For festival afficionados like me, it is an honor to witness Kadayawan Festival, dubbed as the king of all festivals in the country, twice in a row now.

I am looking forward to at least to witness the major festivals in the country below in order of their month of celebration:

January           Ati-Atihan Festival - Kalibo, Aklan (2nd Sunday)
                        Sinulog Festival - Cebu City (3rd Sunday)
                        Dinagyang Festival - Iloilo city (4th Sunday)
February         Panagbenga Festival - Baguio City (4th Sunday)
April                Moriones Festival - Marinduque (Good Friday, Holy Week)
May                 Pahiyas Festival - Lucban, Quezon (Every 15th of the month)
June                 Pintados / Kasadyaan Festival - Tacloban, Leyte (Every 29th of the month)
August              Kadayawan Festival - Davao Ciy (Every 3rd Sunday)
October            Masskara Festival - Bacolod City, Negros Occidental (Every 3rd Sunday)
November        Higantes Festival - Angono, Rizal (Every 23rd of the month)
December       Giant Lantern Festival - San Fernando, Pampanga (for schedule release)

Though we have tons of festivals celebrated every month of the year, i just picked the pioneer festivals and the older ones.

So far i already attended Pahiyas, Kadayawan and Masskara among the list and i am looking forward to attend Higantes or the Giant Lantern Festivals this last quarter of the year. Or with promo tickets, to attend any of Ati-Atihan, Sinulog or Dinagyang by January 2013. But i am rooting for either Dinagyang or Sinulog.

Why i love festivals like these? It is because of energy, the vibes, the music, artistry and creativity and the celebration itself. This is indeed the best way to promote tourism in the country. This is also a true and prefect reflection  and definition of our Filipino culture.

On the side note, i am also one of the millions who appreciate the effort of months of preparations, sweat and blood for the yearly event of street dancing competition together with props, costumes and parade floats.

Below are the best shots captured by my camera for the Kadayawan 2012 street dance competition.



Our travel back to Davao City from Samal Island went well on a sunny morning and most of all nothing to rush anything hahaha!. We already had our rented van from Travel Advantage waiting for us at the parking of the resort for the 2-day inland tour. For P6K we have all the sites on our time with cool travel guide Kuya <insert name here> and in comfortable new van.

For the first stop of the day's city tour is Lon Wah Buddist Temple, this is the first time is set foot on this spot. We are able to check what is inside but it is just that we are not in good time to check everything in it since there is an ongoing mass when we arrived and the second floor is not available during that time. All we are able to visit is the first floor at the right side facing the temple and the intricate wood carvings including the Buddha altar.

Lon Wa Buddhist Temple

Though i did not much enjoyed the temple i looked forward for the next which is the Ponce Suites Gallery Hotel (Corner Road 3 and 4 Doña Vicenta Village, Bajada, Davao). At first we are hesitant to go inside though the sculpture art pieces outside the building are already feast for the eyes. My brother in law and i decided to take a peek for few minutes and when we entered the  building, behold the gift of artistry of Kublai Millan's awesome art pieces.

I can say all of his artworks are geniously crafted since i am into visual arts. As if Mindanao's renowed artist Kublai Millan has tons of ideas from sculptures, paintings to contemporary and mixed media arts.

A gecko inspired ladder.

Above is a staircase for the upper extension found on the 3rd floor which resembles as a gecko made out of scrapped tiles. This is one of notable figures that caught my attention.

Another is an abstract painting of a girl on shades of orange under a cupboard. Though this is one of the simple art pieces found in the gallery, what i like about this is the great use of color combination (which i lack) on abstract shapes that compliments the whole artwork.

On the other hand this is piece is scuplture of a man carrying a typewritter. This might be a good piece dedicated to writers and journalists. On the background are bottles tied together to become a divider of a mini bar. This is just one of many pieces made out of recyclable materials in the gallery.

Abstract painting of different hues of colors.

Another of my favorite pieces are the set of this 3D fantasy paintings on canvas. I think it is made up of acrylic. The set depicts human-like figures in different position embossed from the canvas. Many of them resembles a man and woman in different mixed colors.

