Other Areas

Victoria Suites. Divisoria area, across the street from the amphitheater. Stayed there a year ago and had a problem with internet service (defective wifi routers). Not a bad little budget hotel, with a breakfast, for p850. Was assured in email that the wifi system was fixed. When I got there, this was not the case. Wifi was simply unavailable in certain areas of the hotel (reported on earlier). If you don't need the internet, there is fast food, restaurants, laundry, etc nearby. The night cafe street party on the weekends is a block away.

Departed quickly for Philtown hotel. On Macahambus, just off Velez steet. Philtown is nice all-around, for many reasons. Rooms are large and not spartan, p1000 / night. Decent wifi. Attentive staff when you speak to them, but not always in following thru with the request; must sometimes ask several times. For instance, I mentioned that it was cold in the room, and the guy at the front desk said he'd get the temp up a few degrees. Called down 2 hours later, the guy is on his way up (so they said). Went to the mall, return 2 hours later, still cold. Complain at the front desk. They inform me that they have central aircon, and there is no way to change the temp, other than to cover the vent. I requested they cover the vent, which they did. 2 hours later. A good question: why didn't you just tell me in the first place about the central air? Con: no elevator.

Other than the air (which was fixed by covering the vent) , its a good hotel. I like the location. From the hotel door, turn left, walk a few steps to the convenience store on Velez. Turn right and walk the short block to the intersection, and Lexi's Grill is there, a large open-air restaurant, with live band (well, a karaoke guy and several gals who sing well) singing love songs. A lovely place to sit and sip beer or have dinner and listen to music. Another open-air bbq place a block away is Inilog Grill. Good food and acoustic live band. A few doors from Lexi's is a laundry and another restaurant. Around the corner from the restaurant is a massage place (p250). Great location. Room was p1000, and the hotel buffet breakfast (not bad) is p185 (not included).

Velez street is a main drag. There is a high school and college just across the street from the convenience store. Got hit on one evening by a sweet young thing, across from the college, as I walked out to Velez to get a taxi. You can walk Velez about 10 blocks down to the divisoria area. I walked this most mornings just to walk, and I like walking the divisoria area with a cup of coffee. I'm usually out for a walk by 5am. Caution, schools start at 6am, and traffic shuttling the youngsters can be hectic starting around 5:45-6:10.

Girls. I've had at least one bad experience in CDO with the ladies, where they all crapped out at the last minute. But not this time. I have a chatmate who has supplied a girl or two in the past, but this time someone turned the spigot on full-blast. She supplied a girl (pics to follow, call her G1) , age 19, for the night. After the first ditty I asked if she wanted to go down to the Night Cafe, and off we went. I was about to get a taxi when she said her cousins were coming, and as we turned around, there they were, two more young cuties (G2, G3) , walking up. Instead of night cafe they wanted to walk to a nearby bar they had not been to. Off we went. A large Red Horse was p90, and the 3 petite girls knocked it right down. We were on our 4th large RH is less than half an hour. Where do three 90-100lb girls put all that beer? I was sipping mine. Finally we left the cousins there and knocked off for the night in the hotel.

Night 2. I've arranged a meeting with a chatmate, and I'm waiting for her to arrive in the mall. G1 txts, saying she has a friend who needs some help, and can spend the night (G4). Wow, a man should have it so bad. After meeting with the chatmate, I decided not to take her to the hotel (too shy / innocent) , so went for lunch. Later that evening met with G4 and wow, what a cutie. Off to the room and a great body. The next morning we eat the hotel breakfast and off she goes.

Night 3: A while later she txts, asking for a repeat, and says she can bring a friend. She shows up that evening with G2 (G1's cousin, the tiny squirt who likes to down RH beer). A three-some, sweet!

This is the way it went. I was unable to get around to my chatmates and previous girls in CDO because G1 / G4 kept me busy. Sometimes its cold in the province. Sometimes its not.

I don't remember that post Col, but GV has been there a few years. I've popped in twice just to check out the rooms and get the phone number, but both time I never made it past the check in counter. I don't remember why, sorry. Sometimes if the service seems slow or the questions aren't answered smoothly, or they start asking questions of their own, rather than answering mine. I get bad vibes and walk out.

The old Midtown (now Summit) was like that. I ask,"how much?", they reply,"how long will you stay?" I explain that I'm checking room rate and ask for a brochure or pamphlet and they don't have one. I say "thanks", and leave. I did stay at Midtown one time and it was okay, but I did't like the elevator situation, nor the front desk service.

Has anyone stayed at the Mercedes lately?

