Davao City to Surigao


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?


Davao City, within Davao province (in red)
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.


Checking out my bike at the gas station in Davao
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.


View on the way to Valencia
I traveled light - just the blue backpack
The karaoke gang
Manny Pacquiao is everywhere, even
on the karaoke song list!
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.


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.


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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