Random Detox » Zamboanga

Spending Holy Week in Zamboanga

Flisha — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:57:19 +0000

I’m not the type to wear hip hop clothes, but business formal isn’t my thing either. I’m my most comfortable in casual wear. Just a shirt and jeans, or shorts, is me.

So it was a lot of fun being able to go home last Holy Week and just spend leisurely days with my long-time boyfriend, whom I’ve missed so much.

One lazy afternoon we decided to hit the beach and watch the sunset. The tide was pretty low that afternoon, so we were able to sit on the exposed rocks lining the shore.

We drank some beer, sat, reminisced about the old times when we used to do the same thing almost every weekend, and just enjoyed each others presence.

Our main takeaway? We realized our happiest times were the simplest – just being together and enjoying nature. Be it the beach or the river or the mountains, it doesn’t take a whole lot of money to make us happy. For me, it’s just being with Gim. He lights me up, and I do the same for him.

I hope we can be together again really soon. And for good.

Tags: Personal, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Christmas in Zamboanga

Flisha — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 07:57:29 +0000

I spent Christmas in Zamboanga, as I always do, because that’s my hometown. ♥

On one of those days I had a dinner with my old debate friends Jeff and Ruth. I wish Chu and Jen were there so it would be complete, but Chu is in Australia and Jen was too effin’ busy (hmp!) so it was just the four of us including Gim of course (whom I met through debate! Double ♥).

We had a nice dinner in Lantaka Hotel, then went to look at the lights in City Hall and then had smoothies in Catribo. Zamboanga is so small, we kept bumping into old friends. We saw Julius, Joey, King, Raul, my old students and so many others. December is truly homecoming month.

I love this picture.

It was taken by Jeff, haha. We had a hard time getting a pic because all the waiters seemed so harried, running from one table to the other. We could hardly keep their attention for more than a minute, and almost all the waiter’s photos were a blurry fail. LOL. So. Sariling sikap, yo! Hahaha.

Here is a photo taken by Ruth of my favorite Lantaka dish. It’s pasta marisco – fettucini swimming in seafood sauce and yummy clams and squid. Mmmm!!! I miss!!!

Here is me and Gim, ooh, parang we just had a dinner date, hahahah!

Here is our fully lighted City Hall. Amazing, yeah? It was even more lighted up than last year, if you can believe that!!

And here are our other pictures, just browse through them all.

© Flisha for Random Detox, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Christmas 2010, Holidays, Zamboanga

Tags: Christmas 2010, Featured, Holidays, Homecoming, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Zamboanga also needs new restos!

Gim — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:50:04 +0000

While we’re on the topic of what Zamboanga needs, I’d also like to point out that Zamboanga needs new restos too! Although there are a few exceptions (Mr. Bean’s at the Catribbo Complex, Patio Palmeras along Pasonanca road), most of the restos in the city are old, dilapidated, and with the worst service imaginable (with food spots like these, there’d be no need to browse through that diet pill review).

Again, take for instance Mang Inasal’s, where we had lunch yesterday (see previous post). OK, fine, it’s not actually a resto, more of a fastfood joint, but still- fastfoods are meant to be just that; fast and efficient at feeding hungry people impatient for food. Sadly, the reverse was true yesterday.

Mang Inasal’s was slow, with waiters deliberately ignoring their customers. There was a lack of everything- from water, to utensils and even paper napkins. Paper napkins! Every decent food joint should have at least a pile on each table! And pox on that unlimited rice promo! It is sooo freaking hard to get a refill and when we finally did, the rice was of poor quality- grainy with bits of pebbles and with the distinct smell of molds. What kind of service is that?

The Mang Inasal's here does NOT look like this

Needless to say, I’m not going back there ever again. And I’m sure to spread the word to other poor souls who may be fooled into thinking otherwise.

Tags: Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Zamboanga needs new malls-stat!

Gim — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:15:45 +0000

Zamboanga badly needs new shopping centers. The city is literally growing; population-wise, the city grew from 500,000+ residents in 2001 to close to a million this year. That’s double the number of people nine years ago! No wonder the city’s streets are chaotic most of the time (pretty soon the heat, dust and sweat will give us all acne and then we’re going to need acne treatments).

