Tuesday Travels#43 Let's Indak-indak!

 

For years now, Kadayawan Festival's popularity has steadily risen. The festival started in the mid-80s and was originally called Apoduwaling Festival. A combination of three words, Apo (which pertains to Mt. Apo), Durian (the king of fruits) and Waling-waling orchid. All three can be found in Davao and its surrounding areas.

There are several Kadayawan festival events that make people from all over the world visit Davao City.  Indak-indak sa Kadalanan (streetdancing) is one of the top draws. Participant-dancers from all over the country come and showcase their colorful native costumes and native dances.

Photos were taken during the Indak-indak sa Kadalanan (streetdance) last August 18, 2012.

 

Tuesday Travels#42 Sayaw Mindanaw 2012

Every 3rd week of August, all roads lead to Davao City. Flights and hotel rooms are fully booked months ahead and the city streets of Davao are colorfully decorated with the colors of the Kadayawan festival.

One of the major events in the Kadayawan festival is the Sayaw Mindanaw (Mindanao Dances). The event showcases the Southern Philippine dances as presented by different group-participants from all over Mindanao.

If not for my photography group, I would not have gotten into this particular event much less into the first row of the venue. I really thank God for the opportunity. I saw first hand how beautiful, amazing and colorful our native dances from the South were. I am truly proud of all the participants who came from all over the Southern Philippines just to showcase our beautiful heritage.

This year's Sayaw Mindanaw (Mindanao Dances) was held in connection with the Kadayawan Festival at the SM Davao Annex last August 16, 2012. There were about 10-15 group participants. The performances were really intense, fast-paced, intricate and fascinating. The costumes and the props were beautiful, indigenous and colorful. What made me really more proud was that most of the participants if not all are in their teen-age years. I am now more hopeful that our native dances will survive for far longer into more generations.

Here are some photos of the participants:

 

 First Prize winner (Open Category): Kadanao Theater Collective of Butuan City

 
One of the participants in the children's category. 

Tuesday Travels#41 It's Kadayawan Month

It's August once again. Rainy days are here. The city is always flooded because of it. But, the celebration is moving along as the Kadayawan festival's week-long celebration officially started last August 3. The opening ceremony was led by no less than the City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte. Along with the tribal leaders and city officials, the colorful opening ceremony was held at the People's Park.

Here are some of the photos I took on the said event:
 
 Mayor Sara Z. Duterte leading the opening ceremonies for the Kadayawan festival. There was an amusing moment when she was about to start her speech though. She was facing the audience so the photographers were scrambling for an angle but she realized that the light was at her back. So, realizing that it was a disadvantage for the photographers, she moved around to face the lights commenting that it's all about documentation.

   
 The bounty basket, touted as the biggest in the world. I'm inclined to agree cause at about 6 feet in height, the fruits inside the basket went deep right up to the ground.


   
 One of the Hiyas ng Kadayawan paritcipants being presented to the media at the opening ceremonies of Kadayawan festival.


 

Tuesday Travels#37 Paete, Laguna: Carving Capital Of the Philippines

 

Known for their intricate, artistic and delicate wood carvings, Paete, Laguna is considered the carving capital of the Philippines. If only I have a budget for these beautiful pieces of art, I would love to have one or two to take home. 

Tuesday Travels#34 Vietnam's Street Food

If the Filipinos like their street food grilled, fried or barbecued, the Vietnamese like their street food with soup, lots of veggies, and with noodles and bread.

 

 

While they have the usual dry and crunchy snack foods, which by the way are quite tasty and cheap, the ones that could fill the tummy are the soupy type. 

Tuesday Travels#33 Dare To Scoot

According to our guide, there are at least two motorcycles per household in Saigon. While buses and taxis are also available easily, motorcycles and scooters rule the streets of Saigon.

 

 

 But what fascinated me the most are the utter disregard to the traffic laws of some of the motorcycle drivers. Numerous times, I have witnessed scooters passing by on a counterflow of the traffic. The result, heart stopping chaos but for the locals, it's just part of their daily lives.

 

By the way, the tourist photographed on the middle of the picture is riding a cyclos. A slower way to sightsee the city of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh).

