Island Garden City of Samal

What to do. Where to go. How to get there.

Island Garden City: Samal

There has been quite the confusion about Samal and Davao City since the new president took seat. Just to be clear, Samal is not under Davao City. It is however, under the same region: Davao.

At around 7 am, we checked out of our inn at Davao City (12 hours stay), took a jeep to Victoria Plaza (P7). We bought water from 711, where Belle also bought her lunch and I bought mine from Chowking - sue me 😂. From Victoria, it was a long ride by jeep to Sasa (P10).

At the Sasa pier, we waited for the bus to take us to Central (P40 all in). Barges from Sasa pier dock at Peñaplata (P15/head if you don't take the bus). We preferred the bus because from Peñaplata to our first destination, it would've probably costed us each P50-100 more. Sasa to Peñaplata travel time is around 15 minutes.

 

Davao Central is a supermarket (?). It is where you can ride the bus back to Davao (I can't remember if it's also the last bus stop). There are also habal-habals (motorcycle) and tricycles there. They have the same rates but I suggest you take the habal-habal instead because the tourist places in Samal are far from each other.

Central to Hagimit Falls by habal-habal P50/head. Travel time is around 20-30 minutes.

Before entering Hagimit, we paid P5 for environmental fee and P50 each for the table. I can't remember if we also paid for entrances or it's already included in the P100 we paid for the table.

I don't know how to swim so kuya, the guide, was actually at the side ready to pull me out of the water after I jumped. The whole time before the jump I was like, "Kuya baka matanggal bra ko" lol

Hagimit Falls was the highlight of our trip! We super enjoyed climbing waterfalls, rowing balsa, cliff diving (around 13ft I guess) and cave exploring. The cave was pretty small so there wasn't really any exploring to do. It was hello claustrophobia in there.

Balancing the bamboo raft is a struggle - it looked so easy in movies!

There are teenage kids there that would offer to take you around Hagimit and take pictures for you. That's why Belle and I had so many! Two of them guided us. It's up to you how much you'd pay them. We decided to give P50 each - they had to endure us for atleast 2 hours lol.

The walk back to Hagimit's entrance is tiring. Stairs!!! Not as tiring as Tinago Falls in Iligan City but ugh, still tiring. We noticed on our way back, they had these obstacle courses. I'm not sure if they operate during weekend when people flock (like Maxima Aqua Fun) though. Too bad they didn't operate when we were there. I love obstacle courses - I finished the longest one in the Philippines!

The good thing about Samal is that they have fare tariffs posted in their tourist spots so you know you're getting the right value for your money. Fare is expensive in Samal though :( We paid P100 each to Monfort Bat Sanctuary.

Entrance to Monfort Bat Sanctuary is P100/head. That's with a tour guide already. We arrived during lunch time and the tour guide was out so we paid P50 each instead and explored the place on our own. I thought there was a mountain and I had to hike up to the opening... but the cave (wth I typed cake) was actually a hole on the ground. Literally.

Belle and I aren't into wildlife much so a non-guided tour was quite fine and the cave was easy to locate from the entrance. Beware, they smell. What I saw in that cave, I imagine is what we would become in the future if we don't control our population. Fascinating and repulsing at the same time. I'm repulsed because of how many they are. Probably because I'm claustrophobic?

PS. I am super bothered by their penis.

Thank you filters for making us look like we got a tan lol

We spent some quite time after at Sunset - drying our undies jk sunbathing. We hurried back to Davao to wakeboard at Deca Wake Park but sadly, the traffic was bad :( so we ended up eating at a korean resto and strolling around Abreeza.

Plus 220 for food

Palm City Capital of the Philippines: Tagum

What to do. Where to eat. Where to go. How to get there.

Tagum City: City of Palm Trees

Day 1 of my last hirit for summer, my bestfriend Belle and I planned to backpack Tagum, Davao and Samal. Originally, it was Cateel, Tagum, Mati, Davao and Samal but her folks changed their mind days before our trip. I was so disappointed to the point of wanting to cancel going on the trip but I'm glad I pushed through because I had so much fun despite the change of plans.

