Davao: The Eagles' Time

Before New Year's Eve, we went to see the Philippine Eagles at its sanctuary at Malagos, the foot of Mt. Apo. The Sanctuary breeds those endangered species that we have here in the Philippines like the famous Philippine Eagles, the White Bellied Sea Eagles, the Brahminy Kites and others.

We should really save our Eagles, they are endangered. It's sad because these kinds of species are beautiful and really are pride to the Filipinos yet a lot of hunters mercilessly hunt them down just to eat or make them pets. Plus we are also continuing to destroy their natural habitats hence no living place, no more breeding grounds, less new born eaglets.

Presently, there are 35 Philippine Eagles in the sanctuary; there will be an additional one coming this January 27 as a new egg will be hatched. :)

Aside from the Philippine Eagles there are other kinds of eagles in the sanctuary. Here are some of the other birds in the sanctuary.

White Bellied Sea Eagle

Eagle Owl

Brahminy Kite

There are other animals in the sanctuary like the Cappuccins, Wild Bore, Philippine Mountain Deer, etc. The Sanctuary takes care of endangered species, breeds them and tries to reintroduce them to the wild. Unfortunately, from the 4 Philippine Eagles that they have reintroduced to the wild, none of them survived. :(

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After the Malagos Sanctuary, we went back to the city at Gusteau's Fud Haus and ate Crabs. Big Crabs. Yummy! We still saw them live and served to us in a very yummy way.

those are live ones

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My Christmas in Davao is really a Merry Christmas, spending time with family, staying at a place that is accessible to many places, everyday pasta. Haha But hey, my weight is kind of maintained. :P The relaxed, nothing to worry about aura. Such a nice place, the only thing that is unusual to me is on New Year's Eve, it's so quiet. No one is lighting firecrackers or any pyrogenics. It's a city ordinance that it is not allowed even if it's New Year. That's why its really quiet New Year's Eve time. I'm really gonna miss Davao, I'm actually missing it now.

Things I did while in Davao...

- shopped at SM Davao

- saw the Ampatuan Mansions

- visited the Ateneo de Davao University Campuses

- rode the zip line at Outland Adventure

- visited and went on swimming at GAP Farming Resort

- saw the butterflies at Butterfly House

- saw the many crocodiles at Crocodile Park

- soared with the Philippine Eagles at Philippine Eagle Sanctuary in Malagos

- ate big crabs at Gusteau's Fud Haus

- visited the Davao Museum at Insular Village

- ate frozen yogurt at Tutti Frutti

We'll surely come back to the Land Of Promise, Davao City! Wait for our return! :D <3 :)

xoxo

Davao Soars

The day before my uncle's family went back to Cagayan de Oro, we went swimming at Gap Farming Resort. And yes, swimming plus the sun equals me being toasted, literally. I'm darker than my usual color now. Haha Oh well, whitening regimen again when I go back to Manila. :P There were a lot of fun memories on that day, the pool shot, where we fell on the pool one by one. The numerous cannon balls I did. :) The "back stroke" of my mom which, according to my uncle, looked like a reverse butterfly. LOL The swimming race. The failed "find the bottle in the pool," failed because my mom prepared a clear bottle filled with water. It did sink yes, but it just sank and was never found since it camouflaged with the pool floor. Haha

Carabao and the Magsasaka

us in the pool

After GAP, we went to the mall, my cousins and my brother were supposed to play DOTA but unfortunately there is no internet cafe in it. Instead, we went to World of Fun, played different games and went on a bump car ride. :)

bump car at World of Fun

That was the last day with my uncle, aunt, and cousins. The next morning they traveled already to CdO. It was unusually quiet in the apartment when they left. No more super Xbox marathon at tito's  LCD TV. The pink room where they were staying is empty and quiet. The only noise that could be heard is the TV plus the chattering, bantering and quarreling voices of me and my siblings plus mom. Humph. I wish this to be repeated, they live in Cagayan de Oro and we live in Cavite. They rarely fly to Manila either us to CdO. The last time I saw them was well, a few months back but before that it was more or less 10 years ago. So, yeah... I want a repeat. Hehe :P :D

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Yesterday, we went to Butterfly House and Crocodile Park of Davao. There were lots of pretty butterflies in it unfortunately we didn't have a nice camera to take photos with. But my mom did her best to capture the photos of some butterflies we saw in the farm. The extraordinary ones are hard to find plus they can't be reached by the "zoom" of our camera phone.

