Iluv2surf2's VirtualTourist Home Page

During my first trip my wife and I stayed at the Davao Insular Waterfront Hotel. This is where this photo was taken. The hotel setting and grounds are peaceful and relaxing. The Insular Waterfront Hotel offers incredible beauty and it is very affordable.

The accommodations are not only clean, but tasteful and comfortable. The hotel staff is very professional, polite, helpful and accommodating. The food was wonderful as well. They offer a Western style breakfast buffet that is as good as anything I've experienced here. They offer a combined Asian and Western selections of food to choose from. It is a great value. Since my original stay there in 2001, some of their prices have risen, but I believe it is still an excellent value for those who want the full hotel experience while traveling.

Of the several hotels I've stayed at in the Philippines, I rate the Davao Insular Waterfront Hotel as my favorite.

The natural beauty in the Philippines is breath taking (like my wife), oh, and so are the many other fun and interesting places you'll have an opportunity to experience while you are there.

Panabo is the city where my wife's parents live. It has around 50,000 people and is about an hours drive by taxi from our hotel in Davao. It is not really that far and could almost be considered something like a suburb in a sense, but the usual heavy traffic, numerous checkpoints by Task Force Davao, inadequate roads, and moderate to slow driving speeds added to the travel time.

Panabo has one main road leading to Davao that is very heavily traveled. Parts of the route follows along the ocean and you can see large cargo ships in the bay waiting to recieve a load from the businesses nearby or delivering goods to these factories.

Panabo also has a central market area with many different kinds of businesses as well as a reasonably large grocery store with a descent selection of goods.

On this trip a man we met from Grand Rapids, Michigan, went to Davao with us. Jay had been writing to Evelyn's good friend and former board mate (boarding house rommate) from Davao. Her name is Marisol. Jay was my best man in our Davao wedding ceremony and Marisol, who is now Jay's fiancee was Evelyn's Maid of Honor. That was as of 2004. Marisol & Jay were married in 2005.

Along with Evelyn's parents we all went to Samal Island, Paradise Island Beach Resort for a couple of days. Now I could live there for the beauty and privacy alone!!!

If you go there, which is worth the experience, you need to be aware of some of the service issues I faced. The service was marginal at best specifically, with regards to the food service, or lack of service. When I ordered breakfast and they got the order wrong. Then, when I went to correct it they expected me to eat my food as it became available, NOT TOGETHER as I had ordered.

In all fairness, Trip 3 in 2007, had fewer problems along this line than our last visit in 2005. They still have a ways to go, but at least your food came all at one time. We ordered a lunch there one day and included with the meal were these little red peppers. My wife said they were hot. I love jalapenos, but these were significantly hotter than any pepper I have ever tried! Honey, you should have told me they were
THIS HOT!!!

Other than some customer service issues and on trip 3, some honesty & integrity issues, it was a beautiful and relaxing place to visit and experience.

The honesty & integrity issue I refer to is on trip 3 is centered around one issue. We were doing an overnight there, but we had a very large group in for the day. The "consier" kept telling us our cottage was not ready for us to take our things to store. This went on ALL DAY. I'm sorry, most legitimate hotels will let you check in some time in the afternoon. This lie they kept telling us lasted until the day guests left. Then what do you know? Our cottage was magically ready. The TRUTH is they didn't want our guests to use the cottage for any reason, to change clothes, a shower or even use the toilet. I think the policy is goofy, but I find the lies reprehensible. If it were up to me solely, I'd never go back there because of the moral and ethical bankruptcy, but my wife has a say in it.

Unless you have been to the Philippines and experienced life there first hand, you can not fully grasp how desparate the poverty is for those living there. People that think we have poverty in the USA and decieving themselves. These children and many others would greet us as we would leave Gaisano Mall trying to sell us a plastic bag for a few centavos near the street vendors who peddal fruit and a wide range of goods. A peso is worth less than $.02 and centavos is 1/100 (like a cent is to us). So she wasn't getting rich.

