South Cotabato: Punta Isla, Lake Sebu!

I've never imagined that I'll be able to set foot in this part of the Philippines ever. Why? I guess it's because of fear brought about ignorance and yes, unfair bias. Our group's (with my favorite travel mates, Sharon, Tok) one-week stay in Mindanao has opened our minds and shattered whatever unfounded fear we used to have.

And to think, aksidented lang kaya kami napunta sa South Cotabato. On our second day, we met someone who promised an "adventure" OUTSIDE of General Santos City.  Against better judgement, we said yes and planned everything including our itinerary for the next two days.

The adventure started with us the riding the weird-looking tricycle, the bus and the super-packed jeepney to Lake Sebu. We spent the night in a P400-a-night inn (Nadine Lake Resort, where they served really salty and saucy Garlic Chicken) then proceeded to Punta Isla Lake Resort the following morning riding a motorcycle on dirt road! I repeat... motorcycle on dirt road! First time!

Anyway, Punta Isla Lake Resort was one of the better resorts in the area, if not the best. They are two restaurants here: one located at the lobby where you can see a panoramic view of the lake and the other one which can only be reached by negotiating a long and steep downhill trip (not friendly to PWD's).

Once you reach the second restaurant, you will be greeted by the Tilapia cages (remember that South Cotabato is the "Tilapia Capital" in Mindanao) and little boys in bancas ("outrigger boats") who dive for coins and left-over food. 

Then, there were the T'Boli natives who charmed us with their music, dance and colorful outfits and accessories! We were so in love with this young lady who did a few minutes of interpretative dance on the art of seduction.

For food, we had Grilled Tilapia and Fried Tilapia. What I really enjoyed was the Tinola. They used Native Chicken na talaga namang malinamnam! The meat was tough, as expected, pero iba talaga ang sarap ng sabaw! Kitchen threw in a few chili fingers (siling pan-sigang) which gave the broth a lightly spicy taste! Panalo! 

Dessert was Banana Split, that's what they call it. I call it Ube Ice Cream with Sliced Banana topped with cereal and a pink parasol. Oh well... naubos ko rin.

Sugba Tilapia  P190
Nilasing na Tilapia  P190
Tinolang Manok  P300
Banana Split  P50
Coke in Can  P20

And so, we left Punta Isla Lake Resort riding two motorcycle... we were a total of five passengers and two drivers! Go figure. Added to that dangerous set-up... we didn't have any helmets on, a few kilometers of (dangerous) dirt road (we were en route to the 600-feet-plus-zipline, said to be the highest in South East Asia!) to negotiate and approximately seven (dangerous and wet) kilometers of trip back to Suralla Integrated Public Terminal. 

And yes, the rain poured... hard. We had to take cover in some abandoned hut. We were drenched to the bone but no one was complaining. We were too busy having fun!  

One thing I can say... our new friend didn't lie at all. It was an adventure.  

Lake Sebu, South Cotabato: Tilapia Capital!

Lake Sebu @ South Cotabato

When one of my best friends (Tok) booked a flight to General Santos City last June (flight scheduled five months after), we didn’t expect anything great to happen. We didn’t know anything about GenSan except that it is the Tuna Capital of the Philippines. Period. But we still booked a flight anyway! Bahala na.  We landed on my birthday in GenSan and like any other local tourists, we headed to a SM City branch. There, we met Butch. A gay supervisor of a food booth (Chona’s) at the Food Court, who promised to take our group South Cotabato… particularly, Lake Sebu.

The following day, we had lunch at SM General Santos City where we took the tricycle to the bus terminal. We met our new friend (together with his friend, Archie) and we rode the Yellow Bus together. From there, we took a less than two hour trip to Suralla Integrated Public Terminal in South Cotabato where we transferred to a yellow jeepney to take us to Lake Sebu! It was packed! Aside from the sweaty passengers, the vehicle was overloaded with mishmash of everyday things (plastic gallons of water, fruits, school bags, and on the roof, sacks and sacks of rice etc). My pitiable ass was unable to find a comfortable position on the seat for the first 30 minutes. That trip cost P40 pero discounted daw ako dahil PWDs only pays P35. Thanks! Buti pa sa probinsiya, may kunsensya ang tao.

 
Anyway, the ride took us almost an hour to Lake Sebu. Matagtag, masikip at yes, medyo hindi maganda ang smell. But, I always say... It's part of the adventure! We went down the jeepney (finally!) right in front of Nadine Lake Resort where rooms can be rented for P400 a night (only resort with available rooms that time). 

 
We learned a lot about South Cotabato from talking with the locals. I didn’t know that South Cotabato is a Tilapia Capital, well, of Mindanao at least! Natives depend so much on the freshwater fish. In effect, they have quite a list of Tilapia recipes and two of them we had for dinner: Chicharong Tilapia and Paksiw na Tilapia together with Lomi and Garlic Chicken. The deep-fried, bite-sized Chicharong Tilapia with banana catsup, I love! 

I was forewarned of the Cotabato version of Garlic Chicken. I was mildly surprised by the fact that their version looked like Adobo of Manila. It’s really salty and the sauce tasted like uncooked soy sauce (it was uncooked soy sauce!). After tasting it, pass muna ako.  Then, there was the Paksiw ng Tilapia. First time I saw a black Paksiw. There were a lot a not-so-nice images playing on my mind that after two bites, pass ulit ako. By the way, just like the Garlic Chicken, this one was also salty. 

We slept soundly that night considering that the inn didn’t have neither airconditioners nor electric fans. Like what I would always say again and again, its all part of the adventure! True! True!
   

 Tricycle Ride

from SM General Santos City to the GenSan Terminal 

 

Bus Ride 

to Suralla Integrated Public Terminal

  Jeepney Ride

to Lake Sebu, at last!

 

South Cotabato: Crispy Binangkal!

Suralla Integrated Public Terminal @ South Cotabato

I got down from the Yellow Bus after almost two hours of (smooth!) trip, hungry and thirsty. I was looking for a cold can of Coke Zero when I saw this sign advertising Binangkal. It caught my attention and immediately bought some to try. 

Binangkal is a round, fried bread rolled in sesame seeds and sugar. It's crispy (bakit parang may slight chocolate flavor akong nalasahan?) and a bit oily. But honestly, I liked it. Mabigat sa tiyan. I don't remember seeing it here in Manila but I'm sure that some bakery sells it. And Binangkal is really cheap... P5 bucks a piece.