The Poblacion Market, Davao

We used to go to Aldevinco for souvenirs. This was located across from the Marco Polo Hotel and near Ateneo de Davao. Aldevinco and Marco Polo are now closed but the owner of Aldevinco built and opened a new building where people can now shop for local products whether for souvenirs, furnishings and decors, or personal items (e.g., clothes to comply with Filipiniana dress code for government workers).

Some large items that you can use for your home as decor or accent. Many of these might also be suitable for museums!

There are many jewelry shops selling various items. Of course, pearls are the most in demand from these stores. I was joking with the wife that she can't be left alone in these shops. So much temptation!

The shops selling Filipiniana and ASEAN clothing are very popular not just for souvenirs but for clothes you will actually wear. The Civil Service Commission (CSC) issued a memo that all government employee must wear Filipiniana on Mondays. On the first Monday of the month, they may wear ASEAN clothing. So batik from Indonesia or Malaysia or perhaps silk shirts from Thailand can be worn on first Mondays. Accessories are also quite popular including shawls and vests.

Various Filipiniana for the ladies

And then there are the various souvenir shops with items like boxes, plates, chairs, chests, umbrellas, etc. You can also buy replica canons and pottery.

Various items on display at one of the shops. Aside from clothing, they also have bags, wallets, table runners, hankies, and headwear.

The Poblacion Market is a one-stop shop for a lot of items especially souvenirs for when you travel to Davao. The shopkeepers are very accommodating to customers and you can easily establish a "suki" there for your clothes or even jewelry. 

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Chocolate review: Sweet Switch Dark & Orange Sugarfree chocolate

I got this chocolate from a Healthy Options store. They usually have a lot of really good chocolates there including fair trade and sugar free chocolates. This is one of those I typically pick out of curiosity after browsing the shelf for chocolates I want to try.

Sweet Switch Dark & Orange chocolate is sugarfree. On the label it says its also vegan, gluten free and keto friendly. 

So much details on the chocolate at the back of the package.

Nutrition information

The chocolate was made in Belgium.

The chocolate claims to have a minimum of 53% cacao. That means this is not so bitter and just the right sweetness, also thanks to the orange in the ingredients.

This was a good choice and we enjoyed it. The orange is infused in the chocolate rather than as bits that you can chew on. I won't mind buying another bar the next time I'm at Healthy Options but there are many other chocolates to try so this is a good reference for comparison and later purchases. I forget about the price but I assume that it was reasonable for a 100g bar. If it were expensive, I would have probably balked at buying it in the first place.

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Reacquanting with A Veneto

Many years ago when the traffic wasn't that bad, we could go out for lunch to eat at SM North, QC Circle or Visayas Avenue. There's an Italian themed restaurant along Visayas Avenue that we used to frequent - A Veneto. Their servings were always generous and the food was always good tasting. Fast forward to the present and we haven't eaten at the restaurant for perhaps over a decade now. So it was good news for us that it now has a branch along Maginhawa Street in Teacher's Village. 

Instead of going there, however, I decided to first order some pasta and pizza so I have food for dinner after my evening class last week. I ordered my favorite aglio olio with Italian sausage though I was initially going to order pesto with grilled chicken. The latter was our go-to meal whenever we ate at A Veneto.

Aglio olio with Italian sausages

Cheese pizza to take home - I promised our daughter that I would bring home some pizza and she like the basic ones like this.

The verdict is that the food is still good and I now look forward to dining there rather than ordering food. Perhaps we can have that opportunity soon?

 

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Roxas Night Market in Davao

Here's another draft that I decided to finish this weekend. This was a post I started last May after our trip to Davao where we had a ceremony to launch an extension of one of our academic programs at UP Mindanao. Our hotel was just a 10-minute walk away from the Davao Night Market so it was easy to get there on foot.

This is the scene at the Roxas Night Market in Davao City. There are mostly food stalls here though there are stalls selling the usual merchandise like clothes, footwear, souvenir items and gadget paraphernalia.

There are a lot of street-food and these are mostly for grilling.

I'm not sure cuttlefish, catfish, tuna (belly and panga) and other seafood can be categorized as streetfood. These are among the choices at most stalls. You can actually have a heavy meal at the night market.

There are also sausages, silogs, waffles and corndogs.

Here are the ingredients for various fruit shakes including green and ripe mangoes, watermelon, papaya and pineapple. You can also have a mix of these fruits.

There's also "dirty" ice cream for dessert.

Of course, there's coconut water that you can buy whether on the shell or on cups.

There are also fruits on sticks

There are many options for drinks. Here are some non-alcoholic cold drink options.

There are tents under which are tables and chairs for those eating and drinking there. There are also tents and chairs for those availing of massage services.

You can have your massage while seated or you can lie down on one of the portable massage tables set-up on site.

The area is secure and you can see the strong presence of police around, which is probably a deterrent to criminals or even terrorists. If you don't feel like eating or drinking at any of the stalls there, there are also restaurants and eateries located at the building along Roxas Street.  

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Chocolate review: Mayon Gold Pilinut Crunch Dark Chocolate

I have a backlog of chocolates that I got from my trips to Bicol the past months. These chocolates are all from Mayon Gold, which appears to have the best chocolates in terms of variety and quality.

I got this bar from the Bicol International Airport in Daraga, Albay. I thought it was perfect that the chocolates from Bicol featured the pili nut, which is endemic to the region.