Take yesterday for instance. Me and a couple of friends went off to have lunch after a grueling morning spent answering a pharmacology exam. We went to nearby Southway “Mall” for barbecue at Mang Inasal’s (a local resto that offers unlimited rice refills). When we got there, I was genuinely surprised at the throng of people milling about the sardine can- shaped “mall”.

Sardine-can is the best adjective to describe it. It is a cylindrical, narrow structure of four floors and packed with people from top to bottom. It was nauseating just being there. The smell of sweat, perfume, and food all mingled to form a pungent and unpleasant aroma that stuck to your clothes and made you feel haggard and tired.

A sweat shop made to look like a shopping center

Instead of making me feel refreshed and rested, that lunch all the more made me feel cranky, irritated, and disheveled. This city definitely needs more shopping centers. SM, Gaisano, Robinson’s; where fort art thou?

Tags: Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Ugly, dirty campaign posters

Gim — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:20:05 +0000

With the national and local elections just around the corner, various candidates running for all sorts of positions from city councilor to city mayor to the top post of President of the Republic are frantically trying to to put in last minute campaigning (becoming living promotional products).

In the Philippines, this usually involves plastering ugly posters featuring the faces of all those candidates in every available space. From walls to light posts and even esteros, these posters stare out at passing motorists with their fake grins promising an end to poverty and a change for the better. In my hometown of Zamboanga, like most of the other cities in the country, these posters are virtually everywhere transforming the city into one endless stream of trash, its roads seemingly paved out of the hollow agendas and empty promises these posters make.

But driving along the roads of my city, these unwanted barrage of garbage is the least of your worries. Since the campaign period officially started, our beloved city officials did what they do best- they started hastily breaking down roads all over the city and repairing them, in an attempt to show the public that “your taxes are working for you”, ergo, we (your government) is working for you. Ha!

I just can’t help but wonder, you, our dearly beloved local government, literally had years to fix and repair our badly potholed streets. Why wait until election time is near, to hastily fix them- all at once?? Don’t you realize that the simultaneous construction that goes on in almost all of our roads are creating a driving hazard that puts lives at risk? To drive down the streets of Zamboanga nowadays is like driving through an obstacle course- one has to constantly switch lanes in order to avoid hitting those unlighted, unreflectorized concrete and wooden barriers that are soo difficult to see especially since constant power outages ensure that the streets are almost always pitch black at night. You also have to navigate your vehicle through streets that are partially destroyed (due to the repairs going on in the other lane) and try to beat the other vehicle to that narrow stretch of passable road (yes, because of these “repairs” two way streets are now suddenly converted to one way streets but with vehicles going both to and fro, still going two-way- thus creating traffic jams which ensnare vehicles for hours).

As if this weren’t enough, the constant mutilation of our roads are creating dust clouds that sticks to your clothing and makes your hair turn white. Finally, to add insult to injury, the “completed and repaired” roads are proving to be more of a burden than a boon. They were cobbled together so hastily that they didn’t even bother to align the new section with the old ones that are still good, creating an uneven surface between sections and between lanes. For those driving motorcycles, these areas are treacherous as they could cause the wheels to slip and the driver to end up on his back in the uneven asphalt.

And they say that “our taxes are working for us”. Yeah, right.

Tags: Election, Events, Politics, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Zamboanga Woodland Resort

Flisha — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:59:38 +0000

My friends and I are currently scouting for a good place to hold an overnight. Over the years, it’s become our yearender routine. Take photos, sing karaoke, eat, drink, be merry, catch up on all the latest goss and have at least ONE DAY in the entire year that we are all together again, just like in high school.

Astoria Regency is fully booked this year, sooo sad! We tried Lantaka Hotel, but they won’t let 7 people stay in a room even if we’re willing to pay extra. They tell us we have to book TWO rooms, but that is totally pointless for a reunion. Raquel is going to inquire at Garden Orchid next, and I went and had a look at Woodland Resort earlier today.

Woodland is beautiful, and there’s a lot of photo-friendly spots. But it’s too bad, because we were told that the Department of Education is holding their Christmas party over there for three days, including the day we’re holding our get-together. I envision loads of middle-aged government employees AND their families. Crowds and strangers are not my thing.

So, I guess we will have to look elsewhere.

However, Gim and I had a blast today. Just look at all our photos!

