked for the spacious room which is the Executive Twin.  It is only good for four hence, we needed additional bed when hubby arrived on the second day.  It is well secured and is only stone’s throw away from nice restaurants. The dormitory type room with double deck beds are for only P188/pax.  The place is relatively new and generally clean and well maintained. The service is likewise good.  For our dinner that evening, we asked for listings of food deliveries from the reception area, dialled one and we had our food delivered in no time.  

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The first day high was over and we contentedly called it a day!

The stumbling block

Our flight to Davao, a province located in Mindanao Island south of the Philippines was early Saturday morning.  We needed to be in the airport at least 3 hours before departure time.  As we were running out of time to reach the airport on schedule, hubby sped up his driving.  However, in so doing, he wasn’t able to avoid running over a goddamn big rock lying on the middle of the poorly lit road.  The result?  A damaged oil tank that drained all the oil!  We weren’t even halfway to airport yet.  To cut the story short, hubby had to be left behind. His plane ticket wasted and had to book for the next day’s flight.  The car had to be towed and be brought to the repair shop. Since it was 2 am, he had to wait for business hour to call a towing service.  We, (the two big kiddos plus daughter's friend) were lucky that a taxi terminal was just few steps away from where we were stalled.  We effortlessly availed one that understood our predicament. We quickly transferred all our luggage.  The cab driver did well!  Good grief, I thought he was a bullet train driver! Haha..  We reached the airport without delay and we still were able to enjoy the luxury of some extra time before departure. 

That's all for now buddies! Just wanna share here the glitches we went through. Will definitely post our Davao adventures next blog time! Have a nice day!

I’m back!

We just arrived last night from a physically draining but emotionally invigorating vacation.  I wish our awesome Davao escapade wouldn’t end but it had to.  Life is back to normal now. However, the vibrant Davao experience is pretty overwhelming that it won’t leave my mind as yet.  Yesterday was our wedding anniversary.  This vacation was our way of celebrating it.   And I can say, it’s the best celebration we had so far although there had been some glitches on the onset. I'll share here our vacation but have to attend to some important matters around here first.  Will post about it soon! 

See yah all and God bless!

Davao here we come!

As a way of celebrating our wedding anniversary, which is to happen a week from now, I had proposed to hubby that we go out of town again, just like the past years.  As soon as he consented to my out of town proposal, I delegated to daughter the planning and bookings.  I originally wanted to go to Palawan but daughter wasn’t amenable coz she already has booked Palawan with her friends for January.  So we leave all the planning to her.   She brought up Davao to us and we agreed.  Thus booking is done in a breeze!  So far she’s still working on our itinerary, looking for the good places to see.  We don’t want to regret not having seen one good place in Davao. So if ever any of you guys have been there or are from Davao yourself, kindly drop me a few lines about the best places we should not miss in Davao! Can’t wait for Saturday to come! Ciao!

Page Rank Zero

Alas, my Page Rank is gone!  For some time, this blog was enjoying a PR3, although it has also seen better days with a PR4 for fairly long period.  While I have been forewarned by a blogger friend (hi, Huling!) about the bad news that my PR will go back to zero as a result of my switching to a custom domain blog, I was still surprised in a way when I saw my PR Checker widget showing a PR 0/10 the following morning.  I was upset because I didn’t imagine that it will transpire as rapidly as it had.  I suppose as soon as blogger friend left her comment,   the disappearance of my PR3 commenced.  Mr Google plays killjoy once again, a kind of bummer!   But kudos to my blogger friend, PinayWAHM for being a psychic! Lol!  Just didn't know she has sixth sense! Wink!

Blog Transformation

It wasn’t clear what comes to my mind when I decided to transform this blogspot.com blog into a custom domain blog.  I had long wanted a dot com site alright but I intend to get it for my other blog and not for this one. Maybe the intense desire to have a custom domain for my blog is the reason why I quickly followed the seemingly simple instructional details on how to change my present URL  into a dot com address.  After going through the process, I think I did well coz it’s now brandishing a brand new dot com address.   Hooray!  I was able to do it on my own!! Good job! (Patting my own back now. haha!)

On the contrary,  I doubt  if I really did the right thing.  I mean.. on turning this into a dot.com  blog . Because right after the URL changed,   the Google Friend Connect links disappeared luckily though, it showed up again after a while.  Then the blogroll links is nowhere to be found.  I’m just hoping it will come back too like the Google Friend Connect links. It's been days but looks like it has no plan of coming back. I'm now wondering how I would start gathering those long list of blogger buddies links again! Mind helping me? 

You can help by leaving your blog/blogs links on the comments box. You need not leave comment if you don't want to. But of course, I'd be pleased if you would. hehe..  

Have a great day everyone!

Post Script:
I guess the problem lies with java scripts of "some" URL addresses I find. No idea what it is actually (blush!).  I just find it showing up at the bottom of the pop-up page when I add blog URLs.  sigh!.. Obviously, I'm not tech savvy but trying my best to find solutions to the trouble.  My apology if you can't promptly see your blog/blogs names on the list.   Please bear with me!  - Thanks.

Surprised!

I first saw this fashion jewelry displayed in a showcase in Landmark, Trinoma. I wanted to buy it right there and then but I was taken aback upon seeing the tag price.  It’s an Anne Klein Charm swarovsky silver tone bracelet alright but I think it’s a bit overpriced at Php7900.so had to forego the desire.  At home, I described to daughter the item I fancy.  She took something inside her room and brought it out to me. “Is it like this?”  Showing me an exactly similar bracelet.  I learned it was a gift from the boyfriend.   I was green-eyed!  I saw it too in the internet but had qualms ordering online if not thru paypal.  Then, I saw one in Royal Duty Free in Subic.  But had a second thought coz it’s still priced higher than those in the net.  When I heard that my sis was in Subic weeks ago, I requested her to buy it for me and will just reimburse her.  However,   when she was about to buy it, I backed out again (for the nth time! hehe). Ooh lah lah..  yeah, that’s me! This time, very fickle minded and has gotten over the OCD!  Lol!  Umm..  are you now bored with my long story?  Hehe..  please don’t be. Hold on a li’l more!  Haha!

So let me continue..  last week, my US Navy nephew and his family arrived from the US for short visit and for their baby’s baptism.  We went to see them in Bataan.  After long updating, daughter raised her own arm along with my NIL’s, (nephew’s wife) showing me the identical twin bracelets they were wearing. Yes, they both have the same bracelet I’m longing to have.  I was told it was also a gift from her hubby, my nephew. After knowing that it’s cheaper in the US Naval Base, I asked her if she can buy me one from there to be reimursed upon delivery and she readily agreed!  Then we all met again in the cemetery last Sunday.  Iya, my NIL,   announced she has a surprise for me as she handed me one small black suede pocket.  When I opened, it was the bracelet nephew gave her.  She said she decided to give it to me coz she knew I wanted it so much and it will take a long time before she can deliver my request.  Aware that it was a gift from her hubby, I was a bit adamant to accept but she insisted.  Nothing to worry she said.  And how can I refuse my ever coveted Anne Klein Charm bracelet.  This niece-in-law of mine truly knows how to please people most especially us, her in-laws! Lol! I was overwhelmed! I'm pretty sure, she knew how much she made my day!