Riding the Zipline in Zip City Davao
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On June 4, 2011
Photo by Boom Boncan
After the awesome white water raft adventure, we then went on to another one! I must say that AirPhil Express did really name their promo packages just right as Davao Extreme! We certainly experienced extreme adventures and I must say I enjoyed a whole lot! Even after 3 weeks, I can still feel the same excitement while I share our experiences through this blog 🙂
Zipline was the last stop for our Davao trip. Zipline is becoming more popular in the Philippines. I remember the 1st time I tried riding it was way back year 2000. It’s basically a pulley suspended on a cable. It’s gravity that makes us move from one side to the other. It does look scary especially if you’re afraid of heights. However, I’m confident that riding the Zip-line is safe (well, depending on who put it up of course!).
Our group was brought to Zip City for our Zip-line ride. The place was very accessible and there was great view too! Imagine riding the zipline with a view of Davao gulf and Mount Apo!
First up, we wore our gears. I was excited! I knew that riding the zip-line was cool and enjoyable. Too bad, some of my companions didn’t wanna try it.
Photo by Boom Boncan
We also didn’t need to worry about safety as Zip City used equipments approved by Union International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA). Considering Zip City has been doing this for a long time and they are pretty popular in Davao, there wasn’t much to worry about. All we needed to do was to enjoy and have a great time! 😀
Photo by Boom Boncan
Next, we climbed up the stairs. I must admit I was terrified while doing so. I have this weird phobia of stairs, escalators or anything alike. I’m glad I was able to conquer that fear though 😛
Funny that you can see that I was scared in the picture below hahaha! Believe me, I was just relieved that I was able to climb up those stairs! 🙂
Photo by Boom Boncan
Now, the most exciting part was to finally ride the zip-line. Actually Zip City’s rate is pretty cheap at Php 300 per person which already includes a Php 100 food consumable at either Dencio’s Restaurant or Riverwalk Grill.
Photo by Boom Boncan
It was a fast ride but it was soooo much fun! I wanted to do another round but I know we had to go to somewhere else right after 😛
Photo by Boom Boncan
The only scary part was at the other end when we needed to land. The impact was great but I guess, it was all in my mind. I actually landed okay.
Photo by Boom Boncan
I even had a nice smile when I realized that Boom was trying to take my picture! 🙂
Photo by Boom Boncan
Riding the zip-line was an awesome experience that’s why I really recommend the highland adventure package among all the ones being offered at the AirPhil Express Davao Extreme Adventure Packages.
Zip City is open 9am to 5pm during wednesdays, thursdays & sundays, 9am to 8pm during fridays & saturdays. They can open the place during mondays and tuesdays as long as there is a booking for a minimum of 20 pax.
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Zip City
Baranggay Langub (near Dencio’s Restaurant), Ma-A, Davao City, Philippines
(082) 271-2626
Davao Wild Water Adventure
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On June 2, 2011
Photo by Boom Boncan
I’m not a sporty person. The only sports that I actually do are billiards and bowling. Most of the people don’t even consider them as sports 😛 In spite of my weak body and experience with physical activities, my heart is always up for adventure!
I was actually so looking forward to experience white water rafting through the Davao Extreme Adventure Package by AirPhil Express.
White water rafting is famous in Davao. It’s one of the selling points of the place. It is considered an extreme sport. Looking at several marketing materials about it, I was a bit scared. But what the heck, I was sure it would be an unforgettable adventure!
After we had breakfast at Microtel Davao, we hopped in the van and went to Davao Crocodile Park where Davao Wild Water Adventure is.
We went inside the place and saw the vests and helmets on display. We were asked to choose the right size of vest for our body type. We were also asked to try out the helmets. They were actually pretty strict and were supervising while we wore the needed gears. It felt like safety was of utmost importance for them.
Lockers were also available for us to put our stuff. I had to leave all my stuff as there are only limited space in the raft. The only items that can be put in the raft are food, water, slippers and first aid kit. I had to bid goodbye to my camera as it was too big and I can’t afford for it to be wet.
Before we go to the official venue (Davao River), we had to listen to the staff while they explain what white water rafting is. They also showed some videos just to keep us aligned with expectations 🙂
Apparently, Davao Wildwater Adventure has specific goals. These goals are:
- promotion of water sports particularly white water rafting with Davao river as the venue.
- promotion of eco-tourism which will bring us closer to nature particularly the Davao river.
- create awareness about Davao river.
