DB Tour 2012: The Adventures of the Toril Trailblazers

Four teams. Twenty-eight destinations. One epic journey.

The Davao Bloggers in partnership with City Tourism Operations Office and SMART Communications had their very first familiarization tour in Davao City. The tour was divided into four groups: Calinan Thrillseekers, Toril Trailblazers, Downtown Explorers and Uptown Adventurers.

Fog + cold weather at Loleng's

And fortunately, I was assigned as one of the team leaders of the Toril Trailblazers group.

Villa Carmelita Inland Resort was our first stop. It was actually my first time to visit that place. It's a hotel ideal for family vacation and retreat. Rooms were fairly big. And like any other hotels, the room comes with a flat-screen cable TV, hot and cold shower with tub and a fast wi-fi connection.

Next stop: Eden Nature Park. Travel time from Villa Carmelita Inland Resort to Eden usually takes 40 minutes. I don't know what happened but it only took us less than 20 minutes before reaching Eden. I ain't exaggerating here. I surmised our driver broke the sound barrier!

Anyway, we were just on time for the day tour. The last time I visited Eden was three years ago and I do miss this place. During the tour, we were greeted by those beautiful flowers, cultured herbs and vegetables, deers and sheep, and of course, drizzle. The weather in Eden is generally colder since it sits at the foot of Mount Talomo, approximately 3,000 feet above sea level. Eden Nature Park by the way is a man-made resort. Pine trees were first planted in 1974. The owner decided to open it to public twenty-four years later. Today, Eden Nature Park is one of the famous eco-adventure spots of Davao City.

By the way, the place offers a magnificent view of Davao Gulf, Samal Island and the downtown area of Davao City.

After eating our sumptuous lunch, we rode the Indiana Jones ride and felt like a kid again. Awww.

And for our second to the last stop: Loleng's Mountain Resort. The place is like Eden sans the he adventure rides and mountains trails. Loleng's is more laidback compared to Eden and it's a perfect place for seminars and retreats.

This particular mountain resort also has a man-made lake. Saw a few drakes on the lake.

And for our final stop, we explored a little bit of Toril proper and Sto. Rosario Church. It was actually my first time to explore the innards of Toril.

And oh, Sto. Rosario Church is really big!!!

Overall, we truly had an amazing experience. 

We really enjoyed this trip organized by the City Tourism Operations Office. More so, WiFi connectivity has been made possible by SMART Communications. We were able to share on what we have experienced on Facebook, FourSquare and Twitter. Thank you so much SMART Communications and CTOO! :D

Follow our adventures here at Storify! 

Thanks Kuya Lyle for creating this storyline from Storify!