I should say, I think it’s a big loser.

For the past 8 years, the slogan for the tourism campaign of the Philippines has been “WowPhilippines.“  Lots of countries have slogans for their tourism campaign. India has “Incredible India.”  Malaysia says they are “Truly Asia.”  There are many others as well.  It appears that the slogan “WowPhilippines” is now dead.

The new slogan is what?

The new slogan is PKG – Pilipinas Kay Ganda.  Yeah, that’s it.  I didn’t type it wrong.  I didn’t misspell anything.  They are trying to attract foreign tourists using a Tagalog slogan.

Philippine Secretary of Tourism Alberto Lim has been saying in the media for months that the DoT has something big up it’s sleeve and it will be introduced soon.  This is it, Pilipinas Kay Ganda.

The new campaign was rolled out earlier this week, and ever since the roll out there has been an uproar in the Philippines.  Unhappiness with the new slogan seems to be almost universal here in the Philippines.   A lot of people, like me, can’t understand why they would choose to make the campaign slogan a Tagalog phrase if they are aiming to attract foreign tourists.  I mean, the vast majority of their target audience won’t even know what the phrase means!  Most foreigners won’t know how to pronounce it either.  For those who are wondering what it means, “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” means “Philippines So Beautiful”.

Web Problems

The name leads to even more problems when you consider putting up a website for the campaign.  These days, the Web should be the first line of attack when promoting a tourism destination.  What are you going to get for the domain name (something.com)?  PilipinasKayGanda.com?  How will you attract your visitors?  They won’t know how to spell the name!  Oh, don’t worry, though, they chose a different domain name.  BeautifulPilipinas.com is the name.  Hmm… one word in English and one in Tagalog!  That makes sense.  Guess what?  If you accidentally type in “BeautifulFilipinas” (F instead of a P) you end up at a porn site!  Yes, it was in place before they even started the campaign too.

Pilipinas Kay Ganda - the logo of the new campaign

The website was all set up and operational earlier this week.  It no longer exists (at least as of the time of this writing).  After it was launched, people started telling the DoT that there were lots of misspelled words on the site, poor grammar, etc.  The DoT had to pull down the site to re-work it.  Now, they are even saying they will get a different domain name for it.  So, basically all of the work and money spent was wasted.

Going back to the Tagalog name for the campaign, I saw an interview with a tourism official about this.  DoT Undersecretary Vicente Romano was asked why a Tagalog name was chosen for the campaign slogan.  Here is his response:

“Offering a slogan in Pilipino not only makes us different. It also gives an opportunity to start a conversation and engage them more intimately. It is a matter of execution.”

“We have a very limited budget compared to our neighbors in Asia. We’re about 1/17th of Thailand’s budget for 2011. All of our neighbors have chosen an English word to describe its character. If we follow the same path, our brand will simply be drowned out by our neighbors’ bigger ad budgets,” he added.

OK, if you have a limited budget, it would seem to me that by making the phrase in Tagalog that would mean that you have to spend more, because now you also have to educate the customer what the phrase means.  If you say it in English you only need to sell the country… say it in Tagalog and you have to spend time and money explaining what the slogan means.  It does not make sense to me.

Another consideration.  All of the “big boys” of tourism in the region, people like Malaysia and Thailand have huge budgets.  Romano is saying that the Philippines needs to make itself different.  But, wait, if these others are very successful with what they are doing, why be different?  Emulate success!  Right now, the Philippines is saying that these others are very successful, so let’s not do what they are doing!  That, in my mind is crazy.

WowPhilippines RIP

For me, I believe that the old name, “WowPhilippines” is a very good name and slogan.  If you have a limited budget why not use the existing name, and improve the campaign?  I mean, it costs money to create a new name, new logo and everything.  There is a perfectly good name in place that costs nothing!  Why not keep using it?  Mistakes were made with the WowPhilippines campaign that the government has used in the past 8 years, but spend time, money and energy making the campaign better, and improving on it instead of throwing it out for something that is not nearly as good!

So, basically, the Department of Tourism has been working on this new campaign ever since President Aquino came into office in June.  Frankly, it seems to me that it was all a waste of time and money.

Pilipinas Kay Ganda? Sayang.  Sus Ginoo!

Not only does every City have at least a couple of festivals per year, but every small town, even part of towns (Barangays or Barrios) have their own festivals.  Most of the festivals in the Philippines have some sort of cultural aspect to them.  The festivals are not just for fun (although there is plenty of that to be had at a festival), but they are in commemoration to some historical event or cultural aspect from the area where the festival is celebrated.

