click on any thumbnails to get more info…

the bulk of our trip was in CDO, Cagayan de Oro. 

Tatay had an office there with two rooms adjacent to the main room and kitchen, so the whole family was able to fit for our sleeping arrangements.

I think, aside from the sentimentality of MSU, the beauty of the beach resort at Emeralda, and peacefulness and simplicity of the farm, CDO was my favorite.

The benefits of being in the city were things like the nightlife, the dearth of mosquitos feeding on you, the convenience travel and services, and the three large malls there were only less than ten minutes away, not to mention our frequent inexpensive yet delicious restaurant outings.

Right in front of Tatay’s office was a big restaurant establishment that was very popular for its nightlife- karaoke and nightly live bands that typically played lots of folk-ballad songs- both filipino and american, so the open windowed nights allowed you to enjoy your activities w/ mellow music in the background.  It was also my favorite restaurant that served 60pesos meals like pork liempo (grilled pork belly chunks) w/ rice.  Talk about dollar meals.

Also, there’s a part of the city near Limketkai Mall where you could find all these trendy service stores that offer body massages, spa treatments, salons, restaurants, etc. Then of course are the 3 huge malls in the area where everyone hangs out, that has the latest trends and well know fast food establishments, like jollibee, chowking, greenwich pizza…

4 days before we left, Zen (perze’s sister) surprised and convinced me to get my first body massage at a well known spa.  If not for my pleading, I probably would have stayed for 4 hours getting a scrub down too and diamond embedding….(kidding- bout the diamonds)…then afterwards, we went to the salon where i was treated to a foot massage/scrub and hair rebonding…hahahah…man…all below $70.  Perze’s sisters were very kind to me….hahahah

it would have been nice to have stayed longer in CDO for its well known tourist activities, but i’m glad we always have a place to stay in the city every time we come to visit.