The Allure of Davao - at the Pearl Farm

I didn't think we'd make it to this year's family vacation highlight. We had our tickets a month before our scheduled flight to Davao. First, there was the hassle of choosing where to go. We had originally intended to do to an international trip. The first choice was Beijing. But my husband wasn't able to get his passport early enough to give us time to secure our visas and eventually get our tickets. It was hard to have the flight rebooked since we were using my dad's mileage and it was mid summer - the time most people flock to other places to take advantage of the children's vacation from school. Then we thought of going to Hongkong but daddy didn't like the idea since, according to him, we would just be going to another city. Ikee wanted to go to Singapore but I didn't want to because we had already gone there. We thought of going to Saigon and do a side trip to Pnom Penh and Ankor wat but decided against it because we learned that Ikee would need to get a brace for her scoliosis and we'd have to reduce our travel expense to accommodate the appliance. With barely a month and a half to go before school opens and flights were full, we were left with the choice between Cebu and Davao. I decided to take Davao, going against the wishes of all three of my companions. Sadly though, dad was not able to make it with us because there was something he had to do for the office.

The night before our flight, Ikee felt sick. Not without reason actually. Since we would be gone for 4 days, both Ikee and I started our day at 5:30 a.m. to go to her swimming class. After that, we went home and she was off to her kumon class at 10 am while I cooked lunch. At 1 pm we proceeded to her physical therapy session. Right after that, we went to Boyet's office to pick the car up and went to get Ikee's brace. at 6 pm we went back to Eastwood to buy Ikee's swimsuit since she said the old one was worn out already. anyway, we got home at 9 am and she said she felt really sick. I asked her to sleep already while I packed our things for the flight at 5:00 a.m. I finished packing at 1 a.m. and prepared to leave for the airport. But at 1:30 a.m. I decided to have some sleep. Boyet said we could leave at 2:15 anyway. I was relieved to find out that after some rest, Ikee felt better and was really decided on going through with the trip. It was good that we were at the airport at 3 am and Ikee got to sleep some more at the VIP lounge since she had a business class ticket. I got to go with her being the parent of a 12 year old kid. Boyet waited for us outside though. There was only 1 parent needed to accompany the child. It was a disappointment though because you'd expect more from the VIP lounge than some shabby sofa and a not-so-well-maintained Ladies' room. The food was ok. Not good but not bad either.

The flight went smoothly. Ikee was a bit scared to be alone at the Mabuhay Class section but was relieved to find that there was just a board that separated us from her. When we were about to deplane, she chuckled as she told us how there were just one other passenger with her in the business class who was not even seated beside her. The economy section was not full either. I saw at least 10 unoccupied seats, two of which were occupied by 1 passenger who stretched out to get some sleep. This guy seemed to have come from abroad and was probably exhausted already.

Davao's airport is an international airport. But unlike the Ninoy Aquino International Airport 2 which was dedicated to PAL flights only, Davao airport catered to all airlines. Surprisingly, though smaller, the latter is cleaner, more beautiful and more organized. The cabs were all metered and small pieces of paper were handed out to visitors in case they would like to complain to the mayor about the driver.

From the airport, we went straight to the Davao Marina, Pearl Farm's exclusive Port. This was to be the highlight of our trip. But we did it on the first day since I figured that it was a friday and not too many people would be checking in yet. I was right. When we got to the resort, we were told that our room was already available at 9:30 a.m. as against 2 pm had we checked in on a Saturday or Sunday. That was good after all travelling a few thousands of miles at 5 am is not quite easy specially if you had to be awake the whole night to be able to leave your house at 2 am so you'd make it to the airport at 3. We practically sleeped through the entire morning when we got to the resort and started out for the pool at almost 3 pm after we had lunch. Some schedule eh... Our mistake was that the schedule the day before our trip was so hectic.

Anyways... when we finally got to swim, there was no stopping until it was about 8 p.m. Actually, I did stop at about 7 pm only because our package included a body scrub for mom. It would be a waste not to take the opportunity.

To be continued...

