The Xcelerator at it's finest

Before leaving Davao City, we headed to Outland to try the longest and fastest zip line in Asia. When we got there, the crew is still in the Pacqiuao vs Cotto high but still entertained us even if they still really wanted to hear the updates in the live telecast.

It costs 300 PHP for the zipline in whatever position you wanted: sitting, superman, inverse or tandem. I went for the superman since it seems excited and I just wanted to do something adventurous. They suited me and Sans for the superman and Shai and Tom opted for the sitting position. My college friend Mil just stayed since she will take some of our pictures. 

At first I thought it would just be a really short hike up the hill. We first crossed a small stream using a raft and a rope to get us to the other side. As we were crossing, the best thing happened...it rained. The hike up the hill became really difficult since it was slippery and I tried to make sure that I can keep up. It felt rewarding to get to the top though because of the difficulty of the hike that time. Thanks to Arjay Bernabe and his friends, we had a picture at the top while waiting for the rain to subside a bit to go on the zipline.

They made me go first since my friends thought I'm the toughest...or so they thought. When I got on and started zipping, the feeling of the wind in my face was just amazing and I admired the view as well since I saw I crossed the stream also. It was all worth it. I saw they were getting ready with their camera at the bottom so what else do I do? Project!

If only we didn't have a flight to catch I would have wanted another go and it's for a cheaper price.

Check out the Xcelerator at Outland Adventure when in Davao City: http://www.outlandadventure.org/main_frame_xcelerator.html

Oh you can also purchase your pictures. If you get 3 pictures printed out, they can save your 5 pictures in a flash drive.

De Bonte Koe European Restarant

On with the Davao series, after we had a really tiring day and decided to take a nap, Tom woke me up to say that his Tito Bong and Tita Bebot will be taking us out for dinner.

They took us to De Bonte Koe european restaurant. I can't remember exactly where it was except that it's in a compound where one can also have Mexican food  and Margaritas. 

At first I though we were going to have Margaritas which seems perfect since I still felt full. Although I found it interesting that we entered a small restaurant with European stuff all over the walls and most of them were cows!

Henny, the Dutch owner greeted us once we were seated at our table. Tito Bong said the house wine is excellent and we got a bottle of the no name house wine. The wine bottle was so cute also. It has cows printed all over it.

We though we were only going to have tapas but we also ordered the large Paella Negra. It was just too good to resist even if you are already full. The squid ink just made everything tastier. This is really worth the wait.

While we were waiting for the paella, we had the cheese platter to go along with the wine. The blue cheese was too good to pass up. We ordered a second platter as well.

Now what did I learn from this dinner? Turns out I am assertive (hahaha). Tito Bong apparently is very good at guessing your birth order depending on your attitude. So there it was...an obvious first born. Also, turns out fish from the Netherlands can be packed and shipped to the Philippines..interesting. Although I have started to love the "cultured European lifestyle" that I joke around with my friends whenever I have a glass of wine. Thank you Tito Bong and Tita Bebot Vega for this dinner.

 

Eden Nature Park and Resort

During our Davao Trip last November, I insisted to my friends that we go to Eden Nature Park in the foothills of Mount Apo. My mom never stopped raving about their salad when they visited. I was able to ask my mom's friend, Tito Lito to let his driver drive us to Eden Park since we might have a hard time if we hire a taxi.

When we got there, we were still a bit early for the buffet lunch so we joined the tour first to get us all pumped up and really hungry for the lunch buffet. The tour costs 75 PHP each. They showed us the different cottages and villas they have, the different venues, the garden where they plant the veggies and herbs they serve hydrophonics style. I suddenly remembered one of the geeky projects of our high school science class when I saw the hydrophonics facilities they have. They allowed us to sample some of the herbs as well and we were just tempted to take it back to Manila so Tom can make pasta for us. 

I really loved it when they told us that the view from Lola's Garden is of Davao City which proved I was wrong for my first guess that it was Gen. Santos City and Saranggani Bay at the back (toinks!) 

We arrived for lunch just in time. We were really hungry and looking forward to it considering how big our appetites are. The buffet lunch costs 450 PHP per person and it also includes 1 free drink.

They served Mandarin Chicken, Penne with Pomodoro sauce, Pork ribs, Salmon Provencal, Fried Rice and Mushrooms. Each dish tastes so good that I could barely describe each of them. My favorites were the mushrooms and the chicken.

What is Eden Park without their salad? They have a whole section dedicated to the fresh choices of vegetables and dressings just for it. I got the mixed greens and several juicy tomatoes with Asian dressing (highly recommended by my mom). There were chunks of suha as well which Davao is famous for. The vegetables were really fresh and crisp and you know you can't go wrong with these since they are organic as well.

We had fresh fruits for dessert but one can have the pastries and balck sambo that they prepared.

I also loved the fact as well that there was a white peacock in the dining area. It was just beautiful. Too bad it did not open it's tail.

After lunch, we just enjoyed ourselves in the Indiana Jones, a mini version of the zip line which you can enjoy around Davao. Eden also have this attraction. 

We also felt like we were kids again just going at it at the playground. Tom and Sans finally got my camera so I have decent pictures (haha).

There were other attractions we could have enjoyed as well if only we had enough time to do so. The whole time I was there, I had this crazy though of wanting to have my pre-nup shoot there...dream on! I know right!!!

Chinese food from way south

Going to Davao City was one of the best decisions I had in 2009. Since I was the master planner of the trip, I had to check as well which places will surely satisfy us especially that my friends really love to eat. I was coordinating with my collage barkada, Mil and she recommended Ahfat for one of our dinners.

After a relaxing day at the spa, we headed to Ahfat and were quite excited since we saw the food they serve from a blog. It was weeks of staring at our computer screens and just looking at the lobster which looks so good.

First we had the Green soup. It was filled with different kinds of seafood and it was not just itsy bitsy slices of seafood as an accent, but it was chunks and you can flavor the shrimp and crab in it. It looks quite intruiging with its green color. This is one of their best sellers and one serving can serve about 5-6 people.

We also ordered the crab in chili-garlic. The crab was huge and tasty. The sauce was quite tasty as well. We ordered this since lobster was not available that time. Although this may be a substitute, it is still highly recommended. They let us pick the live crab so you can imagine how good this is.

We ordered the Shanghai rice. It was was wrapped in scrambled egg which I find amazing. 

We also had the salt and pepper spareribs. Unlike other spareribs that seem so oily, theirs were fried just right and you don't feel greasy with every bite.

Lastly we had the shrimp salad. The shrimp breading was crispy on the outside and the shrimp was tender. The salad dressing was seasoned just right. You also have an option to have it hot or cold. I recommend hot.

I highly recommend this place. For the food as extravagant that we ordered, it was still cheap enough for us. Make sure to try this place out in Davao City.