General Santos City's 2010 Tuna Festival

For example, here in the Davao City there are two major festivals each year, Araw ng Dabaw is held in March and The Kadayawan Festival is held in August.  Araw ng Dabaw literally means “the Day of Davao” which is a celebration of the Charter Day of the City.  Kadayawan loosely means “harvest” and August is a time when almost every fruit is “in season” so Kadayawan is a Harvest Festival of the bounty of fruits in the area.  Both festivals include a lot of tradition of different ethnic groups in and around Davao, and thus the festivals are really culturally significant.  Of course, in addition to the “big two” local festivals, there are dozens of smaller festivals and celebrations in the barrios and barangays of Davao City.

Because the festivals of the Philippines are so many, and also steeped with cultural significance, I really believe that these festivals could draw in a lot of tourists.  Not only could foreign tourists enjoy learning about the culture of the Philippines, they could also really enjoy the merriment that surrounds such festivals.  For anybody who does not think that such festivals can draw tourism, just take a look at Mardi Gras in New Orleans or in Rio, both places have a huge influx of tourism for the festivals.  I used to live in the New Orleans area, for about 10 years, and I know what happens at Mardi Gras.  There are so many tourists that hotel rooms are full, even if they are 3 or 4 hours from New Orleans!  Of course, because of the distance involved, it would be more difficult to draw visitors to the Philippines, but even if it only draws 10% or 20% of the visitors that New Orleans gets, you are talking about a major impact.

Most Philippine Festivals have a strong Cultural Theme

So, what is holding the tourism back at this point?  Well, festival planning is handled much differently in the Philippines than it is in New Orleans or other areas in the Western World.  In New Orleans, when Mardi Gras ended and tourists were ready to head home, they were already handing out fliers for “next year’s Mardi Gras”.  Hotels would be taking bookings for rooms a year in advance.  While checking out from your room you could reserve a room for next year.  The even for the following year had already been planned out.  The dates of next year’s event were already known.  Here in the Philippines, it’s a bit different.  Much of the festival planning is started only a month or so before the festival is to occur!  Sometimes I get e-mails from people who want to attend Kadayawan in August, they e-mail me in January or February saying that they need to plan their vacation travel in August, and can I please give them the dates for this year’s Kadayawan.  Well, I have to tell them, regrettably, that there are not any dates yet, because the Festival has not been planned or scheduled yet.

This is very unfortunate, because in order to arrange International travel, you need advance planning.  People need to schedule their vacation from work months in advance.  If they don’t know when the festival is, there is no way they can plan to attend, because there is not enough lead time to make arrangements for vacation time and travel reservations.

When I lived in General Santos City in 2000 through 2002 I did some work with some of the Festival Organizing Committees there.  I always urged them to start planning festivals at least 8 or 9 months in advance, preferably a year or more in advance, but I never could really get anybody to believe me that this was an important thing to do.  I believe, though, that this is one of the really key factors to making Festivals in the Philippines an International draw.  Of course, we all know that time is a lot different in the Philippines than in the West… it is less important here, which is why “Philippine Time” even exists.  But, if the country wants to draw the tourists from abroad, it is an important shift that must take place.

I do believe that the country has a lot to offer with it’s thousands of festivals.  I suspect that there is no day that goes by during the year when there is not a festival going on in some part of the country.  The key is, though, to get the word out to the world, and get it out early enough that people can come and enjoy themselves at a Philippine Festival!

Would Open Skies bring different tail logos to NAIA?

As the story got started, they were talking about the potential for a strike among PAL’s employees.  As I wrote some time back, there have been labor issues with PAL Pilots in recent months, but now it is the Flight Attendants who are threatening to go on strike.  There are a number of issues that the Flight Attendants are pushing PAL to negotiate with them.  Two of the most contentious issues are Gender Discrimination issues and Age Discrimination issues.  Currently, Flight Attendants are not offered paid maternity leave, which they are bargaining for.  The Age issue comes down to the fact that under current PAL policy, female flight attendants must retire by age 40.  Wow!  Image that, age 40 mandatory retirement?  That’s quite young to be forced to retire.  I admit, I like seeing the pretty flight attendants when I fly PAL, but I also don’t think that they should be forced into retirement at age 40.

PAL Flight Attendant

When I saw the story on the news about the pending strike, one thing caught my ear, though!  Frankly, it shocked me.  We all know that wages in the Philippines are quite low, but I was surprised when I learned what a flight attendant makes.  My only source of this information is from what was said on ANC, though, but they said that PAL flight attendants are currently being paid P8,600 per month.  That is roughly about $200 per month in today’s US Dollar – Peso rate.  $200 per month?  Wow.  If this information which ANC clearly said (Feyma and I looked at each other and said “did you hear that?”), then I was way off, because I would have thought that a flight attendant would be making at least $1,000 per month here in the Philippines – about P40,000 to P45,000.