 

On the wall passing the staircase are portraits made out of different scrapped materials from nails, bolts and buts, parts of typewritter, steel tubes all composed to become a face mounted on canvas then repainted and become a set of materpiece. A closer look on each piece is need to determine the different materials used to built it. Another artwork above is the reception desk with hand-drawn mask abstract made out of color pencil.

I hope they would better maintain the gallery since many of the art pieces have dusts and need some repair and restoration.

My brother in law and i both agreed - good thing we decided to explore the gallery, P20 entrance fee if worth a thousand visual experience for creativity fans like us.

 

Ampitheater in Jack's Ridge

Next stop is Jack's Ridge. Here we are able to enjoy the view of the city including the  Davao Gulf. I think it is better to go here late in the afternoon for a good view of the city lights. There are also restaurants around the area good for dinner.

We beat the time and decided to straight to Crocodile Park and Ttribu Mindanaoan. The interactive animal show just started when we arrived but still has something to watch but we did not missed the main event of Pangil, the celebrity crocodile of the park. Good thing this is my second time and already know what will happen, i was able to warn my niece and nephew to watch out for the splashes of water if they dont want to get wet.

Another part of the main event is the performance of park staffs crossing a rope above the cage of live and active crocodiles without harness. There is also a bit comedy here aside from the thrill of waiting for the performer to fall and eaten alive by crocs. Haha! just kidding.

After the show we just stayed few minutes and checked other animals and proceeded to Tribu Mindanaoan. Unlike my first visit, we are able to witness a musical performance using native maranao musical instruments when we entered the venue but this year we just headed straight to the fire dance location since there has been a change on the venue.

They already made a small stage near the retaurant area unlike last year, there is a big hut dedicated for the musical performances. Well it might be part of business factors, we just picked the best view for the fire dancers where there are already other people waiting for the event.

Since it is a bit early when the performance started, i believe photographers did had a hard time on shooting. Of many shots i got, above two photos only made it to my 'passing standards' and i think i improved on this field of night and slow shutter photography with reference to the second fire dance photo.

This was a bit tiring day, we headed straight to out hotel and enjoyed our dinner at the newly renovated affordable Kusina Davao. we enjoyed their crab and corn soup here.

After several months of preparation i was able to accomplish this trip but this is no ordinary preparation for me since in my entire travel experience this gave me stress from ticket booking to catching flights. 

First is catching promo tickets for another route which is Boracay after Davao. I was able to book Davao-Kalibo but with connecting flights. Yes and it is just not one stop over but two making it DVO-CDO-MNL-KLO adding to it is the tight flight difference to less than one hour from Airphil Express. So double check your booking before checking it out.

Second is the cancellation of my first ever booking in Zest Air and they did not give any single sh*t to book my ticket to another airlines since we have a connecting flight to catch. And that connecting flight was not even considered and they just replied is the agreement upon booking blah..blah..blah...

Thirdly, we almost left behind by our very first flight. I almost cried out begging for the check-in counter attendant to wait for us since we have a booked accommodation for that day and to add to that is they no longer have any flights for that day due to cancellation. Good thing Airphil Express is great enough to wait for us (I love you APX!). We just experienced the amazing race run at the airport just to catch the plane since we are already being paged.

I just blew the breath of relief when we landed safely in Davao. Thank God!

We had our first day in Samal Island with overnight accommodation Paradise Island Resort. This is also my second time here since we had our day tour here last 2011. But what made me more love this place is their accommodation. We booked a deluxe room and we loved it. They rooms as like cabana type best for vacation ambiance not like the hotel concrete building. The room is clean with friendly staff and delicious food. We just got what we paid for. Paradise Island Resort is highly recommended.

We had the morning til past lunchtime for the inland tour for Monforth Batcave, Hagimit Falls, and Maxima Aqua Fun. Since we have children with us and we are five, we rented a multicab for P1600 from Kuya <name and contact here> since habal-habal (motorcycle) is not an option for us.

 

Monfort Bat Sanctuary houses the largest colony of Geoffrey's Rousette fruit bat with estimate population of 1.8M   and declared by Guinness Book of World Records in 2006. But as of today the estimate is 2.4M to 3M population. From P20 entrance fee last year, they now have P100 since Sept 2011. It is a bit expensive for few 1-2 hours stay but if its for the betterment of the site and preservation of the sanctuary, ill be more than happy to pay.

