The Aviary at Eden Nature Park

Male (peacock) Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus)

Eden Nature Park and Mountain Resort is one of the best places to visit in Davao during summer. If you want to get away from it all and experience the grandeur of Mother Nature all in one place then don’t forget to add this destination to your places-to-visit-this-summer list. Summer’s far from over so start planning your trip now! J

The first (and hopefully not the last) time I went to “Davao’s Baguio” was last November 2010 when we covered an event for the Marketing Society of UP Iloilo. [Eden Nature Park: Davao City's Version of Baguio]

One of the things that I loved about my visit there was the animal sanctuary. Eden has its own deer park and aviary. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take some decent pictures of the deer because they were too shy to even pose for the camera.

I spent most of my time taking pictures of the birds at the aviary. At least they had nowhere to go to once I had my lenses set. haha! Some of the birds even came closer to have their pictures taken! I had fun “working” with a pair of red-and-blue Lories because they did countless tricks just to impress their visitor. 

I had a good 2-hour session with all of the birds. It was my first time to be in an aviary. I felt like a kid during his first visit to the zoo. Listening to the gentle water gushing through the stream nearby awakens your senses and relaxes the soul after a long and stressful day. Add the myriad sounds of the beautiful birds around you and you could almost tell that you are in paradise.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, (Cacatua galerita)

Red-and-blue lory, (Eos histrio)

Olive-headed Lorikeet, (Trichoglossus euteles)

Golden Pheasant or "Chinese Pheasant", (Chrysolophus pictus)

Victoria Crowned Pigeon, (Goura victoria)

Northern Cassowary, (Casuarius unappendiculatus)

Thanks to Ms. Sham Leonora for the camera. :)

Kyeranpbang: Egg Bread

This is a Korean street food I tried a few nights ago with my room mate, Yu Cheon, when we went to Eunpa lake to see the cherry blossoms and to try out his newly fixed scooter. It's called Kyeranpbang (게란빵) – or Egg bread. It's a traditional Korean delicacy and is usually sold in the streets in cold weather along with the other street food like boiled silkworm pupae. One can only try this in Korea during winter or spring and if you're lucky enough, some of your Korean friends might let you try this when you visit their homes.

Kyeranpbang - Egg Bread

Boiled Silkworm Pupae, a Korean traditional street food

It might taste very familiar especially if you've been to the Philippines and have already tried out some of their traditional delicacies like puto or mamon. Kyeranpbang is only a bit harder and it has this hard-boiled egg in the center.

Take the sweet-salty taste of puto and the texture of mamon and you'll get the taste of this Korean street bread. Combine that with the powdery texture of the hard-boiled egg in the center and you get the perfect street food for a cold Korean spring or winter evening. It can be considered as a light snack and is best served with coffee. The ones I tried were a bit cold since it was already late in the evening when we went to the lake. But having them when they’re fresh from the oven should taste heavenly!

Too bad I wasn’t able to bring cash. I only had a few coins in my pocket because I wasn't expecting to go on a food trip that night. Yu Cheon only bought one for each of us but it was enough to make me say that it is a must for me to go back for more of this egg bread before the season ended.

After I was finished with this delicacy, I went back to the ajumma's stand to take pictures of her delicious treat. She was sweet and kind enough to pose for a picture. This was a very big accomplishment for me! It was my first time to ask a Korean – a stranger – to pose for a picture! I was so happy when she smiled (that, I didn't expect) as she held up that famous peace sign.

If you're ever wondering how to make this at home, here is a simple recipe along with the steps to make this delicious treat:

http://www.kfoodaddict.com/korean-style-egg-bread-gaeran-bbang/

Patpat's Kansi House

“Bulalo is a light colored soup that's made rich by cooking beef shanks and beef marrow bones for hours until much of the collagen and fat has melted into the clear broth. The seasonings vary from chef to chef with some using only salt and black pepper while other variations call for patis, bay leaves or even garlic. But at its core, Bulalo, a simple cattleman's stew, best made in a large cauldron with whatever (vegetables) are growing nearby." No Recipes: Cooking is More Fun Without Them

Kansi is what Illonggos call bulalo. There are a lot of Kansi Houses in the city but we think that the best restaurant to get them is at Patpat’s Kansi House located at Luna St., La Paz.

                        
  
I first ate there a few years ago back when I was still in college. My dad brought me and it was clear what he said that I shouldn’t eat there often. But since then, I started bringing my friends and they loved the food. We would have lunch every 2 months just to get a taste of their mouth-watering Kansi.

