Southern Philippines continued
Forgot to mention local buses between cities a bit slow with many stops but interesting and possibility to meet interesting people. Avoid using local buses if raining as many are old and glass windows are not in place only ply wood shutters which tend to block your view and ventilation also air becomes steamy with a bus full of wet people in a non a. C. Bus. Generally the further south you go from Tacloban the less you will see of tourists except around big towns with ferry ports the people are more friendly not trying to rip you off few or no beggers or street urchins. Long distance buses example Manila to Mindanao not recomended for old folk like myself and difficult to re book if you break your journey at an interesting place or if you need a rest. Up market accomodation few and far apart but once you try some low cost accomodation you will find it quite comfortable apart from continious noise but most business closes by 7pm so sleep is not a problem Food variety or edible food can be found so no need to eat the products of Jolybee or Mc Donnalds.
General Santos City (near Davao)
Have never been to GSC, the tuna capital, but here is some info if anyone is thinking of a visit.
According to the DIVE GUIDE / THE PHILIPPINES by Jack Jackson there are several very good dive / snorkel sites in Sarangani Bay.
Dive site
[url]http://www.tunadive.com/index2.html[/url]
The hotel where the dive office is:
[url]http://www.tunadive.com/index2.html[/url]
Some other dive info:
[url]http://www.divesarangani.com/[/url]
Taaz bar?
Located at the Rooftop of Citifront Lodge, Pioneer Avenue Gen. Santos City,
X
Nice Resort Near GenSan ........ ISLA PARILLA
I made vague reference before regarding a very pleasant resort I stayed at
Close to General Santos. It is called ISLA PARILLA RESORT and is located about 10 miles east of GenSan. There is a website for this place, but I doubt it is monitored, so best to make reservations through Sydney Hotel in GenSan.
The resort is out in open countryside, cottages located on stilts over large fish ponds. Nice local construction, no aircon, but reasonably cool.
Food is adequate. Swimming pool, located in a garden setting is very nice.
Took one girl with me the first day. No problem, However, when I brought two others over the next day, tongues openly wagged. This spooked the girls and spoiled my fun. So, definitely a BYOG place with the emphasis on the singular.
Would be an ideal place to bring one of your GenSan chatmates for a few days of are & R.
The German bank robber of La Union!
[QUOTE=Skip Kost]San Fernando is the provincial capital of La Union Province, midway between San Juan and Bauang, and its biggest city. San Juan is about 5 km north, and Bauang is about 6 km south of San Fernando. [/QUOTE]Many years ago I spent a couple of weeks at a small beachside resort on the road to Bauang, just outside La Union. It was run by a nice German guy and his lovely Filipina partner. I forget the name of the resort but it had chalet style bungalows with their own kitchen facilities and lush gardens, lovingly tended by the owner who I think was a Berliner. The girl that I was with got very friendly with the Filipina, who told her an interesting story which she passed on to me. The German had apparently formerly worked for a prominent Berlin bank and one day, tiring of his humdrum life as a banker, had stolen or embezzled hundreds of thousands of Euros (or Marks – it was a good while ago) from his employer and run off to The Philippines with the ill gotten gains:D.
I often wondered if the story was true and if so did the long arm of the law finally catch up with Heinz (forget his real name)?