tagum invasion: turista version

an out of town trip shared with a handful of the funnest greatest people in the world, called "brods" for short, is sure to be a blast. we spent the whole day eating, laughing, singing, and anything that kept the mouth busy!

10:30am marvin arrives @ jalibi
apparently, late daw siya nagising... take it from the guy who suggested to move the call time from 10am to 9am... tsk.tsk. makong was about to order food at this time. (but before that, i enjoyed seeing "the illustrado" walking along matina crossing. and i was happy to see that he knew when to get off the jeepney and where to cross the street! haha! peace! lots of first times...)




11:53am panabo terminal
"are we there yet?" has been asked like 58million times at this point! haha! sir val, are we there

11:03am bus moves.. onward to tagum!
ignorante moves begin for us... hehe:) makong's first time to ride the bus. we got lucky coz it was a super new metro shuttle, and it was a lot like a plane, where there were 2 TVs -one by the driver, and another flatscreen in the middle of the bus. they were showing "saving private ryan." there were also buttons above you. one was for the reading light, one was for stopping the bus and the last one, i couldnt quite figure out because it had the drawing of the top half of a person holding a glass... attendant button perhaps? but that's kind of asking for a little too much from metro shuttle right? hehe:)yet? i woke makong up. (some pix of us comfortably bored and making afool out of ourselves in the bus supplied.)

12:00ish lunch @ the rachos'
we were walking on one of the streets of visayan village. then i saw a house with lots of plants and it had a "rainforest feel" to its garden. and i told makong, i liked the house. at akalain mo, yun na pala yung bahay ng brod... hehe:) the house itself is really nice. as in. i like how it guards the master's privacy, because there were many levels, corners, compartments, room, entrances and exits... but it was spacious, airy, bright and it had the "tatak pinoy" feel. there were drift wood installations that had waling-waling paintings all over them. etc... the food? was GREAT! omg. exceptional cook. and i like how there was unending supply, yet the table was not cluttered. their family was also super nice... and lance is a super cute kid. but the brods told him to stay away from me kay mandumug daw ko! haha!

2:31pm "wake up nikki! come here! see you in 10mins."
unlimited beer was being served. we needed nikki. hehe:) so i call my bitch and tell him to join us asap. bagong gising ang lolo mo! y not? masaya ang fiesta the night before... then eyad tell us that there was a doctor who was giving a lecture... and total miscommunication... nobody from our group heard any of it coz we did not understand the instruction. they lang pala, kasi i had an excuse! i went to meet nikki at phoenix. omg! when we got there, nagpalamig kami ni makong sa aircon. and we ended up buying whistle/rattle/magic wands for three of our sisses only ofr 7php each! hehe:) coolness!

2:57pm nikki arrives @ phoenix (locally pronounced as finex)
nikki arrives. nag-una ang tiyan *period* haha!

3:00ish "suffering" begins
like any pleasant party, there was videoke. and like any town, not everyone is gifted with pitch perfect vocal chords... but unlike any other town, people in tagum seem to be gifted with a deaf ear because no one seemed to mind but us! haha! oh yeah, and it was around this time that nikki informed marvin about an "attemped rape" issue. si makong, na nanlibak (sa gurl na gi-attempt kuno ni marvin i chorvah) naka-kaon ug mananap! haha! omg! karma chameleon is that you? :D


4:00ish we start calling ourselves "Buddhists" add karma to the suffering, and we're officially Buddhists! haha! is it in the amazing tagum that we find salvation? maybe... there was a talk about religion and salvation going on inside the house, while we were being self-indulgent, sharing dirty puns, jokes and gossip, and drinking beer. (marvin breaks a bottle of beer around this time...) apparently, this bunch did not want salvation and dcided to end suffering by taking over the videokeeee!!! yeah, we killed it. we tortured everyone. even val, did not stay with us... it was that bad. pati disney songs, walang kawala! haha! i sang britney's baby one more time! but makong sang mandy moore's candy!... among other songs... hehe:)

8:00ish?? we had dinner!
still supper yummy! we met eroll who was supposed to be one of the founders of kombuyahan... ug sa dihang, buzzed na si val! hehe:)

later in the night... we went for a drive around the city. we went to the fair, plants, dry goods etc were being sold. omg! daming tao! and the hormones! i shall forever remember young people kissing in public in tagum. not a scene of everyday life in davao but apparently, in tagum its perfectly normal. perhaps with bulgari inns and the likes spread over such a small city, its not a surprise why: 1. there were so may kids and young people, 2. there was mucho PDA, 3. there were so many cheap-ass beer houses, 4. nikki lied about doing his thesis on KEnan! haha! chix night pala yun! haha!

oh yeah! the creativity of tagum townies also amazed me... there were shops called mugat (something -i forgot the store. i just remembered mugat! hehe), ilaw lighting fixtures, happy chicken, bulgari lodge, and a shirt that said "the amazing tagum" (next to the shirt with mayor uy's face on it) which became the reason for an explosion of laughter, and as it turns out, the mayor's daughter was selling it... but seriously, i want one. i wanna remember this night, i thought...

i also saw the 4or 5-storey christmas tree! it was near the banana que vendors assn... tagum has a big concrete establishment for them by the way... your dumb as a cow if you miss it. its in the town center, fronting the "barbikyuhan" where there is a gathering of bikers of tagum. omg! dami motor! iskeri...

what else??? wide highways that lead to everywhere! they have 2 jalibis, mandarin, a huge mcdo in the middle of town, gaisano, (and a gaisano mall is being constructed), the official house of the governor, the capitol which looked like the one in calamba... magkilam! a dark area in tagum which boasts of its own red light district and a highway in a village and half of mangkilam is owned by nikki.

nga pala! tagum has this three storey place which is perfect for sleezy folks! the first storey is a beer garden, the second storey is for hubo-hubo, and the third floor is a gay bar! perfect isnt it? i forgot the name of the place though... tsk tsk.

the bus ride home? well, we got on LCI! haha! long step down from first class bus to super economy! plus, it was drizzling outside, so uhm... talsik anyone? we wore shades to protect some parts of the face from the water. it was a pleasant ride though. cool breeze, oldies songs, the darkness, the drizzle... pang emote! hehe:)

i did not want to go home yet, because 1. i had so much fun in tagum 2. i had so many causes for worry in davao 3. i have so many responsibilities in davao 4. i wanted to have the sense of anonymity and glorious abandon i get when i am in a different place.

there! i might have forgotten many others, and of course the jokes we shared will not be posted here, but this is post is enough for me to remember the tagum invasion 5 years from now. i could not have asked for better company... salamat! god bless!