Second Time Davao - A Visual Feast

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.