Flying to Davao

Flying to Singapore

Seated overwing on the A350, it was an extremely quiet flight.  It was very cold as well and I was glad I had changed into my long pants.

I was able to get more than 2h sleep during the 4h15 airborne (4h40 on the schedule).

Transit in Singapore

We landed at Singapore’s Changi airport on schedule into Terminal 2.  I took a long walk to try wake myself up before deciding that coffee would do a better job.

I went to the lounge for that coffee, had a shower, some food later and time in the massage chair.  The 5h25 layover went quickly before my 1230 flight to Davao (which continued to Cebu).

Flying to Davao

For the flight to Davao, it was a Philippines government requirement to have a mask one.  Boarding was done in groups of five rows.  It was a quiet take-off in the Singapore B737 Max 8 aircraft but it was less so during cruise.

The six-member cabin crew offered a hot meal and beverage service on the flight in the same Singapore Airlines’ high (but declining) standard.  They work 3 sectors today, SIN-DVO-CEB-SIN.

The toilet doors on the aircraft came with a quirk.  The latch is counter-intuitive.  One pushes the latch away from the doorframe to lock the door and towards the frame to unlock!  While waiting for the loo, I could hear the repeated attempts of the person temporarily trapped inside!

Arriving in Davao

It looked pretty mountainous as we flew over Mindanao to reach Davao.  The vegetation didn’t look as green as Malaysia, suggesting a drier climate.

We landed on time at 1620.  All passengers, including those continuing to Cebu had to disembark with all their luggage.  We had to show our boarding passes to confirm whether we were arriving in Davao vs continuing to Cebu.

This was followed by a check of our pre-arrival health declaration QR code.  Immigration downstairs was empty as I was seated forward and the various checks held people downstairs.

Exiting the international arrival hall, there was a small money changer counter but no ATMs.  I had to exit the building and was directed to the domestic arrival hall at the far end of the building to use the ATMs.  Three out of four weren’t working so it was lucky that the fourth dispensed me money with the hefty fee of PHP250 (NZD7.30) which I already knew.

Davao Airport is largely domestic so it’s understandable that the international side isn’t packed with facilities.  In fact, I didn’t spot a toilet at all in the arrival area.

Taxis and Rideshare

I had high hopes of using Grab rideshare extensively in the Philippines, like I do in other South-East Asian countries.  Then I realised that ride from the airport came with a hefty PHP100 (NZD2.90) booking fee in addition to the metered fare estimate.

The fee would have got me a decent ride in Malaysia or Indonesia already.  Philippines is a developing country but often, prices don’t reflect it.

There didn’t appear to be any private car rides but only taxis through the app.  The app was just a glorified booking service for taxis.  I don’t recall Grab being so useless in the Philippines before.

During my stay in Davao, I would learn that the booking fee varies and saw it as low as PHP30.  I would end up just flagging down a taxi as they were everywhere and drivers would use the meter without question.

[Edit:  When I travelled to Cebu, Grab there had both taxis and private cars.  Strangely tax is were cheaper than private cars.  The surcharge still existed but was lumped into the estimate rather than disclosed separately.  Why does Grab even operate here? ]

Evening in Davao

I put up at the Capital O Asrodel Hotel.  I noticed that modern buildings are built to a high standard, eg. fire escape, smoke-stop doors, etc probably due to the US influence. Outside, there were sidewalks along many streets and the open drains found in most of South East Asia were rare.

With the Roxas market nearby, I went for a walk.  There were stalls offering second hand clothing, phone accessories, food and massage.  Food-wise there was too much that was left in the open, waiting to be fried or BBQ’ed.

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Eating places near the hotel were quite limited but I managed to find a simple one for a chicken inasal and some blanched vegetables with bagoong (a fermented fish paste).

The dining options around here and my meal choice seemed pretty sad.  I have three nights and hope I’ll see more options tomorrow.  In the meantime, I cheered myself up with an ice-cream.

The Indonesian-made imported ice cream was only PHP16 (NZD0.45).  That’s after the cost of importing the milk powder from perhaps New Zealand to Indonesia and then shipping the ice-cream in frozen state from East Java to Mindanao!

You can easily pay around 10x that for something similar in New Zealand.  Now that Oreos in Kiwiland are imported from Indonesia, hopefully ice-creams will be next.

The weather in Davao isn’t crazily humid like in Singapore.  At times it is pleasant and if there’s a breeze, it feels cooling.  Buildings aren’t laced with black mossy growth, probably due to the lower rainfall and humidity.

I managed to stay up till around 2100 before preparing for much-needed sleep after that short night flight.