The only stilt houses I saw in the past are not residential yet an accommodation in a resort somewhere in Batangas, I didn’t also have the chance to experience the amazing houses.
I was surprised, and glad at the same time, when I found out that one of the things you can actually do away from the busy roads of Surigao City is a visit to the floating village of Day-Asan.
Hail a tricycle and tell the driver to drop you off at the habal-habal terminal going to Day-Asan. Sometimes, drivers reject you because they won’t pass by the point you tend to go. Habal-habal ride to Day-Asan is Php20 per person but drivers usually ask you and negotiate if you want to charter the ride so you won’t be waiting anymore. Travel time is around 20 minutes.
Ate Nats texted Kuya Roel (you can reach him at 09306379831), a local offering tour to the floating village. The rate for a boat that can accommodate 4-6 people is at Php500. Little did I know that before the floating village, the first part of the activity is to channel hundreds of hectare of mangroves.
It was a hard time for them to navigate the channels since it was low tide that time. Kuya Roel said that they could’ve showed me other routes with narrower waterway if the water was only high. Nevertheless, I enjoyed seeing the boat being maneuvered towards narrow channels with mangroves on the sides.
Most of the homeowners in the floating village converted the lower part of their houses into cages where different kinds of seafood are being grown like lobsters, crabs, and fishes.
Since it was drizzling when we arrived at their house, they invited me to their humble home and shared some information about the creatures found under their house while waiting for the rain to stop. The cold gust of the wind brought me to a short nap.
When I woke up, the rain totally stopped and we went back to mainland. We tried a different route on our way back to Day-Asan and passed by a canoe with an old couple on it, the old man paddling while the old lady holding on to her umbrella.
