Manileños in Davao City!

Sep 18, 2010 by Jawz

This past September the 12th to 14th, my friends Migs & Cathy, as well as a group of their friends, came to visit Davao City. Migs is from Caloocan, which is in the Manila area. Migs and Cathy both are online friends of mine, who I met through the US branch of Cyworld (which is now shutdown); the same website I met my girlfriend, as well as a few other Filipino friends. Migs, Cathy, and their friends toured many places here in Davao City with a tour guide. I didn't go with them during those times, but I did get to spend time with them during the night and morning. I found this to be a good experience to understand a little bit about the Philippines' regional differences, as I walked and talked with them. It was also enjoyable to hangout with them since they are friends. Here are summaries of those three days I spent with them:

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September 12th, 2010

Sometime in the evening, I met up with my friend Maica at People's Park, for the first time face-to-face. She's a Cyworld friend of mine as well, living here in Davao City. We were planning to have a CYmeet with Migs and Cathy. A CYmeet is when members of the US branch of Cyworld meet for the first time. A few minutes later, Migs, Cathy, and their friends came. I had already kind of known two of Migs and Cathy's friends, Jayson and Mitzi, since they added me on Facebook a few days before they came. After taking a few photos, we walked out of the park to their hotel nearby. Migs joked about how I was an American leading them around. I joked on how I wondered if I was the guest, since it is their country, or if I was the host, since it was their first time in Davao City.

Maica, Migs, me, Cathy, and Mitzi at People's Park

At the hotel, me, Maica, Migs, Cathy, and Mitzi sat down at a small round table outside. Again, we took a few photos to record the moment. Migs ate a bit of durian while we talked. Somewhere in out conversation, I mentioned Taco Bell, an Mexican inspired American fast-food place. I made mention of it because I heard that there was one in Manila. Cathy surprised me when she said that Taco Bell has opened many more branches. I told them that I hope, soon someday, a Taco Bell would open up here in Davao City. Sometime during the time in which we were talking, it started to pour down raining. We were going to walk out later so I could introduce Migs to Davao's street foods, but none of us had an umbrella.

Before Maica had to go back home, Migs gave me two wooden miniature rocking chairs. He said it was for me and my girlfriend. Afterward, we took one more batch of photos of the CYmeet (Me, Maica, Migs, and Cathy), we went outside of the hotel. To my surprise, the road was flooded! Honestly, after all of the months that I have been here in Davao City, I had never seen the road flood like that. I guess it only happened in that area, beside People's Park and the Apo View Hotel. We waited awhile for a tricycle to come by for Maica to ride off. It was funny watching them sort of get stuck on the sidewalk.

Once Maica had left, me, Migs, and Cathy were going to walk to my dorm, which is nearby in front of the UIC Bonifacio branch. While walking, a balut vendor passed by blowing his horn on his bike. Migs thought it was a puto vendor, but I told him that here in Davao City, a bike with a horn usually means it's a balut vendor. As we continued walking, we got to stop near the UM area to try the street foods. I got them to try ube turon, since they didn't have those in Manila. I could see they enjoyed it. When I ate one, I noticed it was kind of soggy from the rain or something. Once they finished consuming the ube turon, we walked on. Migs noted how it was weird how we seemed to be able to walk safety down the street at that time of the night, yet, in Manila, it's dangerous. We stopped by the Davao Central Convenience Store, so I could get something, and then we walked halfway back, where we split to go back our own ways.

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September 13th, 2010

I met up with Migs, Cathy, and friends at the hotel they were staying at. We then went to near the UM area, again, to get some street food. This time, Mitzi came with us. I was hoping the "Maguindanao's Best" vendor, who sells pastil and pizza rolls, would be there since Migs mentioned that they don't have pastil in Manila. Unfortunately he wasn't, since it was the evening. Migs, Cathy, and Mitzi bought a bunch of isaw and ube turon to take back to the hotel. I looked over to the left and noticed a place that sells lechon manok as well as pastil. I pointed it out to Migs and we both bought some. As we were walking back, I noticed that JS Mall was just nearby. So, instead of going right into the hotel, I lead them to the entrance of the mall. Inside, we only walked around on the first floor since we were carrying small bags of street food.

