The tomato seedlings are in the soil with their wooden markers. Can’t wait for them to grow and be ready for harvest… I wish it was like farmville where you can harvest stuff in a few hours!

Eggplant seedlings are also in the soil.  While I’m allergic to them, everyone else in the house loves eggplants so might as well plant them as well.

It’s not much to look at right now as the dirt was only placed there a couple of days ago but once everything starts growing, it’s going to be a pretty relaxing sight to see as well as a tasty source of veggies.  Kamunggay and sili seedlings are already on the way as well as onions, basil and other cooking aromatics.

The tomatos are sprouting! A few more days and they’ll be ready for transplanting.

While they may not look like much, these tiny sprouts are the beginnings of green chilli peppers! nomnom!

I figured, why get Lost in Davao when I can get lost in my very own home!

The beauty of the place is that you can literally “get away from it all” because if you book the resort for a day, it’s practically yours for that day.  Your group can be as quiet or as boisterous as you want because of the resort’s exclusivity. What’s more relaxing than having a whole resort all to yourself and not having to compete with hundreds of other guests for space and amenities?

  The resort has a number of cottages, all with air-conditioning (for those who can’t survive without AC) but I find the AC to be something that’s not really needed.  Maybe in the afternoons where it can get really hot but in the evenings, the sea breeze is more than enough to cool you off.

If lying down on the beach and just relaxing is not your thing then you shouldn’t have to worry too much because Leticia by the sea also offers water sports like jet skis…

Getting dragged on the GT3 (inflatable towable boats).

Wakeboarding.

And of course… the occasional wipeout!

(Yes, that’s me in a really strange position)

The dock can also serve as an excellent jump-off point for scuba enthusiasts. Too bad I wasn’t able to dive this trip because of a nagging ear infection but Blogie has a ton of underwater pictures from their dive so I suggest checking his page out.

They also have a central pavilion where the group can gather together for some cards, drinks or whatnot and at the same time enjoy the sea air and the fantastic views.

For me, the highlight of the entire trip was the sunset cruise. Nothing tops off the day better than a cruise with good friends, cold beer and a view that’s just to die for.

Cruising around Talikud Island is one of the few things in this world that I would never tire of.

The open sea, clean air, majestic views of the sunset and Mt. Apo, perfect.

After the cruise, the view of the resort with all of the lights turned on, the night sky clear without city pollution and the beer in your belly warming you against the cold night air… It’s really the perfect end to a perfect day.

And just when you think things couldn’t get any better, you get to wake up to a view like this…

So if you’re ever Lost in Davao or you just want to get lost, far, far away from it all, then check out Leticia By the Sea Resort, while it’s just an hour or so away from the city, it’ll make you feel like you’re in another world altogether.

If you want to make a booking or just need to know more information about the place, you can call up +63(82)224-0501 or visit their website at http://leticiabythesearesort.com

Carmina revealed to us that in celebration of their second year in operation, they’re offering a “Wok All You Can” every Wednesday night for the next two months at only 330 pesos. While this may sound like a typical buffet offering, it isn’t. Everything is freshly cooked and you can order anything and everything from the menu. This eliminates that typical buffet problem of food sitting in a warmer for hours on end, losing its texture and flavor.

Now, on to the food.

We first had the Thai version of fresh lumpia, which was pretty unique in flavor (I’ve had this before and this is pretty much one of the appetizers that I keep ordering from the place).

When there’s fresh, there also has to be a fried version, so we had that as well. Nothing much to say except that I love fried lumpia and I wished that there was more of it.

A new item on the menu which they had us try was their crispy meatballs with a secret filling. At first, I was like “Meh… meatballs” but when I bit into the thing with the curry filling, it was a whole new experience altogether. I wish it were a little bit more spicy but they intentionally toned it down a little bit for those in the group that couldn’t take the spice levels me and Blogie were accustomed to.

Next up was the crispy angel wings. In a twist to your standard chicken wing dish, this was deboned and stuffed with glass noodles and some other aromatics, coated in a batter and deep fried to golden perfection. The downside? Well, again, there just wasn’t enough, but that shouldn’t be a problem when you can order as much as you want.

The first main dish, the satay sticks, I wasn’t a big fan of. I’m accustomed to satay being soft and for some reason, the ones that were served were a tad dry and tough. The flavor was excellent but I wasn’t a big fan of the texture.

