Well, for today, I have a video of a trip that Feyma, the kids and I took to Bukidnon.
It’s not really a full-fledged trip to the Province, rather just a trip across the border to buy some plants for around our house in Davao. In Bukidnon, there are lots of roadside stands selling flowers and plants, and the prices there are very cheap. For a plant that you would pay P200 or P300 for in Davao, you can get it for P20 to P40 at the most along the roadside in Bukidnon! Quite a savings, don’t you think?
The trip was rainy and very foggy, which you will see in the video.
distance bearing from davao?
Hi Brian – The area where we went is about 2 hours drive to the West Northwest of Davao City. Maybe 100 Kilometers or so, but that is just a guess.
Hi Bob – thanks for the video. That's an area I have a lot of interest in visiting. I hope to fit it in the schedule next time around.
Hi Randy C – Bukidnon is one of my favorite places. I kind of want to have a get-away house there for when I want to go to the mountains for a short time.
When you say you crossed the border? What do you mean? What is the border? Is that a Police Checkpoint?
Hi Bob (HI) – I just mean that we crossed the border between Davao del Sur Province and Bukidnon Province. Just like if you were in California and went to Arizona or Nevada, there is a sign along the road that says "Now leaving California" and then a sign that says "Welcome to Nevada". Same here. No police, no check-points. You just pass a political boundary from one province into another province.
😆 Ok, I do not only enjoy ur vdeo but also the comments posted, their questions, & ok ur answer. This entry is a breath of fresh air after a long discussion abt canister inside a body part & well, body parts for transplanting.
The wicker basket cost P 120? Is that priced for a foreigner, do you think? 😛 I think he tried to give you his 2nd price but U already left.
Hi Roy – I'm glad that you enjoyed the video! Yeah, I am sure that the baskets could be bought for much less, maybe P80 or so would be my guess. Truth is – I wasn't interested in buying any, I just wanted to film it, and the guy came running over when he saw me. So, I wasn't too interested in his next price…. I just was ready to go! Ha ha… 😆
Those lemons! were big 😯 I dont see many lemons in the groceries in Davao i wonder why that is? plenty of calamansi though.
Hi graham – you are right on the calamansi, it is everywhere! Lemons, though, are always available at SM, as far as I've seen. We buy them all the time.
Bob,
What kind of camcorder do you use? HI-8?
Just curious.
Danny
Me and my wife enjoided your video. She grew up in Bukidnon and went to Mountain Wiew college. Your comment on the small horse made her laugh, and she told me that they were called "six legged horse" since the legs of a rider would reach the ground. Keep up those videos comming.
/Preben.
Hi Danny Thompson – I am using a JVC Everio with a 30 Gig Hard Drive.
Hi Preben C – Ha ha.. I never heard about the six legged horse before, but that is a good one, and a perfect description! I'm glad you enjoyed the vid.
Vids like this are great to post, Bob, becuase many who haven't been here yet seem to think we foreigners live in little guarded enclaves and never venture out. I soent a few days in a hotel and on the roads with my son last week and it was agreat expereince … you never know how well you know your way around until you get out there and -do_it_ without Filipno helpers at your side.
We had a great time, got several true bargains at two different provincial town markets (and paid too much for some wonderful yellow fin tuna at another market (I was tired and neglected to make tawad with the fish lady).
FWIW, I find the continual idea that foreigners will get 'taken' a fallacy. I am sure I have paid too much for some things, but I can also get bargains, andhave fun. I have several foreigner friends I don't hang around with any more becuase they spend their days whining about how bad they are getting cheated all the time. My view? Come here to enough life and _live_ it. You can sweat the small stuff anywhere…
Hi Dave Starr – Yeah, I have paid a little more sometimes, but just as many times I got the same deal that others got. It isn't something that gets into my head and bothers me, though.
Hi Bob – Watching your post makes me envious , you are there and I am not!
Also after listening to your voice, I can actually sound out your voice when I am reading your posts,( dont know if this is normal, as I am only a very part time pc , net user). By the way Bob you look like you you may have lost a little weight. Best wishes to you and your family. ps, I hope the Mr green is envy and not something more sinister!
Bob – can you instruct me how to make paragraphs when posting here. ( I have my training wheels on)
Hi anthony – Thanks for your nice comments! Indeed, I have lost about 50 pounds this year, and feeling good!
To make a paragraph spacing in the comment, anthony, just hit the return key (or enter) twice, and it will separate the paragraph.
Hi Bob – Thanks for your help with the paragraph thing.
I am currently quiting smoking, and am borderline diabetic so watching the diet is important! I hope you can keep your weight loss program under control.
Achieving a goal is sooo rewarding, and longevity with your family is a great goal to achieve.
I only wish I was enjoying LIP , but living here on the Gold Coast Australia is probably the the next best place to be.
Best wishes to you all (hope I got the paragraphs sorted now)
Hi Anthony – The paragraphs look great! 😯
Hey Bob,
Great piece of video journalism. This is the typical, practical l stuff that guys like me wanting to move to the Philippines want to see.
Wifey is from Malaybalay City, Bukidnon which is a tidy little city in the middle of Bukidnon. I'd love to find out what the elevation is there because it is so much cooler there especially at night. It seemed like around 75 degrees requiring a light jacket. When I move to Davao but need to beat the heat for a week or so I'll head to the in-laws in Malaybalay.
Another interesting idea I have (perhaps this is just the city-boy dreamer in me) : to grow a portion of my own food. I was amazed at what grows in the backyard of my inlaws: guavas, bananas, star fruit. I know they grow tons of coffee in the region and durian just falls right off the trees.
