Stress free zone

Dahican, Mati Davao Oriental

Oct 25-31, 2015

I must say this trip was yet again one for the books! And oh, THREE is a GOOD NUMBER.

Harry and I waited for James at Davao International airport. By 8:30am we were on the road going to Mati. We were supposed to take the hours long bus ride but then opted to take a cab straight to Mati. Haha yes 3 hours cab ride but that included our long wait for the driver to buy a rope for our boards and a stop over for brunch.

Past 12 noon we arrived at DSR, the stress free zone yiiiiiw! I was glad to see familiar faces again. Felt like home. We settled and set camp. There was an ongoing Frisbee event also. And oh this was our first meeting with the Nairud sa Wabad band! Hahaha. Text mates na sila ni James ok so alam ang whereabouts nila! They were in Menzi so we headed there to greet them. Eyeball lang ang peg! Haha. It was funny but it was a memorable experience. In the afternoon we surfed in front of Amihan.

If you’ve been in Dahican, food is one challenge bec of the limited eatery nearby unless you'll make do with pastil (lokal binalot worth 15pesos). Don't get me wrong papatusin ko ang pastil araw araw kung magisa lang ako sa trip na ito. I say limited because unlike some surf spots, every resort offers a place to eat but here in Dahican only a few offers and you have a few choices as well. So the best bet is to go to down town to eat, which will cost you 160 pesos for just the travel back and forth. 

But because Harry and James were good tandem cooks and I'm the OC dish washer, we ate like we were in a restaurant! James' very reliable stove and cook set didn't fail us. Yey! So starting from Day 2 of our stay, our daily routine was: morning surf at #215, market at down town, food prep our lunch and dinner, some booze while doing so, surf, sleep, eat beer, sleep. Before we know it the day has ended! Wow that was fast. 

On our second day we figured we spent a big amount on transpo. Since Harry knew how to drive a motorcycle, we found a way to have one as our daily transpo when going to the market. :)

I have to share our daily meal cos everything was kwalitiw! On our second day we had chicken inasal for both lunch and dinner. All our meals included grilled veggies. It was my first time to try grilled okra and it was yum yum, I liked it!

Harry's Chicken Inasal

Day 3 we had adobong pusit sa gata and calamares. The usual adobong pusit I've tasted before didn't have gata and it tasted pale. I liked it with gata very juicy! The calamares was delicious too especially the sauce! I don't have photos of these though.. For breakfast the next day we had ginisang ampalaya sa itlog.

Day 4 we had sinigang na baboy for lunch and inihaw na liempo for dinner. Good thing I got to taste the liempo while we were grilling. Cos in the evening I can't recall if I even ate dinner haha! I remember we were drinking beer sa sand. And I remember there was sand sa liempo and James had to wash them. But the lokals said the liempo was yummy it disappeared quickly. For breakfast the next day we had okoy na may kalabasa. It was my first time to eat something like that. Puede pala iyon!

okoy

And for the finale! We had seafood binakol and inihaw na maya maya. The seafood binakol was really really good. It had shrimps, clams, tahong, coconut meat, coconut juice, and 3 big shells I don't know what they were but if you crack the shell it tasted like litid ng baka. hhaahah masarap! And oh sabaw palang ulam na winner!

In the evening we were joined by Jey oldawey and Jane! :) 

Ok so that was all about food. This trip was not just food trip, but surf trip most especially. We surfed #215 everyday. It was a reef break and high tide was early in the morning 5am until around 7. So by 530am we were already travelling by habal habal going to the spot. It was a grueling travel masakit sa puwet but yeah all for the surf! Morning is the best time to surf there cos there's no wind. We tried once in the afternoon, it was high tide but strong wind! I had a hard time going out. I was happy to surf again with my long time Geomner! It has been years since we last surfed outside Baler. I was also extra happy to be surfing with Harry cos it's the first time we surfed outside Aurora. Yey! I am also happy Wendy didn't fail me. We've been surfing since 2010 and we've traveled immensely. Thank you for giving me the stoke wherever we go. 

I must say another best part of this trip was having to see Nauirud sa Wabad perform live! As I've posted in facbook, this band was introduced to me by James. I heard their cover of Tadhana, and since then I've been listening to it endlessly. James was just planning it before the trip that they were playing at Tagum, so the original plan was from Mati, we stay one night at Tagum to watch them. But then it became a private event so there's no way we could see them. Well God worked his way for us to see them and even treated us with so much more! They had gig in Tugbok for the Pantatan festival. We were set to take a cab to see them. And then all of a sudden we were offered to join their service instead going to Tugboc! Wow that's a treat.. So we were on the road with them. Got to see them play live. The most exciting part was the jamming after at Reggae Grill. It was the closest and most personal encounter we had. Even if I didn't understand some of the bisaya conversations, I was happy and smiling! hahaha. The best! Yiiiiiiw 

Thank you this trip pushed through! Indeed three is a good number. Where will be go next?