Anyway, the Government is threatening to step in and stop the strike, and force the parties to negotiate on this.  I don’t know how effective they can be, though.  I mean, if PAL doesn’t want to give in on these issues, can they be forced?  The Government does have some harsh repercussions for PAL, though, if they don’t settle the issue.  The Government is threatening to institute an Open Skies policy and allow foreign airlines to fly into routes that PAL holds.  That could be a killer for PAL, if it happens, because right now, for the most part, foreign airlines are not allowed to fly domestic routes at all.  Opening things up for competition could really hurt PAL badly… although, in my opinion it would be a boon for tourism in the Philippines, and for the flying public.

What do you think?  Will the strike happen?  Will the Government open the skies to foreign operators?  Will the Flight Attendants get what they want from PAL?  It is hard to know yet, but things should start unfolding over the next few weeks.

What are you smoking today, Bob?  People can get food anywhere in the world, why would they travel for food?

Well, people already do travel for food!

There are lots of food enthusiasts out there, they often call themselves “foodies.”  These are people who will travel to different destinations to sample different types of food or drinks.  For example, Thai cuisine is quite famous and well liked by millions of people, and people will actually travel to Thailand on a “Food Tour” where they will visit restaurants in different parts of the country to experience true Thai cuisine from different regions.

Even domestically, in the USA for example, people will travel to the South to experience true Southern Barbecue.

Lumpia is a Philippine Dish that Americans love if they try it!

How about French Food?  Major Cities all around the world always have French restaurants.  When people start enjoying French Food in their home of, say New York City, if they become passionate about it, they may decide to take a trip to France and roam Paris and the Countryside in search of exquisite French cuisine.

What about the Philippines?  Can the Philippines make food part of the attraction in drawing tourists to the country?  Well, unfortunately, in my opinion, right now it is not possible.  People won’t travel half way around the world to come and experience eating Balut!  In fact, many would travel half way around the world in order to avoid Balut!  Unfortunately, much of the food that the Philippines is famous for is not appealing to many foreigners.  In fact, I don’t know that I would say that the Philippines is famous for it’s food, rather it is infamous!

That said, the Philippines does have some wonderful food, though!  Probably it’s most delectable that a fair number of people know about is the Lechon Baboy… a whole roasted pig.  Delicious!  Sure, it’s not the healthiest meal around, but for a once in a while thing, it is OK for most people.  People will travel for things like Lechon Baboy.  But, to get people to travel 18 or 20 hours on a plane, you will need more than one dish, without a doubt.

I wrote a while back about Pork BBQ on a stick.  How about Lumpia?  It’s great!  Pancit is something that many people enjoy, and there are dozens of varieties that people could travel the country and experience.  Siopao is something that I enjoy.  The thing is, though, the Philippines needs to start pushing the delicacies of the country that appeal to foreigners rather than the things that gross them out.  Right now, if a foreigner comes to visit, it seems to be a big thing for Filipinos to “see what happens if he tries balut” and such.  Instead, there needs to be a culture of “let’s serve him the best Lechon Bably available and he’ll be back again for more.”

A Few Fruits and Foods of the Philippines

One key to this, however, is that you have to let foreigners get a sampling of Filipino food near where they live, and don’t expect them to come all the way to the Philippines to get it.   How?  By having Filipino Restaurants in many areas around the world.  Let’s face it, in the USA, in any town, no matter how small, you can usually find a nearby Thai Restaurant.  Chinese Restaurants can be found on nearly every block in some cities.  If you go to London and look around you might think that Indian food is the local food of London – Indian Restaurants are everywhere!  It’s the new Fish ‘n Chips!  How many Filipino Restaurants have you visited?  When I lived in the States, I recall seeing, and visiting one or two Filipino Restaurants.  Both were bad experiences.  They were more like holes in the wall where somebody would serve you some Filipino food, which was not very good anyway.

The Philippines sends a lot of people overseas to work and earn money to send back to the country and support the people here.  OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) is an abbreviation that is known throughout the Philippines.  What if the country sought out trained Filipino Chefs and sent them overseas to open restaurants that would showcase Filipino cuisine?  Doing enough such restaurants could actually make money for the country by highlighting Filipino cuisine to the foodies of the world, and opening up the possibility for people to start touring the Philippines to experience the food culture here?  You have to start somewhere, and this is one avenue that the country could explore to get tourists that aren’t even thinking of the Philippines right now.

