This house with a distinct dark blue stylish rooftop with a separate mini mart used to be the only large shop in Lanao, Kidapawan where you could buy most of the things you need like food and other necessities. If you fancy some cold drinks like coca cola, beer or spirits it’s no problem because you can buy it here as well and to make you more comfortable there is a covered sitting area.
This branch of the Wells Fargo Bank, founded in 1852, is in down town San Francisco and is one of the oldest buildings in California. There is a lot of information of their homepage and on the WikiPedia.
It seems to me that Jollibee in Kidapawan is being externally refurbished; perhaps they’re repainting the walls. I’m a bit concerned at the wooden scaffolding being used for climbing as it does not look very safe. Builders or painters know what is good but sometimes things happen so, I hope they are careful. You can find this place in Quezon Blvd., on the corner of Roxas St.
This is the new Shell petrol station in Lanao, Kidapawan. There are four pumps available at the station. The garage also provides an air-conditioned convenience shop where food is available for customers and travellers.
The new petrol station is opposite Mediana cafeteria near Crossing Lanao, Kidapawan City.
Owner: Mayor Rogelio T. Taliño of Carmen
Rubber plants are very popular in Mindanao. Farmers and home-gardeners who are interested in planting plants like young rubber normally go to a plant nursery like this area in Lanao opposite Lanao Central Elementary School. Interested buyers who want to invest money in planting rubber trees on their farmlands could probably negotiate a discount for buying in bulk.
The Barasona family started their business mainly on selling rice in the public market of Kidapawan near the former terminal station right in the centre of the town. The first store they had was right on edge of the really busy street in the market where a lot of people passed, especially on the busy market day. Even during normal days the store is really busy particularly after five o’clock in the afternoon which is a rush hour and buyers are getting busier catching the last minute shopping.
A few years ago the Barasona store moved near to the Mega market. The location of the shop is very good; it is right in the middle of the market which is the busiest. This means that the store is very visible to passing trade and they don’t need to worry about buyers because most of their customers just come back and, since they have been in the business for many years, they have many customers. Besides, there are so many things going and other activities, there are always people who would like to buy something, especially the everyday necessities like food.
The Zebra is a very nice English pub in the centre of Cambridge. I was there few days ago to have some lunch and I really liked the food I chose from their menu; it’s called “Beer Battered Haddock and Chips”. The fish is delicious and it is served with some vegetables, which is always good to have in a balanced meal. The food was so good I went back for dinner the same day.
The menu includes traditional British main courses and light snacks. If you fancy something different they also have some tasty Polish specialities on their menu; the landlord’s wife is Polish. There are also daily specials on the blackboards which are on the wall.
I really like the atmosphere inside the pub; it’s cosy and it is nice to be there with friends to eat and drink. The Zebra is a very good place to meet friends especially in the weekend when there are more people going out for a drink.
RJ Homes Department Stores are located in various parts of Mindanao. Their branch in Kidapawan is one of the nearest to Davao City, which is the main products distributor for the area. Kidapawan used to be a small and quiet place; a long time ago we did not have many domestic appliance stores. During the eighties, as I remember, we only had the Emcor department store. However, now RJ Homes appliance store is here, competing with the rest of the near by stores like Imperial Plaza and other bigger department stores that also sell good selection of home appliances.
If you want to make some inquiries on a particular item, their website, www.rjhomes.com.ph, provides very useful hints and information to customers. Anything you want to know about their products you can always check their website for your particular part of Mindanao. Their website contains a lot of details including contact numbers of people in many places based in Mindanao, which is really useful given how inadequate some paper and online telephone directories are. If you fancy anything from the store you can call their help desk.
A long time ago Kidapawan only had a few banks and money changers were not very popular either. I’m not sure how people changed their money; I guess the only place to change dollars was go to the bank. Now there are more banks in Kidapawan that change foreign currency like US$, Euros and the well known currencies.
Kidapawan has now two money changers. Sugni Superstore, along Quezon Boulevard, has now a small chain available at the first floor. The money changer accepts Euro, US$, British Pounds and many other foreign currencies.
Kidapawan Megacenter (KMCC) Corporation, located along Dayao St., recently opened another money changer on the first floor.
It is a huge progress; it means that people can easily just go out and go to these places when they want to change their money. The best thing about it is that there’s no queue, you don’t need to wait for long because it’s very rarely busy. It is very simple to compare the exchange rates, and, it is all up to you to decide where to change. The fact that there are only two money changers means you do not have a lot of options but it is good competition for the banks.
General Santos City is well known to most people in Mindanao, although it is usually just called GenSan. GenSan is located in South Cotabato on the Philippine island of Mindanao. It is one of the many familiar destinations of the locals especially to those people who are in business related to fish imports. There are many types of fish that are landed in GenSan, one of the most popular and famous is tuna (bariles) which is sold in Kidapawan, and many other towns and cities, in the normal market places. Some locals often buy a large amount of fish at the port where the fish are really fresh. They get a discount for buying them in boxes or crates. To make sure the fish is fresh and safe they always put plenty of ice to freeze them for the 4-5 hour journey in the fish car for delivery to Kidapawan for sale in the market.
Soon after that when the fish are all sold in the market next thing they do is to load those empty boxes and crates back to the fish car and that is the time they return to GenSan and do the same thing; buying and selling. What normally happens is that from GenSan the fish car is loaded with fish all the way to Kidapawan and the vendor/owner then stay there for about a day; it all depends how quickly the fish sells. They always make sure that everytime they go back to Kidapawan the fish car is really loaded with fish otherwise is just waste of time and money selling fish on limited amount which is pointless, so, they always make sure they have plenty to sell in order to make more profit.
Driving the fish car for hours on end for a living is not an easy task but people keep doing it because it is profitable. Fish is food and people need and buy it so it is just a normal thing to do over and over again. People I know that travel back and forth a lot say that, since it normally takes many hours from GenSan to Kidapawan, they try to make sure they arrive on time by leaving GenSan in the evening and arriving in Kidapawan early morning so they have plenty of time to prepare for the early morning market.
What is also very good about GenSan is that there are foreign investors who make big business on tuna, which ensures that GenSan is really booming. To know more about it’s history have a look at GeneralSantos.com.
