Dec. 12, 2010 - BlogFest Sox 2010 did not end yet. The Department of Trade and Industry of Sarangani Province and its local government sponsored a tour for the bloggers dubbed as NEYEM. It is a Bla'an term which means "to see", "to look" or "to view". We really thought they were wrong when they said that DTI is organizing the tour instead of DOT (Dept. of Tourism). Unfortunately, Sarangani Province does not have a DOT office so the local government do the actions to promote the the tourism in their province. The goal of the tour is from this tour is to promote tourism for the economic development of the communty. One of their program called OTOP, One Town One Product, is a priority program of the government to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs. One of its municipalities, which we were very privileged to visit, is Maitum. It is our first stop in the tour where we had our breakfast after a couple of hours of travel. Their OTOP is the flying fish, locally known as "Bangsi".

I would like to tell everything about the tour but it will take me lots of paragraph to share my wonderful experience in Sarangani. So i decided to separate them into posts which will be tagged under neyem sarangani tour. For now, i will leave you with some of the photos of the entire tour. More photos after the jump :)

Balongis Weaving center at Malapatan

At the white sand beach of Gumasa, Glan, Sarangani Province

Lemlunay Dive Resort of Maasim

...and my favorite, White Water Tubing at Pangi river!

Watch out for my future posts :D Meanwhile, here are some links about Sarangani province that you might want to visit:
Sarangani.gov.ph
Sarangani - Wikipedia
Sarangani.com
Go Sarangani

It was such an overwhelming experience that I had this weekend and i wished that it never ended. Upon arriving, GenSan we went to many places and ate many delicious food. Unfortunately, the batteries of my phone and camera died out so i wasn't able to take photos and update my facebook. Anyways, after our food trip for the first night we had a short rest at the hotel and, luckily, we have internet access so i was able to post something in my blog.

We woke up a little late and rushed to the venue of the Blogfest. It was my first morning in GenSan and the sun was shining brighly for me. I took a snapshot of Santiago Boulevard before we rode the tricy.

I was really amazed by the city's wide roads. There was no traffic early in the morning and I really like the clouds that day.

Last night we stayed an hour or so in East Asia Royale Hotel while the Sox Bloggers were preparing the venue. The hotel looks more beautiful in the morning with all those palm trees.

We went to the conference room and the blogfest haven't started yet. Here's a panorama of the venue.

I wasn't able to take good photos of the speakers since we were seated at the back. But i really learned a lot from the speakers. I was just excited the whole day learning from people around the country whom i only see in the web. Though I already heard from some of the speakers during the MBS4, i still enjoyed their talks. Below is Mr. Ryann Elumba, our head in Seed Interactive Multimedia Production, giving a talk about "Spicing up your blogs with Multimedia." I helped making our showreel which was shown after his talk.

Mindanao's Funnest Soccsksargen Bloggers. Congratulations for the smashing success of Blogfest Sox 2010. I really look up to these people. I just wish i lived in GenSan.

Mars, Avel, Ryann and I

After the Blogfest, we were invited to join the Sox Bloggers Christmas party back at Dolores Hotel. One of the highlights of the menu is their fresh Tuna Sashimi. That tuna was enormous! I used to hate wasabi but recently i came to appreciate it. I finished 3 servings!

After the sumptuous dinner, we had games like Pinoy (Blogger) Henyo and The Blog is sinking, all related to blogging, hehe. There were also two magicianst that entertained us. One is a illusionist and the other is a comedy magician. They were really hilarious.

Enrico Dee, aka Byahilo for a comedy magic

Orman and Avel Manansala, Pinoy Henyos

And to top it all, a live band entertained us with upbeat music.

The party continued at Piyesta KTV and Resto Bar at Robinson's Place. I tried their version of Knicker bocker! We also tried their chili ground beef and some cocktail drinks. We had nice conversations and just laughed the night away.

Thanks again to the Sox Bloggers and congratulations for the successful BlogFest 2010. I will surely come back someday and, hopefully, we will see each other again!

For the rest of the photos, click here.

December 10, 2010 - I finally landed in the Tuna Capital of the Philippines, General Santos City. After a 3-hour non-stop bus trip from Davao, we stopped at Robinson's Mall where we met the lead convenor of Blogfest Sox 2010, Mr. Avel Manansala aka Bariles. Together with the SOX Bloggers, we headed to Dolores Hotel, the official home of the speakers for Blogfest Sox 2010.

After refreshing, we left our bags and went uptown to have our sumptuous dinner at Red Trellis Seafood Garden at Tiongson Extension. We had an authentic Paella, Black Rice and crabs which very similar to Zamboanga's Alavar crabs. The food was just heaven! *angels singing here* Then, we had a nice dessert at Little Dubai Kebab's Grill where we also had fun playing Jenga! It's a nice place where you can chill with your friends while enjoying some Kebab.

And finally, we headed to East Asia Royale Hotel where the Sox Bloggers prepared the venue for the next day's event while we were also preparing our presentation in a resto. It's almost 2PM and had our final food trip at Ilo-ilo Native Chicken Arroz Caldo. We went back to Dolores Hotel to finally call it a day.

On friday, i will be going out of town to attend my 2nd blogging event after the Mindanao Bloggers Summit. Blogfest S0ccsksargen 2010 will happen on December 11, 2010 at Grand Ballroom of East Asia Royale Hotel, National Highway, General Santos City from 7:30am to 6:00pm. It is organized by the Mindanao's Funnest Blogging Community, the Soccsksargen Bloggers, led by Bariles of GenSantos.com. Blogfest Sox will be attended by more or less 100 bloggers all over Mindanao to learn from Philippine's most influential internet personalities. There will be 13 speakers and some of them are:

Google Philippines’ Aileen Apolo-de Jesus, Presidential Communications Operations Office Manager Jay Jaboneta, UP Diliman Department of Journalism Professor Danilo Arao, Davao Bloggers President Ria Abella Jose, Soccsksargen Tourism Advocate Michelle Lopez-Solon, Digital Filipino’s Janette Toral, Zamboanga Multi-media Guru Ryann Elumba, Web Presence Strategist Fil-Am Dale Palileo, and Internet Security Expert Bobby Soriano all willing and eager to increase your passion for the much vaunted New Media!

The speakers will be talking about various topics that will surely update and educate us bloggers. Some of my favorite topics are "Exposing Local Gems in New Media", "SEO and Traffic Generation Tips and Tricks", "Monetizing Your Blog", "New Media's Role in Business", and "Spicing up Blogs with Animation and Video" which will be given by the head of Seed Interactive, Mr. Ryann Elumba. To view the full schedule, click here.

I'm really excited to be part of this big event that will really help me become a better blogger. During the Mindanao Blogger's i was very busy as part of the organizing committee. Now, as the participant, I will really have more fun listening to the speakers and getting to know the other bloggers from different parts of Mindanao. It is also my first time to visit GenSan so im very excited to see the Tuna Capital at its best.

God Bless the Sox Bloggers and hoping to have a safe trip to the participants who will be travelling to GenSan. For more info about the Blogfest Sox 2010, visit their website here.