Things to do in Davao: Eden Nature Park

And I’m back! LOL. I intended to write a single post about my Davao 2012 adventure, but it was too photo saturated, plus ang dami kong sinasabi. LOL. You can check out part 1 here!

 

So, let’s now go to DAY 2 of our adventure in Davao! Day 2 was AJ’s 21st birthday. We were supposed to visit Pearl Farm Resort that day, pero bawal daw “bumyahe” according sa pamahiin. So, we did our Day 3 itinerary into Day 2. It’s pretty loaded, mind you. We wanted to visit all the must-see places in Davao: Eden Nature Park, Davao Crocodile Park, and the Philippine Eagle Center. Then, dinner at Jack’s Ride for AJ’s birthday.

 

Remember what I told you about hooking up (not that hook up!!!) with your friends who live in the area you’re visiting? One of the perks of having friends is having a chance to discover the area without commuting. Haha! Magpaka-user na para maka-avail ng *free* tour. LOL

 

So, for our first stop for the day, we headed to Eden Nature Park. There’s a guided tour in the morning, so be sure to arrive before the tour starts (I think it’s around 9AM). The park is located in Toril, Davao. From Catalunan Pequeno (where we stayed), it was a good hour or so drive. From downtown, it may take you two hours, so leave your hotel early.

 

*Dahil gusto ko talagang isingit* Since we’ll be touring around Davao, I opted to wear a comfortable ensemble consisting of a long-sleeved shirt from Mango, white tank top from Forever 21, denim cutoffs, and TOMS shoes.

 

I forgot how much we paid for the entrance and the guided tour, but you can check their latest pricelist here. Eden Nature Park is a must-see when you visit Davao. It’s a 95% man-made mountain resort. It just proves that we, humans, have the ability to re-create nature and to rebuild our environment.

 

Our group shared the tour guide and cab alongside another couple (not in picture,duh). The tour guide was really funny! Ang daming alam ni ate! She taught us different poses together with the scenic views. Nonetheless, she was quite helpful and very knowledgeable.

 

 

The guided tour has three major stopovers. You can also ask (ata) if you want to stop someplace else, but they have designated stopovers throughout the tour. First stop is The Amphitheater. It’s a wonderful garden full of flowers of all colors. There’s also the Rainbow Tunnel and St. Francis of Assissi’s statue.

 

 

Next is Tinubdan. It’s a replica village of the various indigenous people of Mindanao. It has statues of different members of different tribes in Mindanao. It also featured a replica of the Datu’s House.

 

 

Last stopover is Lola’s Garden. The view here is absolutely breathtaking! It’s situated quite high in the resort, so you can actually have a glimpse of the sea nearby. Sarap ng fresh air!

 

 

There’s also a Butterfly Garden, which isn’t part of the tour, but you can still visit it anyway.

 

 

There’s also a Mini Aviary near the reception area.

 

 

Eden Nature Park has other activities you can enjoy, like riding the zip line and going fishing. We didn’t have much time anymore, so we opted out from these activities. There’s also a restaurant in the resort where you can eat after the tour (the tour comes with snacks, if I remember correctly). Other bloggers and visitors of Eden also mentioned about horseback riding, mountain trailing, and swimming, as other activities you can do at the park.

 

I attached Eden’s contact details below. Do visit Eden Nature Park whenever you visit Davao, as it truly is an experience to try.

 

Love,

 

Eden Nature Park and Resort

Resort | Toril, Davao

Sales and Reservations Office | Matina Town Square, McArthur Highway, Matina, Davao

Tel. Nos. | (082) 299 1020, (082) 296 0791

Website | http://edennaturepark.com.ph

E-mail address | info@edennaturepark.com.ph

 

Technorati Tags: 2012,Eden Nature Park,Davao,Philippines,Friends,Travel,tour,flowers,gardens,aviary,butterfly

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Davao City: 4 days, 3 nights itinerary

I’m quite fickle minded, really. That’s one thing about myself that I hate the most. Haha. One moment I’d want this, but soon wouldn’t want it the next. I’m really, really fickle to the point that I regret buying something or I regret not buying something! This post is one of the products of my fickle-mindedness. I wanted to write about my stay in Davao in one single lengthy post, then changed it to separate days-post, and now this: separate tourist spot-post. So yeah, please bear with me. LOL!

