The Pearl of Southern Mindanao
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2006
1
7
8
Trip End
Jun 05, 2006
Davao City, Philippines
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Today, the main resort has expanded into 70 guestrooms (17 standard Hilltop rooms, 21 superior Samal Houses, 6 executive, two-storey Samal suites and 19 de luxe Mandaya Houses and 7 Malipano Villas) made mainly with bamboo and wood and harmonizing with the clear, blue sea, the white sand and its backdrop of impressive greenery. All rooms, cottages and villas are airconditioned, with cable TV, mini-bars, coffee and tea facilities, safety deposit boxes and hair dryers. A jar of water and a coconut shell dipper are placed near the entrance to each house so that guests may wash away the sand after a day of barefoot walking on the beach. In local custom, this gesture is also symbolic of a cleansing of the spirit. Getting around the resort was easy as there are two shuttles, one of them electric-powered.
Noted architect Francisco "Bobby" Maņosa designed the cottages and villas as close as possible, in both materials and form, to the Maranao and Samal tribes they were named for. For its depiction of regional traits, the resort received the Kalakbay Award for Best Resort for two consecutive years (1994 and 1995) and was one of the venues of the 1994 Miss Universe pageant.
