After our breakfast and tour around the farm, we proceeded to Koronadal City to meet our facilitator for our Lake Sebu leg of the SoCCKSarGen Summer Safari of Zion Travel by Francis Sablon and Carlo Ebeo. From Koronadal City we travelled 47 kms. to lake Sebu passing by the towns of Banga and Surallah. I never thought about reaching this places but here I am experiencing the beauty and serenity of the places in Mindanao and its very peaceful. After quite some time of travel I knew we are near the place of our destination since I can see a small part of the lake already. From the main road, we turn left to a steep dirt road that leads to Seven Falls Zipline. The place is a natural wonder with a huge falls which is actually part of seven falls and an unadulterated nature. Its almost lunch time when we arrive there so we have to proceed to Punta Isla Lake Resort as the host for our lunch. While waiting for our food we were entertained by T’boli dancers the natives in the place. We were served with different kind of tilapia cooking. I seldom eat tilapia because of its muddy taste but this one I enjoyed a lot, no muddy taste at all. They even served a delicious kinilaw tilapia.

After the lunch a few of us mostly CDOBloggers went back to the Seven Falls Zipline to really try there zipline. The others procedeed to our next host the Merl Garden Spring Resort. The Zipline is awesome, from the many zip lines I experienced that was the most exciting with a breathtaking view of a falls down below, a river system and scenery around. I felt the adrenaline rush on the first few seconds of the 740 meters zipline that went over a sheer drop of a cliff and 400 meters below me in the air. From there we go down to Koronadal City to catch up with the group which were waiting at our host at Balai Bistro. There lasagna taste very delicious we even take out some.

Its almost dark when we went back to General Santos City for our last host of our dinner the Red Tent Steakhouse. Before that we passby KCC Mall to pick up our native delicacy pasalubong courtesy of Kakanin at Iba pa located at the entrance of the basement parking of KCC Mall.

The SoCCSKSarGen  Summer Safari was a very memorable short weekend experience in the south of Mindanao. Thanks to Avel and Orman Manansala and the rest of the SoCCKSarGen Bloggers, Davao Bloggers and the CDO Bloggers.

Many thanks also to the following even host and partners:

Hon. Mayor Pedro “Jun” Acharon, Jr.
Ice Castle Experience
Pacman Sports Bar
Le Jardin Arnevel
Piyesta KTV & Resto Bar
Dolores Farm Resort
Zion Travel
Punta Isla Lake Resort
Merl Garden Spring Resort
SaBalai Bistro
The Red Tent Steakhouse
Rolee’s Bakeshop
Kakanin at Iba pa in KCC Mall

Dawn of saturday at 3 a.m. in the morning (May 29, 2010) CDOBloggers meetup at C7 convenience shop in Divisoria for a road trip to Davao and GenSan to attend the SoCCKSarGen Summer Safari adventure. By around 4 a.m. we are leaving Cagayan de Oro so we can arrive in Davao by 10:30 a.m. to meet the Davao bloggers for our first food trip. Along the way in the BuDa area one of the tire of our starex van blowup and we make use of the time while waiting for the tire change to tour around the scenic Buda or Bukidnon-Davao area, it’s actually the boundary of Bukidnon and Davao Hi-way that’s why the place was called Buda.

We arrived Davao behind schedule at around 12:30 noon already and the Davao bloggers are already waiting for us at Ranchero Grill our first food trip sponsor. Ranchero Grill serves us sumptuous food of pork, seafoods and kambing, watch out for the details of our food tasting in my food blog at TasteCaster.com. By around 2 a.m. we have to leave Davao and proceed to General Santos City together with the Davao Bloggers to catch up with the main event there. The bus ride take us around 3 hours of travel and we arrived in GenSan at around 6 p.m. in the evening. Orman Manansala one of  our main host of the event meet us at the bus station together with our van courtesy of the city mayor of GenSan Mayor Acharon. From their we proceeded to Ice Castle Experience the newest hotel in GenSan, We will be there first guest as this establishment is really new. They will be our sponsor for our 2 night stay in the city.

After freshen up in the hotel we proceeded to Pacman Sports Bar which is owned by Manny Pacquao the boxing legend from GenSan itself, it  is just a walk around the corner of our hotel. They will be sponsoring our aperitif drinks before going to our main dinner at Le Jardin Arnevel’s place.

At Le Jardin Arnevel’s place we were greeted by the owner tita Nitz and she prepared another sumptuous dinner for us in Barrio Fiesta style by the pool. From there we went to Pyesta! KTV Bar and Resto for the Bloggers Grand Eyeball with the Soccsksargen bloggers. Pyesta! is owned by a fellow blogger Donna Mae Congson who is personally serving us unique cocktail drinks in test tube and syringe style. It was a tiring and exciting saturday but very great experience.

