Glan – Out of the Blue

Do you know where Glan is? Any idea? I bet the immediate answer is No. Neither did I! Lol! I wasn’t even aware such place exist.

Before I tell you my story, let me show you GLAN.

Simply A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. isn’t it? 🙂

 

Where is Glan?

Glan is a municipality in Sarangani Province. It is situated at the southern part of the Philippines and a part of the SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) Region. Farming and fishing is the main sources of living here.

The How to

There are direct flights from Manila going to General Santos City daily. In our case, we came from Davao City. From Ecoland Transport terminal, we rode a bus bound to GenSan (General Santos City). The nonstop trip is approximately 3 hours. And, yes, a big YES, it is safe to travel in this part of Mindanao. 🙂

Then, from Lagao terminal in Gensan there are vans and jeepneys bound to Glan. At the town’s terminal hire a tricycle or habal-habal (motorcycle) to take you to Gumasa beach. Our friend and generous host Dhalla, arranged for a van to take us to the beach.

Night before Glan

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The main reason we went to Gensan was to meet Dhalla. Florifel, Chassy and Dhalla are childhood friends. One fine day, more than two decades ago, Dhalla and her family left Makati City and moved to General Santos City. They lost contact and never saw each other again until last December (thanks to social media! ^_^) .

It was an inspiring experience seeing these three ladies reunited and reconnected. While we were savoring the delectable seafood dishes served at Tiongson Arcade we happily talked about their childhood memories.

Surprises of Glan

Early morning the next day, after a scrumptious breakfast we started our journey to Glan. We travelled for almost an hour until we reached White Haven Beach Resort in Gumasa Beach. While my friends are checking the resort’s tariff I went ahead and checked the beach.

And….

It was like……..

…………………….

…………………….

…took a deep breath…

…closed my eyes….

…and…. hayyyyyyyy….. ^_^

…bright blue sky…

…powdery white sand….

…pristine water.

PARADISE.

I went back to the resort’s entrance and meet my friends. Immediately they asked, “How’s the beach?” I responded, “Girls, we are staying.”

We’d taken a lot of photos, savored the serenity of the ocean and took a lot of photos again. ahaha!

We stayed at Gumasa Beach the whole day. Then, headed back to Gensan and splurge on a gigantic Halo-Halo Special at Mi’Grande Gensan (this is a must try place people!). 🙂

The colossal Halo-halo

Thank You and See you later

Before we left Manila, we never thought we will be able to experience Gumasa Beach. We had a totally different plan and I am glad that it didn’t work out. All thanks to hospitality and generosity of Dhalla, Juaymah and their whole family. We are looking forward to seeing you guys soon and enjoy Mindanao again!  🙂

~Doing What I Love, Loving What I Do~