Ready for an extreme challenge
The Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge
Month: April 2011
Davao sunrise from the top
There are two ways to view the sunrise from the highest point. If you climb Mount Apo, or if you ride on an airplane. If you haven’t yet seen or experience a sunrise from above the clouds, take the first flight back to Davao before the break of dawn, which I love to do. It’s a breathtaking experience.
1st Mount Apo International Boulder Face Challenge
On April 29-30, 2011, one of the toughest adventure races in the Philippines is about to unfold. The Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge is a 24-hour extreme relay starting from the coastal areas of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur to the skyline of Mt. Apo’s boulder face. Participants will undergo exciting tasks of mountain biking, trekking, water tubing and road running.
Davao Island to Highland
An article I wrote for Mabuhay Magazine (Philippine Airlines inflight publication) on September 2009 features my beloved Davao City, with Mount Apo on the cover by partner Rhonson Ng. This is his third cover photo for the publication. We have been contributing regularly for the magazine in our eagerness to promote our beautiful islands.
Cave explorer
My partner Rhonson Ng is a mountaineer and spelunker, whose caving abilities goes back to college years in Luzon. He learned caving photography from a pioneer expert (who is now deceased) and have joined his mentor into mapping and exploring bigger caves in the country years back. Do you know that our city has beautiful caves? Here are some of Rhonson’s works during the 5th Mindanao Caving Forum held in Buda this year. Kudos to his lightning assistant, Arthur Yap, and SPELEO for being the host of this event. (Here’s an excerpt from “A shot in the dark – guide to cave photography” by Peter Jones, a cave photographer since 1969 and has worked with the National Geographic Television) Working in the dark Cave photography, by its very nature, limits the number of people who are going to try it. You must not be afraid of the dark or be claustrophobic, nor afraid to get dirty. In many caves you must also be proficient as a rock climber and know advanced rope work techniques. These …
Davao City in Bloom circa ’96
In my previous blog, I have mentioned that the last time we were able to hype Davao successfully was in 1996 with the tagline “Davao: City in Bloom.” At a young age, I was privileged to have designed the logo which was unveiled at the park by former Councilor Mabel Robillo. Looking at it now, I cringe at the amateurish effort of my skills at that time. Although I already had my PC then (Windows 95, hey!), I still preferred to sketch and paint every design by hand. After that, I had created a few more logo designs for Davao. Nothing spectacular, though. Eek, a young me with my amateurish design back then The design (it was hand drawn and repainted for framing on the wall of the City Tourism Office) and my concept was rather a crude mosaic of all the best things that Davao can offer. By now, Davao has a lot of talented young artists willing to put in their share of ideas for the love of the city. Tweet
Davao Tourism branding launch soon
Tourism forum at the Grand Men Seng function room I am reposting this article below by good friend and colleague Maya Padillo of Mindanao Daily Mirror because she said it well. Davao brand aiming to boost tourism proposed By Maya Padillo, Mindanao Daily Mirror A brand that aims to boost the tourism industry of Davao City is now being processed after a multi-sectoral consultative meeting on the proposed Davao City tourism branding was held yesterday at the Grand Men Seng Hotel. The overview of the proposal was presented by Eastgate Publishing president and Mabuhay Magazine editor-in-chief Simeon Ventura Jr., who presented the marketing plan, brand analysis, and target market. According to Ventura, the brand should cater to the MICE market (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions). The venue should also be acceptable across the board and could accommodate delegates. He said the brand should assure the market that Davao has the infrastructure for MICE. “Let the MICE market put Davao as competitive and worth the trip,” Ventura said. Davao ranked sixth place in tourism among local destinations, …
People’s Park at night
Locals and tourists have something to stare at in delight at night. Evenings in the People’s Park (formerly the PTA Grounds) are filled with families and groups enjoying the cool breeze and marveling at the colored lights in splashing fountains beside the bridge. (Sun.Star Davao/photo by Jojie Alcantara/February 2008)
Davao in DPP Mag (2009)
Digital Photographer Philippines Magazine Issue 27 (August 2009) featured Davao in 3 glorious spreads. The article was well written by Dariel Quiogue, accompanied by photos of Rhonson Ng, buddies Paul Borromeo and Carlos Munda (underwater image), and mine. Rhonson and I constantly find opportunities to promote our beloved city in several ways. DPP is available in bookstores nationwide (P300+) Photos by Rhonson Ng (boat and main photo Mt. Apo), Jojie Alcantara (sunrise in Times Beach) and Paul Borromeo (tribe in sepia) Photos by Rhonson Ng (whitewater rafting, Mt. Apo and Samal bat cave), Jojie Alcantara (Leticia by the Sea resort), Paul Borromeo (tribe in sepia) and Carlos Munda (underwater pygmy seahorse) Photos by Rhonson Ng (whitewater rafting, Mount Apo and Philippine Eagle), Jojie Alcantara (Turtle Sanctuary in sepia) and Paul Borromeo (Kadayawan Festival performer and tribesmen in sepia) To view more of my photos, click to my gallery site Tweet
In memoriam: Roger Layson
My shot of Kuya Roger in Compostela Valley’s falls, 2003 (back then I was using a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera, it came out this clear and sharp because of the lighting in the falls) April 4, 2011 – RIP, Roger Layson In loving memory of good friend, mentor and long time media colleague, veteran journalist of Mindanao Daily Mirror and lifestyle columnist, Kuya Roger Layson, who has contributed a lot to the tourism and media industry of Davao for decades. He has worked for the Department of Tourism for years, and then became a consultant in the City Mayor’s Office after retirement.RGL and me in Pastor Quiboloy’s birthday party RGL (as we called him) has “discovered” me in 1991 when I was just a skinny girl with a different career path. At that time, I was fresh out of college with low self esteem and little qualifications in my resume, and was working at the front desk of Apo View Hotel. His office (Dept of Tourism) was at the second floor. But …