Adventure

Philippines

C’mon, take The Plunge.

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C’mon, take The Plunge.

When it comes to thrill-seeking, there can only be two places in the Philippines that can offer me the best of it: Bohol and Davao.

Head to Davao for a white water rafting adventure of a lifetime. But for now, let’s talk Height!

This is a common conversation among my friends.

Where do you intend to go in Philippines?

BORACAY! Yes, Boracay is the epitome of beautiful waters and white sandy beaches. Adventurers and thrill seekers, fret not! I have just the medicine for your craziness, and it’s called THE PLUNGE.

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You would have to do a 45 minutes oops, sorry I mean 45 meters free fall before being launched on a pendulum swing measuring to a hundred meter diameter. Cable has a maximum working load of 5 tons. I think they have extended another 70 meters. Well, good for you, mate!

So this will be (for some of you), the most craziest 10 mins of your life!

Now, I can either tell you in words how the whole process went (which is gonna be boring for you to read) OR you can check out this video of The Plunge.

The Plunge, Bohol, Philippines from Eudaimoniacs on Vimeo.

Rate: PHP700 / USD 16

Location: E.A.T Danao Adventure Park, Bohol

Park Entrance: PHP25 / USD 0.55

SUISLIDE

Another activity to try in E.A.T Danao is the subdued version of the one above, called Suislide. You should try this first as a warm up.

Suislide is basically a zip-line consisting of a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an inclined cliff. The Suislide has two lines, going forth and back. It traverses around half a kilometer from one mountain to another, taking you to less than a minute of exhilarating ride.

Rate: Php 350 / USD 8

How to get to E.A.T Danao

Public Transportation:

Van Schedules: (Php 100.00/person with 2hrs Travel duration)
  • Dao Terminal , Tagbilaran City to Danao Proper:
    • 11:50 am, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm & 5:30 pm
  • Danao proper to Tagbilaran City:
    • 5:15 am, 6:15 am, 7:00 am, 7:30 am & 3:00 pm

Buses Schedules (Php 85.00/person)

3 hours travel time from dao terminal tagbilaran city to danao proper

  • Trips per day from Tagbilaran to Danao:
    • Morning:
      • 5:00 am, 6:00am, 8:00am, 9:00am
    • Afternoon:
      • 12:00 noon, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 4:30 pm, 5:30pm and 6:30 pm last trip
  • Trips per day from Danao to Tagbilaran:
    • Morning:
      • 4:00 a.m., 5:30 am, 6:00 am, 7:00 am, 8:00 am, 9:00 am, 11:30a.m.,
    • Afternoon:
      • 1:30p.m., 4:00p.m., 5:00 p.m last trip
Buses and v-hires are at Integrated Bus Terminal – Dao – Dampas, Tagbilaran City.
Bus will only be at Poblacion, Danao. Motor for hire (habal-habal) are available to transport guests going to the Adventure Park at P40.00/person.

Disclaimer: No refunds should you choose to back out.

Have a wicked good time!

India

Eudaimoniacs RTW Series: Leg 1 India (Goa) Day 37 to 44 – Thosai and Chai

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Gokarna is our favourite place so far during our exploration of India. Our intuitions however, commanded us to head further north to Goa. Packing our backpacks is a routine chore by now and we could get everything squeezed in one hour of what would usually have taken us half a day back home.

We chose a taxi ride instead of the cheaper alternative by bus for we were not confident to find our booked hotel by ourselves. Driving out of Gokarna was emotional. We felt the warmth and positivity slowly oozing out from us the further we went away from it. Something inside us longed to make a U-turn and just stay there until our visas expire. Fortunately, our driver, a fellow Muslim named Kareem, was chatty and he doubled up as a tourist guide telling us information about landscapes and buildings along the way.

The journey to Goa was dotted with magnificent sceneries of hills, valleys, small waterfalls, huge rivers meeting the Arabian Sea lecturing our souls on the water cycle and how our journey through life would end, eventually returning back to God. When we reached the border of Goa however, I was taken aback. Alcohol shops can be found every 5 minutes throughout the journey on the road.

The people here in general had plenty of arrogance painted on their faces but this could be due to the fact that most of the rich Indians prefer to spend their holidays here while the middle-class and poor opt for the much subdued Gokarna. Red-tanned Caucasians were everywhere and Indians were driving and riding more luxurious wheels compared to the other places we have seen here in India.

Calangute Beach and Baga Beach is very popular among both locals and tourists.

Food and lodging were highly inflated as well and for the first few days we only ate out once a day and cooked instant meals in our hotel room. But once we began to explore on a motorbike, we discovered that the cheaper hotels and shops hidden at the back of main roads and alleys were where the bargains and warm people were.

