This is not a comprehensive travel guide but is rather a reaction paper of sorts.

Let me start by saying that this is by far the most distance we’ve covered on one weekend trip for most of us. It’s also the most adventurous one, I might add.

When we booked our flights last year, I guess we didn’t really have much of an idea on how to go through with our tour. Our organizers opted to make our own itinerary with Rosa mostly taking the lead in planning with the help of the DIY Travel Philippines Facebook page - we didn’t avail any tour packages.

Our entry point is at Davao. Most travel guides would say that starting at Butuan is to be preferred. I would also concur with this. As soon as we landed on Davao, we hopped on our rented van and were on a 5-hour (or more?) ride going to Bislig, Surigao del Sur. The drive was not really enjoyable; imagine driving on a really bumpy road full of sharp curves on almost 120kph speed. Parang walang konsepto ng lubak si koya.

This is also really important. Our original plan was to commute from Bislig to Surigao del Sur after visiting Enchanted River but it was not really possible on our case. We ended up hiring the van to get us to Surigao City with us shelling out more money than expected. Note that there is no direct bus service from Bislig to Surigao del Sur and I’m not sure why. You’ll have to ride the bus from Bislig to Butuan, then ride another bus from Butuan to Surigao del Sur. Travelling time is 5 hours and 3 hours, respectively. as per our van driver, Kuya Joey. In any case, Butuan is simply more accessible to all tourist spots we planned to visit so it should have been more practical to start there. That’s why I cannot stress enough how better it is to start at Butuan rather than at Davao.

We left Davao at 23:00. We arrived at Bislig at 03:00. We spent the wee hours of the morning at the van to catch up some sleep. After having lomi for breakfast (Batangas feels, parang yung paalam ni Juliet sa tatay niya), we went to the three itineraries we have for the day: Tinuy-an Falls, Enchanted River and the International Doll House. It’s about a drive of an hour and half, more or less, for each place from the city proper. One advantage of having a rental van is that our driver has contacts for each tourist spot. He’s the one who advised us when is the best time to visit each place and at what time it will be opened for the public.

Van Rentals: Kuya Mark (09489750475) for Davao to Bislig; Kuya Joey (09073041207) Bislig tour - Surigao del Sur

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