 

Anyway, I’ve already shared with your our first day in Davao here. Basically, for this post, I want to give you guys an overview and our itinerary for this trip.

Tickets I snagged my tickets at a REALLY cheap price. If I’m not mistaken, Cebu Pacific was on Piso sale, so I got my round trip tickets with baggage allowance at around Php900! Dirt cheap, huh? That was the cheapest tickets I’ve bought so far. I booked them half a year early though (bought the tickets in May 2011, travel is on January 2012). But that’s really the case if you want to get cheap tickets: book as early as possible.

 

 

Accommodations This wasn’t our problem during our Davao trip since my then-ex (now ze boyfriend) lives there, and we stayed in their lovely home. That’s another tip, loves: if you have friends who within the area, do contact them! Aside from *free* accommodations, they’ll be able to tour you around quite well since they’re locals. It would save you the hassle, I promise.

 

 

Places to Visit Whenever I construct an itinerary for a certain trip, I always Google “things to do in *insert destination here*” Do you do that, too? Or ako lang yung ang Google-everything? The internet is one of the best creations of mankind. You can learn any information about absolutely everything, and it’s the same even in creating an itinerary for a trip. Googling (is that even a word??) up destinations enable me to know which places are must-see places to visit and dine. It also helps me create a reasonable time frame for my itinerary. Yeah, I’m OC like that. Dapat may oras talaga. So yeah, do Google na lang the must-see and must-try places in your destination. Lots of hits, for sure.

Itinerary

Day1

• Flight to Davao | Our flight was via Cebu Pacific at 12 noon. We arrived at the airport a little before 10am at the airport. We had our lunch at Shakey’s and waited for boarding time.
• Zip City Hilltop | Straight from the airport, we went to Zip City Hilltop at Ma-a for a zip line ride.
• Abreeza Mall | We went to Abreeza Mall to pay for our day tour reservations at Pearl Farm Beach Resort.
• AJ’s house | Dinner and AJ’s 21st birthday celebration! Read my blog entry about our first day here.

Day 2

• Eden Nature Park | Eden Nature Park in Toril, Davao is a must-see place if you plan to visit Davao. Read my entry about Eden here.
• Buffet Palace Restaurant | Buffet Palace Restaurant is one of the first buffet restaurants in Davao City. It’s located at Tulip Drive, Matina.

• Davao Crocodile Park | Davao Crocodile Park in Ma-a boasts a “state of the art” crocodile farming system in the Philippines. They educate people about crocodiles and inspire people to appreciate nature.
• Aldevinco Shopping Center | If you want to buy pasalubong for your family and friends, then do visit Aldevinco Shopping Center at CM Recto Ave. cor. Roxas Ave.
• Jack’s Ridge | Jack’s Ridge is another must-see place in Davao. Be sure to visit this place at night as the view of Davao Downtown is exquisite. The main restaurant here is Taklobo Restaurant. It might get crowded though, especially during the weekends, so, if it’s possible, do reserve ahead of time.

Day 3

• Pearl Farm Resort | Our visit to Pearl Farm Resort in Samal Island is the highlight of this trip. It’s quite expensive thought, but totally worth every peso.
• Mooon Café, Abreeza | It was our last night in Davao, and we wanted to experience Davao’s nightlife. We couldn’t decide where to eat, so we agreed to eat at a restaurant not found in Manila. Mooon Café is a Mexican restaurant originally from Cebu.
• Matina Town Square | Matina Town Square, or MTS, is the place to be if you want to experience Davao’s nightlife. It has tons of restaurants and bars to dine and drink with your friends.

