Surfing recharged me. I was excited to move unto the next destination and see what else Mati and the rest of Davao have to offer. With only 3-4 hours left to spend in Mati, there's one last destination I should see for myself. I was skeptical about this mind-boggling destination.
I traveled 40 minutes in a bao-bao, passed by the great Pujada Bay into the steep mountainside of Mati City. It was crazy how the finest beaches and the vast forested mountains co-exist in this part of the Philippines. It's not something that surprise me tho but seeing how the landscapes changed real quick still amazed me, If I had more time, I'd probably get an island hopping tour around Pujada Bay. Maybe next time!
My next destination was easy to spot as it's best seen by the roadside. A few minutes of riding farther from the city center of Mati, we reached what looked like a normal stop for cyclists. People from all walks of life abound and looked out the see as if they're seeing a sea of gold. I asked the bao bao driver to wait for me as I didn't plan on staying long here.
To my astonishment, all photos I've seen of this place in the net and stories I've heard from my Davao friends are all true! A portion of the mountain protruding in Pujada Bay resembles a sleeping dinosaur or crocodile or alligator; you'll be the judge. But the locals opted to coin this one-of-a-kind view as sleeping dinosaur.
I'm not sure if the Local Tourism Board is able to build a better viewing deck by now; it would have improved tourists experience a lot. During my visit tho, it took me some time to take photos of the sleeping dinosaur; there were a lot of tourists, most of them were cyclists who had their bikes with them during photo ops. Below the small sidewalk, that served as a viewing deck, was a steep cliff. Watch out for your life or you'd end up sleeping for the rest of your life.
More photos of the sleeping dinosaur below. The sleeping dinosaur is not an island, it's a land mass that's connected to the main Davao Oriental. It may not look like it but it's inhabited by locals.
I made my way back to Mati's City center, had my lunch and travelled to Davao City for another leg of this long solo backpacking. I'm on the tail end of this journey and I couldn't wait to show you more of what Davao can offer to one and all. I'll see you in my next post! 😎
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