red berry yogurt station (Mindpro Mall)

i've been noticing this yogurt shop in Mindpro since last year...with the current yogurt war in Manila (a lot of shops sprouting all over) it's a treat for me to know there's one shop here in Zamboanga City too!:-) although i'm a yogurt fan i just don't have the craving yet to really try RedBerry Yogurt in Mindpro and it took me a year to really check it out... :D



i was craving for sweets with berries so i picked the blueberry and strawberry toppings (with some chocolate bits too! hehehe).

going around Samal Island (davao 7 of 7)

although i had included Samal Island in our itinerary but I didn't expect it would be the best part of the trip... :-) and the whole experience was a revelation to me... hehehe

i've always though of Samal Island as an island... a small patch of land with real nice beach... i didn't even bother to look it up... good thing we decided to spend a night there.... :-)

nice roads in going around (although the part that leads to the bat caves are still not cemented)

white house, samal isle (davao 6 of 7)

here's one Samal Island point of interest that i had almost scrapped off our list... but after talking with our habal-habal driver, we decided to give it a try... it was a really long drive from the bat cave... but it was a good place to end the Samal Island tour... :-)


this had been famous to Samal Island locals as the White House only... but based on our habal-habal driver's story, this was originally owned by Hilario Camino Moncado, who was the leader of a religious cult Moncadistas and the founder and supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Filipino Crusaders World Army (i'm not so sure what that is but that's what is written on the sign above the entrance: "Filipino Crusaders World Army, Inc. National Headquarters")... Well, this American Mindanao blogger has more to say about the place: Bob Martin

Monfort bat cave, samal island (davao 5 of 7)

here's another treat from Samal Island... at first i thought we will really be going inside a cave... but good thing we can just view it from a cleaner area hehe :-)


it's a private land but the owners decided to open the area to the public...

hagimit falls, samal isle (davao 4 of 7)

here's my most fave part of the trip!!! it was a nice discovery hehe... good thing there was not too many people at the time we were there.... Hagimit falls is a must stop place in Samal island.. i enjoyed it more than the beach resorts... :-) it's a breather from the usual beach trips... i fell in love immediately with the place... :-)



you need to head all the way down to get to the river...but once you're there the soothing sound plus the cool atmosphere is such a treat... then you'll see this.... aaaahhhhh suuuuppperrrr LOOOOOOOVE!!!! :-)

fernandez resort, samal island (davao 3 of 7)

it was a backpacking trip... initially we didn't have plans to spend the night in Samal Island (since it's just 15minutes away by RORO), we just thought of going there real early, head to the places of interests in the island then go back to Davao even after sundown....


but last minute we looked for a place to stay. we chose the one that's accessible to the places we want to go... i particularly made sure we're near the Hagimit falls... :D me and my dude were deciding between Rocky Resort and Fernandez Resort. Nothing too fancy about these 2 resorts compared to the famous Paradise Island Resort and the Pearl Farm. We opted to go for a cheap place and spend the whole day going around Samal Island... :-)


Fernandez resort, just like the other resorts in almost every inch of Samal Island beachline, had setup nets around their beach to filter whatever dirt that can settle in their beach... everytime i see these fence-looking barriers around the beach (including the one in Paradise Island) i'm reminded of the similar fence in Caylabne resort in Cavite.... made me think twice to enjoy a swim (the Caylabne water was even worst because i remember seaweeds already looking black). but the sand on the beaches of Samal Island are really nice... not Bora-nice but it's good... :-)