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Thursday, February 25, 2016

2015 Iligan - CDO Trip

Ok, I must admit, I am one of the beneficiaries of blogs and commentaries because everytime I plan to go to a place, I normally search the web first to help me gather and plan for the trip. Thus, I decided to not just benefit but also contribute to this information cascade through blog.

This trip concept started when we were able to book the cheapest Mindanao airfare I found thru Cebu Pacific in April 2015. It was P700 2-way per head MNL-CDO-MNL so I immediately called my sister to convince her and my brother-in-law for an out of town double date.
Then they agreed immediately. Thank GOD!
After booking our tickets, I started reading blogs and documents about CDO. This is not my first time to visit CDO with my husband as we visited it last 2012 already where we did the longest Zipline in Asia (that time) at DAHILAYAN Park (which for me is the most exciting zipline you can try in PH as of this writing) and the main target at that time was CAMIGUIN for the sweetest lanzones I've ever tried and the white island with its white sand beach. So I thought there are many other things to do in CDO still :)

So I learned about Iligan with lots of falls that we can see. Since we plan to do an overnight stay only, we chose just 2-3 falls to make planning realistic.
We left Manila at 6:55am and reached Laguindingan airport (the only functional airport in CDO) at 8:20am where headed directly to the Super Five trnasport booth for tickets going to Iligan. It cost us P165 per head including the shuttle from airport to terminal. In few minutes, the shuttle that will bring us to the Bus terminal arrived which is just a 10-minute ride. Then we waited for 10minutes for the bus to arrive. Waiting is convenient bcoz theree are chairs there and a sari-sari store where my husband even bought a cup of hot coffee.

We arrived at Iligan and checked in the only accomodation with Cafe featuring Kopi Luwak. The coffee bean from a cat's digestive tract and the most expensive coffeen in the world (not sure if this claim is validated).
ME AND MY SISTER waiting for the Kopi Luwak Brewing

Then we rode motorcycles to bring us to Tinago falls where we were so enchanted that we just stated there the whole day :)
We jumped of the rocks and enjoyed the cool water while gazing at the
See that rainbow on my upper left head? #beautiful
It was a steep stairway though so you would really want to maximize the effort of going there.

The locals/ falls care taker and his friend are so kind that they took a lot of photos and videos of us enjoying Tinago falls.
Then they helped us find newly harvested Marangs (local fruit) which I tasted for the first time. We bought it 10 pesos per pc. We were so tempted to bring it back home but they say it rots easily.
Sweet and yummy fruit


Anyway, we went back to our Inn through motorcycle bikes again and prepared for dinner.

We tried Enangs Grill for dinner as it has the best ambiance among the few restaurants in Iligan. We rode jeepney (like a local) from the Inn to the Enangs.


The next day we headed back to CDO for some water rafting adventure.

Upon arriving at CDO we checked in to RED Planet which we pre booked before the this trip. Stay here is so sulit for me. Good ambiance and breakfast resto.

Anyway, then we ate lunch in the mall near Red Planet which is Kagay-anon. They also have good food! I will recommend this restaurant.

 Then our van came to fetch us going to the water rafting orientation for the start of some action :)

I've tried rafting in Davao already and I can say that CDO has longer river but calmer water (at that time).
Overall, it was still a fun experience!
CDO rafting!