- lead in the practice of safety in water sports.
- serve people by providing us an opportunity to experience an adventurous ride into the Davao River.
Wow, there’s really more to it than adventure 🙂 I believe they reached all their goals based on my personal experience with Davao’s white water rafting.
Now, that orientation are completed. We were all ready to ride the van to go to Davao River. The rafts were loaded in the van too!
It was a long ride. If I remember correctly, it was an hour drive. We were all sleeping throughout the trip especially on our way back after the wild white water rafting ride!
Photo by Davao Wildwater Adventure
As soon as we arrived at the venue, they asked us to listen first with the safety guidelines. We were informed that we will definitely get wet. We were also familiarized with the paddle and how to hold it the right way. Oh gosh, it was definitely exciting!
Photo by Boom Boncan
We then rode the raft. Each raft has designated raft guides. We were actually so lucky to have Ghetto as our guide, he was really so patient with us.
We had some practice first before we went on to the wild ride. We were asked to jump off the raft. Ghetto taught us how to get back at it (yes, expect to fall off the raft!) 🙂 As soon as the exercises were completed, we then head on out to the 2-hour amazing ride! 😀
Photo by Boom Boncan
For someone like me who loves to take pictures, fret not as Davao Wild Water Adventure has its own photographer. I actually admire him. He paddled his way all throughout then taking pictures and videos of us. Wow, he must have mastered the art of multi-tasking!
Photo by Boom Boncan
Introducing Team Merla!! hahahaha! Our group was the noisiest among the batch. I guess we just made the most out of our time in the Davao white water rafting activity.
Photo by Davao Wildwater Adventure
Whenever I see the big waves in the Davao River, I really get scared. My heart was beating so fast, really.
Photo by Davao Wildwater Adventure
After we pass a difficult area, we celebrate by raising our paddles. That was us, truimphant! hahaha! 🙂
Photo by Davao Wildwater Adventure
The ride was 3 hours long. So we had to stop for a few minutes to have our lunch. The lunch was pretty simple, packed meal composed of chicken, rice, drink and fruit. We rested for a few minutes before we go on to the adventure.
Photo by Davao Wildwater Adventure
White Water Rafting in Davao was soooooo much fun!!! I enjoyed every second of it. Even if I was so damn scared that I held the rope on the side of the raft whenever we almost fell 😛
Photo by Davao Wildwater Adventure
This is mainly the reason why I recommend the water rafting package by AirPhil Express. Just in case, you missed the promo of AirPhil Express or if you’re currently in Davao, then you can just go directly to Davao Wildwater Adventure and pay Php 2000 per person. The fee is inclusive of transportation (round trip- Crocodile Park & Davao river), packed lunch and bottled water, use of gears & equipment, raft guide, souvenir shirt, pictures & short video.
It was one hell of a ride! Very worth it and definitely one of my most unforgettable experiences ever 🙂
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Davao Wildwater Adventure Inc.
Davao Crocodile Park Compound, Riverfront Corporate City, Diversion Highway, Ma-a, Davao City, Philippines 8000
(082) 221-7823
Exotic Food at Riverwalk Grill Davao
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On June 2, 2011
After the amazing show in Tribu K Mindanawan Cultural Village, we walked to Riverwalk Grill for our dinner. We were told that Riverwalk Grill is famous for their exotic foods. Crocodile was mentioned a couple of times and I was actually thinking yaiks, should I eat?
I was hungry then as I only had noodles for lunch that day. As we walked through the restaurant, I saw the chef cooking barbeque. When I got to smell the aroma of the food, I knew right then and there that we would have a nice meal.
Riverwalk Grill is more of an outdoor type of place. It doesn’t look like a high-class restaurant but hey, it was the food we were looking forward to. I was excited. I wondered how a crocodile would taste like!
I wasn’t part of the ones who ordered the food so I was just there to be surprised haha! Here are the food that were served to us:
- Thai Mango Salad (Php 90)
This dish is a combination of green and semi-ripe mangoes drizzled with vinegar and garnished with onions. Thai Mango Salad is nothing extraordinary but I actually liked this dish. The bitterness in the mango was very distinct here, yum! 😀
- Imbao Soup (Php 120)
Imbao soup is actually clam soup. Here in Riverwalk Grill, the clams they used are the female ones. The clams are juicier than other types. This dish was pretty cheap for only Php 120 and it was presented nicely too.