We just stayed an hour or two at the sanctuary then went to Hagimit Falls. The site is still the same since my last visit except for some structures and pavements that was still previously being built. My nephew enjoyed the place very much. This might be the first time he saw these falls. I almost got drowned on the deep part of the falls but good thing i already experience drowning before so i did not panic a just did the right thing to save myself. Thank you Lord i am still here writing this entry.

Next stop is Maxima Aqua Fun. Like other spots, there is nothing new here. This time they are using their second slide compared to my last visit. I prefer the one located on the left facing the sea because it has a bridge just right beside it for viewing. It is also nearer to the steps back to the bridge compared to the other slide that it needs to swim a longer distant after sliding.

For the tip - bring an extra SD card if you want a soft copy of the slide shot aside for the printed copy. Late afternoon is the good time to here to avoid the scourging hot sun that makes the slides hot. I thing the best time to be here is when it is raining.

We bought some groceries and light baon along the way. We just requested to Kuya to drop us by a grocery store also to buy some bottled water. We went back to the resort past lunch and enjoyed tinolang manok and seafood soup at our cottage.

We stayed in our cottage for the rest of the afternoon. We concluded the night with sumptuous dinner, enjoyed a live band with fire dancers. My sister had her full body massage and she said its good.

This will be the last day of the Ilocandia exploration and we have Laoag before we fly back to Manila.Our driver and also our tour guide made it Laoag-Pagudpud-Vigan-Laoag route. We took the the farthest first - Pagudpud on our first day then Vigan on the second day and lastly Laoag since we have our accommodation here. It more convenient this way. This is also the same route itinerary recommended by other travellers.

Laoag Sinking Bell Tower

If Pisa has their Leaning Tower, we have our very own Laoag Sinking Bell Tower. Notice that the main entrance is already submerged, according to our guide, one whole carriage can go inside the bell tower during the old days.

Bell tower's main entrance.

The trip will not be completed without stopping on some museums. One of the most notable museums are Syquia Mansion (Elpidio Quirino's wife mansion) and Marcos Museum and Moseleum. Here in Marcos museum displayed his life from child until being president including all his projects and achievements being a one of the worlds statesman. 

On the side note, our guide hates the country's present president and aware of some rumors on Ninoy's death. I understand his sentiments.

Marcos statue inside the museum.

If Vigan, Ilocos Sur have their Calle Crisologo; Laoag, Ilocos Norte have Paoay Church another UNESCO world heritage site. Also known as San Agustin Church it was built around 1700s is one of the best example of Baroque churches in the country. Baroque is a characteristic of style in art in Europe. It uses strained effect and curving with elaborated ornamentation. 

Close up shot of the walls of Paoay Church

Interior of Paoay Church

Though the interiors of the church has been renovated with steel bars, good thing the locals preserved the facade and the bell tower the way it has been build more than 300 years ago surviving wars and earthquakes. The walls will serve as the witness of what really happened in our history.

A large verandah facing Paoay lake.

The social hall for visitors.

The spacious dining hall.

Next stop is Malacañan Palace of the north or locally known as Malacanang ti Amianan. Facing the Paoay lake this became the official residence of the first family when visiting Ilocos during Ferdinand Marcos' reign as president.

Inside the mansion are these paintings with intricately designed frames.

Next stop is Paoay Sand Dunes for a dessert experience. I never thought we have own piece of desert in our tropical country. This was accidentally discovered by media scouting for location and from then this became one of stops for extreme activity - 4x4 full pack action ala roller coaster ride.

Paoay Sand Dunes

4x4 Dessert Ride

Tire marks of 4x4

According to my friend's sister, this is more wild than Dubai's dessert safari activity wherein it uses enclosed SUVs while in Laoag, they use open-air 4x4 wherein the riders can stand at the passenger's seat, feel the wind, be shaken and shout at the top of their lungs (video clips to follow). Better bring a hand tripod with you to document the wild ride.

To wrap up the whole trip, our last stop is Fort Ilocandia.

This was also known as The Manila Hotel of the north. Its interior walls composed of woods and red bricks showcasing the vintage design. Along the hall are photos of notable events and personalities that graced Fort Ilocandia.

Chandelier inside the Fort Ilocandia.