Hi Bob- to answer Thomas Shawn's question, Malaybalay sits 622 Meters or 2,040 Feet above sea level.Like Thomas I also wish to grow my own vegetibles and fruit in fact I have started planting fruit trees and plants already. One fantastic reference point in Bukidnon is to visit Fr Franco's market garden project in Buda, as he is by far the best in the area for advice on what can be grown and how to go about it.
Hi Thomas Shawn – I'm glad that you enjoyed the video! Malaybalay is a beautiful place. As you said, the weather is cooler. I love the area! Like you, when I want to get away from the city, Malaybalay, or some other part of Bukidnon is generally calling out to me to go there!
Hi Jim – Thanks for the info on Malaybalay. I agree, for any kind of agricultural questions, Father Franco is a great resource! Another person to connect with in this regard is Bobo Serraga who owns "Magic Farm" just after you get into Bukidnon from CdO. Bobo is really an expert in agriculture.
Hi Bob – Thanks for the information reference Bobo Serraga and the Magic Farm I will look him up when next home in Talakag.
I found this video on random search on Google, and although it is clear you're a good and gentle man, it makes me very sad see the last beautiful places of the world exposed so readily on film in this way. I'm moved to consider your motive. Is it your ego that drives you or a desire to share the beautiful places you've found with anyone willing to get there themselves?
I'm a seasoned traveller. The one primary lesson I've learned in 9 straight years of backpacking is that the special places don't remain that way once they've been exposed to the broader public. You spark excitment and desire with your exploration of places. At the beginning of my journey, when blogging was just beginning, I too felt as perhaps you do. In retrospect, I wish I had kept my mouth shut, and talked very little about the special places I've found. However, many others have yet to see what I've seen, and today it is as if nothing is sacred. I exposed some particularly delicate spots on the internet, but never again. I too make films, however, this lesson learned I'm very careful about the information I divulge relative to location, unless those places are already widely known.
The special places I've found have sinced been swamped by people mostly blind to its real value. They have little knowledge or travel experience, and frankly they would be better off somewhere else. A place perhaps that they've found themselves, just as you and I have found places…talking to people on the road. Or finding something special by chance. Are these not the better more sincere discoveries?
I assume its with a sense of joy you share this information to the world (and the corporations that feed off You Tube and Google). However, is it not naive to assume you're having a positive impact on places exposed to people randomly?. I wonder if you've thought deeply about the impact of what you do? I wonder if you truly you care about it, really contemplated the consequences? If you want to preserve these places, I'm convinced great care needs to be taken with the footprints you leave and the breadcrumbs left behind.
The world is smaller indeed. Videos like this can stimulate and ignites a travel fever, an adolescent competitiveness, that will damge the places you find, not improve them. Railey Beach, Thailand being a classic example. Have you seen what they've done to that serene and once isolated place? Perhaps you've never heard of it. Many people suggested I should go in the prior years, before the development. It is an object lesson in the negative impact of public recognition.
Perhaps you feel more tourists will help improve the lives of the villagers you meet? Take this to its logical conclusion, and you have developments like Phuket or an Ibiza. Take it further and you eventually arrive at the towns and cities that are increasingly filled with disenfranchised human-beings. This is one step down from choas and mess of Manilla. These were all once idyllic and beautiful places, now spoilt by the attention, money and progress you encourage.
A cynic would suggest you advertise and promote locations for personal profit. My heart tells me you're not one of these people. But this is what you're unwittingly encouraging. This the disease of ownership in the capitalised west. In a way perhaps you claim ownership through your film. I would hope instead you find a huge reward in sharing you film with family and intimate friends.
Bob, I urge you to become part of the solution and not part of the problem. Reconsider the types of films you release to the general public. You can set a contagion that will wreak untold damage to the last frontiers of the world. Is this really necessary? Have we not caused enough damage? Is it not your duty to treat these places with profound respect that perhaps transcends you enthusiasm for communication?
At the beginning of my personal journey, I fervently believed in communicating the wonderful places I found to all those who were interested. I used to believe in a sort of democratic principle that all should have access to the beautiful places I've managed to get too. However, experience tells me that if one honours and respects the places one loves, do not share it randomly, but very specifically to special friends, if anyone at all. Part of the great joy of your journey has surely been that you got there yourself, maybe someone helped you along the way with a word or two? This is how all people should find special places, not via the internet or the television. These are anaethmas to the ethos of responsible travel.
We as a species are at a huge turning point in consciousness. If you see this, then you will understand and treat the things you touch with great sensitivity.
With all due respect Bob
Nick
Hi Nick – You sound like a nice man, and I am sure your motives in what you say are not overly negative. However, I do not do this for money, I enjoy sharing the Philippines, and my view of the place with others. I don't feel that I do any damage to the Philippines, and am generally a positive influence on the place. If you feel otherwise, well, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
Hi Guys,
How do I get to Bukidnon from Manila? Which is the closest airport? And how do I manage from there?
Thanks in advance! Sorry for my indulgence : )
Hi Tsolo – Depending on which part of Bukidnon you want to visit, you should fly into Davao or CdO. Take the bus from either of those places.
hi bob i want to kno on how to get ther from manila to maramag bukidnon…..tnx
kris
Hi ladykris – Fly from Manila to either Cagayan de Oro or Davao City, then take the bus to Maramag. Maramag is almost exactly half way between Davao and CdO.
tnx for the info.. i am a student and i am the one who will be reporting this province in region 10… tnx a lot for sharing your experience..hope this post will help all province that are not yet been develop…
hi bob…it’s really nice to know that there’s people like you who love visiting our country..i have been living here in my country my whole life and never get to see Bukidnon yet. I will make Bukidnon my next trip for sure…thank you anyway for sharing.
Thanks, Jean! Remember, though… I’m not visiting the Philippines… I live here! Been here for 11 years now!