Gensan to Davao (P190) to Tagum (P80) took about 6 hours. By around 11am, we finally reached the city. Starving.

We ate lunch at 823 Kitty Coffee Shop (P7 for tricycle + P145 each for food). If we had the luxury and Belle isn't allergic to seafood, I would've loved to try Punongan - you will pass by this if you're going to Davao.

Read about my experience here: 

http://helloteni.blogspot.com/2016/07/823-kitty-coffee-shop.html

From the coffee shop, we headed to the terminal (P7) to ride a jeep (P25) to New Corella.

I would've loved to topload but the sun was at its peak :(

Tagum to New Corella took about 50 minutes. The jeep will drop you off at the town's palengke where you can either ride a tricycle or a motorcycle to Panas Waterfalls - both P25-30/head. It will take about 20 minutes. 

New Corella has other attractions like Balaang Bukid and Matin-ao too!

Pay a P20 entrance and you're good to go exploring the parts of the waterfalls. Sadly, we didn't get to see the beautiful parts because we went south instead of going north huhu. We were chasing time since we went to New Corella late :(

I suggest you bring a lotion for bugs because you will get super itchy after. Also, last trip back to Tagum City from New Corella is around 6pm but try not to cut it too close or you might get stuck.

By 3pm, we were back at Tagum terminal. We headed to the New Christ the King Cathedral which housed the World's Largest Rosary whose beads looked like those floating thingies in beaches keeping you from going too deep. We actually knocked on the beads to see if they really were... found out they were made out of cement.

The church's exterior is really something. I loved how symmetrical the front is!!! The interior, they could polish and hopefully have a Sistine Chapel-like ceiling.

Chase doves at the back of the church and feel like you're at Roma. Bring dove food for bribe.

I'm sort of a history slash conspiracy buff and this church's gate was shaped like an eye and at the center of the front facade of the church was a circle-shaped religious design. So me trying to put two and two together, it looked like the eye of providence idk. Tell me your thoughts when you do go visit.

Marvel architecture, landscape and sculptures at Tagum City Hall (P10 from New Cathedral). It was one of the most welcoming city halls I've seen. They were streaming Duterte's SONA at the lobby when we visited!

We went back to Davao after this, checked in at D'Morvie and ate at Outback grill. I will be writing about this on my Davao post. Stay tuned!

Here's a breakdown of our 1 day backpacking expenses to Tagum, from Gensan:

 Plus P312 for food (expenses for this really depends on the kind of traveller/eater you are).  The key to budget travelling: ask people (about 2-3 persons) the regular fare rates, bargain the price and make use of your student discount!

823 Kitty Coffee Shop

Day 1 of my last minute summer getaway. //I will be making individual blog post for some of the places but will compile all in one post for every city.

823 Kitty Coffee Shop

Quezon St., corner Abad Santos St., Tagum City 8100, Davao del Norte

Landline no: 084-216-32-78

Mobile no: +639177243500

Yes, I am one of those Hello Kitty obsessed girls - that's why my blog's Hello Teni. The type who has a rug, towel, complete bed sheet, etc. I even get called "kitty" by my friends. I'm not sure if it's because I like Hello Kitty or because I look like a cat (according to people)...

I found this place last or two semesters ago. We always go to Davao, but never Tagum so I didn't think I'd be able to go to this coffee shop. But huhu God you're so awesome, you make things possible so I was able to sneak a visit.

Even their comfort room is hello kitty equipped. I badly wanted to take home their chairs and get my wall painted with hello kitty too!!! They also sell Hello Kitty merchandise, mostly bags and wallets.

Menu

My curry lover bff ordered curry while I spazzed and gushed the whole time. We paid P145 each for an order of curry and an extra rice. Even though what we ordered wasn't worth the money we paid as curry lover was so disappointed with the taste, the interior more than paid for what it lacked. Or so says the Hello Kitty biased one.

