Come and discover our city ! Here's a story about the opening of MICECON 2013 in Davao City ...

Duterte urges MiceCon delegates to discover Davao

DAVAO CITY, March 7 (PNA) -- As Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte welcomed the delegates of the MICE Con 2013, he urged them to discover the city and see for themselves what the city and the locals can offer them.

Duterte welcomed the delegates during the opening of the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibits) Conference 2013 on Thursday held at the SMX Convention Center at SM Lanang Premier in this city with President Simeon Benigno C. Aquino III as the honored guest.

The Vice Mayor said the city government is grateful of hosting the event as “it gives us the opportunity to show to both foreign and local delegates the beauty of its surroundings and the best of our economy.”

He said, “we could learn from each other as well as create good will.”

“Davao City has much to offer,” he said.“But I want you to discover them for yourselves and see what the locals can offer you.”

He said a lot of changes has been happening here from construction of buildings to new business establishments.

“Our population marks at 2 million and still growing,” he said. "That is why we need the investments here."

He said "you can explore our city, spend a vacation, or perhaps open your business here."

The Davao Host Organizing Committee worked closely with the Department of Tourism to ensure the successful hosting of the MICE Con this year.

Experts are assigned to take charge of secretariat activities, attendance, transportation and tours, airport reception, accommodations, MICE Market Place, MICE Mart, socials and food and beverage, ways and means, safety and security, and finance.

During the pre-conference activity, the delegates had the Davao Adventure Challenge at the Davao Crocodile Park Complex as well as a guided tour within the park on March 6.

The Mice Market Place was also opened in the morning of March 7 while the Leaders Forum continued in the afternoon of the same day. A Mayor's Night will be held in the evening at the Grand Ballroom of D'Leonor Inland Resort for the Themed Dinner “Madayaw Dabaw ! Life is Here."

On the final day of the event is the MICE Mart, a business-to-business and face-to-face meeting between buyers and sellers of travel and tour products, services and facilities.

The MICE Con will that run until weekend also dealt mostly for the buyer and seller appointments. Over 500 delegates joined the MICON Con 2013. (PNA) 

FPV/ASA/Prix Digna D. Banzon/ldp

I see magic in this kingdom ...

As fairy tale stories happened in palaces, in kingdoms ... the stories go beyond and travel to all corners of the world ... from places to places ... from one home to another ... the story fits all ages ... to both the young and the grown up, the rich and the poor.

While still a kid I read a lot of fairy tale stories and I still love them until today and when there are new 

movies about fairy tale stories, I find time to watch them.

I also love to watch the movies of Walt Disney Production ... very light ... very entertaining ... it has moral 

lessons.

Cartoons also is my weakness so with our youngest that even at our age, my son already a professional, 

we watch cartoon movies together in the big screen.  It gives us a happy feeling watching these movies.

I thought we are only good up to reading them in books and watching them on TV.

Because my husband surprised us with a trip to DisneyWorld where we traveled for 18 hours by plane from the Philippines with another 48 hours land trip from our point of entry at Washington, DC.

The kids enjoyed every minute that we were there and they had a great time with the Disney characters.

Then we had a second trip and I was amazed with what I saw in the Magic Kingdom. So pretty perfect that kids from all over were so excited with the entertainment, the Disney characters, and the place itself.

Tourists buried themselves on numerous entertainment, classic attractions, spectacular parade and fireworks.

I learned that Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld opened October 1, 1971.

Wikipedia quoted Roy Oliver Disney with this  "Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place ... a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn — together. —Roy Oliver Disney 

In a framed poster displayed in the main building there, it said that as a boy Walt Disney was a dreamer. As a boy he traveled the rails of Missouri Pacific Railroad selling newspapers and candy to passengers. His older brother Roy and his Uncle Mike Martin obtained employment with the Sta. Fe Railroad and Walt dreamed of becoming an engineer. His future took a different path but his love for railroad never diminished. In the late 40's, with Walt Disney Production a very successful venture, he focused on building his own railroad, the Carolwood Pacific, a 1/8 scale, live steam railway that traveled 2,600 feet of track around his backyard. The miniature served as the model of Disneyworld Rairoad and the inspiration of the Disney World Railroad.

