Travel Around General Santos City & South Cotabato

courtesy to General Santos

My gang friends were very excited since it was their first trip to General Santos City. I was a sort of a tour guide and good thing that my nephews and nieces assisted me during our travel moments. By the way, General Santos blog posts on my previous travels were posted at month of September. You may check these posts. :)

General Santos City is one of the major cities of the country. As a Tuna Capital, this city became a booming area and many establishments that were set-up and businesses were keep on growing. It is a highly urbanized city and it was part of South Cotabato in Mindanao Island. 

Source: Wikipedia

I asked my friends on what comes into their mind about General Santos. They chorused Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino boxer who was famous of the name Pacman and a 8 World Division Boxing Champion. They were interested on his house in which it was part of the tourist destination of the city, which was according to my nephew here. :) But seems they were eager to see the house, we decided to proceed and visited the house, but only within the gate. Hehehehe! :)

one of their mansions of Pacman

look those big gate and fences!

huge mansion isn't it? :)

take some photos

After few minutes, they toured us along the business of Manny Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee. From hotels to buildings including their businesses. They have many here in the city. Good thing that what they earned in boxing, they invested it. :)

Jinkee's newest hotel

nice

Jinkee's Fashion Boutique

It's time top hit the road and we went to nearby town of Polomolok in South Cotabato. It was a 15 minute ride from the city and we visited Durian Garden which was located along the National Highway. Actually, I went there last 2010 so I toured my gang friends there. More information on my previous post here.

Welcome back to me!

picture time

inside

look those durian fruits

big enough

picture at the garden

stroll

heavy enough

smelly, but it's ok

say cheese! :)

time to see those birds

nice one!

buy some pickled asparagus

other pasalubong stuffs

to the counter

try some durian ice cream! :)

We had some great time at the Durian Garden. It's nice to be back for me after 2 years. After that, we headed to Dole Plantation which was located also in Polomolok. It was a 10 minute drive from Durian Farm. We supposed to buy some Dole products but it was closed. So we decided to take some photos.

Dole Pineapple Plantation

and there

Dole store - but it was closed. :(

take some pictures

another group shot

We went back to General Santos City to have our lunch. We decided to have lunch at Inasal de Cebu which was along the National highway. We ordered their lechon and other meals.

located along the highway

took our orders

waited for our meals

kaon ta (let's eat!)

After we ate our lunch, we went to Plaza Heneral Santos in which the General Santos City Hall was also located. It was also a park which was beautifully design by the city local government. It was also where the monument of the city founder, General Paulino Santos. 

City Hall

General Paulino Santos Monument

our direction

at Plaza Heneral Santos

another shot

monument

bustling city

at the park

Beautiful landscape!

picture

Group picture

We went to my cousin's shop along the city proper. Some of us asked about the best place to buy a "malong". It was a traditional dress worn by the tribes in Southern Mindanao and it is a multi-colored cloth. It was also called sarong. Good thing that my cousin knew a place and we went to General Santos Public Market and we bought some malong and other pasalubong items. Malong price ranges from PHP200 to PHP350 and you can haggle all you want. :)

many items to choose

solo shot

bought malong

It was a great adventure with the gang and they enjoyed their visit to General Santos City and South Cotabato. They had fun and most of all they were able to bought their pasalubong. We took a rest for a while and headed to the south of the city. Find out on my next blog post. :)

Continue to the next blog! :)