Dissecting Davao – Day 3
How do you think we spend our last day in Davao City???
We trooped to the foothills of Mt. Talomo and visited Eden Park.
The park is almost 3000 ft above sea level, generally cool, the park is but an hour away from the city proper. It is one of the most popular sites to visit. Tourists have the option to check out their floral garden, their organic and herbs garden or hit on their hiking trails, do camping or just appreciate the fact that the park is man-made.
Yes, the Ayalas acquired the land that was barren and devoid of any huge trees. Logging was so rampant in the area, especially in the 1960s and 70s but then the Ayalas opted to plant trees and bring back the forest. With such success in reforestation, the Ayalas put up a nature resort and opened its man-made forest to the people of Davao.
We arrived a bit early for our scheduled shuttle trip around the park. So we decided to try their Indiana Jones, a few meters down the souvenir shop. The Indie Jones is a modern take of Tarzan’s antics of swinging from tree to tree. Unlike Tarzan’s, the Indiana Jones require only the earth’s gravity and your weight in moving from one end to the other. Of course the anticipation of hitting the stopper hard at the lower end and being swung to almost 180 degrees like a yo-yo, provides utmost excitement and fright. For us – Joyce, myself, Cookie and her boyfriend Daniel, it was a great swing back to being children.
Then it’s time for us to ride the shuttle for a tour around the park. It brought us to the Skyride, the park’s version of the zip-line, then to the Tinubdan, a showcase of ethnic and cultural groups in Mindanao, then to several tree farms and flower gardens. Our last stop was at Lola’s Garden which provided us with a wonderful view of the city.
If Eden park had its Skyride, another zip-line adventure was waiting for us at Zip City, which was tucked several kilometers away from the lowlands. This one was a bit longer. It’s a 300m cable line parallel to a hilltop road in Ma-a, Davao City. The zip line spans a relatively deep gorge covered with treetops and vegetation.
A rather first time for all of us, it’s a longer version of Eden’s Indiana Jones with a safety harness and protective helmet. The idea of relying on a single cable on rollers as we glide above a deep ravine created some jitters and excitement. I personally didn’t have any idea of how it is to fly.
We waited for our turn on the zip line. Helmets and harness and all, we began to feel nervous about the whole thing. Of course it didn’t help reading some of the tarps at the side of the tower where we would jump off.
We saw how the colors drained from Joyce’s face. To ward off the nervousness, I coursed it through laughter and pictures. Still I couldnt control the shaking. And so one by one, we took the skies and flew.
A different kind of adventure indeed. Gliding or flying made us superhuman. The view of the city was also spectacular.
Then we headed to Dencio’s, a restaurant at the other side of the zipline. Dencio’s offer an exciting view of Davao City. Especially at night, it offers a magnificent picture of the city covered with lights. Add to the fact that it sits on a hill top, cool breeze from either the highlands of Bukidnon or the sheer altitude, the place is a perfect quick stop for dinner date and something else.
We realized that our instantaneous adventure drained all the adrenaline from our bodies. So much that we were spent and tired from the excitement that was the zip line. At Dencio’s we were like hungry puppies fighting for milk from the bitch and that we had our lunch in silence.
A few hours left before Joyce’s flight back to Manila, we managed to stop by Aldevinco for the requisite shopping for “pasalubong” or “souvenir.” It is located at CM Recto and M Roxas Avenues, across Marco Polo Hotel and Ateneo de Davao University.
Aldevinco is in itself, a Davao landmark, being a commercial complex that houses a hundred stalls selling native products, souvenir shirts, regional textiles, fabrics and crafts. Tourists are always lured to drop by the shopping center for the broad display of colorful batiks and fabrics.
Our friend Joyce was in a souvenir heaven and she rushed to her shopping madness engaging in haggles and chuckles.
Finally we were standing in front of a durian sculpture made by Kublai Milan for the Francisco Bangoy Airport of Davao City. Our adventure was about to come to a close minutes after Joyce hugged and bade us goodbye.
It was an opportunity for all of us to appreciate everything the city had to offer. We shared the adventure pretty well, be it historical, zoological, natural, gastronomical or simply Davao-like. There were several things learned from dissecting the city. The appreciation of Davao happened when the city was seen in its various beautiful forms.
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