Road Trip to Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls

Day 3
March 24, 2016
Thursday

Today's itenirary icludes Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls. We left Revlun pension House at 6:00 AM. Travel time to Hinatuan is estimated at 4 hours. It's all our first time to travel this road so we relied solely on our google maps.

Going there, you have 2 options: Either to take the Pan-Philippine Highway/AH26 or the Surigao-Davao coastal road. The latter requires less travel time so we chose it.

Since, we are traversing a coastal road, we expected much of an ocean view. It is of course an ocean view, but on the other side of the road is a very sad view. The mountains here are so bald and barren because of mining, which is the towns major source of income.

The first city that we passed by is Tandag City. We had our breakfast at Jollibee, the safest choice. Withdrew some money and stopped by their baywalk.

Tandag bay walk. El Capitan and El-beim

And what is expected in a road trip happened to us, we got out of the way and we were lost. My phone's dead. No more google map to rely on. This is where we got lost, instead of turning right to the town of Victoria, we went straight ahead to the town of Tago. It's not the ideal route, but it was a shortcut. So, we were not really lost. Seems like getting lost is lucky for us.

Gumanti si el bi-em kay el capitan.

Bayabaas town

Finally, we arrived in the town of Hinatuan at 11:30 AM. From the highway, you still have to travel 10 kms to Enchanted river. The road is paved so it would only take you 10 minutes. When we arrived, the place is so crowded. We hardly get to park our car. We stopped 1 km before the river and we had to walk down this rough road. The place is jam-packed with people. 

Welcome

People everywhere

Enchanted River's crystal clear water

Photobombing the river at the back

We arrived in Enchanted River at exactly 12:00 noon. This is also their fish feeding time. But because there were so many people, we didn't get the chance to witness the feeding. After 30 minutes of swimming, we jumped out of the water and headed home. Fortunately, they have this free multicab ride up to the parking lot so we won't have to walk through the rough road again. We didn't bother to change into our dry clothes and decided to just go directly to Tinuy-an Falls. We still haven't eaten yet and our tummy's rumbling already. 

Bislig City is still an hour from Hinatuan. 

Dropping by

Tinuy-an Falls is still 15 KM from the highway. We searched for some place to eat but all eateries were closed. So, we just decided to go through the falls and see what we can eat there. 15 km is not really far, but the major problem was the road. It was so rough and tiny. It took us 30 minutes to arrive at the area. And again, the place is packed with people. Oh men, parking is 500 meters from the falls so we walked through the stony path, AGAIN! Entrance to the falls is 50 pesos and 100 for the parking fee. 

Hubby and Arki

Here goes el capitan (in red) and el bi-em (in green) again

Raft at the bottom of the falls for 150.00

The Niagara Falls of Bislig, Surigao del Sur

The major stops had just ended and we were about to go home. We didn't even remember that we had not eaten yet. Outside the area were small stores who sells cup noodles. We ate there while waiting for the free ride going to the parking area. 

Time check, it's already 5:00. We still have to travel to the town of Trento to spend the night there. It took us 2 hours to get to this Hotel.

Hills view inn in Trento

 Double standard room with shared batthroom (Php 700.00)

 Shared bathroom and CR

 mini playground

 Hills View Inn restaurant

Travellers stop by and eat here. Food is delicious and the price is just right. They are open 24 hours. 

 Casa de Suman (House of Suman)

They sell special sumans that has more than 10 flavors for only  P10.00 each, or you can buy 11 pcs for Php100.00. They are also famous for their pure cocoa drink or tablea.

Day 4

March 25, 2016

Friday

We had our breakfast at 7:00 AM and checked out at 8:00. Since it is Holy Friday, it is our practice to visit churches and say some prayers also known as Visita Iglesia.

Tagum City, Sacred Heart of Jesus

Tagum City Cathedral

Panabo City Cathedral

It's already 12:00 o'clock when we arrrived in Davao and we had our lunch at the Japanese Tunnel restaurant in Matina. They offer not just Japanese food but also Filipino food such as kinilaw, sizzling sisig, tinola, sinigang and many more. Food was great and the price is just right.

Japanese Tunnel Hotel & restaurant

Janpanese tunnel restaurant

After our sumptous lunch, we were now bound to go home. Everybody's exhausted and were so ready to go home. Travel time from Davao City to Malaybalay City is approximately 4 hours. We left Davao at 2:00 PM and arrived in our hoemtown, Malaybalay City at exactly 6:00 PM.

It was, once again a trip of a lifetime. But we will never say we'll not be back in CARAGA. There's still so many sights to see and so many things to do.

Distance travelled - approx. 1048 kms

Total Travel time - 26 hours

Money spent - 30, 000 for 4 adults and 3 kids

Days spent - 4 days and 3 nights