The day has finally come. My colleagues from my former company came to visit last weekend (Aug. 18-20) after waiting for almost a year. Around this time last year after Kadayawan, Jayson called me to
And so goes my struggle to plan their itinerary. The agreement was to say yes to whatever I put them through. And I honestly had a lot of extreme activities in mind (lol). But since we were pressed for time (we have this hindrance called "jobs"), we were only able to fit in ziplining and river tubing in the itinerary. Scuba diving and Mt. Apo trekking (entirely Jedi's idea) will have to wait.
Food tripping would fill in the idle time in between the 2 activities, as you have probably guessed. Though they obviously can't have it the easy way. To give you some perspective, our menu included crocodile meat, crocodile ice cream (RELAX. They weren't croc-flavored. Just made with crocodile eggs), tuna testicles (oh, yeah), durian shake (not really that exotic but let's give the non-durian eaters a break), civet coffee (Google for appreciation), and marang, guyabano, and mangosteen-flavored coffee. We were clearly asking for indigestion.
Day 1:
Visited the Shrine to kill some time before we proceed to Dondi & Elizabeth for lunch. It was a Sunday after all, and we weren't able to attend mass.
Lunch was at Dondi & Elizabeth and of course, I get to decide the menu. Pointed to the usuals: fresh squid and tuna panga (per Jedi, tuna "jaw" because she's alta) to be grilled, shrimps to be sauteed in garlic and chili, and imbao shells for our soup.
(The following photos cr. to Jaja)
Aaaand I wouldn't miss the opportunity to have them taste my favorite exotic dish: grilled tuna testicles (tada!) or locally known as "bagaybay." You can gag all you want, but I will swear by my neighbor's life that this is a must-try. If you've tried eating ox brain before, then this shouldn't be hard for you to slide down your throat. They have almost the same texture, while the taste is similar to chicken liver. Dip it in your own mix of soy sauce, pepper, and vinegar and you won't see testicles the same way again (tuna testicles, that is).
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| BAGAYBAY!!! (photo cr. to Jaja) |
Rest is for the weak. Not wanting to waste any time, we immediately drove to Zip City at Hilltop to let my 3 wide-eyed visitors experience the high of ziplining. I initially wanted to book us at Outland Adventure, which had a longer zipline at 1.0km. But much to my dismay (and probably to Jedi's relief), Outland was under renovation and so the next nearest zipline was Zip City at 300m. It's a short distance for the P300 fee, but it will do for experience.
Apparently, 300m wasn't short enough for Jedi, as she backed out after climbing only 2 levels up the jump off point. Quite the comedy show we put on for the guides there as we tried to convince her while she was already calling out for her mom with a shaky voice. Lol. And so we took this photo at the end of the zipline just to add insult to injury. :P
The tickets to Zip City came with a P100 meal voucher that we could claim at the Riverwalk Grill at the Crocodile Park, so we headed there shortly after. There I introduced Ms. Abbie, Jaja, and Jedi to my old, scaly, humongous friend, Pangil.
And what better way to be one with the crocodiles than to eat them? Hahaha! Riverwalk Grill is famous for its exotic crocodile dishes and we wanted to join the bandwagon. We ordered Croc Spicy, which was crocodile meat chopped in bite-sized pieces, smothered in sweet chili sauce. The sauce must have overpowered the croc taste because it basically was just like eating a really rubbery pork cutlet. But at least we've crossed that off our bucket list.
Dessert wasn't off the hook either. We lined up at Sweet Spot, which offered crocodile ice cream. To reiterate, no, it doesn't taste like crocodiles (like I would know), but they did use crocodile eggs to make the ice cream, thus the creamier texture. We tried their new flavor Crocodile Pandan, which was surprisingly good.
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| photo cr. to Jaja |
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| photo cr. to Jaja |
Finally, we went to Jack's Ridge for dinner and to try out yet again another exotic drink. My friends, the daredevils. :D Hear ye! Hear Ye! "Keep Calm and Drink Exotic Coffee" says Karlo's Gourmet & Coffee. The final box on our checklist. At least, for the day. We ate pasta here and ordered each of their Davao fruit-blended coffees. Ms. Abbie and I got marang coffee (hot and iced, respectively), Jaja ordered mangosteen coffee, and Jedi got guyabano coffee. Out of the 3, Jedi's had the weirdest taste of all. The sweetness of the latte brought out the sour flavor of guyabano and we all winced as we took a sip. Mine and Ms. Abbie's were a little subdued since marang is naturally sweet. While the mangosteen on Jaja's coffee gave it that familiar bitter aftertaste that you get from black coffee.
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| Preceding photos cr. to Jaja |
We walked around Jack's Ridge and watched a tribal performance for a few minutes before we called it a day.
Day 2's main event was our river tubing. I wouldn't elaborate on the activity here since I've posted an entry about it previously. I will, however, point out the highlights of our experience, to wit:
1) Our team's name is Mai-TEAM (wordplay of maitim, meaning, black/dark). BOOM. So witty my gosh.
2) Jayson actually braved the whole thing. I feel like a proud momma. Despite his fear of water, he succumbed to our prodding and came back a better person. Hahaha! I will mention here that not only did he cruise through the rapids without a hint of fear, but he also joined us when we jumped off a cliff (a low cliff, maybe about 5 feet from the water surface) towards the deeper part of the river. Way to go Jaja!
3) I fell off my tube and got carried by the current, and bumped my head and shoulders and butt and shin on maybe about 10 rocks. Though rest assured that I am alive and can still function properly (I think).
(all river tubing photos cr. Layak Paanod)
Lunch was at a local hito (catfish) restaurant in Tugbok area, where we had...well...hito, among others. Their deep fried hito is the best, if you haven't tried it yet.
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| cr. to Jaja |
Next stop on our itinerary was the Philippine Eagle Center. Sadly, the place was poorly maintained and you can see weed and vines growing out on animal cages already. It was one of the must-see places in Davao before, and it's disappointing to know that it wasn't given much attention, especially when it's supposed to be the sanctuary of one of our endangered species. Hopefully they'll act on this soon to entice more visitors and in turn, raise more funds for maintenance projects.
But anyway, we went back to the city to buy some pasalubong and then back to Crocodile Park to try their civet coffee. Nothing really note-worthy about the coffee if you ask me. But if you're one of those who marvel at the fact that you're drinking brewed animal poop, then the P150 per cup might not seem too pricey. ;) We ended the day with paella dinner at Tiny Kitchen.
(succeeding photos cr. to Jaja)
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| Civet coffee |
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| Paella at Tiny Kitchen |
I would like to thank Ms. Abbie, Jaja, and Jedi for coming here and giving me a break from boredom, and also for being so game about the extreme stuff I let them do (mwahaha). Until next time! :)
