But, first things first, we had 1 room to dump our things in and headed off north on J.P. laurel St. with Jolibee as the goal. Everybody was hungry, I was more sleepy than hungry but when the sun came out, I already felt like a zombie with an inner feeling of sleepiness and a wide awake eyes, so I thought breakfast might do the trick. After what seemed to be a 500 meter hike, which might have helped jump start my day, we all indulged in our own jolibee breakfast meals.

On our way back, no one dared to walk and we all got on a jeepney instead. DLPC vehicles were already waiting for us, so after a few minutes to clean up off we went to the main office. A quick tour around the office and introduction to some of the key staff was in-order and HR showed us around. Very interesting on my side was the dedicated Data Center structure on the side as well as having a separate structure office for their IT developers.

Next stop was the Bajada Office, not as interesting except for the gym and locker rooms dedicated to linemen. on the opposite side of the road was the power plant, a reactive power generation facility of DLPC used only for emergency cases and correction/adjustment purposes. of the entire tour, this is where we had the most fun, although the facility was very technical and way beyond our comprehension, the Plant Manager was very, very, very entertaining and informative, he used very simple words and examples that made sure we understood what the plant did and how it worked.

The plant manager was so entertaining and accommodating that we had fun all the way to the exit. The plant had a couple of power generation units which could provide power to important facilities in the City for 48 hours in case of total power loss. I also had a lot of fun wearing the hard had which we had to wear while inside the facility.

After the fun tour, a quick buffet lunch and a little time to rest before registration and the start of the convention. My roommates and I were so tired from the travel and full from lunch that we over slept and woke-up at 3pm, we hurriedly went to Marco Polo and we arrived just in time for  Bo Sanchez to finish his keynote speech. Too bad as I was eager to hear what he had to say.

Anyways, it was then time for the impromptu speech competition and the fellowship night followed at another venue but was a hundred meters from Marco Polo. The fellowship night was made very interesting as we were greeted by the usual good party food and lechon, we also had a whole tuna being sliced up as you ask, complete with soy sauce and wasabi. The Tuna was so fresh that it almost felt like you were eating salmon, it melted in your mouth. I could not get enough of it so I got a second order. Behind the Tuna was a fully loaded Kariton(Push Cart) of fruits which included durian, pomela, rambutan, banana and more. Wow, the party food was great and we had a hell of a time eating. 

The Second Day was for the humorous speech contest and the prepared speech, where in the winner will be the representative of the country/district for the international toastmasters speech contest. Rep. Luz of Gabriela was a speaker and she did not disappoint with here delivery, although I do feel that the women empowerment topic is already over stretched coz I think that our culture does not have any significant biases for women. The Communication and Leadership award was given to the Governor of Davao, am not sure if it was del norte, del sur or oriental. Part of the afternoon session was the voting of district and division officers. 

Because of the long lull of the votation, we had time to go around and shop a little at Aldevenco, just across Marco Polo, Sarongs were just 110 and pashmina scarfs was sold for 100 to 300. I also bought coin purses and a 35 pesos wallet made of tinalak. After the quick go around, we still had time to go back to the hotel and have a quick nap. at around 5, we went back to the venue for the international speech competition, just in time for the 2nd speaker this time around.

After this, everybody went back to change for the Governors Ball, we however had already changed to our formal outfits so were decided to look for a watering hole to spend an hour or so on cold beer, after going around for 30 minutes, we found a place with free KTV, we were the only customers as it was still 6 so we had the whole place to ourselves including the KTV.

After and hour or so, we went back to the venue for the Ball. It was a good Ball but I think the program and was well suited for the older Toastmasters and we just had to contend with enjoying dinner and taking group pictures. Our club then decided to cap the night at a K1 KTV for some drinks over horribly terrible voices, hahaha.

On Sunday, the rest of the club were sponsored by DLPC for a quick tour of Outland and Eden park, my roommates and I decided to bunk-in as 7am was to early for us and we decided to tag along with Mike to his Tito and Tita’s place in Matina.

I used to live in Matina, GSIS village and I had fun when we got to Mikes relatives as it was just a couple of meters from where I used to live. We had a great lunch, I did not let up on the Malasui Sashimi and Sinugba and I was full to the brim.

We then had coffee and a old school discussion with Mike’s Tito which was really interesting, about Davao and Toastmasters. It was already around 2 so we decided to move on, Mike’s cuz drove us pass the shrine, Jacks ridge and a little further, there was a new Zip Line at 300 meters, we made quick decision and we went for it.

My first try at a zip line was at eden but this one was longer and just by the road, really near the city. A couple of minutes of waiting and absorbing the view of the City and one by one we zipped to the other side of the mountain. Really fun !!!

As there was no more time, we headed straight to the airport and just stopped on the way for mike to buy a small box of pomelo.

The Discon I would say was not as I expected, I thought there were more activities but it turned out to be a couple of contests, 2 speeches, a district voting session and 2 dinners. The venue was too small, tables and chairs were lacking, coffee was supposed to be overflowing but the hotel containers were too small and refilled too far apart, not to mention there were not enough cups. Food in Marco Polo was also not as I expected, I thought they could have done more or served better tasting dishes. The best part for me was the fellowship night dinner, but it was held at another venue. I thought there would have been sessions or learning tracks, as well as a couple of speakers to be able to learn from. I felt it was lacking in a convention sense and that it felt more like a contest event.

Next year’s convention will be in Bohol and I hope it will be better.

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The two day district 75 convention will be held at the Marco Polo Hotel and will have a fellowship night after the first day and a Governor’s Ball to cap the whole event on the second night. Sunday will be open and we will probably soak in the sights of Davao.

I was born and raised in Davao City until we migrated to Cebu in 1990, I still have a couple of relatives there as well as remember for places I frequented as a kid, sadly though, I do not have friends their anymore but I do hope to make new ones on this trip. I was recently in Davao last March on our way to Singapore and before that in October for a quick training at Eden park where I got to experience the zip line.

This time around, one of our colleague from Davao Light will be treating us to the famous Bakbak and we have a open day on Sunday which I think we can squeeze in a couple of famous sites.

When I started to participate in our Toastmaster Club I targeted to finish all 10 basic speeches and be a Competent Communicator by the end of the year, sadly though I currently am still on my basic speech no. 6, memorizing is a bit hard for me but I will try to finish it all before July so that our club will meet one of the goals for its 10th Distinguished Club award.

Davao City has a total land area of 2,443.61 square kilometers. In terms of land area, it is considered as one of the largest cities in the world. Davao is also Typhoon free and has a international airport connecting to all major Cities in the country as well as to Singapore, Hong Kong and other Southeast Asian Destinations. I also noticed that Wifi is all over the city and connecting to the net is easier because of this and to top it all of, taxi drivers don’t rip you off, generally they follow what is on the meter.