Visit Davao : Adopted Davaoeña

Davao Life is here! | Adopted Davaoeña

75th Araw ng Dabaw Blog Competition Consolation Winner

 I’m born and raised in Zamboanga City, claimed as “Asia’s Latin City. I love my place that regardless of the bad news I’m there to defend it. In fact I used to sell Zamboanga with my friends around the Philippines that’s how I'm fond of my place but everything changed when I got married with my 8-year boyfriend, born and raised in Davao, a pure Davaoeño. Sometimes we can’t avoid changes in life; we will soon leave our place and learn to adopt new things that comes our way. I have a lot of denials that Davao is far better than the place I grew up but in my 3 years stay here in Davao City, I can say ----- DAVAO: life is here!

As you are about to touch down Davao City Airport, inside the plane, you’ll hear this voice over “DAVAO STRICTLY IMPLEMENTS ITS NON - SMOKING POLICY IN PUBLIC AREAS”.

I remember my older brother when he visited me here in Davao told me in chavacano “ahat man yo pwede man quit smoking aqui” or in English “I will be force to quit smoking here in an instant”. You need to follow rules or suffer the fine. 

   you don’t have someone to fetch you, clean and air-conditioned metered taxis are there to receive you with big smile. “DAVAO TAXI DRIVERS” are respectful and trust worthy they will even give your .50 cent change… that’s how HONEST they are. 

   you’re craving for sumptuous food and you don’t have time to cook, fine dine to fast foods inside the malls like ABREEZA, GAISANO, NCCC, ROBINSONS and SM CITY DAVAO to name a few.  

   you feel like hanging out at night with friends try MTS (Matina Town Square) , The Venue, Along Torres, or you can enjoy overviewing Davao City lights and cold breeze at Jack's Ridge.

   you don’t have family or friends here in Davao where you can stay, there are a lot of accommodations to choose from, Backpacker Inns to well known hotels such as Marco Polo, Apo View, Grand Regal, Water Front Insular, Royale Mandaya to mention some. Just be sure to book in advance especially during Kadayawan Festival which falls every 3rd week of August.

 

   you want to rest away from the buzzing city life, I will recommend you to stay in Samal Island beach resorts, it’s like shooting birds with one stone. Why? Aside from having a nice accommodation , one can unwind and enjoy the white beach sand, water sports activities such as diving, parasailing, jetski, banana boat ride, kayaking, snorkeling, etc.

 

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  you’re traveling with your kids, there are a lot of parks with free entrances like the famous Peoples Park (must visit) and Magsaysay Park where you can buy a variety of fruit, like the king of fruit-- durian, mangoosteen, pomelo, mangoes, pineapple etc. Parks with reasonable entrance fees like Crocodile Park where you can see “Pangil” (second largest crocodile in captivity).  Eden Nature Park, Malagos Garden, Philippine Eagle Center,  GAP Farming, Japanese Tunnel, Butterfly Sanctuary, Zorb Park, Wake Board Park (first in Mindanao) to name some. 

  you feel like staying here for good and is concern about  your children's education, Davao has so much to offer in terms of quality education and there are a lot of notable institutions in Davao offering tertiary education to choose from.

you’re worried about the peace and order of the City, don’t be! Because Davao is one of the 20 Most livable City in ASIA as awarded by Asiaweek.

  you think Davao City is already over populated, then you're wrong. Davao City encompasses over 244,000 hectares making it the 8th largest city in the world in terms of land area.

  not of these great leaders who actively engage in good governance, for me, Davao won’t be as beautiful as Davao now. As an adopted Davaoeña, we should be very thankful to our Mayor, Vice Mayor and the rest City officials, I’m not saying this to be on the good side of  the Vice Mayor but due to my personal experience with my idol--Vice Mayor Rody Duterte .

Year back December 2010, after I attended the Misa de Gallo with my husband at Saint Paul Parish, we dropped by PAN DE POGON (a 24 hour bakery along Quimpo Boulevard) to buy some hot pandesal for breakfast since it was still 4 AM. I met a taxi driver that was carrying a bag of bread on his way back to his cab, greeted me with a smile and said “maayong buntag diha mare! Sayu pa kaayu!” I smiled back and said “guikan mi nag misa de gallo Sir” then I realized he was a familiar face… surprisingly it was the Vice Mayor, with a towellete on his neck, a typical taxi driver image, then he immediately said “ o, sigue, una sah ku kay mamasada pa ku” funny thing was, I got frozen and was not able to say a word again but just waved bye.. I was starstruck! I couldn’t believe what just had happened, even the other customers there were  not aware that it was the Vice Mayor, the taxi driver in disguised. Who would expect? A high ranked official making his way to check his constituents without "media papogi", showing a strong sense of responsibility to his people. Definitely LIFE IS HERE IN DAVAO!

Submitted as an entry to the 75th Araw ng Dabaw Blog Competition
Updates 2013

Tuklasera Photoblog - -- High quality images hosted by Flickr.

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