Weekend in Surigao

Located on the Northeastern tip of Mindanao, Surigao del Sur is one of the five provinces in the CARAGA region and is one of the most populated provinces, second only to Agusan del Sur. I've been to Surigao del Sur twice before this trip but that was for business with my dad in Tandag City(Surigao del Sur's provincial capital) so I never got the chance to actually go sight-seeing.

Surigao del Sur is approximately 7 hours by land from Cagayan de Oro and less than 4 hours from Butuan City. We started our trip from CGY at 1:30AM and took us 7 hours including a short coffee break in Gingoog City to get to the Municipality of Hinatuan.

First stop:

The Enchanted River in Hinatuan

Our original ETD from CGY was 12:30AM. Since we got delayed for an hour, our ETA in Hinatuan was moved from 7:30AM to 8:30AM and boy let me tell you what a difference an hour makes when you go there on a weekend. Its only 8:30AM but it's packed like anything! People go there by the truckloads! If you go there, I suggest you go on a weekday and have a cottage reserved. We were lucky we got a tent good for 30pax. After 30mins the entire place was full to the brim. Going around was quite a chore since you have to pass A LOT of people to get to the river. But seriously, would you still mind if this is what you'll get?

Crystal clear turquoise waters of the Enchanted River. All 26 meters deep and 600 meters long of it. So why is it called the enchanted river? There are a few reasons why. The color and clarity, why it doesn't look as deep as it actually is, why people could never catch the fish in the river and why the water is brackish. So why is it so clear and blue? One word: Limestone. The bottom of the river is made from limestone which gives it its nice deep turquoise color.

Although the Enchanted River is connected to the Pacific Ocean, rivers aren't supposed to be naturally brackish, meaning that the water's salty. And swimming in the Enchanted River, you could really taste that the water is on the salty end. Another "mystery" that the river holds is that many still claim that no one has ever reached the bottom of the river. These "mysteries" and its beautiful turquoise water are just some of the reasons why this is called the Enchanted River.

The entire stretch of the river isn't deep. There are parts where its only waist deep and there's even a kiddie pool where kids can safely swim. There are also other attractions like fish feeding at noon(there are a lot in the river!), and swimming with baby sharks. Small pump boats are waiting at the end of the allowed swimming area to take you to go swimming in fish cages with baby sharks.

If you didn't bring food for lunch(like us! haha!), no worries because there are stalls near the Enchanted River that sell fresh seafood and they also cook them for you. If you want to check the seafood available yourself, its only a 5-minute walk but there are people we fondly call "agents" that take your orders and deliver it to your cottage. Seafood's priced very reasonably and already comes with free utensils! I highly recommend the deep-fried crispy shrimps. At 200Php/Kg, its very cheap and totally delish! 

Tinuy-an Falls

Just a quick rest after lunch and we were already headed to Tinuy-an Falls. From the municipality of Hinatuan, it's a 2 and a half hour drive to Bislig City where Tinuy-an Falls is. 

Dubbed as the "Little Niagara Falls of the Philippines," this is said to be the widest waterfall in the country. Tinuy-an Falls is composed of three tiers. From the swimming area, you can't see the other two tiers. You'd have to go on a little trek to reach the top and see the other two tiers. Aside from swimming at the basin, you can hire bamboo rafts to take you under the falling water for a relaxing water massage for only 150Php and they also take unlimited photos for an additional 300Php and a soft copy of the photos. 

After swimming, we went to see the other two tiers. Before entering the trail, you'd have to get a guide to go with you. They don't allow people to just go by themselves. No fixed payment for the guides though, just a donation or a tip.

Our itinerary for the day ended with us checkin in at MacArthur's Place in San Agustin which was another 3 hours from Tinuy-an Falls. We left the falls at around 5PM, sneaked in dinner and got to the resort at 9PM. 

Where MacArthur's Place is, are more resorts just beside each other. The reason why there are a lot of resorts in the area is because it's the jump-off point when you go island hopping at Britania. This, for me, is the highlight of the trip. 

Island hopping at Britania Islands

After having breakfast at the resort, our group gathered so we could start our island hopping by 7AM. We had problems with getting a boat though. Since it was a summer weekend, there were a lot of people who went island hopping!! The manager of the resort even told us that it was our fault why we couldn't get a boat to take us around because apparently, we weren't there early enough. Although our tour package already included the island hopping trip and was already paid for, we couldn't do anything but wait for a turn-around boat. So make sure that you have reservations the night before. Yes, even if you're on an already-paid tour package. 

There are 24 islets in the Britania Islands but you could only go to 6 of them. Each islet has its own character. The ones we went to were the Naked Island, Hagonoy Island, Hiyor-Hiyoran Island, Buslon Island and the twin islands of Panlangagan. 

Naked Island

The reason why it's called the Naked island is pretty straightforward. Nothing's there. Its naked. Just a strip of powdery white sand and crystal clear waters of Bislig Bay. Its like a smaller version of the White Island in Camiguin or Agutayan Island off Jasaan in Misamis Oriental. Of all the islets we went to, this one had the best sand. 

Naked Island

Naked Island 

Naked Island

The island we went to after the Naked Island's my favorite. It had the perfect mix of a super soft white sand, coconut trees to provide shade, foliage and a dead tree to add drama (LoL!) and even a ruin of what used to be a small cottage for people to change clothes after swimming. 

Hagonoy Island

We spent the most time swimming in Hagonoy. The water was deeper on the side where the boats would dock and I enjoyed jumping off and diving from the boat. The other side was just right. That's why we stayed for more than 30 minutes just swimming here and this is where we got really dark! 