- Croco Spicy (Php 390)
Now, our most awaited dishes were being served. First up were crocodile dishes. This one is Crocodile spicy (one of the most popular dishes in Riverwalk Grill). Honestly, I never imagined that I would actually eat something like this in my lifetime. I took a bite. It tasted like chicken but I just kept chewing for a few seconds. The sauce gave the dish character but I can’t conclude my impression of crocodile yet.
- Croco Sisig (Php 390)
The 2nd exotic dish served was still a crocodile one. This time cooked like a sisig. Oh boy, it did look delicious! After I took a teaspoonful of Croco sisig, I can now conclude that I won’t be eating or craving for crocodile in the future hahaha! It’s nice that I was able to finally try it though 🙂 Crocodile meat was tough, I felt like eating chewing gum. I will stick with pork sisig next time 😛
- Ostrich Egg Omelette (Php 500)
Next up were ostrich dishes. Contrary to crocodile meat, I actually liked ostrich a lot, like a lot! I think I’ve eaten more of ostrich dishes compared to other dishes Riverwalk Grill served us. I especially liked the Ostrich Egg Omelette. It was a bit expensive at Php 500 per plate but hey, how often do we get a chance to eat ostrich?
The omelette was cooked with ostrich, several spices and cheese (I think). It was one of the most ingredient-packed omelette I have eaten. We also enjoyed taking pictures with the Ostrich Egg hahaha!
- Ostrich Steak (Php 390)
Another favorite of mine is this Ostrich dish cooked as steak. Surprisingly, it tasted like beef steak and there wasn’t any after taste at all. Loved it! 🙂
- Beef Kaldereta (Php 216)
- Grilled Chicken Barbeque (Php 66 per stick)
We saw the chefs grilling the chicken earlier. I knew as soon as the dish landed in our table that it would taste good. I wasn’t disappointed. Freshly grilled chicken was definitely a winner!
- Mixed Fruits with Cream
For dessert, we had mixed fruits. I loved the presentation but I was really thinking why cream was served with the fruits. I’m not a big fan of cream. I guess fruits will taste better with cream (like fruit salad right?).
- Mango Float (Php 70)
The name of the dish is quite confusing to me. Riverwalk Grill’s mango float is actually a mango graham cake. This freezer-baked cake was topped with cherry which was a nice touch. I loved the rich flavor of this cake. I wasn’t able to finish one whole dish as I was too full already with all the dishes that we have tried out.
- Ripe Mango Shake (Php 50)
We all enjoyed our food adventure 🙂 Most of us ate crocodile and ostrich for the 1st time! What an eventful first night at Davao. We all ate like a family, passing the dishes to each other and exchanging stories and stuff during our unique meal.
We also took several pictures and this was some of us after our meal. If you visit Davao, don’t forget to go to Riverwalk Grill and order their crocodile and ostrich dishes. You won’t regret it. It’s always nice to be adventurous once in a while 😉
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Riverwalk Grill
MA-A Diversion Road, Davao City (Behind Davao Crocodile Park)
(082) 221-9643
KFC So Good
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On June 1, 2011
It’s not a secret that I’m a huge fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken or shall we call KFC. The yummiest chicken in the world is my ultimate comfort food! Whenever I feel sad or stressed, just one box of KFC hot & crispy chicken can already make my day brighter! 🙂
The past few days, I noticed the newest commercial by KFC. It seems like they changed their tagline. I remember KFC as having finger-lickin’ good chicken. Right now though, they came up with this new ‘so good’ tagline. Upon watching the TV commercial and thinking about it, KFC So Good does make a lot of sense.
The tagline KFC So Good is simple. It captures whatever we are feeling. As for me, whenever I get to eat KFC food, I just immediately feel so good! It’s a great feeling and I guess that’s what KFC is all about.
Why is KFC So Good anyways?
- 11 Secret Herbs & Spices
It is definitely the recipe that makes us wanna go back to KFC over and over. Those eleven secret herbs & spices are just perfect! I wish we can find out what they are. I guess it’s going to be KFC’s secret forever hehehe 😛
- Gravy
While I love KFC chicken, I know that even the sauce is addicting! KFC’s gravy sauce has the right consistency, thickness and taste! Perfect for Filipino taste buds! Extremely yummy! Admittedly, I can’t get enough of it as I use the gravy not just in the chicken but also over rice!
