In the Southernmost Part of the Philippines

Author: Lolidie Jeena Zubiri
Date of Trip: January 2012

It was my first time in Davao and General Santos plus my first time in Mindanao. Weeeee! So now I can say that I’ve been to Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Hahaha!

Our itinerary was carefully planned. The time of departure and time of arrival to our destinations must be observed to maximize our 4-day trip. So our first stop is Davao. Upon arriving, we head straight to the BlueJaz port to inquire about the road trip transfer to our hotel in Samal Island. Once we made confirmation, we went to Jollibee to have our breakfast.

It took minutes before the boat arrived so we decided to start shooting videos while waiting. Yep, we are also making a music video of Call Me Maybe. Haha! 8) And our location is in Mindanao, cool huh? So the boat arrived and dropped us at Samal Island. We rested while waiting for the first batch of travelers, haha.

We were in the middle of swimming when Batch 1 arrived. After a few shopping and eating, we hired habal-habal drivers to take us on an island tour. We decided to go to Hagimit Falls and the Bat Cave (World’s Guiness World Record). The rate is at 150 per hour.

There is a separate entrance fee per destination and we do not know what is it for. Although I think it is for maintenance, the tourists might be disheartened because of this. In the Bat Cave, the ‘Bat Girl’ (haha) briefed us before the she accompanied us to five different cave openings. The last one has the most powerful bat smell, hehe. In the last part, each of us were given a tiny pebble which will serve as a lucky charm (according to her).

We were amazed on our second location. The Hagimit Falls has a beautiful landscape and has very cold water, haha. Some area of the falls are also deep so I was really afraid >.< Haha! Anyway, we did a lot of photo ops and enjoyed swimming then went back to our resort.

Before dinner, they also swam in the Infinity pool. It looks great on the pictures. It is as if the pool is connected to the sea. I was not able to join them because all my clothes are made of cotton, haha. Next time, I’ll bring my UP rash guard. After swimming, we had dinner on the sea side (pictures are in my FB account) and then went all to sleep.

The next day, we swam again but now in the Giant Slide Pool. It was fun! Haha! Ahmm, maybe because the water in the pool is only 3ft so I was not afraid to slide. Haha Plus the fact that we have a salbabida while sliding Ahh! Before I forgot, JR Siaboc was our kapitbahay. The girls’ room is at Jazmin 5, the boys’ room is at Jazmin 3 and he is on Jazmin 4. Hahaha!

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And then, check-out time, we rode the boat back to Davao, had lunch and went to the terminal heading to General Santos.

Our hotel in GenSan is a lot better than our hotel in Davao. We stayed at RoadHaus hotel (Manny Pacquiao’s newly opened hotel). The room is very spacious and the hotel design is very similar to those of the US’. We never thought that PacMan himself will be there at his hotel so meeting him became the highlight of our travel, haha.

Going back, we have selected two major destinations in GenSan (aside from viewing the mansions of Manny and going to his boutique): Lake Sebu and Gumasa Beach. We rode the zipline in Lake Sebu and we were able to take videos .

Taking video became our priority here because there are official photographers at the end of the line. Their shots are pretty good, I may say, haha. So after the amazing zipline, we had lunch and Tboli people performed while we ate.

After our tummies were full, we went to Gumasa Beach. It was a long travel as opposite to what Kuya Warren said. He is an employee of Manny Pacquiao. Oh, I haven’t mentioned that we rented a van, Pacman’s van to be exact to tour us around at a reasonable price. The Gumasa beach’s sand is not as white as we expected it to be since it is called Boracay of Mindanao but it is still a beautiful place. After a short swim and video taking, haha, we went back to the hotel.

We were dining (ahmm, drinking shake) at Kee’s cafe when Manny Pacquiao showed up. We were eating with the entire team Pacquiao. How lucky could we get! Haha! So everyone managed to take a picture with him and the others asked for autograph and we shook hands with the People’s Champ, lols.

When he left, we waited for Jinky Pacquiao in the hotel lobby. Minutes pass midnight she arrived and then picture taking again. We also met Dr. something, haha, I forgot the surname, who manages Sarangani Heights. He encouraged us to visit the place so we went there the next morning.

Our vehicle fetched us at around 7AM. We passed by the Fish Port (too bad I wasn’t able to see the big tuna, hehe) and then arrived at Sarangani Heights. It is also a good place to stay, the rooms are okay but the location might be a little inconvenient since it is far from the city proper. Nonetheless, we had our breakfast, took photos, consumed the P100 entrance fee for shake and water and head off to the airport.