I would like to thank our sponsors of the day:

Ranchero Grill – Davao and GenSan

Ice Castle Experience (ICE) – 12 Ambassador Provido Village, City Heights, General Santos City

Pacman’s Sports Bar – City Heights, GenSan

Le Jardin Arnevels

Pyesta! KTV and Resto Bar – Robinsons Place, GenSan

This weekend May 29 to 31 I will be going to Davao and GenSan together with the CDOBloggers to meetup the Davao bloggers and General Santos bloggers. This activity is the first SOCCSKSSARGEN Summer Safari hosted by the SOCCSKSSARGEN Bloggers. We will be staying in the newest hotel in GenSan, Ice Castle Experience and then prior to dinner, Manny and Jinkee Pacquiao will serve apertif drinks at the Pacman Sports Bar. Afterwards, Le Jardin Arnevel will sponsor the welcome dinner at their poolside on Saturday night. Piyesta KTV Bar & Resto plays bartender right after dinner. Winding up the night at Coffee Club 101 will surely be a blast.

Sunday’s breakfast will be at Dolores Garden Resort before proceeding to Lake Sebu for the great zipline adventure at Punta Isla, who will also be our host for a Tilapia Tanghali Fiesta. Just before going back to Gensan, Merl Garden Spring Resort will treat the group for merienda cena and a tour around their resort. For the final dinner in Gensan, Red Tent Steak House will be the host. Our coffee host for the second night will be Cafe Amoree. Honorable Mayor Jun Acharon, by the way, will be providing the transportation needs for the Summer Safari. For the duration of the Summer Safari, Breads and pastries will come from Rollee’s Bakeshop and Bottled water are from Pacman Water. Kuya Chito’s Takuyaki committed to provide pasalubong for each blogger during the last day. Watchout for upcoming blog post of my SOCCSKSSARGEN Summer Safari experience.

Hello Cagayan de Oro City, it’s been awhile that Abonitalla.com is updated. As you may have experienced in our city, we are constantly having brownouts the past several days and this is due to our weather disturbance that is the El Niño phenomenon which is forcasted to last until june this year. Since most of our electric energy here in Mindanao which Cagayan de Oro is situated came from hydro power energy we are greatly affected on this weather disturbance because the lakes and rivers that the hydro power is getting there energy is drying up. To help our Kagay-anons manage there working time with the regular brownouts, the following schedules is publish here and we will be keeping this updated as new schedules arrive from Cepalco.

Please find below the load shedding schedule (5 hours rotating brownouts every other day per area) within the CEPALCO service area for the period March 2 to March 9, 2010 (Tuesday to Tuesday) due to the continuing power supply curtailments imposed by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) all over Mindanao.

Again, CEPALCO would like to caution customers that the actual switch off and switch on time may slightly vary from the announced schedule depending on the actual load curtailment level imposed by NGCP on CEPALCO on a day to day basis.

GROUP A

Dates of Interruption: March 2, 4, 6 & 8 (Tues, Thurs, Sat & Mon)
Schedule of Interruption – 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM (5 hours)

Affected Areas [Charlie 1] :

1. Greater portion of the City Poblacion along and bounded by Hayes St., Mortola St., JR Borja St. including S.Daumar St., Aguinaldo St.,
2. Along Pabayo St.; including portions of C. Pacana St., JR Borja St., Gomez St., C.Taal St., T.Neri St., Abejuela St., Hayes St. and Gaerlan St. from Pabayo St..
3. Hayes St. from corner A.Velez St. towards City Hall area & Burgos St., along T.Chavez St. from Burgos St. up to Tiano Bros. St. – including portions of Tiano Bros. St., Rizal St., Capistrano St. from Hayes St.; and; Dolores St..
4. Along Burgos St. from T.Chavez St. up to corner Gomez St. including portions of Abejuela St., T.Neri St., Cruz Taal St. and Gomez St. from Burgos St..
5. Surroundings along Mabini St. from corner A.Velez St. towards Capistrano St. up to corner Gomez St. including portions of Tiano Bros. St. from Mabini St.; Yacapin St. from Capistrano St. towards Burgos St.; and; C.Pacana St., JR Borja St. and Gomez St. from Capistrano St.
6. Along Pabayo and T. Saco Streets from Dolores up to T. Saco /16th Street Nazareth; greater portion of Nazareth; greater portion of Ramonal Village.
7. Greater portion of Macasandig, all of Tibasak, all the way to Taguanao.

