Okay. So now that I have moved back to Davao, boredom slowly inched its way through my nerves, making my feet really tingly and itching to just step on ANYTHING other than Dabawenyo dirt. I guess I gave off a kind of lousy vibe as well, since my mom picked up on my boredom and suggested we go to Mati City, Davao Oriental for the remainder of the long weekend (Aug 19-20). Not exactly as far from home as I'd like, but hey, any activity that involves road/plane/boat trips is enough to prevent me from forming a serious relationship with the TV.
Of course, no roadtrip of ours goes unaccompanied by my equally kaladkarin cousins, so the car was packed with the usual cast: me, ma, pa, Nikko, Janniv, and Joyjoy. We left Davao City at about 9AM Sunday and started the 3-hour drive to Mati.
As a self-appointed travel planner I've consulted my good friends Google, Google Maps, Blogger, and Tripadvisor to help me build our itinerary. The Mati website does give you a list of things to do/see, but it doesn't really explain how to get to these places...not even telephone numbers or addresses. I mean, what...do we just tap our magic shoes and get magically transported there?
But seriously, I think it would help both travelers and Mati City itself if the official website provides contact information on the spots they're promoting. Maybe in the near future, yes? Although, when I think about it, maybe it's because the actual sites are not ready to accommodate that many visitors yet. More on that after the break. :)
Meantime, we navigated the city with the help of my friend Pia who's lived in Mati, some information from travel blogs, Divine intervention, and the maybe 1,000 locals on the streets we stopped for to ask for directions.
The first thing we did upon reaching Mati? EAT. Following Pia's suggestion, we planned to have lunch at BADOR Chicken House, whose native chicken--as per Pia--is bound to make you forget your birthday. Wahaw! I couldn't be more convinced. Luckily Bador is just along the highway right after you've entered the city so it's not hard to find. It's a quaint eatery, but it seemed to have many loyal customers. We ordered the chicken barbecue. It tasted really good, though I wouldn't say it was especially great. But then again, you can't ever go wrong with chicken.
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| Papa choosing the chicken to be grilled |
We then went to check in at the resort. Days before the trip, I managed to book us two (2) rooms at Kanakbai Beach resort in Dahican. The difficulty I had finding other hotels gave the impression that there are only 2 resorts in the area. Plus, since Mati is very frugal when it comes to posting photos, all I got from the resort's website was a picture of the beach house's facade, and a wide angle shot of the beach with a few coconut trees in the frame. But seeing as Kanakbai was the only resort that could accommodate 6 people on short notice, I went for it. Who cares if we really ended up with just a facade, right?
But when we actually got to the place, Kanakbai's natural beauty slapped my sarcasm right smack on the face. It was clean, the rooms were huge--stylish even--, and the beachfront looked so calm and inviting. They even have in-house cooks who made us our very fulfilling seafood dinner later that night.
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| Kitchen and dining area |
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| Open air living room |
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| These ate's bought and prepared dinner for us! |
Dahican beach was so pristine, that I had 2nd thoughts about writing this entry. It was uncrowded, had fine white sand, and was so serene. Quite like Pagudpud, except better. It was so peaceful that I almost didn't want to tell people about it to avoid wearing it out. (But of course I changed my mind and wrote a blog for EVERYONE to see.) ;)
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| Janniv and Nikko relaxing at the beachfront of Kanakbai |
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| Look at that beautiful sand and sea |
Later that day we set off to find the cold spring. I didn't know where it was, I just knew it existed. Unfortunately, the locals didn't. It was as if we were the first people who asked about the cold spring. So we went back and forth about 5x until we were finally led to this property that produced mineral water. I thought the lady who pointed us there misunderstood me and gave the wrong directions, but we went in anyway. Turned out the cold spring was at the innermost part of the plantation. Hurray! But then the caretaker came to say we couldn't use the spring because apparently, the recent heavy rains filled it with mud. Oh boo, partypooper. He did say there was another spring resort in the area, but the water temperature there wasn't as cold as theirs is (or was). Really, manong, you can still brag?
Refusing to be discouraged, we drove to Mayo Cold Spring in hopes of soaking our already sticky selves in refreshingly cold water. Finally, we saw a very indiscreet (VERY) sign pointing us to the spring. We arrived to see the pool-like spring already crowded with children, probably because it was a Sunday...and on a long weekend at that. I wasn't expecting it to be squeaky clean but I think the crowd, plus the cheap entrance fee (P5 per person if you're not renting a kiosk) made it harder to maintain the place. Not that they should make it more expensive, but for starters, they could at least impose proper trash disposal. Just my two cents. Frustrated, we just took pictures and then decided to eat merienda instead.
We weren't really having the best day were we?
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| Look out for this inconspicuous sign...it's very easy to miss |
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| Driveway towards the spring |
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| The crowwwwwwd |
So we decided to channel our frustration on food, and drove to Seaside Restaurant, another one of Pia's suggestions, located at the city proper (near the city hall). Pia recommended we order their lumpia and empanada, so we did. They were delish! I heard their cheeseburgers were also good, so maybe I'll order that next time. :) When we were able to regain energy we headed back to the resort so we can still enjoy the beach. As soon as I dipped my toes into the water, I wondered why we even went out looking for other city sights, when the best place to be was right in front of our hotel. And just like that, as we enjoyed the clear, clean water and stepped on fine sand, all the disappointments we had during our trip drifted away with the waves.
Back to Dahican Beach!
The next morning we left early to go to Cinco Masao, another resort at the other side of the city, to see if we can book a boat for dolphin-watching. But, once again, bad luck was able to catch up so that not a single boat was available. Not ONE. All of them had to be under repair. Why, OF COURSE. This was supposed to be our last activity before we went home. But thanks to our misfortune we had a little bit of time left before we leave. We decided to stop by the provincial capitol for our last hurrah, and then drove back to Davao City after lunch.
Cinco Masao
Provincial Capitol
Leaving Davao Oriental
I think overall, Mati still needs a little polishing before it becomes ready to expose itself in the tourism industry. Maybe a few road signs to the destinations, some contact information on the tourist spots, and additional maintenance efforts. Nonetheless, the seemingly uncharted beaches are by themselves appealing, and maybe Mati has purposely built virtual fences to protect its natural beauty. So I wouldn't cross it off the map just yet, and would visit again, if only to feel the breeze along the shores of Dahican.
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| The over-photographed "sleeping dinosaur" |
