Too Distant Yet Too Close

                                               

What motivated me to start traveling today are the ones who are closest to me. And it’s an interesting thing to consider. Traveling with your buddies can be very relaxing. You can take away all your pain and enjoy what lies beyond the destination. Traveling gets cheaper when you are in groups, or that you and your friends have to split costs. That what makes it more interesting. Everything is free and you got what it takes to be happy on your travel. From taking that selfie of ridiculous poses to acting weird as a group.

                                               

This trip with my friends was different because this is the first time I traveled with friends which is very interesting and challenging. They shape our memories more than the places themselves.I broke free from my comfort zone and created better memories with my friends. But more than anything, I've gotten to see and experience some pretty amazing places. I also learned about how different everyone interprets anything. 

                                               


It didn’t take me long to realize I wanted to see the world with my buddies. Traveling with buddies can get you all pumped up and excited. We have walked around the park and talk some kinds of stuff. We laughed so hard about some jokes. We did even dance around in the dark while seeing the beautiful sight beneath us. 

                                     


As what I've reflected about the travel, the role of us youth is to maintain the beauty and the history of the places that we've been. Also, to promote the mission of the places within the community. Advocate for the tourism and support quality products within the community. We are the inheritors of the great places of our community so we are the ones who should be responsible for it. We shall be the ones to be proud of what is beyond on our community.

 

Apo View Hotel

Apo View Hotel is a premier landmark in Davao City. Built in 1948, at a time when Dabawenyos were still recovering from the horrors and ravages of World War II, it opened its doors to welcome Filipinos in search of new homes and business opportunities in the City. Thus, Apo View Hotel became the very first hotel ever erected in Davao City, and the second oldest hotel in the Philippines. After more than 60 years of service in the hotel industry, the Hotel continues to serve domestic and foreign travelers. It remains one of the most sought after premiere business hotels in Davao City, as it  provides busy travelers with comfortable accommodations, world class facilities and amenities for business and social events, and the Hotel's distinct hospitable service. The Hotel is situated within the busy business district of Davao City, and is close to restaurants, shopping malls, schools, churches, and other commercial establishments.

Grand Regal Hotel

Built in 1998, the  Grand Regal Hotel is a premier hotel situated in the heart of Davao City. It is close to many business establishments, commercial centers, shopping malls and entertainment areas. The Hotel's exquisite interior is a balanced mixture of past and traditional Filipino design with modern facilities and amenities standard to a first class hotel. It has 217 elegantly designed rooms and plush suites including Presidential Suites that are luxuriously furnished to provide maximum comfort to the busy business travelers. 

Davao Medical Center

Davao Medical Center is one of those many places in Davao City that I am familiar with and very sentimental about it. And I cannot think of Davao without associating DMC with the city. This (of all places!) is where I actually conveyed my love and proposed to my wife, Grace, immediately after she was pronounced out of danger and on her way to complete recovery by the attending doctors after fighting for her life following a massive loss of blood in May 1999. DMC is also where my lovely daughter, Jamie, now 11 years old, was born a year later in July 2000 for a sum of 1,500 pesos or so only! Have I kept a personal diary, DMC would have contained and occupied a great number of pages.

Davao Medical Center, now called the Southern Philippines Medical Center is the biggest government, tertiary hospital not only in Davao City but in the entire Region XI, or perhaps in the whole of Mindanao. DMC may be a provincial hospital but its medical technology, facilities, and services are at par with the country's bests and more expensive hospitals the likes of Makati Medical Center, St. Lukes, or Medical City. In fact, medical cases where other private hospitals in Davao City cannot handle, patients are brought to DMC for treatment.

Magsaysay Park

Magsaysay Park in Davao City is a beautifully landscaped public park that sits on a huge sprawling expanse that faces the clear blue waters of the Gulf of Davao with the Samal Island in the backdrop. While there are many parks in Davao City, this park remains the favorite of the locals and is frequented by foreign tourists, families and friends alike for an afternoon of leisurely stroll, or simply hanging-out. This city landmark was built in honor of the most-loved and revered president of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay who, in March 17, 1957, died in a plane crash in Mount Manunggal on Cebu Island while en route to Manila. He was the third President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Millennium Park

In Davao City, Freedom Park consists of two parks: the Millennium Park and the Clifford Park. The Millennium Park is located in the center island along the stretch of Roxas Avenue across Ateneo de Davao University, while  Clifford Park is the wide and spacious intersection of Claro M. Recto Street (old Claveria Street) and Roxas Avenue, fronting Ateneo de Davao and Marco Polo Hotel. Clifford Park was named in honor of a United States Army commander who was killed in action during the liberation of Davao in World War II.

Mergrande Ocean Resort

Mergrande is a combination of French and Spanish words, "mer" which means "sea" in French, and "grande" for "big" in Spanish.It has been over a decade since I was here last in 1999 with a client-turned-friend, Allan Gabucan of Davao City, who brought me to the Resort along with a couple of young waitresses whom we met at the now defunct Camarine Grille in Victoria Plaza Mall, downtown Davao City which Allan and I used to frequent practically almost every night back then usually at a little before closing office hours to the wee hours of the morning. The occasion was actually not the first time I came to Villa Victoria as it was called then. It was I recall Raymund, a visiting regional manager of a multi-national pharmaceutical company based in Manila, whom I met at D' Counter Executive Hotel & Dormitory also in downtown Davao where he was staying, who first introduced the Resort. The third and definitely wont be the last time I have visited the Resort was with my wife and some friends. 

Of course, the Resort looks totally different now than it was a decade ago. Much improvement and renovation over time was obviously meticulously undertaken by the Resort to give it, I should say, a more modern look in touch with the times. It goes without saying that I will surely recommend Mergrande to my visiting friends and relatives from Manila when they are in town.