It’s nice to reminisce about the good times when you are stressing about some things. Magsulat na lang ng magsulat!

Cebu Pacific was having another seat sale at that time and we wanted to go to a place which we both haven’t been to. Boracay na lang sana ulit but we’ve been there recently so we chose from the different domestic destinations that CebuPac was flying to instead. We decided to be a bit adventurous so we chose Zamboanga!

Zamboanga is located way down south! Travel time from Manila is around an hour and a half. From Wikipedia, Zamboanga is “situated in Mindanao, the second giant of the archipelago of all the land mass of the Philippines. The city is situated at the southernmost tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula, in the island of Mindanao, Philippines”. Nasa dulo na siya ng Pilipinas!

(Map from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ph_locator_zamboanga_del_sur_zamboanga.png)

This trip happened last February 2008 so please bear with me if I can’t remember some of the details. Plus I will be sharing more pictures actually rather than full kwentos. Even if we were not able to see much in Zamboanga, we had so much with all the new experiences and bloopers.

Syempre, lahat kami kailangan may photo op sa harap ng sign! We were picked up from the airport by the hotel coordinator. We stayed at Skypark Hotel since it was recommended by Ms. Tess, the store manager at Penshoppe Mindpro (I’m not sure if sh’e still with GABC or if she’s still assigned there) plus it was budget friendly. Since Chie and I were from Penshoppe, they gave us a discount even if we were not on an official business trip! The room they gave us was very nice! Parang suite kahit na double deluxe room lang siya! Visit this for more info on the hotel.

Our first stop for that day was the Pasonanca Park. I think we were just able to see only the aviary there and that there were other spots to visit sana. Hehehe, hindi ko masyado naresearch at naayos ang itinerary namin for that trip.

We were also able to visit Lantaka by the Sea Hotel on our first day. I think we were trying to find out where to get a ride to Sta.Cruz cruz island and this was where Manong tricycle driver brought us. Buti na lang din because Chie and I were able to do some pasalubong shopping here. There were vendors of pearls nearby and prices were really cheap! We got a banig of pearls (maybe 12 pairs or more!) for P100! We tested them and the pearls were real naman. Plus nakapagphoto op kami with vintas!

We were able to hire a boat for our trip to Sta. Cruz island and register at the Philippine Tourist Authority, which is a requirement if you are going to Sta. Cruz island so that an escort could be assigned to your group. After we finalized that, we decided to rest for a few hours after lunch. Dun nalaman ni Joe and Chie na hindi magandang idea ang pilitin akong gisingin. We went to the market and the grocery in the afternoon so that we could buy food and supplies for our trip the following day. There are no stores or vendors on Sta. Cruz island so you have to bring your own food if you are staying for a long time.

For dinner, we went to Tini’s Restaurant. I read about this place on the net and learned that they had good and affordable food. Buti nga nahanap namin yung place.

The verdict? Yummy nga!!!! I so loved their nasi  goreng and buko halo-halo!!! We (well, ako talaga) loved the food so much that we had snacks there the following day.

On our 2nd day, we were off to Sta. Cruz island! We went to the Great Sta. Cruz island (meron rin Little Sta. Cruz island). We waited for our escort na tour guard na rin for about an hour. Di na kami nagreklamo kasi tingnan nyo naman dala niya!

 The Great Sta. Cruz island beach is well known for its pinkish sand. According to this, the pinkish sand is “a result of pulverized rare red Organ-pipe Coral mixed in with the white sand; the beautiful pink sand is a rarity, one of the very few found in the entire world, and this beach stretches over three miles encircling the island”. There were picnic huts for rent. We had fun cooking our own food and just enjoying the sun, sand and sea.

Dinner on our 2nd night was at Alavar Seafood Restaurant. I think this is one of the more famous retaurants in Zamboanga. Well, I didn’t like their service very much. If I remember correctly, ang tagal nung food nila and parang ang tagal din pag tinatawag mo yung mga servants. How about the food? Hmmmm…maybe I got turned off already with their service that I didn’t enjoy their food that much anymore.

Most of our 3rd day there was spent at Garden Orchid Hotel. We wanted to try out a different beach but we were unsuccessful. We went to one at first. I think it was the La Vista Del Mar beach resort. Nagtricycle lang kami papunta dun. Chie and I didn’t like it there. Hindi kaaya-aya ang kulay ng tubig at sand. It was a bit too late in the morning to travel to a different beach na so napadpad na lang kami sa Gardin Orchid Hotel. It was ok na rin because we had the pool to ourselves! Parang nasa private resort din kami!

We proceeded to the Barter Trade Market on Canelar Street in the afternoon. We bought our pasalubong from this place which offered a variety of malongs, sarongs and imported noodles and chocolates.

On our last night, we had dinner at Patio Palmeras. Both the food and ambiance were ok.

Nagpamassage pa kami when we were there! I can’t remember if it was after dinner at Alavar or Patio Palmeras. Syempre, Thai massage pa rin! I forgot the name of the place but it was just on the same street as Alavar. Kakatuwa kasi the first part of the massage was so like the one at Tonton!

Some of the other sites we passed by or visited included the City hall and the Cathedral. We passed by Plaza Pershing also but we were not able to take pictures of it anymore.

Zamboanga was a great place to explore! We felt safe there naman. Tip lang sa amin was not to go to places that were not really for tourists and ask around first before venturing into the unknown. Maybe next time we can visit other landmarks and try out the other beaches