Details on the chocolate is found at the back of the box. These include nutrition information and 

Opening the package reveals what I think is one if not the best packaging for a local chocolate especially in terms of the information here.

There's much information here about the cacao and how its farmed. There are also information on sustainability.

Some key information - vegan, organic sugar, no dairy, no lactose, chemical free, gluten free, plant based, soy free - which a lot of people look for nowadays in their food.

The chocolate cost about 150 pesos, which I thought was okay for quality but a bit expensive for the quantity. Will I buy this again soon? I think so and will also do so to share or give as souvenir or pasalubong.

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More pets at home

Our daughter is currently into hamsters thanks to a gift of a pair from one of her uncles. The two hamsters though quickly multiplied as the female apparently was already pregnant when we got them. So we ended up getting additional cages to separate the males and females and prevent them from breeding.

I got her this nice set-up from a shop in Tiendesitas. I reminded her though vs. breeding more hamsters.

Here is a top view of the cage and tubes.

Another view of the hamster home we got from Tiendesitas.

Here's our daughter's favorite hamster that she named Caloy after the Filipino Olympian.

We now have several hamster homes as we decided to split them up so as to prevent the hamsters from breeding and multiplying. 

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October Harvest moon

We had a couple of significant lunar events the last month. In September, we had a full lunar eclipse. A few days ago, we had a harvest moon, which was supposed to be the brightest full moon of 2025. Unfortunately, for both events we had cloudy nights. That meant the view of the moon was obscured for most of the time both events. While I wasn't 

The clouds covered the full moon most of the time.

After a few minutes, there was enough moon for this photo.

The following day, I was able to take this photo of the harvest moon on my way home.

With the exit of Habagat and the entry of Amihan, we hopefully will have more clear days and nights. That should allow for nicer photos of the full moon (in full view) for the rest of the year.

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Colonial Creamery ice cream

A very welcome addition to the stalls at the Gyud Food Hub at UP Diliman is Colonial Creamery. Originally from Bicol, they're the place to go for the original sili (chili) ice cream. Of course, they also have other flavors you might want to taste.

Here are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago when we had lunch there and 'discovered' this go-to for dessert.

Colonial Creamery is one of the latest additions to the Gyud Food Hub selections

They offer a variety of ice cream including local delights such as the sili ice cream.

The sili ice cream comes in 3 levels. I've only tasted Level 1 when I first tried their ice cream in Naga City. I didn't try the sili ice cream available at the souvenir shops at Cagsawa.

One might be curious about malunggay ice cream? Gabi is not new to me and I know it's good from Geno's Ice Cream from Bataan province.

There are many other options for the less adventurous among us including "Tinutong na Bigas" (burnt rice) and latik (coconut curd).

I went for my usual coffee ice cream

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First foray into Dubai Chocolates

Our daughter is on a roll. Early this week, she asked us to get some ingredients for Dubai chocolate. And so we got pistachios, chocolate bars (we got Beryl from the store), and Kadayifi (from Turkey). We also got a chocolate mold good for 4 bars.

Crushed pistachios and kadayifi in one pot and molten chocolate in another

Kadayifi from Turkey

Where the crushing and mixing happened

Home made Dubai chocolate straight from the mold after the chocolate formed in the refrigerator

I will say for myself that the chocolate concoction is really good.

Our daughter is planning to make some more today so we have Dubai chocolate for the weekend. Everyone in the house likes it and we just have to remind everyone that it should be eaten in moderation.

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Seiko 5717-8990 Monopusher Chronograph

I chanced upon this watch on auction and casually put in a bid knowing the bids will eventually escalate and be unacceptable to me. I actually forgot about it and didn't think about checking what happened as the deadline expired. It was the next day when I checked my phone when I saw a message informing me that I won the bid. Though it was a pleasant surprise, it also meant I had to shell out some money to pay for the watch. Charge this again to experience...

The watch is among those sought after by collectors, especially those into Seiko watches and chronographs. I had wanted to have one of these monopushers (single button controlling the chronograph functions of the watch) that is supposed to be Seiko's first foray into chronographs. The first is actually the caliber 5719, which didn't have a date complication. This watch, a 5717, came a bit later and with a date feature.

This model has a black dial and a metal bezel

Side view showing the crown and chronograph button (often referred to as a monopusher)

The other side view also showing the overall good condition of the watch

Case back showing the Olympic logo, the model ad the serial number. The serial number indicates the watch to have been manufactured in April 1966, which is 2 years after the Tokyo Olympics.

Close up of the dial showing no lumes and no model number at the bottom. I would like to assume that the model number has faded due to age rather than this being a replacement dial.

Wrist shot after I took the watch for a routine check with my watchman in a mall near our home.

 

Here it is with another watch commemorating the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. I have another Olympic World Timer but with a black dial. These models are milestones in Seiko's history in wathcmaking.

Wrist shot the first time I wore the watch

I don't have a photo of the movement but assume that it has a genuine Cal. 5717 inside the case. The watch is manually wound and is supposed to have a storage of 40 hours when it was first issued in the 1960s. So far, I've recorded 34 and 40 hours on separate occasions. There's quite a variance on the average for these two recordings. Perhaps I didn't wind the watch properly or the conditions weren't as favorable as possible for the maximum potential? I will post again on the results and perhaps a few more photos with my other Olympics watch from Seiko.

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[Updates: I've monitored the watch and it consistently ran for 40 hours every time it was fully wound. I did these over a week and it didn't gain or lose significantly over that period. -08 Oct 2025]