Mindanao Trip Day 2: More Food Discoveries!
Here is Day 2 of 9 of our Mindanao Adventure: Zamboanga City.
Welcome to Day 2 of 9 of our Mindanao adventure! :)
The second day felt fast since I spent most of my energy working for a few hours during the day (duh, remote work) and preparing and recording a talk the whole night long. But that’s the beauty of traveling at our own pace.
We started Day 2 slow. We walked to the public market to find breakfast. We sat down in one of the food stalls that caught our attention, serving Bang Bang Sug. All the food was on the table and we choose what we want to eat. Luckily, one of the Ate’s understood Bisaya so we were able to ask her questions. The names of the dishes which I immediately forgot cause there was a lot. What it was made of.
We also had Mi Goreng. The first of the many Mi Goreng in this trip. Of course their local coffee is a must-have. They simply call it native coffee.
After breakfast, we went to check what the other food stalls were serving. We want to see what to have for breakfast the next day. We then continued exploring the market.
I’ve learned to appreciate visiting public markets when traveling now. It’s a glimpse of what’s abundant in a particular place and its neighboring places in terms of what their land and oceans produce. An overflowing source of stories.
Since we wanted see the composting facility that we saw online, we looked for it in this public market! But we were not able to find it. :( We also forgot to ask people we know online if where this was located. So next time!
We head back to the hotel and moved to another hotel. That means more walking. The new place where we spent another day and night looks newer and the experience was more comfortable. The most important thing for me is that the internet connection was stable and mobile data is stronger (just in case).
I was just excited to finish work, record my (volunteer) talk and start my vacation leave so I can be fully present in this trip! It has become tough for me to bring work whenever I travel because some of the places I like to explore has limited connectivity and I easily get distracted. Good thing I write less for work now.
I was working the rest of the morning until it was time to head out to meet Trizia for a late lunch.
The day before, we passed by a carinderia that serves Malaysian food and took note have one meal there. This part of the country has Malaysian/Indonesian influences. It’s interesting to experience how it is now integrated in their culture and lifestyle.
The pros of walking around a new place is that we get to discover hidden gems. I immensely enjoyed the food here!! This was not on the list recommended to us but I was grateful that we gave it a try.
The owners were the one who took our orders, working in the kitchen (we feel!) with their young kids calling and crying from time to time. Groups of people were still coming in even if it was already beyond 1 PM. Grit and small businesses serving great food in places like this is something that I find truly inspiring and encouraging.
Before we went our separate ways again, I wanted iced coffee. Similar to what we had in Dennis cafe. There was a Mcdonalds, Dunkin Donuts and lots of Jollibee in the area but we wanted to avoid fast food as much as we can. Especially because we are visiting a place that had good local coffee.
We found a pastry shop but they were only serving hot coffee and milk tea. We searched on Google Maps and found a few coffee shop. But when we dropped by, they had coffee shop in their names but they were serving 3 in 1 coffee. Sad :( Dennis Cafe was a jeepney ride away and will take more time. We then decided to end our iced-coffee-search for the day in this side of the city and we’ll just try again tomorrow.
I went back to the room, had a quick nap (essential!) and finished computer stuff for a few more hours. And then there was an earthquake. It seemed like someone was forcibly opening the door to our room or a huge truck was passing by that caused the building to shake. It lasted a little longer but good thing all was well from where we were (but not in some areas in General Santos and Davao! HUHU Katakot)
I wrapped up work and decided to continue working on my talk after dinner.
We were planning to visit Port Pilar which was close to Paseo de Mar but we realized our meet up time of 5 PM was already late. It will probably be closed.
When I arrived at Paseo de Mar, it was already full of families and friends hanging out. It was a Friday. The sun was starting to set.
We decided to have an early dinner so we can enjoy the walk home, unhurried, and buy groceries for next day’s volunteer activity.
We were still full from our late lunch! I was too full that I can no longer squeeze in a knickerbocker post-dinner. I was hoping that we will be back the next 2 days. I enjoyed our Alavar’s dinner.
Right after dinner, we walked home. Good thing we were still able to buy groceries since establishments also close early in the area.
I am proud of all the walking we did. Helped us to keep moving.
We settled in for the night at the hotel early since I also want to finish and record my talk before we travel to Sulu a few days later. So ayun, 2 AM na ako nakatulog kasi the internet was not THAT fast for Canva. Mwehehe. But the important thing is that I had a few hours of sleep, was able to pack since we’re leaving the hotel early and I finally finished the talk, still with a few unprocessed clips.
Stay tuned for Day 3!!
At sana di tayo abutin ng 2024. :P
Here’s the rest of the series of this Mindanao Adventure:
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Where is Day 3? Hehe! Finally caught up with your adventures, bestfriend!