Jack's Ridge

It was a busy day for us, as our next stop was up the hillside to visit Jack's Ridge.  This sprawling complex has a magnificent view of Davao City, and as we stood admiring the view, we could feel the wind blowing fresh into our faces.

You can see the waters of Davao Gulf, and the neighboring Garden Island of Samal from the view deck.  The Filipino grill restaurant serves beer and converts to a bar after 10pm.

The complex also has some family facilities; the pool is open to the public.  On the upper left side of the photo below, you can see the reconstructed Japanese Zero that slammed into the mountain during the war.  Davao had a large number of overseas Japanese field workers in the 1930s, and some of them turned out to be spies and advance troops for the Philippine invasion.

You can see the small cave hideout at the bottom of the picture, as the story goes, this cave was reportedly used by the Japanese troops to hide precious cargo!

After our brief tour, we spent some time to chit-chat at Karlo's Coffee House, where some of us tried the Durian-flavored coffee (a little bit above P100 a cup).  To those uninitiated, Davao is home to the Durian, which is a fruit that smells like hell but tastes like heaven!