Another thing that is challenging is that many Filipino dishes are adapted from American dishes, or Spanish.  Of course, these American or Spanish dishes always have a Filipino spin on them, though… the spaghetti is sweet.  Spanish chorizo sausage, which is normally spicy, is another thing that is sweet here.  Maybe the country could start to re-formulate some of these foods to appeal more to the foreign palate a bit?  Offer multiple varieties that will appeal to a wide range of people.

What about the fruits in the Philippines?  Frankly, I honestly believe that there is no country in the world that has a better variety of great fruits than the Philippines does!  Yes, there are countries that can equal the Philippines, but I know of none that can beat the Philippines in the number and quality of fruits available.  This category alone could lure people who enjoy fruits, and also people who are interested in healthy foods and such.  Honestly, there are delicious fruits in the Philippines that many foreigners have never even heard of!  Why not highlight the delectable fruits of the Philippines?

Will highlighting Filipino foods solve the tourism problems of the Philippines?  No, not by itself.  However, this is one area where I do not believe the tourism officials are looking, and I believe it is an area where an entirely new Philippine Tourist can come from.  Right now, the number of people who travel to the Philippines to enjoy the food is probably ZERO, or very close to ZERO.  So, with even small amounts of effort and cash, the country could probably start a small flow of such tourists in a relatively short time.

Want to pick up on tourism in the Philippines Secretary Lim?  Why not give this a try?

Life gets busy sometimes, and other activities get in the way of what we really want to do.  Sometimes we let work get the better of us, and we spend our entire days behind a desk, and in front of a computer… or whatever it is your job requires of you.  For me, working means being here at my desk with a keyboard under my fingertips.  I enjoy what I do, but if I do it too much, I guess I lose touch with what is more important to me.

New Central Convenience Store/Phoenix Gas Station

So, on Monday, Feyma and my Anniversary Day, 20 Years of married life, we decided to set out for Samal Island.  It had been a long time since I had journeyed to Samal, although Feyma goes over fairly regularly still.  I honestly could not remember how long it had been for me since my last trek to Samal Island.  As I thought about it, I guess it was at least a year since I had set foot on the Island, which is about 10 minutes boat ride from Davao City, where I live.

So close, yet so far away.

Yes, just 10 minutes away on the boat, but when you are on Samal you feel so far away from the hustle and bustle of the City life.  It is like you are stepping back in time.  Things are more relaxed.  Less frantic.  More friendly.  Less City.  I like it.  I had forgotten how much I liked it.

Basically, on our Anniversary, we wanted to just get away from the daily life and romp around the island a bit.  Feyma and I own a piece of land there, nearly 1,000 square meters.  It is up on a hilltop, overlooking Davao City, straight across from the Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City’s finest hotel.  The view from our place is spectacular, and I missed seeing it.  We wanted to drive around to familiar spots on the Island and check it out.  Feyma told me to expect changes, I just wasn’t sure how much things would have changed.

Pen Haus in Babak

Our first goal was to head to Limao, the Barangay where our land is located.  As we drove from the Ferry landing, near Babak, south to Limao, it struck me that the roads had sure gotten bad in the time of my absence!  It didn’t help that it had rained quite heavily throughout Sunday night, before our Monday morning visit.  The roads were very muddy, lots of potholes and lots of puddles along the way.  As we approached a new resort community development, Playa Azelea, the roads were like a mud pie.  I was convinced that we were going to get stuck, but luckily we made it through.  Playa Azelea, the coming resort community is located right in front of our land, down the hill at the bottom near the Davao Gulf.  Things had progressed there, although not as quickly as I had expected them to.

When we turned off of the coastal road and headed up the hill to our property, the road quickly improved, and I felt more at ease on a dry and more rocky road.  No way we would be stuck here!  When we got to the area where our land is, I was really pleasantly surprised.  A lot of clearing of tall grasses and small trees had been done in the area, and the views from there were the best I had ever seen.  A lot of lots in the area that never had a view previously had spectacular views now!  Wow!  Beautiful!

Mindanao's first Marina at Holiday Ocean View

After leaving our place, we headed further south to Penaplata, on the central east coast of the Island.  Things looked pretty much the same, so we headed back toward Babak on the interior paved road.  Still a smooth highway all the way to Babak, paved all the way, and a fast drive!  Well, at least I drive fast on that road.  Along the way, I was driving very fast, probably faster than I should, and I passed a SUV type vehicle.  Upon passing him, I saw big red letters written on the front of the vehicle “POLICE”.  I chuckled and mentioned to Feyma that it was a Police vehicle that I had just passed.  I must have been going at least twice his speed, maybe more.  I told Feyma, if we were in the States, I’d be hearing sirens now, but we are int he Philippines where it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t get in an accident!  What a life!

