While in the Philippines I stayed in Mindanao, mostly in the General Santos area. The first hotel I stayed at was "Q City Park Hotel". The hotel was nice and probably about 50% of the cost of a similar hotel in the U.S. or Canada. However, swimming pools don't seem to be as universal in the Philippines at hotels and this one didn't have one.
A view out a window in the hallway:
In the Philippines, any month ending in "-er" is part of the Christmas season. Our hotel already had Christmas trees up though it was barely mid-October when this photo was taken.
So why go to the Philippines? To see a movie of course! Okay, not really but the first day after arriving was a recovery day anyway. I saw Viy 2 or The Dragon Seal as it was called here at one of the malls. It was not a great movie but the seats were recliners and they were comfortable. I dozed off a few times. Sadly, this particular mall wouldn't be around anymore in a few days but more on that later...
The next day was Sunday so in the morning we went to church. This photo is from inside Poor Clare Monastery in Polomolok before the service started. After church we went to lunch...
We had lunch at the Dole Kalsangi Clubhouse. Dole owns a lot of land here. I'm not sure of all the things they grow but it includes lots and lots of pineapple...and a golf course.
I'm pretty sure all of this is for pineapple and there was so much more. If you eat pineapple in the Philippines I think it's safe to assume that it is locally grown. I know the pineapple we get here in the U.S. is from South America. I assume the pineapple grown in the Philippines gets shipped all over Asia and some other parts of the world.