[QUOTE=Col Law; 1439638]I recall there was a report on the GV tower Colon, about it being girl friendly poor wifi signal longe area only and not to take the breakfast as it was so bad, I can't remember who posted the report but it was quite a full report about the action nearby also, there are still some small reports in the Cebu hotel forum by cheapy.

Colin[/QUOTE]

Hotel review for Dottie's Place Hotel, Butuan.

Its not a budget hotel per se, its a step above that (but not that much). Nice large lobby with couches, restaurant, conference rooms. A very nice pool, and next to that is a large covered area with tables and chairs for eating the breakfast buffet (included in the price). There's a flat-screen TV at the buffet area, and they were showing the NBA finals live while I was there. The dining area outside is normally empty after the breakfast, but when there was a playoff game on, lots of locals show up to watch (same thing happened at Philtown Hotel in CDO). As the hotel charges a day-charge for non-guests to use the pool, I asked the front desk if they charge the locals to come in and watch the game. 'No sir. They will buy a drinks and foods. ' Oh, no they won't. I watched almost an entire game one morning, and at times several other games (here and at Philtown) , and I didn't see anyone (other than myself) order anything. Nada. Why would poor locals pay the hotel's p65 for a pepsi when he can buy one for p15 elsewhere? I didn't mention it to the Staff, but found the thinking interesting.

Front desk staff: pleasant, but none too fast. Housekeeping staff: same. Honey, when I say that the housekeeping cleaned the room and forgot to leave fresh towels, and I say that I'm going to the mall for 2 hours, I really expect the towels to be there when I get back. 'Sorry po. I will inform them now. ' An hour later I see the housekeeping lady walking past the pool. Can I get some towels? 'Oh. Yes sir. I get the towels to you. ' An hour later I call the front desk about the towels. Finally, the towels arrive. Often the service is spot-on, and other times its like this. For newbs, there's not much you can do about this. I don't see much of this in Manila / Cebu / AC, but in the province you can count on small items like this 'not happening' for you most days.

The pool: wow. Large. Always clean, always warm water. There is a sauna right next to the pool. A constant 4' deep. No fence so you can go in 24/7.

Wifi: They claim they have wifi in the rooms, but really when you get to the hotel and quiz them, they say they have a 'wifi hotspot' at the pool area. The router is there somewhere, and you get a nice strong signal if you're outdoors near the pool / dining area. But inside the room its weak, or non-existant, and always intermittent. My room was by the pool and the in-room signal was weak / intermittent. A foreigner with a room away from the pool said there was no signal in his room. Actually, I found it rather pleasant to go sit by the pool or dining area and get my work done. However it would have been nice to also be able to do it in the room as needed.

Room: Deluxe. Queen bed, plenty of room, with a separate single bed. Flat-screen TV. Let me comment of flat-screens. They are a lovely picture quality ONLY if you have a high-def signal. Otherwise they are a fuzzy picture. You never get high-def signal in phils unless you are in a mall at the electronics store. So you're watching fuzz all the time. Having gotten used to 100% hi-def at home, I find this annoying. Having to watch a 1980's telenova (dark and poor picture quality to begin with) in low-def / fuzz with my fucklet (who knows every line and loves this) is annoying. Ah hell, she's buck naked and nuzzled up; shut up and enjoy, Westy.

Room key: electronic, you don't insert the card into the door, you swipe the card just above the door handle to unlock the door (there's a beep). Once inside the room, you must insert the card in a slot to get power in the room. I brought a separate Starbucks card with me for just such purposes, so I could keep the power on while I was out and charge my electronics. However, the slot inside the room for the room-key has an electronic sensor, and recognizes only their room card. Damn, they figured me out. In my review of Sampaguita Suites in Cebu I might have forgotten to mention their solution to this issue: when you remove the key from the slot in the room, it shuts off only the aircon, and the rest of the power outlets work fine.

Buffet breakfast: Simple and fine. Meat choice (s) , seafood choice, regular and garlic rice, scrambled eggs, toast, juice, all you can eat for 2 pax. I had a third guest one morning (my out-in-the-boonies twin-pack hornies) and the charge was p165 at the outdoor dining area by the pool. Oddly they sell fresh fruit on the side (banana p15).

This is the same hotel where the manager came in to look at the aircon one night, pointed at the extra single bed, and told me not to disturb the bed (several times) , or I would get charged an extra-person fee. Nobody batted an eye when I brought two girls in for the night and did not disturb the bed, nor did I get the third-person charge.