Reading this I was in awe on the courage of Walt Disney, where from a humble beginning, he went on dreaming and fulfilling that dream.

At the Magic Kingdom a lot of beautiful structures unfolded and my eyes was caught by the Cinderella Palace so amazed seeing it personal because I watched the many structures including the Cinderella Palace of DisneyWorld only on TV.

Awesome, wonderful, amazing entertainment.

There are lots of enjoyment while there.  There are lots of spaces to explore.

For me, it is a place to also dream and be inspired.  For one to work on that dream, reaching out, focusing on it, praying hard that one day that dream come true. My trip to Disney was among the many dreams in my life and yes indeed it was "a dream come true".

Sharing my story on Davao's organized sail pass for foreign sailors set to join Sail Morotai in Indonesia ...

Foreign sailors pick Samal Island as starting point for 2012 Sail 

Morotai in Indonesia 

ISLAND GARDEN CITY OF SMALL, Davao del Norte, Sept. 7 (PNA) --Eleven yachts manned by 

sailors from several countries took off Thursday here towards Indonesia for the 2012 Sail Morotai, 

highlighting the island of Morotai in North Maluku which is site of the World War II battle waged 

under Allied Commander General Douglas MacArthur on September 1944. 

The yachters have chosen this island city in the Davao Region as their starting point for Sail Morotai 

when the 11 sailboats made the traditional sail pass as sailors bade good bye to Dabawenyos who 

sent them off Thursday morning for a safe journey. Dabawenyos waved Philippine flaglets as a horn 

blared signalling a safe and fun sailing. 

  

The private sector activity was held at the Ocean View marina owned by the Holiday Island Garden 

Development Corporation of the Bangayan's family. 



Participants were Australians Michael and Rosemary Lewis (S.V. Expiditus, 36-foot monohull); Daryl 

Nelson (S.V. Metana 2, 38-ft. monohull); Bruno Hammerler (S.V. Freiheit, 38-ft. monohull); 

Christopher and Daun Morris (S.V. More Magic, 43-ft. monohull); Trevor Burridge (S.V. Gadfly, 44-

ft. monohull); Heinrich and Rosita Hetzel (S.V. Ela, 43-ft. catamaran); and Alan Chalk and Marife S. 

Banez (S.V. Break-Away, 43-ft. catamaran). 

Other nationalities were Dutchmen Johannes A.M. Van Run and Maria Helma Verdonk (S.V. Alk, 39-ft. 

monohull); Americans Walter and Jane LeCompte (S.V. Calixto, 46-ft. monohull); Paul and Robyn 

Carpenter of New Zealand (S.V. Shiralee, 35-ft. catamaran); and Belgians Luc Callebaut and Jackie 

Lee (S.V. Sloepmouche, 46-ft. trimaran). 

Gene Bangayan, who is also president of the Davao Tourism Association (DATA), said that through 

social networking and after several exchanges of messages, the group came to Davao and docked their 

sailboats at the marina for some maintenance check in time for their journey to Indonesia. 

The group arrived here middle of August and had the chance to visit places and learned Davao's 

culture, crafts and tradition. "Although they stay in their boats, they go around and experience what our 

city can offer," she said. 

Bangayan said the sailors were issued a special visa by the Indonesian government with no registration 

fee which would allow them to stay in Indonesia for two to six months. She said the Indonesian 

government spearheads the annual sailing activity to promote their different island destinations 

including Talaud which is the nearest point to Talikud Island of Samal. 

On Sept. 15, 1944, allied forces from the United States and Australia under Supreme Commander 

General Douglas MacArthur landed on Morotai and defeated small Japanese troop remaining stationed 

there. Morotai became the air and naval base of the Allied Forces in the South West Pacific that helped 

free the Philippines from Japanese occupation. 

More than 120 yachts are expected to participate in the 2012 Sail Morotai from various countries 

including Australia, Philippines and Malaysia. It will take the yachters some eight days to sail from 

Samal Island to Morotai or arrive about September 15 to 17. 

Bangayan said they are now working on Davao's regular participation on leisure sailing aiming to 

launch the Sail Philippines in 2013 where sailboat owners can participate for fun. 

"We thought of expanding and sustaining our linkage with them (sailors) in order for them to come back 

and bring more participants by initiating events in Mindanao," she said. 

