Heavenly Davao
The thing with travel is that it takes you far away from home, finds you sleeping on strange beds and hugging unknown pillows that smell nothing like the ones you know. And that is the thing with hotels. They are cold, spanking clean and impersonal, seemingly decked out like they're not supposed to take you on in large doses. It's just as well because the feeling is mutual, and you find the honeymoon to be over when you realize you are starting to get comfy and having a really good time. Then, vamos, it's time to head back home.
The downside of having gone to Davao city last week was that our 6-day trip coincided with the Durian festival. And I smelled disaster for my soon to be botched Southbeach diet when we got to the Davao airport which smelled sweetly pungent of the fruit. On the road to the hotel, I told my cousin Pia (who was hosting us) to stop by the first durian shack we would pass on our way and we did. Standing by the roadside, I savoured the very first of the many durians I devoured on the trip -- this one being a small, round, native beauty with creamy white pulp, sticky and pliant and exquisitely flavored of burnt caramels with a funky tinge of garlic and onion, and so heavenly sweet. The art of eating durian is not artful, it just leaves one manically licking fingers and being rendered more deprived ( for realizing that durian does not grow in one's natural habitat in Quezon City ) after the whole experience. It's nothing short of bliss, and this you muse while noticing your still sticky fingers, strangely smelling of Knorr seasoning and cilantro, this right after having eaten something so sweet. Ah, eating durian remains to be an elusive mystery to the uninitiated, but then, to get a taste of heaven, one must go through hell first.
There was so much fruit: marangs, mangosteen, pomelos, lanzones and rambutans, all sweet and fabulously cheap. Why, even the papayas and the pineapples tasted like they were enhanced with flavoring. Davao is not only known for its groovy mayor or the fabulous Waling-waling but also for the best fruits one can find in the Philippines.
Having turned off my cellphone for a couple of days, I felt a little guilty for making myself inaccessible to work related calls, and my husband leaving his cellphone on was really a small compromise.
On this trip we traveled with the Saturday Group of Artists where my sister, Sheila Tiangco, is a member. They came for an art exhibit and a painting tour to prepare works for a Davao exhibit in Manila sometime in December. So we were these groupies for a few days, and in the process, saw the place not only from our own perspective but in the way that each of the artists uniquely painted their impression of this lovely, livable city.
There were too many downsides to this trip for me -- the 10 lbs I lost from dieting must have gone back to 5; I found my cellphone's voice mailbox filled with too many calls I have yet to return; there's just too many pictures I need to file; and my husband and I left our silly cousin, who took good good care of us and gave us a great time, crying in the airport, which made us promise to figure how we can be back in December.
The thing with travel is that it takes you far away from home. Then you begin to make the acquaintance, start to relax and eventually get vulnerable to the charm of the place you visit. Before it hurts to leave, you thankfully manage to find your way back to that place where your kids are waiting, and everything feels cozy and smells familiar. Coming home with crates and boxes of beautiful Vandas ascocendas, suhas, mangosteens, frozen durian and tuna, plus all those pictures to show for a great time, one is happy and inspired, with an added resolve to go back there again to continue where one left off. Now, December doesn't seem that far off, and I got Davao on my mind.
Filed Under: Favorite Things
The downside of having gone to Davao city last week was that our 6-day trip coincided with the Durian festival. And I smelled disaster for my soon to be botched Southbeach diet when we got to the Davao airport which smelled sweetly pungent of the fruit. On the road to the hotel, I told my cousin Pia (who was hosting us) to stop by the first durian shack we would pass on our way and we did. Standing by the roadside, I savoured the very first of the many durians I devoured on the trip -- this one being a small, round, native beauty with creamy white pulp, sticky and pliant and exquisitely flavored of burnt caramels with a funky tinge of garlic and onion, and so heavenly sweet. The art of eating durian is not artful, it just leaves one manically licking fingers and being rendered more deprived ( for realizing that durian does not grow in one's natural habitat in Quezon City ) after the whole experience. It's nothing short of bliss, and this you muse while noticing your still sticky fingers, strangely smelling of Knorr seasoning and cilantro, this right after having eaten something so sweet. Ah, eating durian remains to be an elusive mystery to the uninitiated, but then, to get a taste of heaven, one must go through hell first.
There was so much fruit: marangs, mangosteen, pomelos, lanzones and rambutans, all sweet and fabulously cheap. Why, even the papayas and the pineapples tasted like they were enhanced with flavoring. Davao is not only known for its groovy mayor or the fabulous Waling-waling but also for the best fruits one can find in the Philippines.
Having turned off my cellphone for a couple of days, I felt a little guilty for making myself inaccessible to work related calls, and my husband leaving his cellphone on was really a small compromise.
On this trip we traveled with the Saturday Group of Artists where my sister, Sheila Tiangco, is a member. They came for an art exhibit and a painting tour to prepare works for a Davao exhibit in Manila sometime in December. So we were these groupies for a few days, and in the process, saw the place not only from our own perspective but in the way that each of the artists uniquely painted their impression of this lovely, livable city.
There were too many downsides to this trip for me -- the 10 lbs I lost from dieting must have gone back to 5; I found my cellphone's voice mailbox filled with too many calls I have yet to return; there's just too many pictures I need to file; and my husband and I left our silly cousin, who took good good care of us and gave us a great time, crying in the airport, which made us promise to figure how we can be back in December.
The thing with travel is that it takes you far away from home. Then you begin to make the acquaintance, start to relax and eventually get vulnerable to the charm of the place you visit. Before it hurts to leave, you thankfully manage to find your way back to that place where your kids are waiting, and everything feels cozy and smells familiar. Coming home with crates and boxes of beautiful Vandas ascocendas, suhas, mangosteens, frozen durian and tuna, plus all those pictures to show for a great time, one is happy and inspired, with an added resolve to go back there again to continue where one left off. Now, December doesn't seem that far off, and I got Davao on my mind.
Filed Under: Favorite Things
Poppycock | 10/20/2004 |
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