Palawan Day 1: City Tour at Puerto Princesa

The PAL plane that my husband, my daughter and I took left the Manila centennial airport at exactly 8 am and got to the Puerto Princesa airport at about 9:05 am. Daddy was there waiting for us and so were the staff from Lola Itang's Pension house. First stop was at the pension house where we checked in and unloaded our stuff. After this, we were off to the Iwahig Penal Colony.

Iwahig is a big place which is a prison but is basically the residence of the inmates and their families too. There we went around and purchased some souvenir items from the gift shop. I learned that when purchasing goods from this shop would mean helping the inmates earn. I suppose that if you have to buy something to remember anyone by, it might as well be something to help them. So, I bought some keychains, an arnis (mahogany wood) and some pens. From the way the goods have bee made, you'd deduce that the people who made them have been trained well. I just hope that there be some effort to market these goods to alleviate the living conditions of the families there. Some inmates recommended that we go check out the Balsahan natural pools which is just about 3 minutes away from the shop. So, off we went.

We were hungry when we got to Balsahan. At the gate, we were told that we'd have to rent a hut which cost 100 php. Also we had to order lunch right there. There was only 1 dish that they serve - broiled native chicken. Of course we didn't have a choice so we ordered two chickens and rice. They only had coconuts for beverages so we ordered these too. The chicken tasted really great despite the fact that it didn't have anything on it - not even salt! Why won't it be when these are killed and dressed only when there is an order. We asked for some soy sauce and red peppers to dip them in. It's funny how the lowly "tutong" turned out to be my daughter's favorite calling it "chips" which made it sound a little "sosyal".

While waiting for our orders, we proceeded to the hut assigned to us. This was the chance to go around the area. Balsahan is part of Iwahig and therefore proceeds from the use of this area would go to the inmates. It has several huts and gazillion trees that provided the cool and shady atmosphere to the resort. We were told that some inmates maintained the place. I should say they have done a pretty good job at maintaining it. The nice thing about Iwahig is that you can bring your own food to eat there or you can also bring raw food and have the inmates cook these at the resort for a fee. Such are the filipinos - ever so resilient and resourceful.

Our next stop was the Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center (formerly known as the Crocodile Farm). We got there at 1 pm. However we were told that there was a guided tour scheduled at 2 pm so we decided to stay. There was a fee of 50 pesos each (i'm not sure about the price really, could be more). The highlight of this activity was the opportunity to pet a crocodile but none of us wanted to do that. We left just after a few minutes of staying since we had to go to other places and there were plenty of mosquitoes there anyway.

Next we went to Mitra's ranch but this had been closed because there was an on-going renovation. On our way back we stopped for some water at the Baker's hill. I had heard from a friend that this bakeshop/bakery is originally from manila. The area had a small kiddie playground but the kid with us (my daughter) who is almost 12 years old was no longer interested in it so we went on our exploration of puerto.

Next stop was VietVille, the vietnamese village where the "boat people" were accomodated. Here you'd be proud to be a filipino because you know that we are indeed hospitable and warm having given these people a modest place to live in. There were but a few people left in the village though because most of them had migrated elsewhere. There is a restaurant that serves french-influenced-vietnamese food. But we were too full to try their fare. apart from the restaurant, there's a buddhist temple and a catholic church in the area. I heard there was a lagoon somewhere but did not get to see it.

After Vietville, as we were on our way back to the city, we noticed a hot spring resort and restaurant called Kim's. We checked it out and found that this place had about 6 or 7 huts with a small pool to dip in, kinda like a jacuzzi. The water gets really hot when the water is allowed to flow from the faucet sticking out from behind the pool. Apparently the owner had built a piping system from the hot spring to each cottage. There's a pool at the middle of the common area for those people who do not want to get their own cottage. The place is owned and run by a korean national so the restaurant serves both filipino and korean fare.

We had dinner at the Badjao Seafront Restaurant. My dad said that during the first few times he had gone to the restaurant, the mangroves that lined the entrance weren't there. Obviously these were planted in by the owners so now it looks like a restaurant amidst a mangrove plantation. This is very good for the marine life in the area and also contributes a lot to the ambiance of the place. You should try the steamed talakitok with the seaweed (lato) salad. But do dip the salad in some vinegar and onions so they don't smell like the sea.