Tuesday Travels#32 Laguna Visita Iglesia

This is a late post but I have been quite busy catching up with work before the long weekend and then, we had our Visita Iglesia in Laguna. Anyway, I have just ticked off one item off my bucket list today. I have just done the Southern Luzon Visita Iglesia particularly in Laguna. To top it off, I took my mother with me to let her see the some of the old churches of Luzon.

Here're two photos I took of the facade of Morong Church, our first stop for the Visita Iglesia.

 

 

Tuesday Travels#31 Saigon Central Post Office

The Saigon Central post office is located at downtown Ho Chi Minh City, just walking distance from Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, the city's main church. The post office building was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the early 20th century. It has a Gothic architectural style. It was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel, the same designer who did the Eiffel Tower of France.

Tuesday Travels#30 Vietnamese Girl

 I wanted to buy at least one of these Vietnamese girls as souvenir and also, to add to my mother's doll collection but I ended up having none because I run out of Vietnamese money. So, just took a photo of them instead.

Tuesday Travels#24 Universal Studios, Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore is one of the must-see places that we promised to visit during our Singapore travel. The popular theme park is located in the Resort World Sentosa, Sentosa Island. It is the first Universal Studios theme park in Southeast Asia. Its soft opening was last May 2010 and we visited it last February 2011. Its grand opening was only last May 2011 but during our visit, its thrilling rides were already quite popular with its visitors. Battlestar Galactica is considered as its most thrilling and scary ride, I heard. Of course, I didn't try it hehehe!

Tuesday Travels#22 Sydney Harbour Bridge

I've been watching the Australian Open whenever I get the chance for the past few days now. In fact, I just finished watching the heartstopping game of Novak Djokovic and Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt played splendidly but Djokovic went all out in stopping him. In the end, the Djoker won resoundingly. Coincidentally, a good friend of mine started posting our Australian travel photos at the same time. So, I had fun watching the Djokovic-Lleyton thriller while smiling/laughing over our Australian photos on Facebook. Here's one of the photos we had of Sydney Harbour Bridge..

(photo was taken from the Sydney Tower and Sydney downtown)

Tuesday Travels#21 Mactan Shrine

The back view of the Lapu-lapu Shrine

The Mactan Shrine or the Lapu-lapu Shrine is located at Punta Engaño, Lapu-lapu City, Cebu. The shrine is the site of two memorials, the Lapu-lapu and Magellan memorials. Lapu-lapu was a native datu who fought and killed the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan.

Tuesday Travels#20 Sto. Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum

The entrance fee took us by surprise. It was P200 per three persons and P30 per camera. Considering that there were four Canon cameras and one Sony digital camera among the four of us, we thought we would just take the photos from outside instead of going inside. The place looks rundown outside and I wondered what happened to the entrance fees that they've been collecting. The place would have been pretty if it had been maintained properly.

According to the locals, Tacloban's Sto. Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum was ordered built by then First Lady Imelda Marcos. It was situated just beside People's Center, another building from the Marcos era.

Here are some facts about the Sto. Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum (source:www.travelmart.net)
Located in Real Street, Tacloban City. Paintings of the 14 stations of the Cross done by Filipino artists, wooden bas-relief of the legend of the First Filipino man-woman (Si Malakas at si Maganda); tastefully decorated guestrooms of varied Filipino motifs; image of the Holy Child; a collection of original paintings by Fernando Amorsolo; spacious ballroom; priceless collector’s items.

Tuesday Travels#19 San Juanico Bridge

I can now tick off San Juanico Bridge from my bucket list. Finally, I was able to walk through most of its 2.16 kilometer length with my friends for almost two hours. The weather was crazy that Sunday (November 20) but excitement ruled more as only from the books did I previously see the famous bridge. Rain and sunshine showed off several times the entire two hours that we were there but we were determined to enjoy the view that this majestic bridge could offer. Cameras clicked almost non-stop even if it was raining. Our hired multicab driver drove by us three times going from Tacloban to Samar and back twice before we decided to finish our San Juanico Bridge adventure.

For those who haven't been there, it is a must-visit! The bridge is truly beautiful, rain or shine. Not surprising because it was supposed to be a gift from then President Marcos to his First Lady, Imelda Marcos, who is a native from Leyte.