Location: Right on the highway as it comes into town from the west (CDO / Gingoog). Right across the street from the Bachelor bus farm, where the busses go to rest in the evening. If coming into Butuan on the bus from the west, the bus will drop you right at Dottie's. One mile walk or jeep east into town to the only mall (Gaisano) , p8 jeep. Never waited more than 30 seconds for a jeep in front of the hotel, they are in constant supply. In fact I jeeped all over town, learning the system just by asking locals where to get off and what jeep to take next. The longest I waited for a jeep anywhere was 90 seconds. Now I know why every pinoy carries a handkercheif. All jeeps and all trykes in town are p8. If the tryke driver thinks your requested location is too far for him to drive, he won't ask for extra, he just ignores you and drives away. There are one billion orange trykes in Butuan. I also found that if the driver balked at my intended location, he was fine with it once I said I would give him a bit extra. Two blocks east of Dottie's is a large, new, high-end office space strip mall. It looks out of place, the architecture is too nice, and butuan is mostly a bario. There's a new Bo's Coffee right next to it (also looking out of place).

New mall: A mile west of Dottie's on the highway a new Robinson's Mall is going up. Sign says opening is Sept. 2014. There's a lot of development in / around town, including higher-end homes going up out towards the san vicente bridge.

Other than having to go outside for the wifi, I recommend Dottie's. A few pics of Dottie's pool and outdoor dining area, the city hall, and the provisional capital building.

[QUOTE=Westcoast1; 1440734]Hotel review for Dottie's Place Hotel, Butuan.

. SNIP. .

Other than having to go outside for the wifi, I recommend Dottie's. A few pics of Dottie's pool and outdoor dining area, the city hall, and the provisional capital building.[/QUOTE]Great review Westy.

A good template for others to follow.

I always stay at Dottie's when I visit Butuan. Note that it is used by many government departments for accommodation and for seminars etc and on both times last year that I stayed there it was fully booked (half of it was with my group) , which meant that breakfast was slow and services were even slower than WC mentioned. Just saying in case you try it and find it is busy.

Hi,

Anyone got some more recent info info on these places.

Since I will not make it to Puerto Galera before las ferry I will stay in Batangas until morning.

So far I booked SM Travel. Seems to be in the middle of the Action. Any tips here?

After that to puerto galera. So far I just booked the Tropicana Castle Dive Resort that is GF friendly accoding to another side specialising on GF Hotels.

Besides that I only got the info that the BF is 3000 as a Standard out of my RTFF. OMG. I guess its right to Subic or AC after my 4 days there.

[quote=osuul; 1449716]hi,

anyone got some more recent info info on these places.

since i will not make it to puerto galera before las ferry i will stay in batangas until morning.

so far i booked sm travel. seems to be in the middle of the action. any tips here?

after that to puerto galera. so far i just booked the tropicana castle dive resort that is gf friendly accoding to another side specialising on gf hotels.

besides that i only got the info that the bf is 3000 as a standard out of my rtff. omg. i guess its right to subic or ac after my 4 days there.[/quote]i was there at sabang puerto galera for 3n4d sometime back.

i prefer mermaid resort right opposite, where i stayed. much more elegant in its plain-ness and modern simplicity. i took a tour of the tropicna rooms before i left. tropicana is a little too tacky for my liking. and some rooms have dining tables right in front of the door! i would have found that to be very inhibitory as most of the gals i took have been a little noisy during the action. i saw a board hanging on the tropicana outer wall that offered a room at 1250php or something close with concessions for diving as well. much lower than any website almost half if i recall correctly.

the only problem with mermaid (and many resorts i stayed in elsewhere) is that the western commode does not have a spray nozzle attached. being a stickler for hygine who likes to soap fastidiously after a potty i found it highly inconvenient. then i was worried how i would enjoy @n@l with the gals if they could not clean themselves well. but i was surprised everywhere. i hardly saw a speck of brown at the tip of the raincoat each time.

yep barfine is 3k but you can haggle a little. but you can get away by paying less if you are a late-nighter who can scout at 1am or later.

if you want more details about the bar scene just ask me in this thread, i will reply later tonight. its about time i posted some frs. been procastinating all the while.

will post some pics as well.

hth.

-peeman

Not a happy development.

The oft-mentioned street parties in CdO just became riskier to attend.

The death toll is now 6 killed; some of them were attending a Doctors' Conference in CdO.

[url]http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/07/26/13/4-killed-cagayan-de-oro-blast[/url]

WC, great report on Dotties. It has been a couple years since I was there but sounds the same. There is a wall fountain that feed the water to the pool when I was there and many would stand under it.

Yes I marched them in and out no issue. No safe in room but lock box at front desk with 2 keys work just fine.

