Slayer's new home is getting much larger...
The Mallberry Hotel in CDO, opened a couple of years ago with about 120 rooms, and has been full, or almost full, since its opening. Clearly, it filled a ready-made niche in the city, as it's the only decent place, with a reasonable location, in CDO. The hotel is now expanding, and, within the next two weeks will open one of its two newly-constructed wings, with about 140 additional rooms. Shortly thereafter, it will open a second new wing with another 140 rooms, making a total of 400 rooms.
For me, this is great news, since it can be a hassle getting a reservation at the hotel.
During my recent sojourn in CDO, and thanks to a friend who knows the
Place better than I do, I had a chance to try a new restaurant, called La Vetta, located about 300. 400 meters from the Mallberry. The place is terrific, with a European menu of Oso Bucco, Creme Brule, various pasta dishes, and lots of seafood. It's owned by a German chef who trained in Switzerland and has an extensive menu and a very nice wine list. We had a lovely Chateauneuf du Pape for about Php1900. I had one of the better meals I've ever eaten in the country there, and when I'm back in CDO in two weeks, I will surely eat there again.
GE
Butuan...a truly nothing place
I'm stuck in Butuan for the second time in my life, and am, if anything, even less impressed this time than I was the last. There's nothing particularly wrong with the place. It's just a nothing town. If there's a decent restaurant, no one's has ever seemed to have heard of it. Of course, there's been a black out for the past eight or nine hours, which might have diminished whatever enthusiasm I may have felt.
I'm staying at the Almont Inland Resort Hotel. From what I've been told, it's the best hotel in town and would rate, at best, 2.5. It's set up like a low end resort, with a couple of swimming pools and rooms stretching along two paths alongside the pools. The rooms are spartan (though clean), with single beds. There happen to be three of the latter in my room, so I guess it's set up for a small family, with a mother and father who don't want to share sleeping space.
The "hottest" club in town is just outside the front entrance to the hotel. I'm told it attracts reasonable crowds from about midnight onward, which is way past my bedtime, since I'm working. The place is called Moffs and I know nothing about it, except that it makes the rattiest club on Burgos St. look like a palace.
Aside from Davao, which has stable and pretty reliable power, Mindanao is in power crisis, and there are brown outs every day spread throughout the region. Though the crisis is not limited to Mindanao, it's at its worst here and will doubtless push the country even further down on the international competitiveness indices, if it's possible it can get any lower. Allegedly, the problem is caused by a lack of adequate rainfall, which means that the hydroelectric plants cannot produce at capacity. Given that the plants that can still generate electricity from coal are old and fail frequently, the future power outlook for the region doesn't appear very sanguine. Fortunately, the hotel has a generator, so everything works, including the a/c and, I suppose the TV.
There's no internet in the rooms here, though I think there's free wifi in the outdoor eating area. Tonight, I asked to see the wine list, so the waiter brought over a drinks menu. After explaining twice that I had hoped to see a wine menu he asked if I wanted a glass or red or white. The third time was the charm and I got a (very) small list, the highlight of which was a Ventisquiero Cabernet Sauvignon...an undistinguished but drinkable Chilean wine that I can buy in Davao for about Php500. The price on the menu was Php1,300. I ordered a bottle and the waiter nodded, disappeared, and then came back to explain that "it's not available except in white." And so it goes. There's a tired looking buffet in the open air dining area that looks as if the food has been standing around for the better part of the evening, which is why I went to McDonalds.
In short gentlemen, there's no reason that I can think of that anyone would want to come here. There are a couple of flights a day from Manila and maybe one or two from Cebu. When I leave on Friday, I'll fly to Manila and then catch a flight to Davao, which will take quite a while but beats driving.
GE
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Cotatabato - Stay Away, Far Away
I am writing this from the not-so-glorious city of Cotabato, while sitting in my room in the half-star Estosan Hotel, and reflecting again that this city has absolutely nothing to offer anyone. Of course, I'm here for a couple of days because I have to be here for work, and not from any desire to explore this part of Western Mindanao.
It's been a couple of years I guess since I've been coerced into coming here, and it doesn't look to my as if anything much has changed. There's nothing here to attract anyone who may read this forum. That alone, plus the fact that it can be a fairly dangerous place, should be enough to deter anyone even remotely considering venturing here.
I took a "suite" in the hotel, since it was the nicest accommodation available. When I checked the room, I realized that the bathroom smelled as if someone had perhaps slaughtered a fairly large animal there fairly recently. The stench was a bit overwhelming, but I have to admit was dispersed quickly once the staff had immersed the entire room in disinfectant. Now the room smells only faintly of cheap cleaning solution, which is an improvement over the smell of decaying organic matter I suppose.
As far as I know, there's no Internet connection in the hotel. I'm using a PLDT modem, and that's pretty slow, which is an indication that the cell signals here are weak. It is not safe to venture outside at night, and I'm pretty sure there are no taxis at any rate, so this wouldn't be an option for most guys.
If any of you out there is radio land are corresponding with sweet young things from the area, I strongly suggest that you tell them to take the 5 hour bus ride to Davao to meet you and don't even think of coming here.
GE