Madayaw Davao: Countryside Tour

We woke up early to make the most out of our last day in Davao. As foodies, we searched for breakfast nooks around the city last night. We haven't even finished dinner yet and we were already talking about breakfast. Typical us.

We settled for Taps which is known as the Breakfast Capital of Davao. Luckily, there's one pretty close to our inn. We ordered Tapsilog (duh), Tocilog, Bangsilog, and even a combination of other silogs. I think they have everything you can pair up with silog. The food was okay. Nothing special whatsoever. [ Side note: We ate the macarons we bought from Lachi's last night for dessert. I must say, my favorite was the orange-y chocolatey one which reminded me of Chokies. Soooo nostalgic! ]

After breakfast, we met up with today's driver, Kuya Jimber. Not sure about the spelling but it kind of sounded like that. First stop: Philippine Eagle Center. It was a pretty long drive from the city but it was worth it. Some of the girls slept all the way through while Faye and I sang our hearts out. Even Kuya Jimber couldn't help but belt out a few notes.

The Philippine Eagle Center

Upon arriving at Philippine Eagle Center, we paid the Php 50 entrance fee and started looking around. Honestly, I didn't expect much from this place except to see a few Philippine Eagles from afar. But boy, was I wrong. Not only did we see eagles from afar, we got to see them up close too! And even out of their cages thanks to Kuya Europe (K.E. from now on just because it's easier to type). Yes, you read it right. We found Europe in Davao. Haha

K.E. is one of the caretakers from the center. He saw us peering inside one of the cages trying to take better pictures of the eagle when he suddenly called our attention. At first, I thought he was going to scold us for getting too close but then I realized he was asking us to come with him. "Pang-profile pic", he said. Funny how Ate Light even had to ask if it's free before we tagged along. Haha Yeah, we're on a tight budget alright.

Can I bring an eagle to Hogwarts instead of an owl?

He took us to a row of eagle cages and this was already fun for me as the eagles were jumping up and down and making screeching noises upon seeing us. The weirdo in me started imitating the eagles' noises and while we were in the middle of a rap off, K.E. called us to get to him ASAP. We were surprised to see him holding one of the eagles! Ahh~ so beautiful! We then posed with the eagle one by one. Satisfied, we tipped K.E. for letting us get close to the eagle and take beautiful pictures.

The giant bamboo. And other beautiful flowers around the park.

When the other tourists started to arrive, we decided to continue looking around the place and said goodbye to K.E.. While we were taking pictures in front of the huge bamboo formation, K.E. once again spotted us and signaled us to come follow him. We decided to go just because we felt like we're in for another treat. And it was fun hiding from other tourists. Haha

Isn't he the cutest?

He took us around the bushes and told us to wait for him while he gets the smallest owl in the Philippines. I had no idea it would look extremely cute! Aaahh~ I wanted to take him home so he could be my Pigwidgeon! *u* We were all still gushing from the cuteness of the baby owl when K.E. said he'll take us to Malaya.

Fierce!

We were amazed by how handsome he looks! K.E. told us to pose behind Malaya while he takes our pictures. They came out great, didn't they? Ahh-ma-zing!

With Kuya Europe

Our private tour didn't end there though. K.E. took us to see the crocodile, and the golden-crowned flying fox bats. Pretty cool. Of course, we couldn't leave without taking a photo with him. Thanks Kuya Europe for making our trip to The Philippine Eagle Center fun and memorable!

Malagos Garden Resort

Next stop: Malagos Garden Resort! This is another stop that turned out to be surprisingly fun. I thought I would just be looking at flowers and plants which is really not my cup of tea. But I was wrong. After this stop, I seriously want to have my own hacienda! Ambisyosa much?

Pretty pavilions and tree houses. 

After looking at the beautiful flowers in the garden, we went straight to the bird cage. Honestly, I'm not a fan of birds but this was an amazing experience. While we were taking pictures, a staff approached us and gave us bird seeds to feed the birds. We didn't have to do anything except hold out our hands and the birds started flocking around us. The best part? It's free! Really cool.

Why do birds suddenly appear?

We were already having so much fun at the bird house, we forgot about the time! If we wanted to see the whole place, we better move faster. Aside from the birds, they have other animals too. It's like a little farm where guests are encouraged to get close to the animals. Even feed them! It was so fun, I wanted my own farm right then and there!

