Monthly Archives: July 2012

A working day at Pearl Farm

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One of the perks of being a Real Estate Broker is that you get invited to events from developers and the banking industry when there are new projects, promos and incentives.

Yesterday was an event sponsored by East-West Bank as they are partnering with Filinvest Land in mortgage financing their different projects.  The launch was held at Pearl Farm at the Malipano Island side.  Its been years since I’ve been in Pearl Farm and was curious on what they could offer and how it looked now.

I was fetched by my friend at the Davao Imperial Hotel before heading off to the Pearl Farm marina.  As soon as we arrived, the East-West staff guided everyone to the boat that brought us to Pearl Farm.   Stepping foot at Malipano Island has always brought me happy childhood memories of swimming in this island when it was undeveloped.  This was more than 25 years ago before the Floirendo’s acquired this property.

Kudos to East-West bank for their Broker’s Incentive Program which is the best in the industry at present.  Brokers were specially excited about the program, more so for sure is that we get to enjoy Pearl Farm without burning our pockets.  The lunch was superb and destroyed my diet for the day.  The fresh salad, tomato pasta and fried fish dory were exquisite.  We then chatted with the East-West bigwigs after lunch over a couple bottles of beer. I took some pictures and just soaked in the scenery as I was too lazy to change and swim.  After all, I was just swimming in the beach last Sunday.

The event ended around 3pm and we headed off back to the Pearl Farm marina.  A work and pleasure day is a good day indeed.  Shameless plug, here’s my other website for real estate services in Davao City, mypatchofland.wordpress.com.

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simple pleasure of Davao island hopping

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    One of my high-school “barkada” is off for San Francisco after a 2 week vacation in Davao City.  There would be a no better send-off than to go island hopping.  Being as family oriented at our age,  with all the kids in tow, a couple of my friends organized an island hopping trip to cap-off the balikbayan’s family vacation.

We rented a boat from Island Banca Cruises to be able to tour Samal.  The 1st stop was a snorkeling spot.  Heading off to the 1st stop under the perfect weather was reinvigorating.  Staring at the calm blue water with the sun shining bright and the blowing cool wind filled me with unexplained calmness and serenity.  Banter also filled the air, the sound of the engine roaring nor the loud music playing couldn’t stop us from endless chit-chat.  When we reached the snorkeling spot, everyone dabbed on their sunblock and jumped in the water.  Fishes and corals were seen on the spot.  And when everyone had their fill of snorkeling, we headed off for Isla Reta.

We traveled for around 20 minutes again and reached Isla Reta.  By then, everyone was hungry.  Fried lechon, lechon paksiw, sinugbang bangus, spaghetti, barbeque and fruit salad were served.  Another glutton-lunch for me again!  While eating all the sinful food that you’re not supposed to indulge in all the time, a constant echo in my brain was also telling me to start a healthy diet ASAP.  I am growing bigger every week and my battle with the bulge will be a story for a future post.  For now, let me just share my island hopping experience.

After lunch, the boys drank a couple of beers to complete the meal.  *burp.*  More chit-chat, shameless picture talking and soaking in the scenery ensued.  We packed our things around 3pm and paid the Php 75.00 per head day tour fee.  We then headed off to the Vanishing Island which is nearer to the docking wharf before going home.  More picture taking, chit-chat and soaking in the water.  If it wasn’t for the high-tide and the island submerging in the sea for every minute longer we stayed, we would’ve spent more time in the island.  We reached the Pearl Farm marina by 5pm.  All in all, it was a perfect day to spend with friends you don’t see much anymore but feel very much comfortable with, as if you’ve been talking daily when you see each other again.

I hitched a ride going home which took us around 20 minutes with light traffic, from the marina wharf to the Davao Imperial Hotel.  Thank God for friendship and simple pleasures.

Durian City of Davao

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One of the simple joys in living in Davao City is enjoying durian.  That strong unique scent which many find offensive is aroma heaven to my olfactory sense.  I admit that eating durian  while growing up, took me time to appreciate it.  I usually run from the dining table upon smelling the scent of durian served after meals.  Then one day, I may be around 11 or 12 years old when I realized that I was missing out on something.  My family enjoyed the fruit except me and there was a gnawing curiosity that I needed to fill.  The need to taste durian.  I remember the apprehension and getting past the smell before I took my first bite of the fruit.  But after that bite, I understood the joy that came with eating durian.  The smell suddenly made sense and I couldn’t imagine eating the fruit without the smell.  The aroma and flavor was perfect!  And there my friends started my love affair with durian.

Drawing from my childhood experience, I realized that appreciating the fruit first took guts. To get past the smell and fill your soul with adventure to try something new.  Usually, when my out-of-town friends ask me about durian and how we can eat such a smelly fruit, I’d tell them to open their senses to a new experience and they will certainly appreciate it.  Alas, only a few are brave.

Last week, I had a friend from Manila who was willing to taste durian.  We got to squeeze a few hours to go to the local market which is a jeep ride away from the Davao Imperial Hotel before their flight and picked a nice durian fruit for his taste test.  What do you know?  The guy totally enjoyed it!  2 fruit filled seeds sucked clean. Yeah.. Only the brave who’s open to new experiences can enjoy this world more right?  So if you find yourself in Davao, try the magnificent durian.

District Treelogy afternoon

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A semi-cloudy sunday afternoon makes for a good time to check out the long boarding community in Davao.   The race event, held at Sun City, was organized by District Tree, who manufactures carbon-fiber long boards that rival the quality of foreign brands.   Every  couple of months or so, race events are organized to get the downhill long board enthusiasts to showcase their skills to the community.   But what really was appealing to me was that the race didn’t have that air of  uptightness that comes with these types of competition.  The organizers, participants and spectators gathered like a big group of friends out to have fun.  Yes, there was competition, but there were lots of fun too.  Lots of laughter, silly and frivolous remarks were going on while riders fell, slid, scraped their skin or bumped into each other without causing animosity to fellow rider or spectator.

Before the winners were announced, there was also a roll-call of groups present and I was surprised to hear that there were kids coming as far as Gen San.   Talk about passion for the sport huh.  But with the type of atmosphere you get with this crowd, there’s no doubt that you’d want to join their events again and again.  They also had their beer soaking going on for the winners and riders.  Good times.  Good times indeed.  Had a few beers and some grilled pork while lounging around after the race and went on home before it got dark.  Yesterday was a fun and relaxing sunday afternoon.