Maia Travels: Davao City's People's Park

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Davao City was the morning we spent at People's Park.

The park was just a few blocks from where we were staying in downtown Davao so we decided to just stroll over after breakfast. It was the same day that we were scheduled to go to Eden Nature Park but we thought we still had enough time to linger so we went for that walk.

We didn't have any expectations besides the thought that we would love for Maia to spend sometime running around since we know she always long for a wide space to waste her limitless energy on.

Oh boy, the park was indeed wide. Wide that we think the one hour we had was just not enough for the little girl. She wanted to stop by each of the gigantic statues and shake hands with them.

Colorful giant statues all over the park makes the visit even more interesting.

There was this corner in the park that is dedicated for kids called FUN PARK. Maia spent the first 30 mins here running from one slide to another and climbing from one structure (for the lack of a better term) to another. It was also Maia's first time to ride on a see-saw and she was shrieking in delight! I wish our village park had the same amenities. I'm sure when that happens Maia will become a regular 'fixture' you'd think she helps maintain it and would probably even ask to live there (yes, she has outrageous requests sometimes).

Fun Park Entrance

Look Mommy! Sliding! (that's what she calls slides)

She just went with her business when we got inside this section of the park.
She didn't even ask for our help when she was climbing the stairs and the slides.

Waiting Area and Restrooms right outside of the Fun Park entrance.

If you are going to Davao City as a family, this place is worth wasting your time. This was probably where we had most fun because we never spent a single peso and yet could really say we enjoyed it. We were even able to burn some calories walking around. Only thing we regret is we arrived when the park was already closing for morning clean up so we had limited time inside. We should have come earlier had we known it was closing at 8am. There was a lot to see apart from the fun park and the gigantic statues that adorned the park. There is a fish pond, some caged monkeys, a sunken garden (we saw a flock of pigeons being fed when we peaked into it). We also loved the center of the park where most of the trees are located. At 9am, the sun's heat is already approaching it's peak but you won't feel the heat coming in because of the abundance of trees. It was all fresh cold air we felt while we rested on the benches to catch our breath.

Cool Breeze!

Maia and Tibs having their own moment. Trees are all over!

I love this part! We found her collecting twigs, dried grass and leaves and arranging them on to the pavement.
It turns out she was assembling a food tray for the birds to enjoy. 

I felt really bad I couldn't share more photos from the park. The day after we got back from vacation, I accidentally deleted 80% of the photos from the SD card. We were able to recover most of them but still we lost many of the better looking photos most of which were taken from the People's Park. Oh well, I guess that gives us a reason to come back. :)

***The park is located in J. Palma Gil and Jose Camus streets just right beside Apo View Hotel. It opens early am and closes at 8am so the maintenance crew can clean up. It opens at 1pm again till nighttime.***