Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities and the Province of Bukidnon
last february 2010, I together w/ 2 of my fellow backstage boys barkada (jb and mackoy) and 3 of my equally 'laagan' officemates (joann,porky and ladz) went on a 4-day adventure in one of the more progressive yet still ecologically charming regions in the country - Northern Mindanao.
armed w/ our back packs, travel essentials, 200P back and forth cebu pacific and pal express tickets, our parents' nods, and the urge to laag, we braced ourselves for one heck of an adventure and preface to a unique but still very much filipino culture of mindanao. may have spent more than half of my life here but it still never fails to amaze me. tuly indeed, this place is 'The Land of Promise'.
Day 1 ILIGAN CITY
after arriving in Cagayan de Oro City from our early morning flight, we immediatley checked in on one of the city's cheap pension house the Willshire Inn. a room that is good for 4 persons only cost us 1,200P a day. such a bargain.
after about an hour of power nap and frehsening up we immediatly hopped on a bus that was bound for Iligan City (my place babeh!). airconditioned buses ply between these two cities every 30 mins thats why travelling in between them isnt much of a problem. the fare was cheap at around 80P one way. about an hour and 45mins we were in the city terminal of iligan! we were welcomed by my uncle who owns a jeep. we rented it for an amount ( i totally forgot sorry, parente ra an gud haha) so that we have some transportation around the city. we wasted no time and visited the ever famous TIMOGA swimming pools. had our lunch of a few kilos of lechon baboy and manok. if manila has la loma and cebu is known for its lechon, Iligan too is a lechon city! after that oily lunch we just spent a few more hours in the really cold waters of Timoga. whew. they loved it. and me too! we then went to one of the city's 24 water falls - Tinago falls. and all of us fell inlove w/ the place. it was worth the severl hundreds of steep climb to the place. before leaving we went to CHEDING's, home to the world famous Iligan's peanuts to buy pasalubong. the day ended up w/ a trip back to CDO. we met up w/ Mackoy and had some drinks till the not so wee hours of the morning at one of the city's tabayan.
DAY 2 CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY
its again another wet day for all of us as we had our white water rafting in Cagayan river. for 700P (1,000P if food is included. we opt to just buy skyfakes insead haha) we had the intermediate course which took us about 4-5 hours of rafting in the rough waters of the river. this experience i should say was one of the most unforgettable ever. i will let the photos do the talking. and yeah bring tons and tons of sun block since 4 hours exposure in the sun isnt really noticeable in this trip.
after the rafting we were all dead tired but THE SITE, CDO's equivalent of Manila's the Fort and Cebu's IT park was just so loud that we couldnt resist it and finally gave in to the temptation for a couple of san mig lights before we actually called it a day.
DAY 3 BUKIDNON
the next day, we went on towards the central part of mindanao - in bukidnon to try what they claim as Asia's longest zip line at the Dahilayan Adventure Park. we opt to rent a taxi for 1000P for the whole day to bring us to the place. on our way to the place, we stopped at the famous pine apple plantaion in Camp Philips wherein what you would see are just a see of pineapples. something that my companions went gaga over. we also tour around camp philips and appreciated the beuty of the american-country side setting of the residences there. when we arrived in Dahilayan, yet again, i was surprised to know, i was up to one of the exhilarating experience ever! 1 minute of ziplining in indeed Asia's longest zipline was well worth the 1,200P payment (there were actually 4 zip lines in the area and the last one was the longest). again let the photos do the talking.
the day ended again in CDO's nightlife and brought us to PULSE (CDO's Penthouse version) and had a blast while dancing the night away.
DAY 4 CDO City tour
since our flight is still at around 5pm, we decided to sepnd our last hours strolling in the city. we went to Basilica del San Agustin to pray, went t Limketkai Mall to see the place, and stayed in SM Cdo and watched Valentine's day to kill time. after we bought pasalubongs. predictably its the ever famous Camiguin Pastel. we bought all the flavors available.
this has got to be the saddest day since nobody wanted to leave actually. it was just a very happy and nice experience that me myself didt want it t end. hahay.
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