Hagonoy Island

The photo above is the other side of Hagonoy, the opposite side where the boats would dock. Look at it, it spells perfection! Although the twigs on the sand spelled Britania. Haha! While they were busy swimming, I spent mine taking more photos! Look:

Hagonoy Island

Hagonoy Island

Hagonoy Island

Coconut trees and other foliages on Hagonoy Island

It was almost lunch time when we went out of the water in Hagonoy which meant its time to transfer to Buslon Island to have lunch there. When we were already approaching Buslon Island, we could see that there were too many people there to have lunch. So we decided to move to Hiyor-hiyoran for lunch instead and asked our boatmen to bring our food there. 

Hiyor-hiyoran Island

 Before leaving the resort, we already told the staff that we were having lunch in the island so we ordered there and they'd bring the food to the island. Just make sure that your food orders are right, another flaw of MacArthur's Place is that they don't double check the food. Tita Bing went with the boatmen to get the food and she asked if all of the orders were there. The staff said yes then only to find out that Tita Bing's order wasn't there when they were already back in Hiyor-hiyoran.

Hiyor-hiyoran Island

Hiyor-hiyoran had a different feel from the other islets. The vibe there was more laid back. There were lots of coconut trees where some of us took quick naps after eating lunch and there were boulders around the island which the first two didn't have.

Next on our list was Buslon Island. 

Approaching Buslon Island

Buslon Island

Even if we skipped Buslon to avoid the big crowd who went to eat lunch there, there were still a lot of people on the island. Just imagine the slew of people when it was time for lunch. 

Buslon Island

Buslon is one of the bigger islets in Britania. Full of huge boulders and foliage, it had crevices big enough for you to walk through them. Sand on Buslon was white as white sand can be and very loose which made it very comfortable to walk on with bare feet. 

Skipping Buslon to have lunch on a different island came as a blessing in disguise for us. By the time we got here, the water was already receding due to low tides and this made it possible to cross the other islets by feet! 

Panlangagan Islands (Twin Islands)

A sandbar appeared as the waters receded and people just started crossing to Panlangagan Islands like going to the next boutique in the mall. The twin islands are found at the back of Buslon Island, opposite from where the boats would dock.

It took us 6 hours to tour all 5 islands. 6 hours under the sun. 6 hours of pure fun. 

We left Buslon Island around 1:30PM so we could get back to the resort, refresh, pack our stuff and leave by 2PM. From the municipality of San Agustin, it took us 8 hours to reach CGY including a 1-hour stopover in Gingoog City to have dinner. We got home just minutes after 10PM. 

Our 2D1N stay in Surigao del Sur wasn't perfect. But it was beautiful and fun. The places we went to, The Enchanted River, Tinuy-an Falls and island hopping in Britania, they were all magnificent but what lacked in all three of them were the amenities. I'd give the places we went to a 5 out of 5 but the amenities, a mere 2 out of 5. The Enchanted River obviously couldn't cope up with the number of people going there and MacArthur's Place had terrible customer service. Although these could be avoided if you could skip the things that went wrong with our trip and I hope this blog could be of help to you planning to visit Surigao del Sur. 

Reading this and seeing the pictures, it aint enough, let me tell you that. Go and see these beautiful places for yourself and enjoy! If you have questions, ask me! You can comment here or email me at angeloavendanio@gmail.com. Thanks for reading! 

Langka Bars!

Being at home means I get to do some baking again. When I saw some jackfruit just sitting in the fridge and no one wanted to eat them, I decided its high time to do some experimenting in the kitchen again. 

I wanted to make Langka bars(if you're reading this outside the Philippines, Langka is vernacular for Jackfruit) but I couldn't find a recipe anywhere. I looked on the internet, some of our cookbooks, nothing. And so an experiment Im going to do! 

This recipe is really, really easy. Technical difficulty: caveman. Trust me, I made it myself.

Here's what you'll need:

250g fresh jackfruit, pitted and washed

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Notice that I divided the ingredients into three parts? That's because there are three major steps in making these bars: caramelizing the jackfruit, preparing the crust and the batter itself.

First, the star of the show. Le jacquier! Okay, that's just jackfruit in French. Trying to make it sound a bit more sophisticated. Ha-ha! If you're preparing the jackfruit yourself, try wearing disposable plastic gloves, the sap is really sticky and quite tricky to remove. 

Make sure they're pitted and washed thoroughly!

In a heavy saucepan on medium heat, mix the brown sugar and water then bring to a boil. When the syrup is starting to thicken, thrown the jackfruit in. Remember to keep on stirring to avoid the Langka sticking on the bottom of the pan. Do this for around 12-15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, this is what you'll get! Yummy caramelized Langka! You can also use this for Halo-halo or just eat them straight up! This yields around 3/4 cup of cooked jackfruit. Set this aside to cool.

In a bowl, mix the flour and sugar together. When making crusts and bases, most recipes and chefs call for chilled butter. I like mine at room temperature. It makes the crust more solid but still soft. So with your bare hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you get this crumbly consistency. You'll get something like this: 

In a 9-inch square pan lined with butter, press the crust mixture into the pan evenly. Bake this at 350F for around 10-15 mins or until it comes out golden brown. Place in a rack and cool.

In a separate bowl, mix the melted butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla using a rubber spatula. Add all the remaining dry ingredients and stir until batter is free from lumps. Before adding the caramelized jackfruit, drain them from the syrup and chop into small pieces. Fold in the jackfruit. Pour batter on top of the crust and bake at 350F.

This is what you'll get after 20 minutes of baking! Here I used two loaf pans because I couldn't find our square pans! Remember to let them cool first before removing from the pan. 

Slice them into desired sizes and dust with powdered sugar if you want. ;) I like mine served a bit chilled. Enjoy!

Tell me how yours go and share a photo, too! Happy baking! 

-A