Here is me trying to look all cute for Gim.

Then this is me gorging down all the food we ordered! A mango smoothie, a diet Coke (every little avoidance counts), and a clubhouse sandwich!

Gim raising his eyebrow at me when I told him that no, this is MY coke, that is YOUR smoothie and this is OUR sandwich. (Because I was finishing everything.)

After eating, we went on to take photos outside. Okay, the truth is, we only ate in the restaurant to avoid paying the entrance fee that was Php35 per person. So we spent more on the resto, but at least we didn’t pay for nothing! Hehehe, we are really cheapskates!!

I wanted Gimmi to take a photo of me AND the flowers. This is how I look when I’m not getting what I want. It’s my Gimmi, you fix this now na!! look. Gim tells me that’s always how I look. Hehehehe!

Me posing by the lake. I wanted lots of photos with Gim and me but he said he would take the photos, I would pose, and since there is only me and him in this trip, that people would assume he is with me, taking the photo, and that would be enough. As I get to star in all the photos, that was fine by me! Hehehe. I am so spoiled! See why I love him???

A photo by the lilies, please? - Flifli. Okidokie, bunny! - Gimmi

This photo, I know it’s not really clear a clear shot of me, but I like that I am on the bridge. That’s all!!

Now I am at the end of the bridge. Don’t pay attention to my tummy. Gim says I look pretty here so there! I will not accept any other point of view hehehe!

Trying to take a good photo but Gim is sniffing me out! What the eff, Gimmi???

Try again. But this time Gimmi is trying to lick me! Puppy, sit and behave!!

No can do, and so I say, Gim this time I will look at you so you will behave! Now I’m the one who ruins the pic. Hayyy!

Another yummy tummy pic. My camphone takes bad photos but the background is really pretty IRL.

This photo, Gim had to pee, stat! But I wanted a photo by the bougainvillea. He took the cam, shot the photo in one second, handed me back the cam, and ran away to pee behind a secluded building. I had no time to even pose appropriately, so that is my bemused look!

Soo pretty! There are horses! And you can ride for P40 an hour I think. I didn’t want to because I pitied the poor animals. They would surely balk at my sheer weight, and then where would I be! Needing more than a would-be orthopedic specialist, I think!!

Here’s Gim, back from peeing. Hee hee, doesn’t he look relieved?!?

And then we decided we would rent a banca and row away on this lake! Ohhh it was so scary just getting on it! The little canoe rocked violently to one side when I first stepped on it!! And I had my very expensive cellphone with me, which I couldn’t leave with the help because what if he ran away with it, but then again, what if I brought it and it fell??? (In the end I brought it because around these parts, I would rather take the chance that it will not fall in the boat than it will not get stolen by helpers who earn less than the minimum wage! And I wouldn’t blame them either, if they did!)

We had to don these ugly life vests filled with styro foam and I really do not think they would be any good in case we did fall in the lake! And FYI, the lake was 10 feet deep!! So, really, I would drown if I did fall!!

I sat in the back while Gimmi sat in front. For a while there, we were both paddling and going around in circles! He would paddle in the right and I would paddle in the left. He would get frustrated because he said I was doing it wrong! And I said, I don’t care, I just want to paddle!!! It’s my first time kaya!!! Here he is looking at me all frustrated and charmed by my cuteness!

Then he decided he would take my photo. Now I don’t have to move a bit when I need to take his photo because I was at his back. But to take my photo he had to move sideways. And the banca would tip slightly to the side whenever he did that. Here is how I look scared shitless.

Then here is how I look while saying, Okay! Okay! We are tipped to the side but not yet capsized! Nobody move! Nobody!!!

And then here is me trying to smile and trying to forget that we are maybe going to capsize in a while if you do not sit back straight dammit Gimmi now na!!!

So he went back rowing. Oh, by the way, if you notice, I stopped rowing early on, after I had my fill of paddling. That’s when we actually started to move somewhere we actually wanted to go.

And look! The sun is so pretty, reflected in the lake! And those are new rowers who got jealous of us and decided they wanted to rent an banca too!

We went under the bridge! Pretty!!!

Another photo of me scared because Gimmi is again attempting to take a photo of me!!! (He never took a good one. I always looked the same.)