Sign at entrance to Holiday Ocean View

After arriving in Babak, we headed further north, although on dirt roads again, to Holiday Ocean View, a high end development being put up by the Bongayan family.  They will have a housing neighborhood, a hotel (I believe), a day spa area, and they have already completed Mindanao’s first Marina.  Beautiful!  Things are moving ahead nicely at Holiday Ocean View, and I was impressed.  There is one house which appears to be completed in the housing area.  I am not sure if it is a model home, or an already occupied house, either way, it was quite nice looking.  It’s nice to see development moving forward so quickly on the Island!

When we started heading toward the Island in the morning, we were sitting at the Davao side of the Ferry terminal, and I noticed a sign there for Phoenix Gas Station.  It said that they already had a location at Samal, and that the price was the same as in the City!  I was surprised, because usually Gas is more expensive at the few Gas Stations on the Island, due, I presume to transportation costs.  When we got to the Island, I was surprised that the new Phoenix station included a Central Convenience Store too, and was located right at the Samal side of the Ferry Terminal.  Very nice, I was impressed by it.

There are so many new projects going up on the Island.  It does make me wonder how much longer it will be a slow pace of life on the Island.  It just seems that maybe the City is moving across the water right now.  I hope not, and I expect that the people of Samal will protect against that as long as possible.

My journey to Samal was a good one.  I’m not waiting a year to go back this time!  I can remember the time, just a few years ago when I would go to Samal 4 or 5 times per week, every week!  I want to commit to getting over there at least once per month in the future!  I need to recharge my batteries, and that’s a nice place to do it.  I deserve it, I think!

As we started to watch the show, in the introduction they were showing quick shots of many of the street foods as a sort of teaser.  I saw something that made me sit up and take notice.  They showed some pork that looked exactly like Liempo Balamban, the rolled pork that Feyma and I regularly cook on my MindanaoBob’s BBQ Grill.  I told Feyma that I saw what looked like our pork recipe, and she quickly agreed with me.

MindanaoBob's BBQ Grill, Version 1

Well, as the show progressed, they featured this truck that goes around to different locations in San Francisco.  The truck is called “Roli Roti” and it is basically a rotisserie on wheels.  They cook chicken, pork and roasted potatoes on the truck and go to various locations around the SF area selling their food.  It seems that mostly they go to Farmer’s Markets where people are hungry from all of that intense shopping they are doing!  As we watched about this Roli Roti place, they were showing how these folks cook a pork belly, rolled up on their rotisserie.  Indeed, this thing is exactly like what Feyma and I have been cooking on our BBQ grill for over a year now!  In fact, I contend that this “Roli Roti” Rotisserie truck is nothing more than a MindanaoBob Deluxe BBQ Grill on wheels!  They have hijacked my idea!  They must have seen it right here on LiP!

I must say, I am not too happy about having my idea hijacked by some entrepreneur in San Francisco!  However, I must also admit that seeing this guy’s food makes my mouth water.  In fact, I picked up an idea or two from him!  For one, he cooks the roasted potatoes down underneath the rotisserie units, so that as the chickens and pork are cooking, the juices from both drip down on the potatoes.  What a great idea!  I am going to have to engineer something like that.  In fact, I can even envision cooking rice down underneath the rotisserie, having those juices flavor the rice!  Wow!  I’m going to be busy on this.  Hmm… maybe I could make a mobile version of the MindanaoBob Deluxe BBQ Grill too, and travel around the Davao region with my delectable foods!

Check out the video below showing the Roli Roti mobile!

Over the past month or so, I have seen Secretary Lim participating in a number of interviews on various news programs on TV.  I am not just talking about quick 30 second sound bites, rather 30 minute or even 1 hour interview shows where topics can be really covered in-depth.

I must say that in some ways, I have been impressed by Secretary Lim, but in other ways I have felt disappointed by his performance in these interviews.

The Philippines' new Secretary of Tourism, Alberto Lim

What impresses me?  Well, frankly, the most impressive thing I see when I see Secretary Lim is his excitement about bringing more tourism to the Philippines.  Lim, without a doubt, has a passion for the Philippines.  You can see it in his eyes and the excitement in his voice when he talks about trying to increase tourism here in the Philippines.  Nobody can say that Secretary Lim is not excited, or that he doesn’t want to succeed.

