Phili phili pinnes

I finished off Thailand with a couple of great days (nights really) in Koh Phi Phi. The partying in Thailand has been amazing, but now I am ready to get back off the beaten path.

Yesterday I flew into a city called Davao, on the Philippines’ large southern island of Mindanao. Davao’s not in my travel guide book, so I had no clue what to expect when I arrived here, other that I doubted I would see very many white people.

My only expectation has held strong so far. Other than a guy from Uruguay at the wakeboard park and a couple of white guys in my hotel, this place is pure locals.

I was shocked to see a very helpful tourist information booth when I stepped out of the airplane (I have yet to see one of these in any other Asian country).  They told me about some great things to do here, which I have done.

This morning I went to the Philippines Eagle Centre, where I saw a collection of live large, VERY large, birds of prey. The Philippines Eagle (pictured above) is the highlight, as it is the Philippines’ national bird. It is also one of the largest eagles in the world, as I would estimate about the size of a medium dog. It eats things like snakes, flying lemurs, and small monkeys!

This asian trip has taught me that it is always best to travel by local transport rather than taxis. Here in Davao it is particularly fun because you get to roll around in the back of trucks called Jeepneys. The jeepneys are all painted up in unique colours and designs like hot wheels cars.

After the eagle center I still had most of the afternoon free so I took a jeepney to the Deca Wakeboard Park.

Rather than using boats, you get towed around on your wakeboard by cables that hang in the air. They have created a man-made ‘lake’ that is really a loop like a doughnut.

It is so much fun! It beats regular wakeboarding by a mile: the water is always smooth as glass, the cables always go the same speed so you never have to worry if you’re going too fast or slow, you don’t have to wait your turn, and best of all – it doesn’t hurt when you fall!

It took me the first hour just to get used to the cables and the differences in tension, but by the second hour I was having the time of my life.

The photos unfortunately aren’t of me, but I did hit the jump quite a few times, and even got some boardslides going on the funboxes.

For dinner I was craving pizza, but then I spotted Philippino bbq and decided to have an appetizer. 

I had a few skewers, which were delicious, and then I saw the people at the table next to me sit down with about a dozen skewers. Realizing pizza would never be this good, I followed suit and chewed through as many skewers as I could.

I managed to finish 10 skewers, but I bet I could have eaten 20 if I didn’t get rice. The bill: $1.25. If you count the mango juice cans, which I brought to the meal, the total bill was about $2.50. I love the Philippines!

Here’s a short clip I made of one of the guys cruising around the wakeboard park. The quality isn’t great, but my camera’s built for photos not video.