Before they serve you with a bowl full of broth and a large (yes, it really is large) bone with that soft marrow inside (this makes me hungry just writing about it) they provide you with a barbecue stick and a thin serrated knife. The barbecue stick’s actually for getting all that tasty marrow out of the bone and the knife’s for slicing off meat from it. They both prove to be very useful and it's a bit awkward to use at first but hey, with practice comes perfection. You do want to enjoy your first bowl of Kansi, right?


At the first sip of their special broth, one will be able to forget all of their worries about heart diseases. But we do recommend not eating here every day. The food is great but it really pays if one should remain conscious about their health. The soup is what we are all after. It has everything in it - the taste of the meat, the marrow, some vegetables (if there are any) and the spices.

Patpat’s Kansi is the “sabaw-pa-lang-ulam-na” type of food. The broth, after getting your first sip, will make you think about ordering another cup of rice even though you haven’t even started eating it yet. I’ve been trying to figure out for years how to properly describe the soup. There's this certain sweetness and sourness in it. The beef is so tender that oftentimes, you’ll find yourself nibbling to the very last bit of beef strip and cartilage on the bone. I’ve tasted bulalo from other restaurants in Iloilo City as well as those around Tagaytay but I have to say that nothing beats the taste of Patpat’s Kansi. It lacks all the other vegetables present in other bulalo versions but trading it all off for the soup is all worth it after all.

Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

~ gooey cinnamon rolls ^_^

Heaven in only Php 140 (4 pieces)

It's Healthy Sammich Time!

A sammich is used to describe a sandwich that is exceptionally delicious. It is the "King of all Sandwiches", a "feast on a bun" or a "sandwich filled with heavenly goodness". For instance, a thick roast beef sammich with lots of gravy oozing in between is clearly not just an ordinary sandwich.

But rather than posting up the best sammiches that are obviously going to require you hours on the treadmill, I'd like to show you how sammiches can also give you a fun time without giving you a serious case of heart burn.

One of my favorite healthy sammiches is the Vegetable Panini. Yes, yes, you're already bored at the thought of having vegetables only. But remember, this is a sammich we're talking about. So you'll have to include special fillings.

Vegetable Panini

Usually, a panini uses ciabatta. But this time, olive bread is used. Now, munching on a toasted Olive Bread is delicious. But stuffing it with grilled eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and pepper will give you something new. Spread some pesto on each bread slice and add slices of mozzarella cheese. Grill the whole thing until it looks like one yummy grilled vegetable panini. It's heavy and healthy so having one for lunch will keep you full throughout the day. If you're having this as one of your diet meals, you'll never think of diet as something that would be boring and tasteless ever again.

Another healthy sammich you can have if you're not into vegetables but would still like to keep it healthy is the Mediterranean Chicken Sammich. Again, it could be just any other sandwhich. But by adding something special, you'll have a healthy sammich that'll blow your mind.

Mediterranean Chicken Sammich

My favorite Mediterranean Chicken Sammich includes using Focaccia bread. It already has a salty taste that others would say it's like eating pizza but not really. Add in some grilled chicken, onions, lettuce and cucumber and place some thick avocado spread in it. Judging by the ingredients in this sammich, you'd say it reminds you of summer. It definitely reminds me of that a lot.

The last sammich on the list is the Date and Walnut Sammich with Chicken, Light Cheese and Cherry Preserve. The first time I saw this one it made me go all, "Woah, I'm not eating that." Cherry preserve? With chicken? And cheese? The only sandwich I've ever tasted with cherries on it were with peanut butter or just plain butter.

Date and Walnut Sammich with Chicken, Light Cheese and Cherry Preserve

But this is why it is called a sammich. It's different. Good different. The date and walnut bread used matched the fillings of grilled chicken, light cheese and cherry preserve. It was indeed weird to try at first but refreshing in the end. The cherry preserve really made it exceptional.

A healthy sammich is one meal that can fill you up with no guilt included. Opt for these when you go out for a bite to eat or when you're thinking of what healthy meal to make at home.

The Coffee Terrace at Genting Highlands

This is one of those days where I reminisce on things I want to do the most and surprise, surprise! It’s eating.

One of the places I’m dying to go back to right now is the Coffee Terrace at Genting Highlands. Through the name “Coffee Terrace”, one might think it’s a simple coffee place located on a terrace. But what it has is a lot more than that. A whole lot more than just that.

Coffee Terrace at Genting Highlands is a buffet place that’s really worth every penny because the dishes they have doesn’t just cater to one place. They come from all over Asia.