Awww we successfully passed under the bridge! And we pretended for 1.5 seconds we were in Venice. Or wherever is that famous place for romantically passing under bridges.

And then almost collided with the lilies!!! We were trying to avoid hitting the other couple on the previous picture. Do you know how hard it is to navigate with a boat??? Very hard!!!

Pretty waterlilies!! Do you know they bloom at night then close during the day??? I wonder why… Would it not be more aesthetically pleasing if it were the other way around?!?

Here is me posing with my favorite tree ever, the kalachuchi. (Because they have those huge pretty flowers.) Well, that’s what Gim tells me they are called. (Who knows with him. He often lies just to be able to give me an answer to all my endless questions.) I would have thought they would have a prettier name. Regardless, I want rows of these trees adorning my entire house and lot in the future!!!

Awww, and we had to leave at sunset… because the roads to that place are broken and many accidents have happened in the night there… So… goodbye Woodland Resort! It was a pleasure visiting!

All photos plus more down there!

© Flisha for Random Detox, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Christmas 2009, Holidays, Woodland Resort, Zamboanga

Tags: Christmas 2009, Featured, Holidays, Woodland Resort, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Lantaka by the Sea

Flisha — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:57:51 +0000

Lantaka by the Sea

We got caught in the rain while joyriding through the streets of Zamboanga. We were about to drop by Paseo del Mar, but it was full of Sunday folks. So we decided on Lantaka by the Sea instead, even though the rates were considerably higher, the solitude and quiet would be well worth it.

And a good decision, too, since mere minutes after settling in our cozy little hut, the rain started pouring by the buckets.

We ordered Pasta Marisco (seafood pasta) to share, Choros de Chocolate (bread with chocolate) for dessert, a Cookies and Cream frappe for me, and two San Miguel Lights for him.

Spent the evening just taking photos, eating good and having fun, until the rain let up and we were able to head home.

Getting caught in the rain always leads to fun times when I’m with Gimmi.

© Flisha for Random Detox, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate bread, Holidays, lantaka, paseo del mar, seafood pasta, Zamboanga

Tags: chocolate bread, Featured, Holidays, lantaka, paseo del mar, Photography, seafood pasta, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Best Things in Life are in Zamboanga

Flisha — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:22:00 +0000

If you were the type to do it, you would have to colon cleanse yourself maybe once a day at least if you lived here.

Some Facebook friend of mine once said that it’s impossible to diet in this city. Zamboanga, I mean.

And it’s completely true, too. Why?

1. Zamboanga dishes are just divine. My mother cooks wonderful, face-stuffing paella. And I love the taste of gently-seasoned sotanghon. And Gim swears by the oregano-smelling, entrails-filled dinuguan. And the lechon, migod, buy it on an early Sunday morning fresh from Greenfields! And don’t forget the gulucinas, now!

2. And there’s every kind of fruit available! If you come here, you must taste the mangoes. They are the sweetiest, tartiest, juiciest mangoes in the world. And have you heard of mangosteen, rambutan, marang, lansones or sineguelas? If not, come here and find out!

3. And best of all, everything is affordable. Cangreho and curacha cost only Php300 per kilo (or less). Mollusks and seashells are sold by the bucket. In Manila, bananas are sold by the piece and in terribly expensive prices. Here, you can buy a sackful and it won’t break the bank. (Why you would, though, I would not know…)

I’m stuffing myself full of everything Zamboanga has to offer, because soon I will be far away again…

But what about you? What do you love about your city?

Tags: Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Astoria Regency Zamboanga

Flisha — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:16:00 +0000

These days, when I think of Astoria Regency in Zamboanga City, I think of swimming. With my going back and forth Manila-Zamboanga, it’s been awhile since I was able to take a nice long dip in a swimming pool.

I miss those days. I am at a crossroad. Tomorrow I am supposed to return to Manila. (I just came back home for four days, to attend my boyfriend Gim’s graduation. He’s a doctor now! Photos of that soon.)

However, all I want to do is stay here, with him. Because he really makes me happy. Wish I could steal him away for a long long cruise, where we can forget all our troubles, drink and eat and be merry, and smile all the time. I want to just keep him and be with him for always.

But, the rainy days always come. And I have to give up being with him, again. I’m not sure for how long this time. I am at a crossroad.