When we came out of JS Mall, my girlfriend texted me that she was able to me to see Migs. So, we walked back to the hotel and I waited beside the road, in front of People's Park, until my girlfriend came. Since my girlfriend also used to go to the US branch of Cyworld, it became another CYmeet as she met Migs and Cathy. We then went to the room Migs was staying in and sat down and just talked. Migs also ate the pastil that he bought for the first time. Once my girlfriend had to leave, we walked to the  Bonifacio branch of the Mercury Drugstore, said goodbye to her, and went inside the drugstore to buy drinks. We all went back to the hotel from there.

Migs eating pastil for the first time

After sitting around and talking, me and Migs went outside to wait for a balut vendor to pass by. After waiting outside for about ten minutes, a balut vendor finally passed by. I got Migs to take a photo of me with the vendor before we left. When we came back to the hotel, Mitzi, Jayson, and Cathy gathered around ready to watch me eat it. One of them held my camera, and another held Migs' camera. Both cameras filmed me eating it for the first time. After I finished, we went back to the room and just talked. It was getting late after awhile, so I left to go back to my dorm.

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September 14th, 2010

In the morning, I got up early to meet up with Migs, Cathy, and Jayson. We were planning to go to see the statue of David at Davao City's Baywalk (Seawall), and then the SM Mall of Davao. I met with Migs at a Minute Burger right beside the hotel. He ordered some burgers, and we then sat down at the restaurant place inside the hotel. Migs gave me a burger to eat, and everyone ate theirs. Right after that, they also ordered a meal with tocino and rice. When they finished eating, it was decided that we'd just go only to the SM Mall. On our way, I made a video interview of what Migs and Cathy thought of Davao City.

At SM Mall, we took a few photos before lining up at the door. Once we got to the door, we had to wait since it was closed. When it finally opened, we all went upstairs. I was going to get them to try durian iceream, since they said they've never had it. Unfortunately, the icecream place was out of durian icecream. We then went to find the SUN Cellular Shop. Migs and his friends works at the branch in Manila, so they wanted a photo of them at the branch in Davao. After we got some photos there, I led them to the SM Department Store. There, they bought some local candies to bring back to Manila.

Migs, Jayson, and Cathy at the Davao SUN shop

Once Migs, Cathy, and Jayson were finished buying candies, we walked to the SM Grocery Store. We walked around near the fruits and I spotted a marang. I pointed it out to Migs and Cathy. They looked at it and then told me that they had never seen a marang in Manila. They said when they came to Davao City, they had seen marangs, but they thought that they were smaller langkas (jackfruits). After we were finished looking at the fruits, Jayson bought a bag of lansones. He handed us some and we ate them as we walked out.

Once we were back at the hotel, me and Migs went out towards the UM area to find a marang. It was still early though, and unfortunately, we didn't see any marangs around. Luckily, the "Mindanao's Best" vendor was out there. I bought a pizza roll and gave it to Migs as a snack for his plane ride to Manila later. Me and Migs continued looking for a marang, but still failed at finding one. He had to go back and pack, so I went back with him. After they packed, and after we talked for a little while, it was lunch time. I told them I'd go eat at my dorm's eatery and continue searching for a marang for them. Migs told me they'd be back at 2:00pm, so I should stop by during that time. When I walked back, I finally saw a marang and bought it. After I ate lunch, I pulled out it's seed and put it in plastic bags. Unfortunately, as I was about to walk to their hotel, Migs called me and told me they already went ahead and left, 'cause the tour guide wanted them to leave earlier. They had gone off to two more tourist destinations in Davao City before leaving on a plane. I had a great short time being with them, and I felt a lil' sad when they left.