Davao Butterfly House

newly hatched butterfly. :)

Pupae Shelf

the female will lay eggs in a few days ;)

Some of the butterflies we saw...

The Crocodile Park was also fun, besides the crocodiles, it features some birds and other zoo animals too.

We also visited the Tribu K Cultural Village. Not much photos were taken as it was almost dark when we got there.

Uyaanan - a traditional house of the tribe

So much for now. Next post will be about more of our trips here in Davao.

xoxo

Davao Xcelerates ;P

Yesterday, we passed by Ateneo de Davao University and ADD HS & GS campuses. It's just fun to see Ateneo de Davao 'coz i just usually see Ateneo de Manila University campus. ADDU isn't as big as ADMU and their HS & GS divisions are separate from their College division. I know I'm Lasallian but there are no La Salle Schools here in Davao so yeah. Haha

the name beside the gate

I think this is their main building. It has the popular insignia on it. In ADMU their line is Lux In Domino, at ADDU their line is Fortes in Fide.

ADDU with the popular insignia

at the gate

Their HS & GS campus sign. I was inside the car while taking that photo. So sorry for the speeding look.

ADDU GS & HS

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Before going to the ADDU campuses, my uncle said that we'd be passing by the mansions of the Ampatuans. God, their mansions are really mansions. If you think that houses at Ayala Alabang are big, well, the Ampatuans really defined the word mansion. They have two houses erm, mansions, in Davao. One that we think they live at, but not now, and the other which is kind of almost done. It covers a whole block and it's not just the lot that's big, the house itself is really big. If the lot covers the whole block, maybe the garden would only be 1/8 of it and the rest is already the house. Of course, we weren't able to go inside but seeing the facade, whoa... huge.

This is the first house we passed by. This is the one that we think that they lived in before. It doesn't look deserted but I doubt that there are real Ampatuans in it.

This is the bigger one, it covers the whole block, the walls and the gates are high. Unfortunately, this mansion looks deserted. Not to mention the paints of the walls are not done.

Just to picture how high the walls and the gates are.

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Just earlier, we went on a picnic at Outland Extreme. The fun was set off after eating lunch, my cousins, sis and I were playing with the raft at the man-made lagoon. You have to pull on a rope to be able to cross to the other side of the bank. My cousins were the one pulling, my cousin Niko, I think, went out of balance and tried to hold on to the rope for support, instead of giving support the rope just went toward him and he fell in the water. My cousin Kyle, being on the same side with Niko also fell. At first, me and my sister were shocked then we all laughed. Because of laughing hard, my sister wasn't able to take a photo of Niko and Kyle while in the water. (evil laugh hahaha) The sad thing is, Kyle's phone dove along him. :(

Cousins, Sis and I on the raft

Outland Extreme has zip line. We tried it and whoa, it's real fun! :D

We tried it twice, the first try was the usual position which is the Superman position. The second try is the inverted sitting position or the upside down position. Haha Double fun! At first, the second position was scary coz everything was passing me fast in a topsy turvy way but when I was half way, it was fun already. Haha

me being geared up

Take off! Zoom!

