When you search Davao City on Wikitravel, this warning pops
up:
Many
governments, including the US, UK, Australia and
Chinese, strongly dissuade any travels to the island of Mindanao because of the
threat of terrorist attacks, bombings, shootings and kidnappings of foreigners.
Davao has been targeted by bomb blasts in both 2013 and 2015. Davao is on high terrorist
attack alert.
Sound like a nice holiday getaway? Well the website also
says this: “In Davao, the contemporary fuses with the traditional as migrant
settlers from all over the country peacefully co-exist with a sizeable
expatriate community and numerous ethnic tribes who continue to live as they
did centuries ago.”
Talk about a contradiction! Yes, it’s true, parts of the
island of Mindanao are dangerous. There is a Muslim insurgency in pockets of
the southwest. Hostages, some of whom were foreign tourists, have been taken
and held for ransom. But Mindanao is vast, and Davao City far from those
hotspots. Paris was attacked twice last year, double Davao. Does that mean we
should never set foot in the City of Lights?
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| Davao City, within Davao province (in red) |
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The ARMM can be dangerous for foreign tourists, especially
Basilan and Jolo, but that doesn't mean all of
Mindanao should be avoided! |
The warning on traveling to the whole island of Mindanao is
misplaced to say the least. Davao is actually one of the safest cities in the
Philippines. On the plus side it means there are fewer tourists, which is great
for those of us who do venture out!
My plan was to spend a few nights in Davao, rent a motorbike,
and drive all the way to the northeast end of Mindanao. From there I’d take a
ferry to the nearby island of Siargao, where Joanna and Justin had flown from
Manila. Trevor was also planning on meeting us there, and Mike, my OSU buddy,
was even considering stopping by.
Davao itself didn’t have much to offer from a tourist
perspective – during the two days I spend there I saw only a handful of
Westerners, and I think they were expats. Since so few tourists visited, there
were no motorbike rental shops. I asked around at dozens of repair garages but
nobody knew of a place to rent.
I thought I’d have to bus it from Davao City, but fortunately
the taxi driver that picked me up from the airport found a bike I could rent.
It was his brother-in-law’s bike, an old Honda that had seen better days. The
odometer was broken, and the swing arm (the metal bar holding the back wheel in
place) looked iffy. Rence, the cab driver, said they could replace the swing
arm, but it would take a few hours. I was looking to head out that day but
figured better safe than sorry.
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| Checking out my bike at the gas station in Davao |
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| Some last minute repairs; Rence, the taxi driver, is on the right |
I’m glad I chose to wait, because after removing it we found
a crack on the inside of the metal bar. If I hit a big bump, who knows, the
back wheel might have fallen off!
I left Davao around lunch time and made it to the town of
Valencia by early evening, where I spent the night. That evening I was eating
BBQ on the street when two gay guys introduced themselves and invited me for a
drink. I point out that they were gay not to say they were hitting on me, but
because gays tend to be more open and accepted in the Philippines than most of
the rest of Asia. They were guys, but one of them had long hair and wore
make-up, and the other appeared feminine too. We had a couple beers and ended
up singing karaoke with their friends! They were genuinely nice and just wanted
me to enjoy my stay in Valencia.
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| View on the way to Valencia |
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| I traveled light - just the blue backpack |
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| The karaoke gang |
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Manny Pacquiao is everywhere, even
on the karaoke song list! |
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| Lake outside Valencia that I visited the morning after karaoke. One of the locals I met that night was my guide. |
Next up was Cagayan de Oro, a city on the north coast of
Mindanao, where I spent two nights. A friend of mine from Cebu connected me
with a buddy of his in Cagayan. He invited me to come out to his bar on Friday
night. I’d woke up early that morning in Valencia and had a long day on the
bike, but I thought I might as well enjoy myself.
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| Just before I reached the coast as I was heading to Cagayan de Oro. |
It was a fun night and a rough morning. Actually I didn’t
even get out of bed until the afternoon! I did take a stroll around town that
evening, but it was largely as wasted day. The bar owner invited me out again
Saturday night, but I couldn’t take two in a row. Instead I had an early one
and woke up Sunday ready to hit the road.
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This is the only picture I have of that
night...things got messy after the 151! |
The drive went quickly, and I was in the town of Butuan,
where I thought I might stop, by early afternoon. I decided to keep going and
managed to reach Surigao before nightfall. Surigao is the city on Mindanao
where you catch the ferry to Siargao (confusing, right?). Since the ferries
only ran in the morning I had to spend one night in Surigao before I could
rendezvous with the gang.
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