The next dish, one of my personal favorites was their pandan chicken. You can tell that they assembled the pandan chicken right before cooking it (as opposed to assembling them ahead of time and sticking them in the freezer) because of how evenly everything cooked. The outside was just crispy enough to give it that bite and the inside was oh so juicy and tender that I just had to snatch the wife’s piece from her plate.

The tom yum wasn’t much to look at but the flavor made up what it lacked in presentation. It had that authentic sour taste (not the chemical-y taste that comes with soups from sachets) that I always love about Thai cooking.

For the rice (yes, us Asians can’t go a meal without rice) it was as usual, the best Bagoong rice in town, which by the way is a total meal in itself.

The Pad Thai looked really tasty (and it was) but I didn’t enjoy it that much because it was along with the night’s Pièce de résistance which was…

The Ka Mod Ped Ped or better known as crispy pata over red curry sauce. Some people might argue with me on this but the way it was presented and prepared was for me, the way pata should be served. It was chopped up into bite sized pieces (making for easier pickings) and was re-formed into a rough pata shape and then smothered in red curry sauce. Other people like to see their crispy pata whole with the skin all intact but I feel that having it served this way makes for a less messy and more satisfying dish.

Everything was washed down with their version of the Mojito which was surprisingly light and refreshing.The mint and lime really masked the taste of the rhum making for a really light drink.

After all of that, we had our customary espresso, which was excellent of course, since they used illy beans and equipment.

Now if you’re ever lost in Davao on a Wednesday night and you’re feeling peckish, head on over to Bangkok Wok for their Wok All You Can! and experience all the tastes of Thailand for only 330 pesos.

A fan posted a ukelele rendition of the song “Ulan” and I really think that you guys should check it out. It’s 3 minutes of pure uke goodness. You can check out Johnoy’s page on Facebook here

The smooth interface coupled with the huge HD7 screen makes for a lovely mobile blogging experience

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The lights could be seen over a block away even over the harsh street lights. Every year, people crowd the establishment to gawk at the lights or have a photo taken.  Traffic in the area usually slows down with cars slowing down with their windows open  and people taking snaps with their mobile phones.

The lights were unveiled last December 16, 2010 and people came in droves to see the lights.

Whole families came to look at the lights.  It was really a heart warming sight to see people just having fun, eyes glittering with childlike innocence. I guess it’s that time of the year where everyone forgets their problems for a while…

If you’re ever lost in Davao looking for something to see, check out the Christmas Lights at Mana Davao, you won’t regret it. I’ve been getting mails that the photos are too small, just click on them to show the large size.

Their appetizer section was so-so for me.  The kinilaw was really fresh (a norm in Davao) so that was good.  Everything else I didn’t bother with because I don’t really like the dilis and hilaw na mangga (the wife said it was great tho) along with different kinds of suka and bagoong.

If you take a peek at the kitchen window you can see them grilling different stuff like tuna belly, chicken slices, pork chops and other grilled goodies.  This alone was worth the buffet price if you ask me.

A dish I loved was their never-ending crispy pata.  They refilled this as soon as the serving plate was empty so yeah… you know what I ate

Crispy golden calamari, people gunned for this one.  Good thing their kitchen was very quick with refills.

Mmm… grilled chicken…

Anyways, they had other “standard” dishes like sweet and sour pork, seafood curry, chop suy and a few more which were really “standard” so nothing much more to say there.  I liked their ice cream station where they had 6 or 7 different ice cream flavors.  They also had a nice halo-halo station.  Overall, Wild Safari Grill Davao was pretty good.  The food was always fresh because of the turnover (plus you can see new batches being grilled all the time) the price was pretty decent too when compared with the other buffet joints in Davao City.  I’d go eat there again.

So if you’re ever Lost In Davao and you want to eat a ton without spending a lot, checkout the buffet at Wild Safari Grill. It’s located near the Davao Convention Center compound.  It’s pretty hard to miss with their gigantic tarp sign.

As you can see, my previous screen protector has already cracked.  This happened when my d700 snagged the edge of a table while I was covering an event.  I wouldn’t want to think what would have happened if I didn’t have the hardened screen protector there or if it were just protected by the flimsy film ones that are so popular with “photographers” nowadays.

Here’s the old protector alongside the new one.

Here’s the back of the camera with the brand new screen protector.  All set and ready to go! Good as new I would say.