What disappoints me?  My biggest disappointment is that I feel like Lim is trying too hard to impress, and by trying too hard, he sometimes says things that are incorrect.  As an example of this, I was watching Lim being interviewed by Karen Davila on ANC News Channel the other day.  Mr. Lim told Karen that he knows that people want to see the Philippines advertise tourism on CNN where other big players are advertising.  A discussion started up about a commercial that India shows on CNN to promote tourism.  The India campaign is called “Incredible India”.  Mr. Lim then said (I am paraphrasing now):

We have the talent to do a campaign that good.  After all, the Incredible India campaign and commercial was done by Filipinos!

Karen acted surprised (as I was), and said, “Oh really?”  Lim traded words with Karen, and in the end, when Karen asked, “Did Filipinos really do that commercial for Incredible India?” Lim replied, “Well, I’m really not sure, that’s what I heard… maybe it’s an urban legend.”

The Philippines has beautiful beaches

Well, honestly, I do not think that India outsourced their tourism campaign to the Philippines.  It makes no sense, because that is something you would certainly want to do “in country” to get the flavor of your country in your tourism ads.  I would guess, myself, that there is less than 1% chance that Filipinos did the Incredible India campaign.  So, because of his excitement, I believe that Secretary Lim misspoke.  Over the time that I have seen Lim on interview shows, I have seen him misspeak a number of times, so it’s not just a one time accident, but seems to be a pattern.

When asked what the plans are for increasing Philippine tourism, Lim has been a bit dodgy and doesn’t want to give an answer.  For over a month, I keep hearing him say “wait and see” and “we have a surprise” and such.  Well, let’s get on with it.  Get it done and announce it.

My biggest problem, though, is that when Lim gives hints about what the DoT (Department of  Tourism) has up it’s sleeve, I feel that they are going to be aiming way off from where the target should be, in my opinion.  The Philippines has a lot of things already that can attract tourists, but there are a lot of obstacles in the way, many of which are very easy and inexpensive to fix.  Fixing those easy and cheap things should be a priority, but it never has been.

On the most recent interview with Lim that I watched, he was asked about his budget.  Lim revealed that he has been given a budget of P100 million to turn things around and get tourists to the Philippines.  His short term goals are to get 3.3 Million tourists to the Philippines this year, 3.6 Million in 2011, and in 5 years to reach 6 Million tourists.  P100 million?  That’s only about $2.5 Million.   That is not much money to do some of the things I see Lim mentioning.  He mentioned TV advertising, and that will cost a lot more than $2.5M for any kind of decent TV campaign.  But, like I said earlier, there are some easy to fix problems that would be cheap to fix.  Spend the P100M on those things instead of on TV campaign and such.  As more tourism comes into the country from fixing the easy stuff, then more can be spent for big budget items.

So, what am I talking about on the “cheap and easy” fixes?  I am going to be writing about some of those things in future articles, over the next couple of weeks.  Without a doubt, fixing the failed tourism promotion in the Philippines is a good way to lift up the country, bring employment to the people, and generally improve the Philippines.

I am not trying to be hard on Secretary Lim.  As I said, I like a lot of what he has to say.  He has the right attitude, and excitement that should be in a Tourism Secretary.  I want to see him succeed, without a doubt!  I’ll be talking more about that in future articles.  For now, I’ll just say – Good luck Secretary Lim.

But, Bob, Mindanao is part of the Philippines, so by moving to Mindanao, that means you moved to the Philippines!

Yes, of course you are right. But, in my mind, it was not the Philippines where I was wanting to live, it was Mindanao.  When I got the itch to move, in about 1996 or 1997, in my mind, I always thought of moving to Mindanao.

The other day, I wrote a little teaser on my Facebook status (if you are not my friend on Facebook, why not?  Go invite me to be your friend, and I will certainly approve you!) saying:

I’m coming out with a new and improved ****something**** in the next few days… keep an eye out for it! Any guesses?

Well, this article is related to that, and it’s also related to my love of Mindanao.  You see, indeed, over the weekend, I came out with something new and improved.  I have completely reformatted my Mindanao Magazine.  If you are interested in Mindanao and events on the island, go have a look.  I hope you like it.  But, this article is about so much more than just announcing a rebirth of a website.  Read on and learn more about my love affair with Mindanao.

