Bangsi Production in Maitum, Sarangani

On our way to the Maitum Pawikan Conservation and Protection Center, we passed through a coastal community in Barangay Old Poblacion where the main livelihood of its people is the production of sundried marinated flying fish, or locally called bangsi. Bangsi is in fact the One Town One Product (OTOP) of the whole town of Maitum.

A Bountiful Breakfast in Masaganang Maitum

We started day-2 of SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 (SEx Tour 4.0) with a healthy breakfast at Cresing's Food Products, our host in the town of Maitum in the province of Sarangani. We were served a salad of edible fern (pako) and tomatoes, three variants of organically grown rice (brown, red and black rice), and fried marinated flying fish or locally called bangsi.

General Santos City: SMART Night at Caffe Firenzo

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Smart Communications Inc (Smart), the country's leading wireless services provider, is the official telecommunications partner of this year's SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour (SEx Tour 4.0). For the entire duration of our 5-day blogger event, Smart has provided us with pocket WiFi units so that we can instantly share photos and updates to our online readers. See the above photo of the pocket WiFi sample unit taken from the smart.com.ph website.

#SmartLiveMore

Welcome Dinner at Family Country Hotel, General Santos City

When the evening finally came, it was time for yet another feast. Family Country Hotel prepared a welcome dinner for us, the participating bloggers of SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0.

The hotel served us a bounty of fresh seafood dishes including kinilaw na malasugi, shrimp tempura, shrimp foo young, and GenSan's pride, tuna sashimi. Sorry for the term, but O-M-G, this is the freshest tuna sashimi we have ever tasted. No need for the soy sauce and wasabi because these babies are good as they are. Weird as it may sound, these slices of fresh tuna are actually sweet to the taste! We are undoubtedly in the tuna capital of the Philippines.

SM Supermarket in SM City Gensan

From Polomolok, we drove back to General Santos City for a tour inside SM Supermarket Gensan. Located on the ground floor of the newly opened SM City Gensan, SM Supermarket Gensan really impressed everyone in our group.

Dole Philippines Pineapple Plantation in Polomolok, South Cotabato

It was almost 50 years ago when Dole, a world leader in fresh and packaged fruits and vegetable production, chose the fertile land of Polomolok in the Province of South Cotabato, to farm its delicious pineapples. Today, Dole is the world's largest producer of bananas and pineapples, with majority of its pineapple production facilities located in Polomolok.

Kalsangi Clubhouse of Dole Philippines in Polomolok, South Cotabato

Our group was invited by Dole Philippines (Dolefil) for a lunch at its Kalsangi Clubhouse to formally open SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour (SEx Tour) 4.0. We were very lucky to have set foot inside the clubhouse as Kalsangi Clubhouse is not open to the public.

Family Country Hotel in General Santos City

It was such a great news when we were informed that Family Country Hotel and Convention Center will sponsor our accommodation and will serve as our official residence in General Santos City for the 5-day SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 blogger event.

General Santos International Airport

From Pasig City, we made it at 4:30am at NAIA Terminal 3 on time for our flight at 6:55am. I quickly checked our itinerary receipt and noticed that our estimated time of arrival in General Santos City (GenSan) would be at 8:45am. That's a total of 1 hour 50 minute flight to the southernmost city in the Philippines.

SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 (September 1-5, 2012)

SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 (SEx Tour 4.0) officially starts today. Being the first Social Media SEx Tour, participating bloggers are expected to share photos and updates during the course of the tour utilizing the various social media applications available. Pinas Muna has selected Instagram as its primary channel to share photos online.