1. Yosi Kadiri! Never will you find cigarette smokers light one up in public areas. If there is no Smoking Area sign, you cannot smoke. The smokers are quarantined in a room while people with no cancer-stick-burning urges stay in the main area. How refreshing it was to go home from a night of drinky-drinky with your hair not smelling like you used it to sweep cigarette ash into an ashtray filled with butts!2. PhP26 (US$0.50) peso taxi rate. For non-aircon taxis, that is. Not that most of us mind. The jeepneys around the city rarely emit smoke from their diesel engines and the weather is not deadly hot. Hurray for cheap cabs!
3. Sunny during the day, rainy at night. In other words, beach weather during the day, and cuddle-y weather while you sleep!
4. Seafood galore! Fresh and Cheesy Garlic oysters for our appetizer, Crispy Pata, Tuna Buntot, Kinilaw, Chopseuy & Adobong Pusit for our main course, and fresh mango shake all around for our drinks/dessert. Headcount: 13 pax. Total Bill: less than PhP3,400 (roughly US$65!). Priceless indeed.
On our last day, we went to Citra Mina Seafood Market to buy some fresh fish. For PhP 560 (a little more than US$10), I brought home 4 x smoked bangus, 1 x tuna panga, 1 x tuna belly & 1 x tuna sashimi, all packed in a check-in-ready styro box. Whoopee!
6. From Island to Highland. A white-sand beach is 10 mins away. A Tagaytay-like hideaway is an hour's drive from the airport.
7. Mangosteen, Pomelo, Marang. Oooh! Some of those fruits are almost foreign to the Manilenos, but ask any Davaoeno and they will each have their say about where to get the best deal on these heavenly fruits! I bought a whole box of pomelos (around 11 pieces) for Php630 and the vendors were so nice that they gave us 4 pieces of peeled ones as "gifts". They were promptly consumed by Carlo, Marje and I. Winner ito!8. Durian. This fruit, to me, is so special that it deserves its own entry in my Top 6. Those who have eaten durian chips, durian ice cream, durian candy or durian pastillas and have tasted fresh durian will agree when I say the taste is nowhere near those of the processed products. From what I learned from my short visit, there are 3 main varieties available in Davao: the Bangkok, the yellow and the native varieties. My personal favorite: native one.
How does one describe the durian experience? This spiky, to the point of deadly (to those people who are tasked to harvest it --- imagine a whole durian falling on your head as you walk under its tree!), fruit is indeed a wonder. There are people who cannot stand the smell of this weird thing (weird would be an understatement); will not touch it with a ten-feet pole; will not even DARE taste its yellow meat. The smell is supposedly so offensive, that bringing durian inside public places, like your hotel, for instance, is banned. Wipe your durian-stained hands on your shirt and the smell stays (and will spread to the rest of your clothes in the bag) until you get back to Manila. Eat it and smell it in your breath as you burp!If one is brave enough to overcome these to actually try it, the "King of the Fruits" will reward him with its taste that is almost indescribable! It's butter-y, but not quite. It's fibrous, but not really. It melts in your mouth, but not too much... I will go back to Davao if only to taste this fruit again!
By the way, it's mega-high in calories, and is considered an aphrodisiac (what?!! a fruit that is an aphrodisiac?!). YES.
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cheers! a business trip that ended with pasalubong-shopping
it's ok... if you dread the work-week. Everyone dreads it too!
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