Since the food pricing is highly inflated in Goa, we decided to improvise. Lontong with Aloo Masala instant mix!

We were planning to take our advanced diving course here but it was a matter of bad timing as all water sports activities were banned temporarily until the Goa government pass on a new law about having a permit to deal in such business. Well, that really pissed the travel agencies. The diving operators think they would take at least a month or two to finalise the law so we had to cancel our diving plans and our Advanced Open Water diving license.

Other than exploring Goa on a bike and seeing their beaches in what I would say is WAY overrated compared to Gokarna, we were just following through motion to get the days going by before our next destination to Pune, where we have signed up for a Paragliding P1 course to get our Student Pilot license.

One of the places we somehow chanced upon while roaming with our bike. Welcome to the scenic Fort Aguada.

India

Eudaimoniacs RTW Series: Leg 1 India (Tiruvannamalai) Day 2 to 20 Thosai and Chai

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Day 2 was the main highlight of our journey to India as we will be spending a longer period of time in a place called Tiruvannamalai. Surrounded with Hindu temples, ashrams and the revered Arunachala mountain at it’s core, Tiru as the locals call it, is a place where people from all over India and the rest of the world come to seek peace and enlightenment. For us, we are simply looking for a fast break from the 1st world facilities in Singapore where we often took things for granted. Here, cold drinking water, undisrupted electricity, internet and hot showers are luxuries that one shouldn’t take for granted.

Arunachaleswara Temple aka The Big Temple is the main attraction here in Tiruvannamalai.

A systematic way of life is non-existent here. In short, there’s order in disorder.

You have to give it to these Indians on how they find a way to adapt in this congested and polluted chaos of a town. What’s even more respectable is after a close shave with death on the road, they are back to normal after a few seconds.

Oh, and in Tiru, the Kashmiri boys are the hotties for obvious reasons (hmm, i think i should take a picture with one of them and show u guys how delightfully chaming they look). They are like the Jersey Shore boys from The States (without the muscles). lolz.

Tailor-made quality clothes for only SGD 18. A knock-out price as compared to the ones back in Singapore. We manage to tailor 4 pairs each. whahahahahaha! The only setback is that they take their own sweet time to sew it, but it’s a small price to pay.

Parading his Jubah looking like a Bollywood star

Firman finally managed to rent a bike. For only SGD 2 a day. Envy no? Oh and his bike is assembled from a bunch of scrap metals right from the start. Even the license plate was printed on a sticker from the shop next door with some random numbers. But we’re not complaining. heee~

Petrol is SGD 5 for 4 litres consisting of a dirty mixture of low-grade petrol and mineral oil. Yupz, u read that right. MINERAL OIL. The outrageous thing is that 4L can bring us around for 200km. What we’re afraid of is that we’re not sure if we can still be alive to top-up the next round of petrol after 200km here in India’s traffic.

Our bike called “THUM B”

Ever wished of having a semi-detached 2-bedroom house with a rooftop overseeing a countryside? Here, you can get it for as low as SGD 100 per month, fully furnished. Yupz! you read that right. SGD 100. Imagine renting your claustrophobic 4-room flat earning SGD 2000 and exchanging it for a house made for a Singaporean elite for only SGD 100!! Oh, we forgot to mention, because of a kind Singaporean samaritan, we sealed this house for the whole of September FREE OF CHARGE!

A preview of our humble cottage

OK, now time for the ugly side of Tiru (and maybe the whole of India). Firstly as I’ve mentioned, the traffic is horrendous and it’s generously laden with cow dung both on the roads and walking pavements. Secondly, power disruptions are so common that you need to sleep with a working torchlight and a Chinese hand fan. Not forgetting you’ll be sweating due to humidity (way worst than Singapore). Thirdly, the tap water is saturated with so much lime that calcium spots emerge out immediately once the water evaporates. Speaking of which, you need to brush your teeth and only drink bottled water. Lastly, Tiru is quite suppressed in gender equality. Women are not allowed to exercise in gyms and pray in mosques.

Sidenote: On Day 7, we went to the Orchard Road of Tiruvannamalai called Pondicherry. A 2-hour drive which can cure any depression or suicidal thoughts due to the constant surges of adrenaline thanks to the traffic. Pondicherry is a small French colonial town. Giant supermarkets much like Sheng Shiong and unisex gyms are available here. The locals had nicer rides and there were definitely more tourists compared to Tiruvannamalai. Cafes lining the beachfront pampered by a soothing sea breeze made walking down The Promenade parallel to the beach a de-stressing affair. Ironically, we began to miss Tiru (weird) and headed back Home.