There was a massage company and many uniformed girls in the lobby all night, but all I could ever get was legit massage. They went to other hotels from the lobby mostly.

Thanks for taking the time. RED

[QUOTE=Red Kilt; 1451116]Not a happy development.

The oft-mentioned street parties in CdO just became riskier to attend.

The death toll is now 6 killed; some of them were attending a Doctors' Conference in CdO.

[url]http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/07/26/13/4-killed-cagayan-de-oro-blast[/url][/QUOTE]Yes a very tragic incident which will know doubt heighten the concerns about travelling to the Mindanao region and support the travel advisories of many countries saying "be alert or don't go".

The bombing occurred in outside the Limketkai Mall in the Rosario area where there are numerous cafes and just 200 metres from Malberry Suites where many on this forum have stayed. It is an area where I have occasionally dined with a chat-mate, sitting outside Kylas Bistro, (where the bombing occurred) or the adjacent Candys and Siam Thai restaurants, watching the world go by. Perhaps my own alert levels will be raised after this, but generally Cagayan de Oro and the much larger Davao to the south have been, and are, relatively safe Mindanao cities. I say "relatively" in relation to the other areas of Mindanao (particularly in the south and west) , and in some other areas of the world where deranged people, or so called terrorists are on the loose. E. G. Reported overnight the Florida madman who shot 6. [

[url]http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gunman-holding-hostages-fla-apartment-complex-kills-article-1.1410485[/url]

].

The motivation for the CdO bombing, an improvised device, is not clear. It doesn't seem to be Muslim insurgency related. It maybe political. Last month's elections resulted in a new CdO mayor who has taken immediate steps to tidy up the city and remove traffic blockages. All the street vendors encroaching onto the road at Cogon and Carmen markets have been removed overnight, and the Divisoria night market on Friday and Saturday night has been temporarily closed until transportation and sanitation issues are addressed. Taxis and jeepneys older than 15 years have been given notice to upgrade or they will be off the road within 4 months.

However there is a Keystone Cops image to all this. The crime scene was hastily cleared and the area reopened for business within 12 hours, without thorough investigation (vis the Boston Marathon bombing).

[url]http://www.goldstardailynews.com.ph/more-top-stories/roxas-frowns-over-move-to-clean-crime-scene.html[/url]

KongKing

Just had. 3 days in Cagayan de Oro. There hadn't been a lot of updates recently but CDO turned out to be pretty much as described by earlier correspondents. Ramadan in Indonesia means that all those lovely little facebook friends dry up for they don't like to "haram" in the holy month and your correspondent couldn't face the thought of a billion people with acetone breath and no sex so here we are in Sunny CDO.

Took a room at Seda hotel which was nice. Internet worked, nice bed which got the usual working out, crap breakfast and the worlds most scowling doorman. I couldn't help but wonder whether he just didn't like me or was it something to do with the series of young ladies that I would traipse past him each night. This guy was a serious walk of shame strategist.

Fortunately this was a hotel designed by friendly walk of shame strategist and OS only had to endure the medusa stare from this punk for a flash before whipping his conquest into the elevators, pushing that wonderful button that closes the doors and upward ho! Another conquest by our valiant knight.

One rather disconcerting thing apart from the look of death from our friendly doorman was that the whole building started shaking from an earthquake shortly after checking into the room. This apparently is fairly common in CDO but for this correspondent who hails from earthquake free zones it was a new experience to be shaking around on the 9th floor of a newly built hotel listening to my coins rattling around in the room safe.

As forecast here, the dia girls proved to be almost more trouble than they were worth and OS had to again face the fearsome gamult of ravenous families, horny fat aunties, suspicious moms and the usual local time zone differences."Lets meet at 4" means "you get there at 4 and let me know you're there and I will start getting ready"

Maybe I just drew the unlucky straws with these dia girls. They were nothing but a waste of time. In the end I invited a lovely sweetie over from nearby Iligan city by sending her a 1000 fare which she dutifully honoured and turned up with her charming old auntie next morning at the chowking.

Having obtained the aunties blessing, she had no compulsions on sliding out of a tight little pair of shorts and letting OS play with her very very wet little pussy. This girl stayed the night which probably cramped my bargirl style a bit but after a few round at the bars This correspondent is ready for a bit of good old fashioned intimacy.

Of the bars in Divisoria, there was as reported, some very good talent but barfines high. 3000 to 3500 for the places with the prettier girls although these girls were pretty. Mamasans all Ladyboys and sneaky. Do not take them at their word if they tell you a girl has no baby, ask her yourself.

