Last Monday I went out to dinner with a couple of Manileños and a fellow Davaoeño, all kindred bloggers. Andrew suggested the place: Karlyn’s. He said the restaurant had just transferred from somewhere; now it’s located off the Ecoland Diversion Rd., just past SM City if you’re coming from the north. Read more »
Being with a group of Manileño bloggers a couple of days made me realize that I overlook a few little things that make Davao such a livable place. The Japanese adjective is more apt: sumiyasui (easy to inhabit). Read more »
The party got off to a rather slow start due to some unforeseen glitches, but when it got going, boy, did we have fun! What’s great was, we had so many bloggers all in one place — the registration sheet isn’t with me right now, but I believe we had more than 40 boys and girls. 
We had entrepreneurs, professionals, students, media practitioners, hobbyists… It was an exciting mix of people that surprisingly did gel and come together as a community of bloggers.
Happy 70th Araw ng Dabaw!!!
In Davao there are quite a number of various cuisines to get excited about. There are several European restaurants: Claude’s le Café de Ville (French); De Bonte Koe (the name’s Dutch, but what’s on the menu’s Euro fusion); Picobello (Italian); and a few more. There’s American… hmm… McDonald’s? Asian, of course: Tsuru, Mabo, Zakoya, etc. (Japanese); Twosome Palace, Korea Town, etc. (Korean); Hanoi (Vietnamese); Marco Polo’s Lotus Garden (Cantonese); etc.
But I’ve been asked: What really is Davao cuisine?
Somehow I haven’t witnessed any expressions of gratitude or jubilation after the installation of new traffic lights all over the city. Some say that’s because of the traffic accidents that have happened ever since. And this, in turn, is apparently due to Davaoeños’ not being used to so many traffic lights.
One of Davao’s most personable travel agents is a very close friend of mine, Alex Divinagracia of Pacific Royal Wings. I used to be in the travel industry a lo-o-ong time ago, before I discovered the Internet and ultimately the then-fledgling IT industry of Davao. Anyway, Alex had just come back from Manado, Indonesia, and he was telling me about his trip. They were hosted by Sriwijaya Air, the newest foreign airline to fly in and out of Davao. Read about that familiarization tour at Sun*Star Davao.
17 March is fast approaching, and it’s blog party time! Heck, I’m even more excited about it than about Araw ng Dabaw!
Over the past week, the organizers and I have been busy making sure that the preparations are all running smoothly. And last night we had fun choosing the winners for the Davao Blog Awards — this isn’t a serious campaign like the Philippine Blog Awards. There are eight categories (we removed two because we couldn’t even nominate a single blog for those two: darkest blog and most politicized blog). Besides, this is just for kicks. Maybe next time we can do a full-fledged Davao or Mindanao blog awards gig.
I was at Netfront Coffee Shop & Internet Cafe last Friday, to talk to the owner and managers regarding the Davao Bloggers Party #1, which they’re sponsoring. I was with Kim C., who took this picture here. This new café is owned by a Korean who calls herself Janice. It’s interesting the way Koreans choose an English name for themselves. Somehow it shows an eagerness to learn the English language. But I don’t really know; I have virtually no Korean friends yet.
A new acquaintance gave me an idea to blog about: massage places in Davao. While we were engaged in conversation, Austin asked me about the best place in Davao to get a massage. I realized just then that there are actually quite a few now here. A colleague in the IT industry even opened a shop at the Matina Town Square.
You can differentiate massage services in Davao into roughly 3 categories: spas, or full-fledged services that offer more than just massages; massage clinics, where people go for no-fuss, no-frills body kneading; and home service. (Never mind the extra-service type — I have a GP rating here… well, sometimes R18, but not today 
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