Ang Dabawenyo

In other words, “Dancing in the Streets”. Each Kadayawan Festival sees a spray of bright and dazzling colors as communities, schools, organizations, even groups of friends, present artistic interpretatons of traditional tribal dances. Right on the streets of downtown Davao. Indak-indak literally means stomping one’s feet on the ground.

Here are some photos taken this morning by Christian Te.

The Delirium party @ cups & lowercase was a hit! Awesome sounds by DJ Maxxie and the El Quinto Drumbeaters… free booze the whole entire night c/o San Miguel… dressed-to-kill girls and cool guys!! This is the modern and hip side of Kadayawan.
Viva hot babe Asia Agcaoili was a no-show… But who cares? We got more than enough eye candy in Davao already!
Kudos to Mau Abella and his gang for organizing the best gig of this year’s Kadayawan sa Dabaw festival. Hey Mau, we’re looking forward to more of that! Read more »

My brother Jake’s leaving for Manila already — moving up the corporate ladder — and so the family had a despedida dinner for him last night. I was delighted that Mom decided on Aseya, that Asian fusion restaurant in Humberto’s Hotel. I’d already tried their sumptuous Thai fare when they catered the launching of Suay Thai at BioEssence Spa last week, but I’d never been to their restaurant before yesterday.

It’s just a small place, with only 7 family-sized tables, if I’m not mistaken, but very comfortable, bright and clean. The service was OK, but they should field one more waiter on a Sunday. There was just one lone waiter when we were there — the poor guy was serving non-stop the whole time we were there.

The food was superb! Not perfect, but all of us heartily savored the gastronomic experience. It gave the family an enjoyable time together — food is always a great catalyst, don’t you think? Read more »

The original franchise of Bo’s Coffee Club in Davao is at SM City. It’s on the ground floor of the mall, right in the middle of the walkway and near the atrium. This makes for a good vantage point for people-watching.

There are now two Bo’s Coffee Club outlets in Davao, but what I appreciate with the first one is their consistency. From the time they opened a few years ago and up to now, their coffee has always tasted the same. They brew their coffee rather strong (even their Americano), but I love the flavor. It’s rich and envigorating — just don’t take it in the afternoon if you’re the type whose sleep is affected by caffeine!

It can get pretty noisy there, especially when the mall is bustling with shoppers, so Bo’s at SM isn’t a very ideal place for relaxing. But if you don’t mind the racket, and because you’re out to grab that perfect mug of cappuccino or latté, spending an hour or so at Bo’s can be rather rewarding gastronomically. Ask for their durian pie! Read more »

Here’s the official press release for the 1st Pre-Kadayawan Poker Tournament.

The Metro Madayaw Poker Room, Davao’s first and only legal poker room, in cooperation with Casino Filipino Davao will be conducting the 1st Million Peso Pre-Kadayawan Poker Tournament on August 11, 2007 at the Pantawan Hall of Casino Filipino Davao.

Players from all over the country are expected to arrive & play No Limit Texas Hold’em and vie for the top prize which includes a seat to the 1st APPT Poker Tournament. The APPT will be conducting its first poker tournament on August 23-26 in Manila with a buy-in of USD 2,500 and an estimated prize pool of 25 Million Pesos, one of the, if not, the biggest ever poker event in the country to date. International professional poker players will be participating in this once in a lifetime event. Read more »

Had lunch today with Andrew, Ria, Marc and Aileen at Boyd’s. I’m not exactly sure when this pizza place opened, but I think it wasn’t very long ago.

The pizza was good! We had two kinds, but I wasn’t there when my friends ordered, so I’m not sure what they were. But both were really delicious. And the spaghetti was a treat too — although I think they put too much oregano and basil…

I’m definitely going back to Boyd’s for a more thorough review!

Update:
Boyd’s is on Palma Gil St., Bajada. It’s that road going into Bo. Obrero. The place is right across from Wheels ‘n More Drive (where AutoShop is). When you turn onto Palma Gil from J.P.Laurel Ave., Boyd’s is on the left, not far from the corner.

You read it right! There’s gonna be a cool, must-attend party on the 15th called DELIRIUM @ cups&lowercase. Oh yeah, I haven’t blogged about that place yet. Anyway, it’s a café on F. Torres street, beside Bistro Rosario. It’s right smack in the middle of the city, but where you could feel you were far away from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life.

Back to the partée! Delirium. That’s probably what you’re gonna feel when you find out it’s a drink-all-you-can gig, the whole night. That’s beer and cocktails. Get over it, just go and see for yourself — it’s happening!! Read more »

BioEssence Spa, a pioneer in the skin-care and spa business (and a Dabawenyo company!), has opened a new service to their already rich suite of offerings: Suay Thai. We’re talking about the ancient art of traditional Thai massage and healing therapy.

Read more »

Last night I was invited to a press conference that was certainly not run of the mill. When Jojie (who’s actually my colleague of sorts as we both contribute to Sun•Star Davao as columnists) told me about it, she didn’t tell me what it was going to be all about. She just said there’d be food and alcohol, and that was enough for me to want to go!

Jojie was retained by this group of poker tournament organizers to handle their PR, but she probably didn’t know I played poker. I do, since 2005 in fact. And I used to be crazy over Texas Hold’em. I had a Japanese-language translation project that involved card games, and I started playing poker because I had to get into the groove so that I could understand better, ergo do my work better. Read more »