A look at my new Mindanao Magazine

No, this article is not fully about my Mindanao Magazine, really it is about my 20 year love affair with the island of Mindanao.  I first came to love Mindanao before I even set foot on the island.  I was on an airplane flying from Cebu to General Santos City in July 1990.  As we were approaching General Santos, I peered out the windows and saw a spectacular view.  This was my first time to see Mindanao, and I was awestruck by the simple beauty of the place.  It was so much different from Cebu or Manila – the only other places I had visited in the Philippines at that point.  So, before I even set foot on the soil of Mindanao, I loved the place.

Bob and Maniel on a visit to Datu Montawal, Maguindanao

In 1996, when the Internet was still young, and good domain names were still easy to get, I bought the name “Mindanao.com”.  I was not fully certain what I wanted to do with it, but I knew that I wanted it, and it was still available.  At that time, a domain name cost $70, much more expensive than now, but it was a good investment.  Over the years, I have had dozens of offers from people wanting to buy the name, and some of the offers have been well into the 5 figure range, but I have not been interested in selling.  Maybe someday I will, but it’s not on the horizon.

Enjoying a swim in the crystal clear waters of a secluded Samal beach

Since moving to Mindanao, I have had some of the best times of my life.  Of course, my Mindanaoan wife and my family have been the biggest blessing.  I’ve had some wonderful adventures here too, though.  Probably the highlight for me, when it comes to adventure was my 2007 trip to Tawi-Tawi and Basilan, via Zamboanga.  Both Tawi-Tawi and Basilan are places where foreigners are “not supposed to go”.  I am certainly glad that I visited both places, though.  When it comes to visiting areas around Mindanao, I’ve nearly seen it all.  There are 27 Provinces on the Island of Mindanao, and I have been to 25 of them.  I am only missing Sulu and Camiguin.  I have yet to visit Sulu because of the Peace and Order situation there, and on Camiguin, I just have not made it yet.  I hope and plan to visit both places and complete my complete tour of Mindanao, though.  Camiguin is easy and I can visit anytime.  Sulu, though, is a place where I have to wait for the timing to be right.  It could take a while, but I am determined to go there.

Holding a live crocodile taken from the Davao River

I have seen places of great beauty here in Mindanao.  I have also seen places of war torn poverty and a lack of hope.  In either instance, the journey has been interesting and informative.  I have been a student of Mindanao history, and I’ve learned the language most widely spoken on the island, Cebuano.  Pretty much, when it comes to things Mindanao, I try to keep myself well informed.  It’s funny because a lot of times Filipinos come to me with questions when they want to know something about Mindanao.  It kind of makes me uneasy, but the fact is that I usually have the answer.

Not only have I seen interesting places in Mindanao, I have met a lot of very interesting people here.  I have met some of the poorest of the poor people in the world living right here in Mindanao.  I have also literally met Royalty here in Mindanao.  Meeting and sharing some time with truly poor people has been humbling to me, and also has taught me a thing or two about life.  It has helped me better appreciate the things that so many of us take for granted.  Meeting Royalty here has been interesting, and kind of cool, but has had a smaller impact on my life than meeting people of humbler resources.  But, in either case, it’s been an interesting life for me here on the Island of Mindanao.  I could never say otherwise.

Bob and niece Bebe enjoying the day at Buda, on the Davao-Bukidnon border

Getting back to the Website, yes, I have reinvented and relaunched Mindanao Magazine.  I worked hard on it, along with my assistant in the task, my niece Bebe.  Bebe lives with us, and works for me in our business.  She specializes in doing work on the Internet for me, while her sister, Glenda handles work in some of our other businesses.  Bebe did a lot of work on Mindanao Magazine, and I want to offer her my sincere thanks for that.  She has begun to become quite a wizard when it comes to Internet stuff, and particularly when it comes to WordPress software, the software that nearly all of my websites are based upon.  Bebe wants to get into the IT industry, and with the education she is receiving through her work for me, I believe that she can be quite successful in her future employment in the industry.  I have actually been encouraging her to not go work for somebody else, but rather to be self-employed and outsource IT jobs for others.  I think she might be starting to lean that way.  I believe it is a path to great success for her.

So, anyway, I hope that you will visit my newly relaunched site!  Yes, I love Mindanao.  We all have our own special places that are meaningful to us.  Not all of us can say that is Mindanao, and that is fine for me.  I hope that you have found your special place in the Philippines, and that you are passionate about it.  It makes living there all that much more interesting and fun.

John came to Davao to sort of enjoy a get-away from the city, and all that is associated with it.  John and Rebecca chose a great time to visit Davao, because this past weekend was the climax of the famous Davao Kadayawan Festival!  John and Rebecca, along with Juanito were able to watch the Kadayawan Street Dancing festivities right from their hotel, and from everything John said, I think they enjoyed it!  I am not going to get into details of other things they did in Davao, as I believe that John is also planning to write an article about their trip down south, so I will let him share those details.  I will try to stick with our meeting between the two families.