This little girl was so patient with me even though I didn't need anything I would give her my change which was far beyond what she could earn on a good day. She was the only one to come back to me after I had given her the change and say, "thank you". I appreciated that and it made her special to me. even now I would love to help her more if I could.

If you go there and see this little girl or any of the other street kids just trying to survive, help them out. Give to them out of your generosity. They deserve kindness and so much more than I could materially provide.

On Trip 3 I did not see these children as far as I know. I'm sorry my little patient bag girl wasn't there. What I did see was even more disturbing, homeless kids living on the streets. I saw this in Cebu as well just outside of the Cebu Midtown HBotel on the walkway connecting the different sides of the street/sidewalk. One little girl, maybe 12 -13 years old was living there with her friends and what was a few month old baby.

One morning in Davao City we were going somewhere early and as we walked past the front of a building no more than 50 yards from our hotel we saw several children sleeping on the sidewalks. It almost drove me to tears. I'll never forget that site or my deep feelings of sadness. What future do these children realistically have? They beg for money to use to buy cigaretts with and to gamble, not for food. I got to where I would say NO PESOS, but I wold buy them food. There was a Dunkin Doughnuts next to our hotel.

Another place we spent a couple of days with my wife's family and friends was at Victoria Beach in Davao. This was a beautiful place but did not have the white sands. Frankly, for all you get the white sands resorts are over rated. This is a great value also.

Evelyn, her parents Carl and Nes, and I pose for a picture here at Victoria Beach. Her family is truly wonderful. The wall in the background I thought was really interesting. It appears to have a Spanish influence in its design and appearance. Other than a point that separates the cottages from the beach I'm not sure what it's for.

We rented a couple of beach houses at Victoria beach for the whole group of us. It was great fun. Again, this was an extremely affordable place to stay. Bring your own food and beverages and everyone will have a great time.

Someone wanted a picture of all of us that were there that moment in time on Sunday morning so I was with my 2 loves: my wife and mango.

You'll never find her, but one of Evelyn's close friends now living in USA & married to Jay is in this picture. She's the short one with long black hair! It was their wedding we went back for in 2007!

This photo is from our first reception at Sunnyside in Davao City. Sunny Point is a banquet facility. If you're getting married for the first time in the Philippines or simply having a ceremony and reception then this place is one to consider. They cater the food, have an entertainment "program" with Master(s) of Ceremonies, shoot the video and photos, and I'm sure provide much more than I fully realize to make it a truly memorable experience. The packages they offer are VERY affordable.

The reception was exceptional and the food was the BEST I had anywhere in the Philippines! If I could show you our wedding video, you would be amazed at the quality and level of services Sunny Point has to offer.

We had a second reception for the many who were unable or chose not to attend the wedding. This was held at Evelyn's parents home.

One friend of the family who was also a political official in Panabo told us this was the largest reception Panabo had seen. We had 500 plastic forks for meals. We ran out!

I'll need to fast forward a couple of years to the present. Most of February 2004, was spent in Davao City. After many agonizing months of waiting, our governmental burreaucratic approval processes through INS (now BCIS) for Evelyn's K-1 Visa, she finally arrived in the USA. We were married on Valentines Day 2002!

We returned to Davao to spend time with her family, and to have a formal church wedding for her family and friends which was on February 21, 2004.

Her arrival was almost surrealistic. It seemed dreamlike as the time approached, like it wasn't real or going to happen. Then, as I was completing final preparations for her arrival the reality of what was about to happen hit me like a tidal wave! I worked late into the night and nearly overslept the next morning, having just enough time to shave shower and get to the airport. I needed more coffee to wake up!!!

When I saw her I couldn't believe my eyes! It's true, she's here. Finally, the love of my life was here with me, never to leave. dreams really do come true. Mine did and so can yours!

On April 24, 2005, we were blessed with our first child. We named him Joshua. He's a dead ringer for me. I guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree!!! Because his Mom is so beautiful, I wish he had more of her features. As I edit this paragraph, Josh is 2 years old. He is the poster child for the strong willed child. I'm hopeful we will keep it channeled in positive and constructive directions.