Buffets are considered to be the best when you know there are a lot of dishes to choose from. Dishes that are not only appetizing but could also give you your money’s worth. Not trying to sound like a pig here but trust me when I say that when you’re there, you’ll most likely want to spend your whole day just eating.

Coffee Terrace includes a Japanese, Chinese, Western, Western Asia, and Nyonya* style buffet and the choices are puhhhlenty! If I just didn’t have any plans of riding rollercoasters and other amusement park rides at the theme park in Genting right after, I would’ve tasted everything. EVERYTHING!

I won’t really be going into detail on all the food found at Coffee Terrace but everything you expect it to have are there. For instance, on the Japanese station, there’s sushi, sashimi (served only during night time though), tempura and takoyaki. For Chinese: dumplings! Western: steak, salmon and buttered vegetables. Western Asia: "East meets West" dishes and for Nyonya: laksa and curry. There are more than just the ones I mentioned but I really have no idea what some of them are called. (My bias for Japanese food clearly showed here, didn’t it? XD)

Local favorites are also available as well as dessert corners that include ice cream, ice kacang, cakes, pastries, pudding, mousses and fruits.

Thinking about all of these again just makes me want to go back and taste all the things I’ve missed. And when I do come back, this time, I’ll make sure I don’t have any plans of going on amusement park rides right after.

*Nyonya – a fusion of Malaysian and Chinese cuisine

Eden Nature Park: Davao City's Version of Baguio

If you're in for an adventure of a lifetime, there's no need to travel to the other side of the world. There are so many places to choose from in our country, and one of the most worthy destinations is Eden Nature Park and Mountain Resort in Davao.

Eden is a mountain resort that was discovered in 1971. The whole 80-hectare property that used to be covered with patches of wild grass has now over 100,000 pine trees covering the whole area. The whole resort and most of the forests here were manually cultivated and structured making the whole park 95% man made!

The resort offers a plethora of amenities which include the Basketball Court, Flower Garden, Deer Park, Prayer Garden, Lola’s Garden, Seminar Village, Amphitheater, Vista Kiosk, Garden Hall, Cafeteria, Mountain Trail Playground, Campsite, Swimming Pool and my personal favorite, The Aviary! 

As for the food, where do I even begin? Eden is located 28 kilometers away from the city and 3000 meters above sea level. It takes 30 minutes to an hour to reach this place by shuttle so instead of transporting the ingredients from the city, the owners make their own patches of organic vegetables and fruit tree orchards.

Everything you eat in Vista Restaurant is freshly handpicked from their own gardens. That's organic, baby! From the vegetables in your favorite salads, to the herbs and spices used in your favorite dishes, everything’s concocted in there. If you plan on spending your vacation the healthy way, then this is the right place for you. Having dinner here at night will offer you a fantastic view of Davao City and the Davao gulf. 

If you want to try something new, you can also try out fishing for your own food at the Fishing Village. Their ponds are abundant with tilapia (St. Peter’s Fish) and catfish. Every thing that you catch is weighed and cooked fresh. You have 4 different choices on how you want them to cook your fish: pinaputok, inihaw, fried, and paksiw. My personal favorite is the pinaputok. They wrap the fish in banana leaves and deep fry it. The banana leaves give the fish a different aroma, making it more mouth-watering to eat, especially with freshly cut onions and tomatoes, dipped in soy sauce. It's like having a full course buffet. It's unbeatable. *Definitely nom nom*

I am an adrenaline junkie and adrenaline junkies like me would never want to miss the zip line aka Skyrider. But if you are not warmed up for the ride yet, then you can try out your rope gliding skills at the Indiana Jones. Yes. Ze Indiana Jones. The only difference between Jones’ swings and yours is that there’s solid ground with fresh grass just 2 feet below you. Falling off won’t hurt that much. 

Eden is perfect for seminars, congresses for student organizations, family vacations and even weddings! You won't ever get bored in this place and, temporarily, you might be able to forget everything that’s been bothering you at the office. It's definitely a place worth visiting in Davao and is beyond doubt one of the best places to go to if you want to find peace or just bond with your friends. 

 

(Photos by: Sham Leonora)

View more of our photos:

Eden Nature Park

For additional Information:
Eden Nature Park Tel. No:
(63)(82)299-1020
(63)(82)296-0791

Email:
info(at)edennaturepark.com.ph
 
Web Site:
Eden Nature Park

Conquering Sibalom's Dense Jungles

Sitting over the edge of a cliff.

