Sunrise and the Sleeping Dinosaur © Jojie Alcantara 2013 (click large)

When you visit Davao City and have enough time for a sudden road trip, try Mati City (3 hours away by private vehicle), my place of birth. Endowed with one of the longest and most beautiful white coastlines in Mindanao, Mati involves zigzagging through well-paved roads that snake up and down a cliff (locally called ‘Badas’) overlooking the deep blue sea.

The now familiar Barney-shaped Sleeping Dinosaur is a landmark that indicates you have arrived in the once quiet municipality and provincial capital now turned into a prospering new city.  Lucky you if you happen to be there at a glorious moment of sunrise like I did.

Me at sunrise overlooking the Sleeping Dinosaur © Sesil Criador

Glad to have my bestfriend Sesil with me, who has patiently attended my out of town workshops. She is a registered nurse, by the way, which is even luckier for me. Sometimes she goes with me during travel, and here she pours all her knowledge from my training.  This is me capturing the sunrise from my mobile phone (for my Instagram). 🙂

And of course, the official shots from my DSLR camera (for magazine and newspaper publications) 🙂

Good old Sesil also took photos of me with the Sleeping Dinosaur in a backdrop. Good job, bestfriend!  I didn’t need to bring my tripod for a selfie this time!

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