Sunday, July 6, 2008

Other Features

Glossy Mindanao
By Jinggoy Salvador

SUMMER of 2008 must have the busiest in this existence. I don't know who I was (but I'm sure I lived a pretty decent life - though I always felt otherwise) and where I have been in my previous lives (but I know I 'have been around') but today I know it was a traveling and adventurous season.

And this was all here in Mindanao.

Zipping in Kapatagan at the foot of Mt. Apo, swimming by the shores of Samal and Davao Gulf, finally seeing Gumasa Beach - Sarangani's little Boracay, re-visiting Lanikai in Hijo Plantation after 20 years and see a blooming exclusive resort, kayaked the white waters of the Davao River- finally! took a 12-hour bus ride to see Zamboanga del Sur and its amazing sights for the first time -terrific beaches and magical lake (worth the visit!) and caught of couple of glorious sunrises and sunsets along the way.

There is still so much to do and like they say, life is short, case in point, it's best to see the rest of Mindanao. No plane needed, but it can be an option, and the road travel can reveal much more, it makes the trip more exciting. I am ashamed to say I haven't scaled the country's highest peak while the rest of my friends have 'made it Quiapo' so to speak. I haven't seen the Bonsai Forest in Oriental and more shamefully I will admit that I haven't seen any waterfalls in Samal or its bat cave. Let's just say, I traverse the shoreline and haven't 'gone into' the soul of the island yet.

Mindanao has countless blessings yet to be discovered, even by its very own inhabitants. Taking the road (literally) less traveled can be an arduous journey and to some, the thought itself gets them drained. But isn't that where the real adventure lies? The unexpected should make the trip more exciting. The best local dish on a roadside carenderia, a glimpse of a cove with crystal clear water, a cut through a rainforest, a night in a quaint town, munching on home-made kakanin from a market, these are the eye-openers that one can't catch on a plane ride.

Where to go? There must be something you want to see or do around Mindanao. Do it without delay. I have procrastinated on a good number of trips and activities and regretted that I didn't do it earlier. If it's the beach you want, make your own Mindanao's Best Beaches journal and tell everyone about it. Who else can best promote this area but by a local? We have to admit that there are apprehensions for all tourists to come this way, so let's enjoy the place in all it's unadulterated glory for ourselves for the mean time. In time, they will come.

I stand by my ideology of 'it only takes one visit' for the tourists to fall in love and keep coming back erasing all anxiety about Mindanao from their mindset. Mindanao is a colorful island and lustrous and there millions of stories to tell. One by one, topic-by-topic we can catch Mindanao's glory in this new glossy, M Life & Living in Mindanao. Leafing through the pages, it makes us Mindanaoans beam with pride. Make it your guide to which part of the island you should head to and experience it for yourself.

As Claire, Editor-in Chief of M, would say, "I learned to treat the simplest moment as mementos or as insights I receive or stumble upon. Staring at a sunset while treading in the deep waters of Dapitan... eating pastil with locals at a market in Basilan... dancing with artists in Pagadian... pressing my face smack on the bus' rear window while peering cross-eyed at the highway snaking across the mountains of bukidnon... These are just a few memories I experienced here in Mindanao. Unlike big knick-knacks and souvenirs wherever one goes, these gifts mark how it is to celebrate joys of mobility, how to live life less ordinary."

[back to main page] [back to davao page] [top]