Schedule of Interruption – 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM (5 hours)

Affected Areas [Tango 1] :

1. Portions of Natumulan down to Casinglot, Tagoloan.
2. All the Barangays of Bugo, Puerto, Tin-ao, Agusan, Tablon, Baloy, Cugman, Gusa, and greater portion of Lapasan.
3. Portions of Lapasan-Camaman-an road from Recto Ave. towards Limketkai Commercial Center including Grand Caprice Restaurant.
4. All of Osmeña St. and portion of Cogon Market Area including Roxas St. towards portion of JR Borja St.
5. Upper Gusa, Indahag, Malasag, FS Catanico and Balubal.
6. Agora Market area including Gaabucayan St.
7. DMPI plantation, MENZI Agri, etc.

Schedule of Interruption – 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM [5 hours]

Affected Areas [Carmen 1 & Carmen 3] :

1. Greater portion of Carmen proper along Lirio St. from Trinity Tree St. towards Oak St., Max Suniel St., Vamenta Blvd. upto corner Jasmin St. including Waterlily St. and Carmen Market area.
2. Along Mabolo St. from Lirio St. towards corner Rosal St. including portion of Marigold St. from Mabolo St..
3. Portions of Carmen: vicinities along Vamenta Blvd. from Fernandez St. towards greater part of Ilaya including: portions of Ipil St. and Mahogany St. from Fernandez St.; Madonna & Child Hospital; and; Seriña St. from COA towards Gumamela Ext.St., Guani Coliseum (former O.Roa’s) and Maharlika Police Station.
4. All of Macanhan, Carmen towards all of Lower Balulang.
5. Portions of Carmen: along vicinities of Villarin St. towards portion of Canitoan-Pagatpat Road; including Cathedral School of Technology, Golden Village, City Hospital-DOH Area, COWD reservoir and Seriña St. from Villarin St. down to Madonna and Child Hospital.
6. M.Suniel St. from Villarin St. down towards portion of Mabolo St.; including Matilde Neri St., Dabatian St. and Cagayan de Oro College area; and; portion of Lirio St. area.
7. Portions of Upper Carmen, including SM CITY; PRYCE HOTEL; SPUM & SEARSOLIN.

GROUP B

Dates of Interruption : March 3, 5, 7 & 9 [Wed, Fri, Sun & Tues]

Schedule of Interruption – 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM [5 hours]

Affected Areas [Charlie 2 & Carmen 2]:

1. Along Hayes St. from Camaman-an towards V.Roa St. up to corner J.Ramonal Ext., including Pinikitan, Adela, Balangiao area, Quirino St. and Yacapin Ext..
2. Along J.Ramonal Ext. from Sto. Niño, Cogon towards V.Roa St., R.Chavez St. up to Corrales Ave. corner A.Luna St.; D. Velez St & Yacapin St.
3. Along Corrales Ave. towards FICCO, Nazareth, including Yacapin Street Towards Capistrano St..
4. Portions of T.Chavez St. from Corrales Ave. up to Tiano Bros. St. including portions of A.Velez St from Hayes St..
5. Portions of Carmen along Yacal St. towards Lirio St., Vamenta Blvd., Waling-waling St. upto GSIS area including Ferrabrel St., Mango St. and portion of Rosal St. and Marigold St.
6. All of Kauswagan proper, Bonbon and Bayabas.
7. Isla de Oro.
8. Along Montalban St. from near Tiano Bros. St. towards Burgos St., del Pilar St. and Magsaysay St. including portions of Macahambus St. and Abellanosa St. from Burgos St..
9. Portions of A.Luna St. from corner Corrales Ave.; towards vicinities along A.Velez St. upto corner Mabini St. including portion of: Makahambus St. from A.Velez St. and Tiano Bros. St. from Macahambus St..

Schedule of Interruption – 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM [5 hours]

Affected Areas [Charlie 4] :

1. Portions of Camaman-an near and including the San Jose and St. Vianney Seminaries, greater portion of Camaman-an proper towards Bontong, Bolonsori up to Upper Camaman-an and Hayes Subdivision including Tipolohon.
2. Part of Limketkai Center, Lapasan including Mc Donalds, PNB and Allied Bank.
3. Along Recto Ave. from corner Agora Road towards the new bridge including COCACOLA Plant & Osmeña Ext..
4. Portion of A.Luna St. towards all of Mabulay Subdivision including portion of the Provincial Capitol and Provincial Hospital Area.
5. Medical Center area along and bounded by Capistrano St., Echem St., A.Velez St., and Recto Ave., including all of Consolacion.
6. Corrales Ext. from Recto Avenue towards most of PPA area.
7. J.Pacana St. from Recto Avenue towards all of Macabalan area.
8. All of RER Subdivision Phases I & 2 including Dolores compound; towards Fortune Express Shop along Maharlika Highway; including all of NHA-KSS Subdivision and portion of Bayabas near Manila Broadcasting Radio Station.
9. Greater part of Bulua from Bulua Rotonda towards all of Iponan.
10. Greater part of Patag including Calamansi Drive, Apovel subdivision, Terry Hills subdivision and Anhawon, Bulua area.

