My Different Kind of Trip: Zamboanga City

        I never thought of visiting Zamboanga City because of the negative impression I had from the news that the city is a conflict area with all the bombing and the *Abu Sayyaf thing. Anyway, I still got the chance to travel to Zamboanga in 2012 with my sisters and brothers upon the invitation of a friend.  And I learned that security personnel are provided since we’re also travelling with some visiting kids from the US.

Beach inside San Ramon Prison Colony

Zamboanga Sunset taken in San Ramon Beach

     
        Zamboanga City is a highly urbanized city located in Mindanao, Philippines.  Known for Hispanic influences in its culture, it bears the nickname "Asia's Latin City" because it’s the only city in the Philippines and in the entire Asia that speaks a Spanish derivative language- Chavacano.

Zamboanga Airport / Photo source: Google

             Upon arriving at the airport in Zamboanga, true enough, we were greeted and approached by this friend’s family and police escorts. I was not really sure if we need the body guards because we need to or does this friend belongs to a high profile people.

Boat Houses in ZamboEcozone

   
        The ZamboEcozone served as our temporary home.  This Mindanao’s first and only economic zone and freeport  is a 55-hectare industrial area with recreational facilities like a clubhouse, a seminar-training center, condotels, casitas and boat houses, swimming pools, bowling center, and zip-line area.

Inside Zambo Ecozone

Me on Zipline 

     
     This friend’s family heads the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm for three generations. It is now the oldest penitentiary in the Philippines and it became an established community with its own school system. We had the chance to tour the place. We even attended mass at their parish church.

Seen dragon fruit trees for the first time. 

        We were served some gastronomic treats of Zamboanga’s famous seafood like curacha crab and lato green seaweeds. I love Zamboanga’s marang, guyabano and dragon fruit!

Fried Itik, Curacha crab, Sugpo, Lato green seaweeds

Durian, Guyabano, Dragon fruit, Marang

           There’s not much tourist places in Zamboanga City.  But there are these must-see tourist destinations you shouldn’t miss.  One is the Fort Pilar which is very much like the Intramuros in Manila. We passed by Paseo del Mar and Pasonanca Park.  We also dropped by the Yakan weavers of bags, wallets, table runners and accessories.  There are the canning factories in Barangay Ayala that made Zamboanga the Sardines Capital of the Philippines.

Fort Pilar

          Our last stop was the Canelar Barter Center where you can find tax-free products from Indonesia and Malaysia being sold at cheap prices. My sister and I were so engrossed with the pasalubong items that we left our escorts’ eyes that made them worried because they can’t even reach our celfones.  They were tensed that we might have been taken by armed men since kidnapping is rampant in some parts of Zamboanga and ransom can be as low as P5000, as they told us. What a relief on them when they found us. And we’re sorry for the worries we’ve caused them.

Canelar Barter Center / Photo source: Google

Yakan weaves / Photo source: Google

      It’s not a great trip but more of informative. Even with the danger factor, I still enjoyed our visit in Zamboanga. I’m thankful to this friend who’s generous in providing us accommodations and great food!  It's a different kind of trip considering the fear we had to overcome and the security we had to tour the place.

with my sisters and bros

Sources: Wikipedia

*Abu Sayyaf also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya is one of several militant Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern Philippines, in Bangsamoro (Jolo and Basilan), where for almost 30 years Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic, abu ("father of") and sayyaf ("swordsmith”). The group calls itself "Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyya" or the "Islamic Movement".

Sandwich To GO!

Good thing my boys are sandwich fans.  It’s easier I get the boys to eat semi healthy sandwiches. So as much as possible I try to make sandwiches served on a salad base of lettuce and tomato which they prefer than cucumber and carrot.

They used to have my homemade bento box of rice and viands for school lunch, but now that my eldest’s in college, he shed his love for the cold packed lunch.  I have accepted that for now, Renz is a young man always on the go.

So for school lunches, we have had to definitely think of something easier to prepare and of variety. This is more of a challenge, but I've come up with sandwich ideas, that I wanted to share with you for what it is worth.