I don't know if anybody else is like me but I have an inbuilt aversion to signing anything in those places and like to pay for my drinks as I go. It seemed to be a particular CDO thing that change never seemed to be forthcoming untill you demanded it or that the taxi drivers would withhold 100 peso's from the change.

Apart from that it was all as previously posted. The best part of CDO to my mind was the quality of the girls and for the best part that they were drama free. Of the 5 barfines over two nights, only one was any drama and I should of picked that the way she hassled for lady drinks at the bar. It being, however, a short taxi ride to return her to bar and exchange for another.

They do talk though and there is always the question mark hanging over you of why has this not worked out which I kind of resent when I try to go out of my way to treat these girls respectfully I think this girl was just on mindless autopilot untill she realised that very soon she was going to be putting out at which point she started carrying on about being scared and only wanting to do BJ. If she hadn 't been so aggressive on the LD front at the bar I might have indulged her but she just didn't seem to have a very good grasp of the rules of the game.

Fortunately her replacement worked out just fine, sent her on her way with a tip and box of chocolates just to [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord140][CodeWord140][/url] her whinging colleague off a little more.

So now out of there and winging it to Europe. One word of warning is that the DIA concept of punctuality that drives us all crazy extends to their airlines. We sat at the departure gate for 30 minutes in a Cebu Pacific plane from Manila to HK while they waited for 5 passengers from a late connector flight. Then endured more delays getting away, Leaving your gallant correspondent the final quest of his journey of sprinting 1500 meters through HK airport to the transfer desk with 120 seconds to spare. Whew!

It's hard work being a monger sometimes.

Enjoy.

OS

[QUOTE=Offshore Swell; 1451856]Snips.

Took a room at Seda hotel which was nice. Internet worked, nice bed which got the usual working out, crap breakfast and the worlds most scowling doorman. I couldn't help but wonder whether he just didn't like me or was it something to do with the series of young ladies that I would traipse past him each night. This guy was a serious walk of shame strategist.

One rather disconcerting thing apart from the look of death from our friendly doorman was that the whole building started shaking from an earthquake shortly after checking into the room.

Maybe I just drew the unlucky straws with these dia girls. They were nothing but a waste of time.

Of the bars in Divisoria, there was as reported, some very good talent but barfines high. 3000 to 3500 for the places with the prettier girls although these girls were pretty. Mamasans all Ladyboys and sneaky. I don't know if anybody else is like me but I have an inbuilt aversion to signing anything in those places and like to pay for my drinks as I go.

It's hard work being a monger sometimes. OS[/QUOTE]That's a good comprehensive report Offshore Swell.

Goodenough has also reported on Seda Hotel (in the Dragon Slayer thread). Crap breakfast. For a brand new hotel and their high prices they are going to need much better customer service than scowling doormen. There are 2-3 other upper end hotels emerging in CdO by year end. I was in the city during that earthquake you felt. It was a just a mild rolling rumble and centred way down in Cotabato territory. Scary for a first timer but coming from the Shaky Isles I have been through a few.

Dateinasia girls in Mindanao, not just Cagayan de Oro, need a bit of courting (now that's an old fashioned word!). But if you have the time, and a respectful gentlemanly approach, it can be really worth the effort. I tell my chat-mates I am 100% good and only 30% naughty. A "hehehehe" response can be taken as a very promising signal.

What bars did you get to OS? Yes bar fines in CdO are expensive, but one option is a VIP room for consumable about 1600p for one hour, plus payment to the girl (s). Good tip about paying as you go. I have found Gion and New Love Oro a bit dodgy and a need to watch payment charges. Syreens remains one of the best in town.

KongKing

[QUOTE=KongKing; 1451915]I was in the city during that earthquake you felt. It was a just a mild rolling rumble and centred way down in Cotabato territory. Scary for a first timer but coming from the Shaky Isles I have been through a few.

KongKing[/QUOTE]You guys are a bunch of pussies. Try being stationed in the Nevada Desert when some fool decides to set off an under ground nuke in the middle of the night without putting the word out. The base had regular evacuation drills in case of a mishap but we would have all been dead due to the time it took to get everybody moving. And that was with advanced notice of the drill. ;)

Slim

Oro love city was 1st stop but moved out of there pretty quick. Other bars were Gentlemans club which had quality but also had the complainer and another bar one street back from gentlemans club in opposite direction from Syrens, can't remember name. Nicegirls. Also got takeout from Syrens just after 8 PM. I liked the syrens people, I think a lot of people just want a transparent deal and I got the feeling Syrens offered that.

Hope that helps.

OS

Will be in Ozamis City and need the Cliff's Notes version of any good bars or clubs.

Thanks.