Kalilangan Festival 2010: Day 1 in General Santos

We left Davao a little past 7AM. The Wonder Twins, Kirby and Kurt, picked us up and drove us to GenSan. My original plan of catching some shuteye during the 3-hour trip was replaced by nonstop, gibberish chat with Brendel, Lyle, Ria and Angel. Too much excitement makes you forget about time, so the next thing we knew we were already outside Family Country Hotel, our home for 4 nights and 5 days.

We unpacked our stuff and waited for Sir Avel to pick us up. Lunch he said, was going to be at GenSan’s top pizza, pasta and chicken place— Giacomino’s!

Just as we were finishing our last bites, Orman dropped by to hand us our loot bags. We each got copies of the Gensan Gazer, the festival programme, a Kalilangan shirt, and an ID that screams, I’m a JUDGE!

Don't judge me because I'm the judge.

As Angel, Brendel and Lyle were judges of the the Lakan and Lakambini pageant, we had to rush back to the hotel immediately after lunch to freshen up. An hour before the pageant, we rushed to Robinsons Place to have the 2 lady judges prettified at Envy Me Salon and Spa.

Ria and I had 45 minutes to burn, so we toured Robinsons. We both bought accessories to match our outfits for the judging on Friday. Ria also got herself a pair of sunnies and even had spare Avatar Media business cards printed.

We finished our “mall tour” just in time for Brendel’s finishing touches. Left with only a few minutes before the judge’s call time, the gang wasted no time and rushed to Gaisano Mall for the pageant.

The Davao Bloggers sans Dulce. Angel

We initially sat on the seats reserved for Bloggers and Plurkers, but a few minutes before the show started, we were asked to move to the seats reserved for LGU Officials. Oha, front row seats, baby!

In GenSan, we always get the best seats in the house.

Every General is programmed to be warm, nice and hospitable. My list of general friends grew fast. Before the pageant started, Sir Avel introduced us to the genius behind GenSan Gazer, Mandi and the owner of Envy Me and Piyesta KTV and Restobar, Donna Congson. Sir Avel even introduced me to a bunch of Gensan-based photographers.

On to the pageant… All of the contenders were smashers, but my favorite was Lakan#12. He’s like the younger brother *cough* *cough* that I’ve always wanted.

Lakan #12: Lenard Kim.

Johnny Abad's Filipiniana Collection

Ryan Reyes and Hermany Shaine Lara , LLK 2009

Dave Barbero and Sarashvati Sarkar (2nd Runner Up); Caroline Lim and Gevic Romero (LLK 2010); Maureen Paolo and Jenel Labiana (1st Runner Up)

I’m not a fan of pageants, but I definitely enjoyed watching this one.  A round of applause to Dino Veloso for directing such a great show.

Ria and I had VIP passes to the Havaianas fashion show, so we went back to Robinson’s after the pageant. Having been more than an hour late, we missed it. We proceeded then to the Oval Plaza and caught up with the rest of the gang.

Feel na feel namin ang aming mga outfit, and rumampa ever pa sa Oval.. until we came face to face with the Bb. Gandanghari contestants. @&^$#@%!!!

We knew that the Search for Binibining Gandanghari was on, but we weren’t prepared for what we were about to see. There were 10 pretty, long-legged, fair-skinned, flab-free, gay contenders parading infront of us. The pageant squeezed out every ounce of self esteem I’ve got. Life can be unfair, I tell you. Lols

^%$#&^%^#!@#*($*!!!

Isa ka pa! ^#%$^#@%^#%!!!

We were famished (also read as:  We can’t watch them sexy, pretty gays for another minute else we’ll end up slashing our wrists because of envy) so we headed to Piyesta KTV and Restobar at Robinsons Place.

A group shot while waiting for our food.

The dinner, standing up to the resto’s name, was a feast.  I love vegetables, so my favorite would have to be the pinakbet.  I’m sorry though as there wouldn’t be any food shots here. If I did take photos of the food served that night, I might still be nursing at least 20 fork stab wounds until now. Lol

After dinner, it was camwhoring time. I decided to take portraits in black and white. Here are some of the shots.

Donna, who I nicknamed Prettiness, owns Envy Me and Piyesta

The genius behind Gensan Gazer, Mandi and Bariles himself, Sir Avel Manansala

Orman with the kids.

The Love Triangle. One of my favorite shots from this day's set.

Long day it was, and yes, long post this is.  This is still the first of my 5-part Kalilangan 2010 series.  There’s more photos to post and even more stories to tell.  Thank you for reading this and please stay tuned for the Day 2 post.  Be well!