Places

Adtu ta sa Laswitan!

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A few days ago, I had a chance to reconnect with an old friend who’s an avid traveler. I was pleased to hear about one of her recent trips, a short getaway to Laswitan in Cortes, Surigao del Sur. This coastal attraction is apparently fast becoming a popular tourist destination, and her recommendation piqued my interest.

Huge rocks protect visitors from the waves that crashes through the shores. A typical view in Laswitan. (video courtesy of Diane Suelto)

 

It’s been many years since I last visited this part of Mindanao. They didn’t have paved roads then, but I’d already heard accounts of pristine coastline and dramatic rock formations. As my friend showed me photos of her visit to Laswitan Lagoon, I couldn’t help but get excited. It seemed like a perfect marriage of seaside thrills and soothing calmness, depending on the people present. For thousands of years, waves have been crashing into those rocks and molding them, carving out the lagoon into what it is today. I could imagine the poetry of it, the story being told by those rocks.

As my friend showed me more photos and videos, she reminded me that Laswitan had recently reopened to the public after going through some restoration. Prior to this, tourists were leaving all kinds of trash that included candy wrappers, paper, plastic utensils, diapers, and more. She was proud of the local government and visitors for turning this place around. It’s apparently been a team effort.

She also mentioned that while roads are much better now, there’s still a bit of a rough stretch left, a good six kilometers. I sure won’t be bringing a sedan when I visit. In fact, I might just take the whole family and load up on some adventure equipment. Nearby Lanuza town has apparently been developed into a surf spot, so I’m sure my children will love that.

It’s really encouraging to hear these developments of what were once no-name towns. Who knows what we’ll find in these parts of Mindanao in 10, 20 years?

Events, Food, Places

Where is my Kadayawan Durian?

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Fruits will not come cheap during this weekend’s Kadayawan celebration. Visitors will have to fork out more bucks per kilo in order to enjoy what little harvests maybe available. But yet, there are other things worth celebrating as Dianne Suelto writes below:

I always tell people who are willing to listen that the Kadayawan Festival is a weeklong celebration of my birthday. Davao City was just so happy to learn of my birth that they decided to throw me a grand party complete with parades and floats to thank the heavens of their good fortune of having me. 

Of course the story’s baloney, Kadayawan is really a thanksgiving festival for the bountiful harvest given by nature. But it is my story, I decide the plot. 

Kadayawan means concerts, agri fairs, mall sale, parades, fruits, and DURIAN. 
It is my birthday celebration week already, but where is my durian? 

Oh, there is durian alright. It is just way too expensive. Last year, you can buy a kilo of durian for P25-35 a kilo. Good luck finding that now. Today, the price of durian pegged at P150 a kilo. Yes folks you read that right — P150 a kilo. 

A report from SunStar Davao said that “Prices for durian and other fruits for Kadayawan Festival is expected to be much expensive this year as compared to last year due to limited supply brought about by excess rain.”

The abnormally excessive amount of rainfall caused the flowers of the fruits, my beloved durian included, to fall off. No flower means no fruit. 

Last year, we didn’t have much rain because of El Niño so we had plenty of durian at a very cheap price. However, we also had power outages because of the low water level in hydropower sources. But, we had lots of durian, and to me that balanced things out. 

On my birthday, I wanted to eat lots of durian, except that I can’t have a mountain of it because of the price. I can’t even order a small hill of durian.

What’s my point, you ask. My point is this, I should be writing something about Kadayawan but all that is occupying my mind is durian. I can’t think straight. I need that creamy, sweet-smelling fruit to function and I need plenty of it. 

It is a bummer when nature takes a different turn. It does not care if an entire city is celebrating its supposed bountiful harvest in its honor. It does not even care if it is my birthday. 

However, life is still beautiful and there are so many things that are worth celebrating like the P150 per kilo durian or that I am alive and everybody I love are healthy and well. 

We may not have plenty today, but tomorrow is another day that we can look forward to. And that is why we will celebrate.

Happy Kadayawan everybody. I’ve invited a lot of guests this year, so be sure to watch the parades on Saturday and Sunday. My friends from the food business have also come out this year and they are serving good food at the the food fair. 

Enjoy my party!

Food, Places

Jalan: Bringing Malaysian cuisine to Davao City

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In this post, we feature Diana Lhyd Suelto’s review of a street food themed resto in Davao City. 

Diana talks about a Malaysian street food restaurant in Davao which takes after the famous stretch o hawkers,food stalls and seafood reaturants in Jalan Alor : Malaysia.  Here it goes:

The dining scene in Davao City used to have limited choices – tuna sutokil (sugba, tinola, kinilaw), pork and chicken barbecue, and the other usual Filipino fares. Today, however, we have a myriad of cuisines to choose from — Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Korean, Indian, and American. Joining in the foray, wanting to carve a niche is Jalan Lok Lok and BBQ, a street food themed restaurant offering Malaysian dishes.