Bob & Feyma Martin with Juanito Miele

A couple of days before flying down, John asked me if I could arrange for Rebecca to get some Durian, as she had told him that she wanted to sample the Durian from Davao.  One of the things that Davao is very famous for is that it is the Durian place of the Philippines.  No problem on that, I was happy to make arrangements, as Durian is also something that I really love.

We went to the hotel at 5pm and picked up John, Rebecca and Juanito.  My first plan was to take them to the Waterfront Insular Hotel, because it is right on the Davao Gulf, and the grounds there are beautiful.  I thought that Insular would give John and Rebecca a nice taste of what Davao was all about.  Unfortunately, because of the Kadayawan Festival, as we tried to head to Insular, the traffic was terrible.  What is normally a 30 minute trip could have taken hours, so I decided to cancel that.  Instead, we headed to “D’ Farmer’s Market”  just off of F. Torres.  D’ Farmer’s Market is one of the places in town that features many different varieties of Durian, so I thought it would be a good place to visit.

A statue outside D' Farmer's Market in Davao - A Native Filipino holding a Durian

There are many varieties of Durian available, and I have my favorites.  My three favorite varieties are 101, Puyat and Arancillo.  Of the three, I will go for 101 any chance that I can find it.  101 is a relatively new variety, and it is very hard to find.  I find it to be a rather smooth flavor experience, and I like the texture a lot too, it is a bit more firm than some other varieties.  So, choosing D’ Farmer’s Market was kind of a natural, because they always seem to have a pretty wide selection of Durian Varieties available.

When we arrived at D’ Farmers’ Market, you could really smell the aroma of Durian in the air!  I was loving it, as I really love the fragrance of Durian.  John, though, was almost gagging!  For those of you who don’t know about Durian, a common saying is that it “smells like hell but tastes like heaven”.  Well, I personally love the fragrance of a good durian!  Rebecca seemed to be OK, though!   I immediately went to one of the workers and started asking him about which varieties were available.  I was surprised, as some of the varieties that he named were new to me – I had never heard of them.  I asked if they had 101, though, and sure enough, they had it!  So, we bought one piece of 101, since only Rebecca and I were planning to eat.

We chose a table and sat down, and in no time the waiter brought our Durian to us, already cut up and ready to enjoy!  Rebecca and I dug in and started eating.  John and Feyma were just watching, though!  Soon, John said that he wanted to see if Juanito would eat Durian, so we got a little piece and put it in his mouth.  Suddenly his face got kind of sour looking and he spit it out!  Oh well… it left more for Rebecca and I to enjoy!

The Martins and the Mieles - Bob and Rebecca are enjoying a 101 Durian

After having Durian, we all went to the Martin household for time to sit down and talk for a while.  It also gave Juanito a chance to meet our kids (and a niece and nephew who are visiting right now).  Our kids love little kids, so they enjoyed playing with Juanito and entertaining him a bit.  Chris, in particular seemed to form a nice friendship with Juanito.

After a short time at our house, we all went to the Lotus Court Chinese Restaurant at Marco Polo Hotel for our dinner.  John had generously offered to take us out for dinner, and I thank him for his kindness.  Lotus Court has always been a favorite restaurant of mine.  Recently, they closed it down for a full renovation, and it had been a while since Feyma and I had been there.  The newly renovated restaurant was beautiful, a real show place.  Unfortunately, both the service and the food, though, were not up to par.  It seems that most of the food that we ordered was “OK” at it’s best, and several of the dishes were downright poor.  One thing that disappointed all of us in particular was the soup.  We ordered a “Pumpkin and Crab soup” which seemed to have neither pumpkin nor crab in it.  It did have the “fake” crab sticks in it, which were flavorless.  We all came to the conclusion that this was nothing more than a packaged instant soup with water added – that’s how it tasted.  This being at a 5 Star Hotel, and one of the best restaurants there.  Sorry, Marco Polo, but I doubt that I’ll ever go back to Lotus Court again.  Not only did the food taste bad, they tried to charge John for food that we ordered, but was never served to us.  Very poor service and food.  But, the important thing was the people that we shared our dinner with, and that more than made up for the food problems.

Feyma and I really enjoyed meeting John, Rebecca and Juanito!  We hope that we’ll have the opportunity to spend more time with them in the future too, because they are very nice people.  My only problem was that the evening just went by too quickly, I wish that we had more time to share together!

Thank you again, John!  Your generosity was greatly appreciated!