There you have it. A sandwich to go list that suits my boys’ just fine, and as long as they’re eating, I’ll be packing!

triple decker sandwich >  hawaiian ham, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo

burger beef patties, cucumber, tomato and cheese with mayo in white bread

chicken salad sandwich > chicken breast, 3 cheese ranch, mayo, grated parmesan, dried cranberries, lettuce, minced onion in hotdog buns

 salami, cheese n tomato in parmesan mini loaves bread

hotdog sandwich with some greens in white bread

 tuna salad sandwich > tuna flakes, onion, shredded ice lettuce, mayo in white bread

salami, iceberg lettucce, tomato and mayonnaise in pandesal

bacon, scrambled egg and cheese in crescent buns

ham and egg salad with romaine lettuce in pita bread

corned beef hash with ice lettuce in wheat pandesal

ham and cheese with tomato in panderosa raisin bread

grilled nutella sandwich

my version of sushi sandwich > spam, hotdog, cheeses, spinach spread in white bread

german franks sausage with tomato, greens and mayo n ketchup sandwich 

hotdog and egg with greens in muffin

burger patties, cheddar cheese and greens with mayo in muffin bread

For more photos of my sandwiches. Please check out this site!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bento_nini/sets/72157634804153309/

Reminiscing Macau 2009

      Our trip to Macau was totally unplanned. It so happened that my mother got an invite by my nephew who was Conference Manager then at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel. What was supposed to be a grandson to grandma’s invite was turned into a whole family trip.

Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark Pampanga

                                                                                                 

Macau International Airport

     Macau China is one of Asia's top destinations for travelers who love casinos and gambling, who enjoy shopping for luxury items and even for business. But we were neither gamblers nor rich to splurge. We just wanted to travel... and we're budget travelers.

The Grand Lisboa Hotel is shaped like a giant lotus flower

      It was Chinese New Year when we went to Macau.  The decorations were so colorful and festive. There were couplets, paper-cuts, "Fu", the Gate Gods, Chinese Knots and red paper lanterns all over the place.  There was the traditional dragon dance.  There were Lucky money or Red envelops given away.

Mini Mandarin Orange Trees or Kumquat for the Chinese New Year

Harvey and Grandma at the Senado Square

Celebrating Chinese New Year in Senado Square 

     

      Macau is a part of China and was formerly a Portuguese colony.  Therefore you get to experience Macau’s two faces.  The one have the fortresses and churches, and food. On the other, it has mega-casinos and hotels.  Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia since casinos are legal in here. 

Different Faces of Macao

Don't miss this popular food in Macao- Portuguese egg tarts

 Also popular in Macau - Almond cakes or cookies

      

Macanese Jerky which is similar to Chinese Bakkwa 

     
     One famous attraction in macau is The Ruins of St Paul’s is located close to Senado Square. It refers to the façade of what was originally the Church of mater Dei built in 1602-1640 and the ruins of St Paul’s College, which stood adjacent to the Church, both destroyed by fire in 1835.The ruins sits on a small hill, with 66 stone steps leading up to it.

      We were so lucky to have stayed in one of The Venetian Macao's Bella Suites.  The Hotel is a Renaissance Venice-themed luxury hotel and casino resort on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The Venetian Macao itself is very similar to one in Las Vegas.

      In Venetian Macau there are two main areas—the tourist area and the casino area. In the tourist area, there are the Venetian styled buildings, canals and plaza. The most amazing thing is that all of these are on the third floor. The Grand Canal Shoppes is also on the third floor and is the largest indoor shopping mall in Macau.

    We didn't do shopping, but instead toured around the Grand Canal Shoppes area. The hotel has Streetmosphere comprise of classically trained vocalists, musicians, visual artists and living statues.  

Our gondolier was a Filipino

As if in real Venice, we tried the gondola ride as the pier is near the plaza with the trip taking 15 minutes accompanied by songs from the gondoliers. 

Our Gondola Ride Experience 

   

There's also this remarkable activity center for the kids called the Qube

Slide with 90 degrees drop

        Fisherman’s Wharf is the first theme park in Macau.  It is not the same of that one in San Francisco.  There was a man made volcano, a colosseum like open theatre, a Chinese castle, and European and Louisiana architecture. The streets are colourful.  It has stores, hotels and restaurants and a casino in building themed on different world sea ports.

View of Hongkong Macau Ferry, Friendship Bridge and the Waterfront at Fisherman's Wharf

              Another attraction in Macao is the Guia Hill Park where the Guia Fortress, Chapel and Lighthouse are located.  We got to the top of the hill by riding the cable car.

The Macau Cable Car carries tourists from the flora garden to the top of Monte de Guia 

The lighthouse-symbol of Macau military and missionary past

Winter cold at 10 degrees Celsius

   

Wong Chi Kei Congee & Noodle House is famous in Macau

Tried out streetfood and noodles from some food stall near the Ruins of St. Paul's

Rua Norte do Patane Seaside Park

Fai Chi Kei Park in front of my nephew's rented Apartment

At Sherwin's rented Apartment

Looking back it really hadn’t been a big expense at all and the whole thing seemed kind of comical.  It was a memorable family trip.

Conference Manager then at The Venetian Macao Hotel Resort