Our hiking trip in Sibalom, Antique was something that we never really planned out. We got tired of spending too much on premeditated trips and air-conditioned hotel rooms and cottages. We thought that for once, we should try getting ourselves lost in the middle of nowhere - just us, our food, a big bag of clothes and the great outdoors!

We started our trip on a cold Friday morning. It was raining hard and that got us even more excited. After buying some dried fish and some pork from the wet market, we went to the tricycle terminal to catch the second trip for the morning and waited for 5 more passengers before leaving the town of San Jose.

We reached Inabasan in less than 20 minutes and got off at the start of the dirt road going to Barangay Inabasan. The road was inaccessible even for tricycles due to the heavy rains for the past few days. We had no choice but to walk for a 1-2 kilometers before reaching the starting point for the hike. By then the three of us were already panting even though we were just warming up.

We rested for a few minutes and after quenching our thirst, we started with the real hike.

We asked for directions whenever we saw people from the low lands but when we reached the middle part of the mountain, we were on our own. We passed by springs, thick vegetation and rice terraces. It was a muddy hike and we went through rough terrain, navigating our way through dense forests, across bamboo bridges, muddy slopes, and rejuvenating streams of fresh flowing water. It was the ultimate adventure and it was really fun.

Crossing an old bamboo bridge.

I was relieved when we reached the base of the first mountain. From there, we hiked for another 15 minutes across another set of rice terraces before reaching the campsite where Nong Edel (the caretaker) and his family lived in a small nipa hut.

We had lunch, slept for an hour and after regaining our strengths, we stocked up on water and asked Nong Edel or rather The Super Nong Edel, to guide us to the summit.

It really took us some time to reach the top because the path was relatively difficult to pass. We literally crawled up on some slopes, holding on to anything we saw for our dear lives. We went through hell! Aside from the slippery mud, we walked on terrain that had sharp cogon grass, barbed vines that scraped the skin off of your feet, dead tree trunks that easily broke off and slippery rocks.  We crawled down steep slippery slopes while Super Nong Edel was literally whistling his way through the dense jungles of Sibalom. When we were on our last 20-30 steps from the summit, we ran and squealed like little kids.

From where we stood, we saw the great mountain ranges of Antique going north, the famous Mt. Madiaas (the tallest mountain in the Island of Panay) as well as a good 360 degree view of everything surrounding the mountain. The air was cold and there was fresh grass everywhere. To the west was the sea, glistening in the afternoon sun. It was something that we only saw in National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. The view was simply breathtaking. We felt like we were on top of the world. It was paradise!

From where we are standing, one could see the town of San Jose.

This is the highest point of the mountain which can in fact be seen from San Jose's town plaza.

When it was already dusk, we decided to hike back up to the campsite and call it a day. We washed ourselves and prepared for dinner. We stayed in a small hut a few meters from Nong Edel’s house.

While waiting for our food, we noticed a firefly fly past the door of our cottage. I went out and tried to catch it, but I was astounded when I saw hundreds of them hovering around a nearby tree. The view was magical. It was like Christmas. I saw 2 or 3 fireflies flying around the area before but never in swarms.

We had KBL for dinner, a classic recipe because of its main ingredients: kadyos (pigeon peas), baboy (pork), and langka (jackfruit). It was mouth-watering and was perfect for the weather and the place. The fire cooked rice was also delicious and complemented the taste of the fried fish tocino and home-made, salted eggs.

We slept at around 1 in the morning because it was raining real hard and water was dripping all over the place. We heard different animal noises around the cottage, including that of the goat living under our hut. What made it worse were the mosquitoes that were still persistent enough to find holes on our mosquito nets. The bites were tolerable and we dozed off when it got really cold.

We had native chicken adobo for breakfast.

The small hut where we slept. It was especially cold during the night.

The next morning, we woke up with freshly brewed coffee on our door step. Nothing beats the taste of kapeng barako on a cold morning. We had breakfast and after waiting for the heavy rain to stop, we had our traditional photograph taken with our host family. After a few shots, we expressed our gratitude to Nong Edel’s wife and his kids, said our goodbyes and went on our way with Nong Edel guiding us down the mountain.

It was a very memorable adventure and I sure wish that the next time we go back to the mountains, there will be more of us coming. The scratches, insect bites, mosquito bites and muscle pains are all worth it.

Walking over slipper rocks

Washing the mud off at one of the small waterfalls.

The team with Nong Edel's family

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Brgy. Inabasan, Sibalom, Antique