Taken in one of my trips to Davao del Sur more than two years ago. We just attended one of the meetings of the cooperatives in Digos and going back to Davao City, we saw this God’s beautiful masterpiece. Scenes like this are always a sight to behold–one that makes you leave your pains and worries behind. I need not ask the driver, ‘Nong Mar of the Davao Integrated Development Program (which is under the care of Atty. Wendel Avisado), to stop the car so I could take a good shot of the sunset. He knew I loved the scenery, so I am sharing it with you for your appreciation, as well.

By the way, weekly, I am featuring photos in my blog, so please take time to visit it. Thanks!

(Please respect Intellectual Property rights).

Trust me, there’s more to Iligan than just the Maria Cristina Falls… There’s also the two-tiered Limunsudan Falls which is the highest in the country that measures 870 feet and several other waterfalls which are all worthy of a visit.

Located at the northwestern coast of Mindanao, bounded on the south by the municipality of Linamon of Lanao del Norte; on the north by Lugait, Misamis Oriental; on the east by the territories of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon; and on the west by Iligan Bay.

From Luzon or Visayas, the fastest and most convenient way to get to Iligan is by air to Cagayan de Oro (CDO). From CDO you can take a bus and travel 86 kilometers to Iligan.

Othere Points of Interest in Iligan:

Macapagal-Macaraeg Ancestral House – The ancestral house of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Anahaw Open Amphitheater – It is the biggest open amphitheater in Mindanao and it is the best site to view Iligan City.

Tinago Cold Spring – It has pristine, cool and crystal waters freely flowing towards several swimming pools

“Adlaw sa Iligan” festival commemorates the founding of the city every 16th of June and every 27th of September the city holds the “Kasadya Festival” (literally means merry making) features Iligan’s best dances.

It’s time now to take away the limelight to those mainstream airlines (PAL, Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific) for the mean time and let’s focus on those humble airlines offering the so called “missionary routes” which big airline companies find unprofitable so they are shying away from them. Another reason for mainstream airlines “abandoning” the missionary routes is that their jet aircraft is not suitable for short runways.

One of my friend wants to go to Siargao but she’s having second thoughts because of the possible hassles on going there through Butuan via PAL or ebu Pacific. She doesn’t know that SEAIR flies directly to Siargao via Cebu.

The provinces of Jolo and Tawi-Tawi are now very accessible for foreign or even local tourists from Luzon and Visayas also throughthe help of SEAIR or Asian Spirit Airlines via Zamboanga.

The promo fare of the two airlines for Siargao, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi starts at 1,019 pesos excluding taxes and fuel surcharge.

Photographs are taken from http://www.airliners.net … check out their other cool airplane photos.

Being deported and exiled in Dapitan (which is even within the Philippines) at that time was already mind-boggling experience. I would surmise that it was already a brutal and severe punishment to anybody who would get the ire of Spain for being a filibuster. More than a punishment, perhaps the Spanish friars were trying to nip the bud, thinking that Rizal could keep his mum in the burgeoning rebellion of Filipinos against Spain by isolating him in that remote town in Mindanao.

Read more about this blog.

The year-round one-way fare for services from Manila to any Mindanao destination (and vise-versa) was reduced by more than 30% from P998 to P688. Fares are equivalent to an all-inclusive one-way of a little over 2,000 pesos.

It is advisable for everyone to plan their trips and buy their tickets as early as possible and ideally at least a month before their intended travel date, to get the best availability of the super low year-round fares.

One of the perks of being in development work is the chance to move around the country. For the past 8 years, I have been going in and out of Mindanao, particularly Davao, Zamboanga Peninsula, CDO, etc. I only regret now that I have not blogged earlier. The good thing, however, was that I was able to document my travels through photos, which allowed me to share my travels to family and friends. Some of them are stored in my Flickr account, and this includes the pristine and beatiful Selinog Island, off the coast of Dapitan.

It was just a photo, and my friends were immediately captivated by its rustic beauty. Although I have not been to many beaches in the country, I would say that, Selinog Island, is one of the the best. Even the famous Boracay Island could not compare to its pristine and crystal-clear water (my apologies for Bora fans…). The downside, however, is that the island does not have fresh water and the community depends only on rainwater. During the summer months, they have to fetch water either from Dapitan City or the nearby Apo Island in Negros Oriental.

Since I am honored to be part of Mindanao Bloggers, I deem it just right to feature Selinog Island in my introductory contribution. Know more about me and see more photos of Selinog Island in my blog.

Post Script: Blogie and the rest of the gang, thanks for making me part of the Mindanao bloggers! It is an honor to be a contributor of this blogsite!

If your only concern is to get to point B from point A in a prompt manner in just a fraction of a cost compared with their full-service counterparts then budget airlines are for you.

Most budget airlines offer seat sales regularly. For CEB, bargain hunters should always log-on at its web site every Monday as it is the day seat sales usually starts. I once took advantage of the PISO promotional fare of Cebu Pacific for my Manila-Cagayan de Oro-Manila trip. The 3,000 bucks I paid nearly all went to the Philippine governments as taxes, except for the airline fuel surcharge. One drawback of booking during a seat sale is that your travel date would have to be at least in a month’s time.

For me, I don’t mind traveling with budget airlines when I’m on a vacation because I value more the $avings that I get from them as I can save more than 50% of the ticket price which can buy lots of souvenirs with the money I save… But when I’m on an official trip or someone would buy me a ticket, I don’t mind traveling with a full-service airline like Philippine Airlines. hehehe

happy traveling!