Their staff are really friendly, so do visit and try their specialties if you're in the city!

//I posted this before my entry for my Hong Kong trip. Sue me. My priorities is twisted x.x

Iligan City

Iligan City, Lanao del Norte

This place has always held a special place in my heart. I've been here when I was younger and it has been my frustration to go back here once more. About 15 years later, I've finally gone back! I was so happy and I really loved the place.

We came by way of Cagayan de Oro and passed by really big infrastructures of Holcim which I found cool. It also reminds me of Baguio because on the mountain sides, you'll see water trickling. Hence the name Iligan which in local dialect means 'water's path'. If I were a hobo in Iligan, I'd be a clean hobo lol I could just bathe about anywhere.

My fascination for making my photos look old/taken by film. 

As always, we strolled through memory lane and tried to visit every place I've been to as a babe. First stop was Mimar's Springway Resort in Timuga, Buru-an. I really liked Timuga because there're lots of resorts there and all water came from springs which makes it reaaal cold.

Craving lechon baboy right now. I can't seem to find any karinderya in Manila where they sell one.

And in front of those line of resorts are lines of eateries selling lechon baboy. What a great way to end swimming - lechon!

Just outside the backyard of the Ancestral house is an ankle-deep stream which I really liked. You could just soak your feet and enjoy the day.

We slept at Mimar's for one night then slept the next at Macapagal-Macaraeg Ancestral House - home of the 9th and 14th president of the country. It was next door to Mimar's. I preferred sleeping at the Ancestral House than Mimar's because, it's a lot cheaper and the facilities were clean enough. The rooms were so-so given the cheap price (about P700 I think). The place kind of gave me chills though.

We went to Islamic City of Marawi early in the morning (haven't bathed!) then went back to Iligan City. I'm not really sure if I'll be blogging about my time in Marawi since there wasn't really any interesting places (just the food we ate) but rest assured that if I do, I'll put up a link.

We ended up bathing at Tinago Falls (Hidden Falls). It really lived up to it's name! The trip there was quite pleasant according to my parents because most of the road were already cemented.

The walk to the falls was exhausting for physically weak me and my fat sister but not for my exercise junkie parents - srsly, you'd think that they're younger than us with their stamina. But not quite as hard as the walk back up. You have to go down long steep stairs to reach the falls. And you know what, thank God for the exhaustion was worth it!

If you're afraid of swimming and do not trust the contraptions they call "life vests", you can take this raft to the falls. Locals will help you.

My dad and I went cliff diving (more like jumping). I was scared as hell but the bragging rights I got were great \m/

Iligan City and Camiguin were definitely the highlight of our Mindanao road trip! Tinago Falls was the best! Plus points to the fact that there's no entrance fee (and if there is, it'd be really cheap).

An Iligan trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to Maria Cristina Falls! As a person who lives in Mindanao, I am thankful to this falls for generating our electricity all year round even though we have to constantly suffer brownout rotations during summer.

My really awesome dad got us a tour inside the plant. Civilians aren't really allowed to.

You can also visit Maria Cristina's mini zoo. They have crocodiles and a butterfly sanctuary. Back then, when you visit Maria Cristina, monkeys frequently cross your path. Since most of the roads I saw going there were already cemented, tough luck you'll see a wild monkey.

 

I wasn't able to visit all the places I wanted to go to in Iligan this time since locals couldn't quite point us to the right direction. And I wasn't that prepared/didn't research enough. Buuut I'll probably be back in a year or two. After my Hong Kong trip next year with my friends, I'll probably fly from Manila to Iloilo/Boracay/Cebu then travel by land to Mindanao during sembreak or summer. I'll be picking up my friends from Iloilo and Dumaguete by then \m/ I can't wait to visit Cebu with my best friends again and swim once more at Tinago Falls on our way home. They'd love cliff diving! *crosses fingers that all my plans pushes through*