Memoirs of an old man 5

Welcome back to what will be the final part of the series involving my trip to the Philippines i certainly hope that you have enjoyed it so far, as i ponder the last days of my trip and the time spent with my angel i am struggling to decide what to put in and what to leave out as we did so much with the last of our time together. Primarily this last part will deal with the time we spent in Davao.After returning from Leyte we met up with some friends for lunch which was really great the food was good although not quite what i was used to but nice all the same, I guess being a chef i tend to notice food a lot more as i look for the individual tastes that are within the food. The one thing i did notice with the food in the Philippines is that most of the food served is very basic food just good old fashion down to earth food that everyone can appreciate so much different to the food scene in Australia where everyone is trying to produce something different as the diners pallet becomes evermore demanding and complicated. With lunch out of the way we make a mad dash for the airport but with a trade mark lack of thought i had totally forgotten that it was late afternoon and the traffic would be at its peak, this coupled with the fact that i totally underestimated how heavy the traffic was going to be led to the inevitable a cab carrying two anxious passengers running late for there flight sitting still in a line of traffic. I slowly resigned myself to the fact that we were going to miss the flight and set about trying to calm my anxious angel.

We eventually reached the airport in Mactan only to find as i had suspected that the gates were closed, so it was over to plan B and as i discovered when traveling that any traveler worth his weight in salt always has stored in the back off his mind a plan B as you will inevitably need to pull it out at some time. We made our way to the airline office at the airport and getting there just before it closed for the day we booked our flights for the following morning on the first available departure which was about 6am feeling totally exhausted we got another cab to the nearest Hotel and booked a room for the night along with an early wake up call, after relaxing in the spar we retired for the night getting as much rest as possible as tomorrow was another day.

All good, our early morning flight to Davao

We made our flight the following morning and relaxed and had a laugh about the events of the previous day. We reached Davao very early morning and settled into our hotel with a minimum of fuss it did not take long with for Nesa back on familiar territory, she quickly arranged for some friends to join us that evening for a night of fun and frivolity at a karaoke bar ,now being Australian i was familiar with karaoke but had never tried it as it is something that never really took off in Australia however i thoroughly enjoyed it as every one in our group got into it. Now that i am thinking about it that is another thing that i really enjoyed about the cultural experience in the Philippines everyone just gets in and participates and that is so different to the conservative culture that i grew up with in Australia where people are so much more reserved and it usually takes a lot of alcohol to loosen them up, as the conservative English moralistic teachings still run very deep unfortunately.

On route to the hotel in Davao,

A night of laughter you gotta love that,

The whole night was a fantastic laugh and a good time was had by all. With the night firmly behind us we jumped a cab and headed for our hotel to spend some time recovering before the day trip to the Philippine eagle centre and Eden resort up in the mountains, having barely enough time to catch our breath we were off again for what was an interesting and indeed memory filled day in Davao.

Our visit to the Philippine eagle center

Having experienced the abundant wildlife that the Philippines has to offer we left for Eden which was on a mountain top and was shrouded in low lying cloud with scenic valleys full of fruit plantations it was a beautiful site, everything here in the Philippines is so green and lush by comparison with my homeland which has for many years fought the ravages of drought. While at Eden i had to take a go at sky walking ,now the sky walker is what we call a flying fox or a zip line it is a thick steel cable strung between two towers and the participants are strapped into a harness for the ride of a lifetime through the clouds. The line in this case was dissecting a valley which in turn meant that we were about 100 meters or more above the ground below as we flew through the clouds "FANTASTIC".

The sky walker,

A little apprehensive, but what a thrill,

After all the exhilaration of the sky walker i think it is time to relax and calm the jaded nerves (hehehe) what better way to do this than by settling down and doing a little bit of fishing besides that we had to eat and the thought of fresh fish was starting to look good.

The great white hunter

Eating our catch was a fantastic way to round off what was a wonderful day of sightseeing.

The next morning it had been arranged that we visit with the mother of my angel and with several others we were to look at a block of land that she had purchased out in the provinces as a matter of fact it was on another island. We hired a vehicle and driver for the day and away we went, the island was really beautiful, lush green and tropical. The best part was to see provincial Philippine life first hand an experience that i am glad to have had.

Mother of an angel

My angel with precious ning ning

What on earth do you have on your face?

The happiest people on earth,

On route to the block,



Lunch at last,

lush and green in the provinces

It is truly a beautiful island paradise,

With my time in the Philippines coming to an end a type of sadness overcomes me as i need to face the reality that i will be soon leaving my sweetness behind and returning to a life that somehow now looks a little pale by comparison. Yet still i have the memories and they last a life time or at least until our next adventure. So i will end this now but i choose to end the series with one photo, 1 single photo that for me sums up what i have taken away from this adventure.

That says it all no need to say anything else,

Posted by chefie