Please DO feed the animals.

After feeding the animals, we went on to explore the other parts of the resort. They had a huge chess board, beautiful swings, interesting sculptures by Napoleon Abueva, cozy gazebos, and breath-taking tree houses. It was tempting to stay and relax for a bit. Unfortunately, we are pressed for time so we had no choice but to cut out trip short.

Tempting.

We were starving by the time we finished touring Malagos Garden Resort so we asked Kuya Jimber to take us to an affordable restaurant for lunch. We arrived at Sumague's Ihaw-Ihaw and we kept teasing Faye to treat us for lunch since we might be dining at Tuns' restaurant. Haha As usual, we ordered sutukil for lunch. Aside from Durian, we've been eating a lot of sutukil - at least once per day during our entire stay in Davao. I especially love the kilawin in this meal. Yum!

Sutukil for lunch (again) at Sumague's Ihaw-Ihaw.

After lunch, Kuya Jimber told us that Richard Gutierrez and company were dining at the restaurant nearby. Sayang! Anyway, we went on to our next stop: Japanese Tunnel. I was so full, I fell asleep during the entire drive.

Welcome to the Japanese Tunnel!

The tunnel was a bit creepy but we had fun nonetheless. We even tried to fit ourselves in one of the tiger cages. It still gives me the creeps even though their tiger cages seem more humane than the ones I've seen in Vietnam. The guide told us that the tunnel reaches up to The Philippine Eagle Center. Whoa. That's a pretty long tunnel. I can't help but admire the Japanese's craftsmanship even in situations like these.

Attack!

Before we left, Jeng went out to buy some cotton candy. I didn't want to eat anything sweet since it was unbearably hot but upon seeing how fluffy the cotton candy was, we all couldn't resist. FYI, Vanie's hands are nowhere to be found because she took the picture but she ate some too. Just so we're clear. Haha

Butterfly House and Crocodile Park

The next stops were supposed to be Butterfly House and Crocodile Park but we were not really in the mood to go there anymore so we decided to just take pictures outside. We'd rather eat merienda. We wanted to try out Ranchero's variety of Filipino merienda but since we're running out of time, we decided to just buy fruits for pasalubong instead. They were out of Golden Pomelo so we called up Kuya Binoy to ask for pomelo-buying tips. He mentioned Bangkerohan which was also recommended by my dad so we went there.

Tawad dito, tawad doon. Free taste dito, free taste doon.

I have zero knowledge in fruits or market-shopping for that matter so we entrusted everything to Kuya Jimber. Upon seeing the first store, we started trying out everything they're offering for free taste. Of course, I tried their mangosteen first. And OMG I haven't eaten deliciously juicy mangosteen in such a long time! I was soooo happy! The best part? It's free!! We took the whole fruit and started filling up boxes of mangosteen. Of course, we didn't forget to ask for a discount. Hihi While the others were buying mangosteen and marang, Faye and I went with Kuya Jimber to buy durian for our dads. In fairness, it didn't stink like I expected it to. Maybe we were already immune to the smell which is a good thing, I guess.  After buying durian, we went back to see the girls eating marang with their plastic-covered hands. Faye and I wanted some but were too lazy to get our own plastic bags so we just asked them to feed us. Haha True friends for life! We finished an entire marang but when that wasn't enough, Jeng asked the vendor if we can have the marang she has for free taste. Luckily, she agreed so we had more. Thank goodness, we didn't go back to the city for merienda. We had cheap and healthy snacks for a change.

Look at all those baggage! International flight?

Sad as we are, we have no choice but to leave the marketplace so as not to miss our flight back home. In total, I brought home 10kgs of mangosteen, 5kgs of pomelo, 3kgs of marang, 1.5kgs of durian, lots of sweets from Lola Abon's, yummy pastries from Lachi's, and tons of amazing experiences that I will never forget. Believe it or not, the mangosteen disappeared within 2 days of coming back to Manila. Davao, you've been great. I'm definitely coming back! And next time, I'll be booking 30kgs for my baggage back to Manila.

Faye and Vanie, thank you for organizing such a fun trip! Let's do this again soon, girls! Hihi

Traveling party: Erin, Faye (organizer), Jeng, Light, Sera, and Vanie (organizer)
Travel date: 21 August 2012 [Day 3]
Photo credits: Faye, Light, Vanie