Jalan, which is located at Sobrecarey St, Obrero, serves traditional Malaysian fares such as beef rendang and nasi lemak. While these are delicious, it is their lok lok skewers that I like the most. 

Lok lok skewers are basically flavored gluten balls that you dunk into a boiling chicken stock for two minutes to cook. Then you slather it with your choice of sauce. My favorites are the spicy sambal and peanut sauce. 

I tried the Maranao version of beef rendang and it is a bit different from the one served in Jalan which is saucy. I like the Maranao version better but the one served in Jalan can hold its fort. 

I am not a chicken fan, but I guess if you slather sambal all over your food it will taste good, because the nasi lemak (fried chicken with cucumber and egg on the side) tasted great.
There’s just one thing that did not suit my taste and that was their rose lassie, a rose flavored juice. It tastes of cheap perfume. But other than that, everything was superb. 

Another thing worth noting is that the servers at Jalan are a very cheerful bunch. They were also very helpful to their ignorant customers (that’s me). They’ll make your dining experience more pleasant.

Food, Places

Martial Law be Damned. Adtu ta sa Buda!

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Martial Law be damned. There’s no better way to spend the weekend than to go on a froad (food road) trip to Buda in Marilog District to cool off and escape the city noise.

Unlike a few years back when you can’t find a decent place to eat, Buda (Bukidnon-Davao boundary) on the highlands of Davao City, is slowly transforming into a foodie destination. There are now quite a number of quaint restos that serve good food. Plus, the view each resto offers is nothing short of amazing.

Here are three of our favorite eat digs in Marilog:

La Toscana

They serve some of the best pasta and pizza in Davao City. Their fresh noodle seafood pasta alone is worth the more than an hour drive. They also have a branch in Tionko Avenue in Downtown Davao, but their pizza tastes much better at their Buda branch. Both branches use the same recipe, but the long travel to get there makes the food taste much better.

 

Seagull Mountain  Resort Steakhouse

This roadside restaurant has become the unofficial pitstop of motorists traveling to and from Bukidnon to Davao City. What made them famous is their delicious suman and sikwati combo. Your travel to Buda will not be complete if you don’t try this.

 

Wild Berry Resto
This rustic restaurant just before the quarantine stop in Lorega, Buda serves the most mouthwatering pork tenderloin steak in that part of the map. They also make a mean four berries shake with wild berry, that grows in their nearby farm, as their main ingredient.

 

 

Public advisories keep telling people to keep off crowded places, so what better place to go to than Buda. Tara na, adto ‘ta sa Buda.

 

 

Places, Uncategorized

White House on Top of a Hill

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The Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS) used to be known as the Moncadista Island, because it was once a colony of the Moncadistas, a religious group noted for eating only raw and uncooked food. In the late 1930’s they built two camps in Barangay Limao — Camp 23, a 23-hectare residential area for its members and Camp 19, a 19-hectare cultural heritage property where the White House is located.

The White House is where the group’s founder, Hilario Camino Moncado, used to occasionally stay. However, it was abandoned after its leader passed away at an early age. The property is still owned by the group and it is said that there are plans to renovate it and transform it into a tourism heritage center.

The house, which stands on top of a hill, gives visitors an amazing view of the Davao Gulf and the adjacent Davao City. It is not too far from the wharf in Babak, but the roads going up are a little rough. It is worth a visit though.

Places

A Stream Restored

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The restoration of Cheong Gye Cheon stream signals the series of projects aimed at “greening” Seoul. It is also a testament that urban decay can be turned around with an unbridled passion and ambition. Consider this: a major highway was uprooted to give life again to a stream that had been effectively buried alive for 600 years.

By way of background: During the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), Cheong Gye Cheon is a stream running through central Seoul from west to east. Housewives gathered at the stream to do laundry, while their children played together. But in the 1900s until after the Korean War (1950-1953), people who left their homes in rural areas to find jobs or a better living in Seoul built one makeshift house after another along the stream, making the area a shantytown. In 1958, efforts to improve the poor aesthetic condition of the Cheong Gye Cheon began by covering the stream with concrete and this work continued for the ensuing twenty years, In 1976, an elevated highway was built over the top. Consequently, the Cheong Gye Cheon, vanished.

Lee Myuing Bak the mayor of Seoul then (and later, South Korea’s president), greenlighted the restoration project. Storeowners and street vendors that operated small businesses along the stream as well as commuters and urban developers, initially objected to the project. However, they finally understood that the restoration of Cheonggyecheon is important as it fit in with the movement to re-introduce nature to the city and to promote a more eco-friendly urban design.

Work commenced on July 21, 2003 and was completed in October 1, 2005. It has since then become popular to city residents and to tourists. A tourist information officer told me that each week, over 500,00 people walk alongside the stream. In the mornings, groups of brightly clad ajummas (married laides) power-walk along the paths while lovebirds walk slowly arm-in-arm at night when the banks are lit up. There is also a growing number of fish and birds returning to the stream.

The images accompanying shows the resulting restored stream, taken during my visit last April 30, 2015.