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Oh before I forget, we go to a nearby parish to hear masses. I've been to "high-end churches" but this one is something. On the outside, it doesn't look like it's "high end" it's not even air-conditioned. What caught my eye is the large crystal chandelier in it. It has four black wrought iron chandeliers then on the middle of those is a huge chandelier. It's similar to the chandelier at the Opera House in the movie Phantom of the Opera. It's not impossible for the parish to have that since the village where it is situated is somehow for the rich of Davao. It's my first time to see a chandelier that huge in a church, in a cultural center or an opera house, more possible but a church. Nope.

And that sums up two of my Davao days. Hehe just two days but full of fun! :D :P

xoxo

Merry Christmas!!!

Joyeux Noel!

Feliz Navidad!

Already had our Noche Buena, now waiting for the clock to strike midnight for the gift giving and officially say "Merry Christmas!". Hehe :D

hmmm...what could be my gifts? Surprises... Haha ;)

xoxo

Davao so far...

Scene 1: At the airport

We arrived almost 2:45 pm when our departure time was at 3:30 pm. We left the house late and not expecting the whole traffic of Manila plus the airport traffic. After checking in, we were just in time for our boarding. Whew! What a day for us! haha

Scene 2: On board the plane

We boarded just in time for us not to be trans-passengers. When we found our seats, it had white cloths on it which signifies those as reserved seats. I didn't really mind it until I noticed not everyone has it when I was already disembarking the aircraft. Haha That was something since that was not our original flight, we were only transferred. Considering we were only transferees, still we got the best seats in the plane reserved for us, the wing side exit doors.

Next is a Boom! The flight attendant assigned to us was whahohoho real cute...lol It's like a relief after all the rush we have encountered before boarding. Hehe

 

Ok, so while on board, my mom wanted to take photos but since our camera is caput we only have our phones to take pictures with. But since we know that it's protocol to turn of cellphones while in the plane, we did. The plane already took off and had stabilized when my mom said that she wants take photos of the clouds, because she really likes clouds. tehee.. :) Me and my sis told her that it's not allowed to turn on our phones, but she insisted that it's ok and that a few photos won't matter. So my sister obliged and took photos. Later on, a flight attendant approached and told us to turn off the cellphone. Me and my sis were like, "Mom kasi eh, pasaway!"

Here are some photos I literally stole. ;)

Since we were seated on the wing side exit doors, we're obliged by the law to read some guidelines on how to facilitate evacuation in case of emergency, cute flight attendant handed us some brochures to read and be aware of. I read that the crew should be notified if any of the passengers seated on that place is less than 15 years of age. My sister is only 12 and I thought that my mom would be the one to notify them so I didn't. About halfway the travel, cute flight attendant asked how old my sister was and we told she's 12, and haha the look he has on his face. It was like the blood in his head was drained. Haha Pasaway talaga! Hahahahah

Scene 3: At Gaisano Mall, Davao

This is what I call a Mini Adventure. :))

We were going home after doing some shopping in this mall. My uncle told us to take a cab to his apartment, and from that mall there already is a can terminal but the line is kind of long. My mom being kind of an impatient person, maybe because she's already tired too, said that we'd walk away from the mall just a few meters and find a cab there. And so we did. After asking for directions to a local, we walked and tried t hail a   cab from there. One local noticed us standing on that spot for about 5 minutes already, told us that we should just go back to the mall and find transportation there. My mom being the makulit one asked for an alternative way of going back to my uncle's place.

Cutting the story short, instead of one smooth cab ride, we rode 2 jeeps and a cab just to go back to my uncle's place. Instead of us being in the house less tired we were more tired when we arrived. My sister and I were like, "If we're going to that mall again, we better take uncle's pick-up or we just go for a cab ride." It was difficult because there's a language barrier, one-sided actually. The locals here can understand the dialect we speak, which Manilena Tagalog but we can't understand them for they speak the Davao dialect. :|

And that is Davao so far. We have not gone to the tourist spots yet 'coz we're waiting for my other cousins to come over. :) A day from now, uncle's place would be a buzz already. :) And here comes the tourist spots! :D

Till then,

xoxo