Here are some facts about San Juanico Bridge from wikipedia:
The San Juanico Bridge, part of the Pan-Philippine Highway, stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait in the Philippines. Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, and its main span is of an arch-shaped truss design. With a total length of 2.16 kilometers (1.34 mi),[1] it is the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of seawater. It is considered one of the most beautifully-designed bridges in Philippines[2]. The bridge has 43 spans and medium size boats can pass beneath its large main arch the top of which rises 41 meters above the sea.[1] Construction commenced in 1969 over San Juanico Strait from Cabalawan, Tacloban City to the municipality of Santa Rita, Samar, with completion in 1973

Tuesday Travels#18 Agong House, Kapatagan

It is an hour away from Digos City proper and considered a part of Sitio Kapatagan. Standing on the slopes of Mt. Apo, Agong house showcases well-known Davao artist, Kublai Millan's designs and sculptures. Agong house  has become a popular tourist destination among locals especially when it was known that the owner allows visitors to see his vacation house.

Shaped like an agong which is a musical instrument used by the Muslims and the indigenous people from the southern part of the Philippines, the house is a masterpiece in itself.  The garden is also quite an art piece too with a breathtaking view of the Mt. Apo and surrounding mountain range.

Tuesday Travels#16 El Nido, Palawan

Palawan is my most favorite place in the world. It's not home but I consider it paradise. Nowadays, Palawan is beset of abuse from man. News about mining, illegal fishing and more abuses have been destroying the place that is considered the last frontier of the Philippines. I am praying and hoping that these culprits be brought to justice and their evil deeds be stopped before the place a lot of people call paradise will turn into something ugly.

The photo was taken while we were doing our island hopping at Bacuit Bay, El Nido, Palawan.

This is my entry for:

Tuesday Travels#15 Lamdag Dabaw: Davao City's Pasko Fiesta

Davao City's Pasko Fiesta started just last year. It was a one week celebration and was held a few days before Christmas. One of its highlights is the Lamdag Dabaw or the Lights Festival. It was held in the evening and the one in the photo was one of the participants.

This is my entry for:

Tuesday Travels#14 Pahiyas Festival: Festival I Want To Go To

Like most Filipinos, I love festivals. We all know that Filipinos to celebrate. The fiestas are the colorful proof for our penchant for celebration. It's no wonder that almost every barangay celebrate their own fiestas.

My favorite festival is of course our city's very own Kadayawan Festival which is usually held every 3rd week of August. The festival started as a celebration by the indigenous people of Davao during the harvest season. It evolved into a celebration for the indigenous people. During this time, indigenous people converge in our city along with the locals and tourists to celebrate.

Here is a photo of one of the participants in the Kadayawan festival's Indak-indak sa Kadalanan (streetdancing) contest.

For the Philippine festival that I really want to go to, it is the Pahiyas Festival in Quezon Province. Some facts about the Pahiyas festival are here..

(source: http://www.pahiyasfestival.com/home/about-the-pahiyas.html)
The San Isidro Pahiyas Festival held every May 15 has become one of the country's tourist attractions prompting the Department of Tourism to list down Lucban as a tourist town and a cultural heritage site. 

The most traditional and certainly the most attractive décor comes of course in the form of "KIPING" which are adorn and strung together to form all sorts of shapes, from chandelier called "ARANGYA" to huge flowers. Kiping is made from ground rice flour, shaped using "cabal" leaves or other leaf forms and colored in radiant red, fuschia, yellow, green and other bright shades. When kiping catches the light of the sun it turns into a veritable cascades of color. 

The celebration is a form of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest and in honor of the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro de Labrador. A procession of the image of San Isidro is planned long before the festival and it is said that houses along the route of the procession passes will be especially favored and blessed in the coming year. It is from this belief that the lavish decoration of the home began.

Tuesday Travels#13 Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino's Water Fountain

3Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino's Water Fountain is located just outside its church, just right in the middle where the candles are being offered. Actually, it was my first time to see a water fountain situated right smack in the middle of the candle offerings.




This is my entry for..

Tuesday Travels#10 Wet and Wild

While Typhoon Mina battered the northern parts of the Philippines, the winds at Boracay Island were too windy for people to go swimming.

Only the local dogs dared to get wet and played wildly with the waves. Nonetheless, the view along the White Beach was still really beautiful.

This is my entry for..