Blogs from Mindanao, Philippines, Asia - page 5

Zamboanga, the city is commercially branded for tourism by the city government as "Asia's Latin City," a clear reference to Zamboanga's identification with the Hispanized cultures of "Latin America" or the USA's "Latino" subculture.Officially, the City of Zamboanga (Chavacano de Zamboanga/Spanish: Ciudad de Zamboanga). Zamboanga is a corrupted word for the Bahasa Sug jambangan, which means garden. The highly-urbanized city is located on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is one of the first chartered cities and the sixth largest in the country. Zamboanga City is also one of several cities in the Philippines that are independent of any province, though it is usually grouped with Zamboanga del Sur for statistical purposes. The most common languages and dialects in the city are Zamboangueño (a Creole-spanish Chavacano language, also known as Zamboangueño Chavacano or Chavacano ... read more

Last minute decision to head to Rizal's Dapitan. Jose Rizal is the Philippines' national hero and was exiled here during the Spanish era for rebellion against the Spanish rule. It was about 2 hours by bus from Oroquieta and the deluxe bus is slow, waiting for passengers everytime. it rained on and off and I fell asleep again waking up as we got dropped off at a junction. Trike touts fight for our fare, we took one to the Rizal Park near the waterfront. This is a quiet town, I think I will like it. we arrived at the park and it is huge, and it's free! The museum is to the right and we checked out all those Rizal memorabilias, normally I am not into museums but this one is cool, Rizal was a civil ... read more

There are 2 bus terminals in Cagayan de Oro and if I wanted to go to Iligan I have to get to Bulua terminal, jeepneys heading to "Patag" in the corner of Jollibee is where I waited, I hesitated at first taking jeepney as I have a big backpack and don't want to be an inconvenience to the other passengers, but they actually help me pull the pack all the way in and it's cheap, only 15 pesos I think. We made it there and found a deluxe bus to Pagadian stopping in Iligan, I saw an a/c bus but I know it's more expensive and you can't open the windows, 85 pesos to Iligan, bargain! It was a sunny day and we followed the coastline it got cloudy when we approached Iligan but quickly turned ... read more

Sea cat is a fast craft that now has a regular scheduling plying from Cagayan de Oro City to Benoni in Camiguin everyday at 8:30am, cheapest ticket at Main and View deck for 400 pesos. I got there early to buy my ticket, as in Pinoy time of course it did not leave on time as there are late comers. It was smooth sailing, the day started hazy but cleared up and the sea was generally calm until we got out into the open sea and I got wet with sprays from the front as the wind picked up considerably, this did not bother so much as the pesky people smoking in the deck and 2nd hand smoke blows in every direction, then they throw out the butts in the sea! even the gringos do the ... read more

At the bus terminal in Davao, touts told me just tell the security checkpoint you came from the airport and they won't check your backpack thoroughly and so I went past without a hitch and looked for the Bachelors bus line, the a/c bus does not stop in Bunawan, I have to take the slow deluxe bus which stops at every town, took us 5 hours to get to Bunawan, along the way 2 checkpoints one of which the men have to step down the bus while the bus is being searched, we went through almost every province in the area, Compostela, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte even Surigao del Sur, I was dropped off at the new bus terminal, I was told there that the tourism office is in town at the municipal hall so have ... read more