Dazed in Davao
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2008
1
2
8
Trip End
Mar 28, 2008
Davao,
Philippines
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Once we arrived at Davao airport, the taxi drivers were not too pushy and it didn't take long to find a jeepney from the airport. Unfortunately it only went out to the main highway and charged us (and some local tourists who thought it was free) ten pesos each for a distance we could easily have walked. From there it was a reasonable P12 each all the way to St Pedro, the cathedral area where we had read there were plenty of hotels. When we arrived and checked them out we were not impressed. I really wanted to find Hotel Galleria, which was highly recommended in the internet information I had gathered up. Fortunately the map I photocopied (and enlarged) from Lonely Planet came in handy and we had little difficulty in finding our way there.
Galleria turned out to be a bit expensive for the fairly ordinary rooms we were shown, but we thought it would do if we couldn't find something else suitable.
01 Davao Airport with Durian Statue
One of the staff at Galleria recommended we try Tower Inn just around the corner. This was also on my information sheet, but I had somehow left out the address. It turned out to be ideal - clean with all the facilities we needed, central location, better rooms than the ones we saw at Galleria, and considerably cheaper at P800, supposedly a half-price promotion.Just as well it was a comfortable room as we spent most of the weekend catching up with our sleep. I was feeling quite unwell through lack of sleep. Yoong managed to get some sleep on the flights, but all I could do was rest my eyes.
We walked out to Marco Polo Hotel in the afternoon and thought of going there for their Easter Sunday buffet lunch. We were able to get a proper map of Davao from their Business Centre, but it rurned out to be totally useless. The print was too small, and the main roads were highlighted with an orange colour so it was impossible to see the street names through them. It looks like we'll have to rely on the much simpler Lonely Planet map.
We ate a mediocre meal at a popular little grill restaurant, then had an excellent buko halo halo at Jo's Inato Chicken restaurant next door to Tower Inn. Lots of tasty bits and pieces with taro ice-cream served in a large coconut shell, the best part being the last stage where you scrape off the young coconut from the sides.
Raymond's Travel Page
