Philippine Travel Notes

Alright. After the grand opening, I returned to the hotel and found that my buddies all have freshened up and ready to roll! Whoa! Everyone fished out their copies of the festival activity schedules given by the tourism counter at the airport. (BTW, as I write this, a similar schedule in calendar format may still be seen at the Kadayawan website). It took us a few minutes (and some snacks) discussing/deciding where to go and what to watch for the rest of the day. Ah! Some events go off simultaneously at venues far from each other. aRgh! Mindanao Travel & Tourism Expo Anyway, we settled to go checkout the 4th Mindanao Travel & Tourism Expo held at the Davao Convention & Trade Center (referred to by locals as just “convention”). It’s the usual travel and tourism exposition that you see anywhere – booths promoting various localities, cultural performances, products, travel agencies and so on. However, we did not expect the participating exhibitors to be such a mix. We thought ...

Like at any festival in this country, the Kadayawan 2009 had many activities leading to or in conjunction with the street dancing and float parade. Trying to see them all was a challenge – an gross impossibility actually hehe. We were there from the 21st to the 23rd only but the activities, attractions, celebrations were virtually the whole month! Anyway, Saturday and Sunday were the most important days – at least for us! Grand Opening and Subay Sa Suba This was one unique event that only me myself and I watched since my companions opted to hit the beds for a snooze as they all woke very early in Manila to catch their early morning flight. They missed a grand part of the Kadayawan. This “Grand Opening” was not really grand in terms of performances and the number of people in attendance. But the simplicity and symbolism in that short program made it all too grand – for me at least! Schedule said the Subay Sa Suba and consequently the Grand Opening was to happen at the Tionko Field. That...

Okay I went there, but what else can I tell when so many folks who attended the festival have posted this and that on the web?! I might as well just ramble about my specific encounters at the Kadayawan Sa Dabaw 2009. Here we go: Flew in from Cebu via Cebu Pacific as I was roaming somewhere there. What a full flight! My ‘companions to be’ did so straight from Manila and they were supposed to wait for me at the airport since our arrivals were just a few minutes apart. Ah! They went straight to the hotel where I reserved rooms for all of us. Hmm, this Davao International Airport is never too crowded during whatever season I arrive. Probably it is too spacious that I mistakenly think there are few well-wishers than at other cities; or probably too, people think it is too far from the city; or probably still, the stigma of a very ugly incident some years ago. Or better still, the reason/s could be: all of the above! So I like arriving at this airport. No hassle. Walked the few meters to tha...

Nah! Not the usual hehe! But yes, delectable roasted chicken too! It says “KINI litsonan ni ROGERS, Celebrating the Filipino Life the KR Way!!” Any questions?! Me umaangal?! Hahaha! Ah the “funtastic” signs of our times!

I do not have many things to say this time, other than… they were great and made yesterday truly a fantastic sunny day! Traffic in that area of Mandaue crawled and halted but I heard no one complaining hehe! Oh, for a change, I will pepper this page with pictures and/or videos that I took during the parade instead of my veeery looong stories. Well, I am talkative you know… so there will still be a spattering of what I think I have to tell you! Rushed to the Mandaue City Hall at exactly 1PM. That meant I was already late! Oops, the intersection of AS Fortuna and the Highway (MC Briones) was already closed. So I asked the driver to try entering via AC Cortez (the road that leads to the old bridge) corner A Del Rosario St., Voila! The intersection of AC Cortez and A Del Rosario was also already closed and some contingents were there. I just thought OMG, this is going to be a very long parade! So, I walked A Del Rosario heading towards City Hall to see what I can and to grab lunch along th...