Day 4

• Flight back to Manila

Ito na talaga! PROMISE Haha!

 

Until next post, loves!

 

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Davao City: Life is Here

Hi, loves! How are you? I’m great, btw. Sorry for being MIA for the past few days; my schedule was jam packed! Thursday, I went to Los Banos for ze boyfriend’s birthday salubong (he is turning turned 23!). We had an amazing dinner date at Joe’s, and then had a couple of drinks at Jacques, and we went to IC’s Bar, too, for another party. We went back to Manila last Friday afternoon to have dinner with ze boyfriend’s mom. We had reservations at the Jeepney Café at Hotel Intercontinental Manila. The buffet was so-so; I loved their steak and their dessert station. A gastronomic experience, indeed! Then come Friday, we went to SM Megamall for lunch before ze boyfriend’s mom leaves for Davao. Then we boarded the bus to go back to Los Banos for another party: Edwin’s birthday. Will blog about this soon, prolly. Too bad, though, I didn’t have much photos during my (long) weekend. How was yours, anyway?

For today, I’d be sharing with you my first trip to Davao last January 16 to 19, 2012. This is a memorable trip for me for two reasons: first, it’s my first time to ride an airplane; second, it’s my first time outside of Luzon. Yeah, and add up the fact that I ‘m visiting my then ex-boyfriend (aka as ze boyfriend), and we’re staying at their place. LOL

DAY 1 I was glad that I was able to go to this trip with friends Jen, Vea, and LA. It made the trip more memorable. Anyway, our flight was scheduled at 2PM, and we were at the airport before noon. After checking in, we had lunch, and waited for our flight.


Have I mentioned it was my first time to ride airplane? It was Jen’s first time, too, so we had mixed feelings towards the whole flight thing. I was quite worried since the then-ex told me I should try gasping for more air by yawning to prevent my ears from popping, and I had trouble “gasping for air.” Haha! That was the funny part.



So yeah, we landed, finally! HELLO, DAVAO!



The then-ex and his cousin, Kuya Butch (+) picked us up from the airport. Nothing much on our itinerary that day, but a zipline ride at Zip City Davao.



I heard great comments about Zip City Hilltop in Barangay Langub, so we decided to give it a try. The place was majestic. You have a wonderful view of Davao Gulf and Mt. Apo while traversing the cable. Aside from the view, the zip line is fitting for first timers: the length is only 320 meters, and 120 meters above the ground. Compared to other zip lines, this is a baby. Plus, it’s dubbed as the “most friendly zip line for all ages.”



I forgot how much the zip line fee is, but it’s quite affordable, I’m sure. Plus, they gave us coupons for a nearby restaurant. Finally, here we are, donning our safety gear on the unloading platform.



It was everyone’s first time to try zip lining. AJ was truly terrified coz he’s afraid of heights. Hehe. Time to conquer that fear, dear! But yeah, I was having doubts, as well. I mean come on, NO ONE WILL FRIGGIN’ CATCH ME IF A FALL!!!



AND WE SURVIVED!!! It was truly a fun experience, I must say. The mixture of fear, euphoria, and that adrenaline rush, amazeballs!



After our zip line ride, we headed to Abreeza Mall to pay for our reservations at the Pearl Farm Resort. We paid Php1800 for our daytrip for Day 3 of our Davao trip. We then headed home to prepare for AJ’s birthday (January 17) salubong. Her sister, Erika, and I baked cupcakes! Haha!



That’s for now, loves! I’ll share with you the rest of our trip soon!

Love,


ZIP CITY
Location: Hill Top Davao, Barangay Langub, Diversion Road, Ma-a, Davao City
Contact Numbers: +6382-2822339, +6382-2861055 +639236586049
Email: davaowildwater@yahoo.com.
Website: http://www.zipcity.psdgroupph.com

Technorati Tags: Davao,travel,trip,airplane,Cebu Pacific,zip line,adventure,friends,Zip City

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