Schedule of Interruption – 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM [5 hours]

Affected Areas [Pueblo 2 & Tango 2] :

1. Portions of Natumulan, greater Tagoloan proper, all the Barangays of Baluarte, Pulot, Sugbongcogon, and Gracia, Tagoloan
2. All the Barangays of Sta. Cruz, Mohon, Sta. Ana, and Sto. Rosario, Tagoloan including Kimaya, Villanueva.
3. All the municipalities and barangays of Villanueva and Jasaan.
4. Portions of Upper Carmen, Upper Balulang and all of Brgy. Lumbia including; PNR Sawmill, Shop and transmitter; Pueblo de Oro, Camella Homes, Xavier Estates, Xavier Heights, Xavier High School, La Buena Vida, Frontiera and Montana subdivisions; CAA-BAT Lumbia Airport & Rio Verde.

We hope all CEPALCO customers & the public in general will be guided by this announcement. Thank you.

Released by:

Marilyn A. Chavez

Senior Manager

Customer & Community Relations Dept.

For more info, please visit CEPALCO official website at cepalco.com.ph

The Philippine Blog Awards, Mindanao leg was recently held here in Cagayan de Oro City at Pearlmont Inn last October 24, 2009 coinciding with the 3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit during the day. Yours truly receive the Best Business Blog award  in the national level on one of my blogs and presented to me in the Mindanao leg of the PBA. Thanks to HolaZamboanga.com and the Zamboanga group for coming up with this awesome video of the Mindanao leg event.

SM City Cagayan de Oro is one of the major shopping center in the City. It is located in the upper Carmen area within the Pueblo de Oro town ship. The SM City Mall in Cagayan de Oro is situated over a mountain top which is becoming a little town in itself with the many residences within several subdivisions in the vicinity.

SM City Cagayan de Oro is now dubbed as an uptown mall in the city as I mention awhile ago it is situated on a mountain top. Whenever I go shopping I specially prefer going to SM City since it’s not very crowded especially during weekdays unlike the other malls in downtown area which is very crowded with different kinds of people. The parking place is also good with its multi-story parking building, it is very comfortable specially when it is raining and unlike in the other malls you have to run in the open parking lot to get in the car, and during hot days where the sun can heat-up the interior of the car uncomfortably after going around the mall its very uneasy if it’s not a covered parking which is also very advantageous if you go to SM City since there parking building is very cool and inside the building.

One thing I also like going to SM City is because it’s not a flood prone area and you will not be worried when there is a heavy down pour where it can get you stuck inside the mall for long hours with nothing to do since you cannot go to your car with the flooded parking lot which I already experience in the downtown area mall.

Right now I’m blogging inside the SM City mall with the launching of their newly setup free Wi-Fi Internet access all over the mall and it’s quite fast and I hope these will be maintain and continued to be free. I now have more reasons to standby inside the SM City mall with its several good coffee shops along the hall way.

Dahilayan is located in Manolo Fortich Bukidnon, about 40 kilometers from Cagayan de Oro City passing by Del Monte Camp Phillips. It is in the foot of Mount Kitanglad range which is declared as a national park of nature. This place is so much more like Baguio in its pristine days before. The scenery and temperature is like you are in the States. I’ve been in this place before there was so much development at the Dacudao family Farm. But now it will have a soon to open Dahilayan Adventure Park which has Asia’s longest dual cable zipline, dubbed the ZipZone. Here are some more pictures and a video with the owner himself who test it Mr. Elpie Paras, the leading technology innovator in Cagayan de Oro which he founded also the first cable system outside Metro Manila right here at CDO.

The CDOBloggers, Inc. a group of bloggers in Cagayan de Oro has a little project to use the keyword CDO Guide to help promote the city of Cagayan de Oro which CDO is derive from.

One aim of the group is to promote Cagayan de Oro to the rest of the world thru blogging. As an active member of this group I also serve as a CDO Guide to help promote Cagayan de Oro in my own little way. I grew up and was born here in the city, I have witness the place from a very sleepy town to a bustling city today.

To my friends and relatives from far away country, if you happen to visit Cagayan de Oro City let me know and I’ll be your CDO Guide that will tour you around every nook and cranny of the city you wanted to see and experience. If you are also looking for CDO properties, I’ll be happy to tour you around also to recent real estate developments in the city.