Department of Tourism (DOT) regional director Art Boncato said considering that participation will 

be from different countries, "we will elevate it to national scale and mark it as an identifying event for 

Sail Philippines." 

He said this requires lot of interventions but DOT will take the lead in getting inter-agency support like 

the Customs Immigration Quarantine Security (CIQS) task force. 

"But in the future perhaps we can have our own sailing brand as the island is full of eco-adventure, 

eco-tourism," he said. 

Boncato said the sailors that just left Davao have their own blogs where they can talk about their 

experiences here, a good exposure on what Davao offers which can draw interests from around the 

world. (PNA) LAM/PrixDignaDBanzon/LDP/UTB

Sail Morotai of Indonesia

Sail Morotai of Indonesia set their voyage with a sail pass where Dabawenyos sent them off Thursday morning (Sept. 6, 2012) at the Samal Island to start for a safe journey. Eleven sailboats made the traditional sail pass as sailors bade good bye and Dabawenyos wished them safe trip, waved Philippine flaglets and horn blown signalling a safe and fun sailing. The activity was private sector initiated held at the Ocean View marina owned by the Holiday Island Garden Development Corporation of the Bangayan's Family. (PNA photo courtesy of Davao Bureau) prix d banzon FFC/gsc

From mails to trains ...

Reviewing the memory cards of my camera, I came across 
with this photo of the United States Post Office in New York
City and when I zoomed the photo, the signage says ... 
"The Future Home of Moynihan Station" ...

The post office building was constructed in 1908-1913 and 
thereafter were several expansions in its location of 8 acres 
at 421 St., 8th Avenue, NY.  The post office is open to the 
public 24/7 each week. 

The Future Moynihan Station is a planned station that 
would expand the Penn Station to the office building which 
had its groundbreaking in 2010 and expected to be complete 
by 2016. Known as the busiest train station of the country, 
its passengers accounted to over 550,000 daily.

Once operational four years from now, all mail processing 
operations will be relocated to the Morgan Processing 
and Distribution Center, which is one block away from 
there.  The US General Post Office was designated a 
landmark by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission 
in 1966.

Super thankful I had this photo, taken in October 2011, 
before it becomes a train station in 2016 in NYC.
  
However, I'm just wondering with an advance IT 
country like the US and NYC for that matter, people still 
send mails through the post office.  

On my recollection I had my last mail/package sent at the 
Davao City Post Office way back in 2005.  What with email, 
Facebook, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, etc. which is easier 
and fast. 

But then I still got mails with two of my latest were from 
the bank that I need to acknowledge it personally 
because it was a registered mail that contains, a summary 
among others of withholding tax and more taxes.  

We used to receive also through mails from 
Ateneo de Manila University furnishing us the report card 
of our son Jose III for us to know the performance of our 
child in school.

Well, despite connectivity, post mail is still 
important. Accessibility like the soon to be 
Moynihan Station is an equally important infrastructure !

Grand Canyon ...

The Grand Canyon Visit ... while you are 
there, one could not help but say all praises to 
the beautiful creation of the Almighty ... 
by bus we travelled to the state of Arizona 
from Las Vegas... not minding the long 
travel because reaching the place was 
indeed rewarding.

On tour were people of different nationalities 
with only one purpose to marvel the beauty 
of the mountain, the shapes, the curves that 
were formed as the water passes through.  
So amazing that everyone of us 
just want to be silent and bring home 
the splendor and the grandiose site in 
this world.

Awesome should I say seeing grasses 
clinging to the rocks, the stones sitting 
at the deepest ground, the branches 
of trees reaching out to the other end of the 
line and the sky beautifully adding color 
to this wonderful world of nature. 

I salute those who labored for making 
this park as pretty as it could be, 
a place where man could reach out 
to nature and hopefully be motivated 
with this nature's park of participating 
and at the same time embracing the call of 
protecting the environment. 

If given the chance, I would love to travel 
to the canyon again and again, 
the Grand Canyon ... perfectly amazing !

View from the top ...

It's happiness viewing my city from here ... it's amazing for me to see the clouds, the trees, the lights and the people ... it's awesome because This is My City, This is Davao City, Viewing the city from Hill Top ... the Dencio's Kamayan ... nice ambiance, good food ...