- Fresh Chicken Delivered Daily
I didn’t care much where KFC chicken came from but it was so nice to know that the company does ensure that we get good quality food. Do you know that KFC doesn’t use frozen chicken? KFC actually gets daily delivery of chicken. Now we know that whatever we order is fresh and newly cooked 🙂
- Cooked with Passion with Real Chefs
I always thought that the people cooking the chicken in the KFC kitchen are just normal employees. I had the shock of my life when we were informed that the ones preparing them are actually chefs (real ones)!!!
KFC chicken are actually breaded with the 11 secret spices by hand and then pressure-fried. Wow! 😀
Those 4 reasons I mentioned above are definitely the main reasons why KFC is so good. In connection to the So Good tagline of KFC, the KFC So Good Moments website is now up.
We can share our own So Good moment in the website. It can be about love, career, family, friends or travel. Entries can be a photo, a video or a written story.
There’s even an ongoing contest that will run for 3 months. Every month, KFC will award 15 best stories!
- 3 winners (one from each category) will win GCs for 11 KFC buckets!
- 12 consolation prizes will be given as well in the form of GC worth of Php500.
While we’re at the topic, let me share my personal top 11 so good list. This can be a good practice for me before I finally submit my official entry in the KFC So Good Moments website 😛
- KFC is so good. Their chicken is just unbelievably delicious! No other chicken comes close.
- Whenever I reach my goals, whether small or big, is an achievement in itself. The feeling is definitely so good when we succeed!
- Letters or notes of appreciation are so good!
- Being productive is so good 🙂
- Getting my favorite gadget is so good.
- Being able to give back is so good!
- Seeing other people genuinely happy is so good too! Sometimes, seeing other people very happy makes our heart melt 🙂
- Writing this blog entry for my favorite fast food restaurant is so good! 😀
- Being healthy is so good.
- To be successful is so good.
- Thinking positive things is so good!
It’s funny that as I write this post, I was eating hot & crispy chicken. Hahaha! Talk about coincidence. I guess KFC is just so good! 😀
Tribu K Mindanawan Cultural Village
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On May 30, 2011
After we settled in at Microtel Davao, we went straight to Davao Crocodile Park Complex. Inside the Davao Crocodile Park Complex lies the Tribu K’ Mindanawan-Cultural Village.
As we enter the place, I saw the tag line “Empowering the Filipino culture Enriching the Heritage“. Then I heard some music inside and we quickly went in. We were just in time for the weekend show which includes cultural presentation and fireshow. Entrance fee is pretty cheap (I believe underpriced!) at Php 150 for each adult and Php 75 for each child.
The weekend shows run every fridays, saturdays and sundays at 5:45PM to 6:30PM. First up was the cultural presentation where the performers play some tribal music and dance with the tune.
I loved their costumes and their look, very truly Filipino. I also liked that they performed a lot of numbers. I really feel that the price was just too low for such a grand show. It was definitely one of the best shows I’ve watched 🙂 That time, I already felt that my visit to Davao was worth it!
It was getting dark and I knew that we won’t have any more time to go back to Tribu K’ Mindanawan-Cultural Village. So while the show was still going on, I looked around.
There were traditional houses all over the place. Name and descriptions were there too for reference. Plus, there was a human statue for each house. I was in awe while I walked around. I realized that this was how people lived ages ago.
I took several pictures while touring around too!
It was getting dark and it wasn’t safe to walk around with limited lighting. We quickly wrapped up the tour and walked back to the show venue.
This was us before we walked back to watch the 2nd show, fireshow 🙂
We saw that there was a store selling some truly Filipino stuff.
We also saw pictures of our fellow Filipinos 🙂 Those happy faces were truly nice to see.
The firedance was definitely the highlight of the day. Everyone who brought their cameras didn’t miss the opportunity and took as much pictures as they can.
I even took a quick video just to give you an idea how the show went.
Friends, when you visit Davao, please ensure to include Tribu K’ Mindanawan-Cultural Village in your itinerary. Make sure that you go during weekends and when there are cultural shows. You’ll love it for sure and you can take my word for it.
After the awesome show, we can actually mingle with the performers. They were so accommodating and were so patient posing with us one by one. I had sooooooo much fun!
They also let us experience holding fire! hahaha! I loved it! This was the best souvenir I got from our visit in Tribu K’ Mindanawan-Cultural Village.
What a great way to start my tour in Davao. Thank you so much for bringing us to Davao, AirPhil Express 🙂
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Tribu K’ Mindanawan Cultural Village
Davao Crocodile Park Complex, Diversion Road, Ma-A, Davao City, Philippines
(082) 302-9923