I will just have to keep looking at photos of summer and happier times. And hope the rains pass quickly.

Tags: Manila, Photography, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Blue Beach Park in Golf, Zamboanga

Flisha — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Easter Sunday, the day before I came back to Manila, Gim and I decided to visit Golf Beach, on a whim. Not to bathe; I don’t think I can ever bathe in less than white sand beaches (Dakak spoiled me). But rather just to enjoy the last few tendrils of sun. I don’t even have photos: it was much too dark.

After ten minutes of standing around near the water, we mounted Bastian (the bike) and left. But not before touring the entire beach, so we headed deeper into Golf.

At the end of the road, we saw this:

A new restaurant! What a surprise! And so pretty! Instantly I was saddened we hadn’t gone there earlier. It would have been a spectacular sunset.

Gim and I decided to have dinner there. It was very peaceful, we had the place to ourselves, as you can see in the photos below. I didn’t have a tripod so I had to set my camera on the table to get the photos (thus the awkward angles).

There wasn’t much beach, but there was a small park, and an exquisite tree parked on top of a hill, filled with sparkling lights. That was really the one thing that made the park beautiful, that tree.

Random aside: did you know that apricots came from Apricot trees? I thought they came from bushes! (It’s like how some people think pineapples come from trees, but don’t.)

I will return there, soon, to take more photos in better lighting. And in sunset! Oh I am so excited to return there on a sunset! These photos of mine do not do the tree justice.

Having the place to ourselves, Gim and I photowhored away. Much of it is blurry since we had to hold our breaths for ten seconds at least per photo. And one time, the waitress was coming with our food so I left my post midfreeze (that’s the one where I turned into a ghost).

The food was great! We ordered beef tapa with onions, it was so good, I loved it! We also ordered camaron rebosao (sugar roasted shrimp) but it was not available so we had to do with crispy shrimp, which was okay, not terrific. And of course, the requisite garlic rice (which was yum).

I apologize if the photos are a bit unfocused. We were too hungry to wait for the perfect take.

All in all, it was a very fun day. Gim and I had some heavy stuff to sort out so it was a good thing the place was clear of guests. We’re good now, though.

Here’s a bonus photo of the pretty tree. I tried my best to hold my breath while taking the photo, but it came out blurred anyway. Still you can see the potential.

Tags: Photography, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Childhood Friends and 3rd Cup Zamboanga

Flisha — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:42:00 +0000

My friend Donnel turned a year older on the second of April, but it wasn’t until last week that we were able to celebrate it with him. He treated my friends and I to lunch in Greenfield’s Mano-Mano, and after an hour or so we headed to the latest coffee shop in Zamboanga, 3rd Cup.

Here is the birthday boy with his girlfriend Leila. Aren’t they cute?

Jotie behind a set of legs. My camphone isn’t very smart at focusing on the subject.

Raquel, owner of aforementioned legs. She was fiddling with her phone as much as I was. 3rd Cup offers free wifi, you see.

Brian with what looks to be a Mac laptop. Except it’s a Mac sticker on an Acer. Hahaha.

And then there’s me. I’m way darker than normal, because of all the swimming. And way fatter because I’m home. Gahd this Zamboanga and all its overwhelming food.

Meeting up with my friends was fun, but sad as well because Chris wasn’t there. He was too busy working, that workaholic.

I finally realized why a lot of people come to 3rd cup. I was truly baffled the first time I came here, because the food sucked (and still does). It turns out that not only does 3rd cup have free (and fast) wifi, they also lend laptops at P25 per hour. What a steal!

I’m coming over a lot more often from now on!

Tags: Personal, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Heidee Hangs Out in Astoria

Flisha — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:55:00 +0000

My friend Heidee, who recently started working in Singapore, came home to Zamboanga about a week ago for a short visit. Of course, where should we hang out but my favorite new place to hang out, Astoria Regency!

It was high noon when we got to the hotel and it was sooo freakin’ hot. Maybe 36 degrees Celsius. Or worse. We had to order shakes ASAP. In fact, we each had two. I got corn shake, Gim had mango shake and Heids ordered what looks to be a watermelon shake. And then we ate lunch (calamares, lengua de baca and baked clams with garlic rice).

We were supposed to meet up with Jotie, Donnel, Brian and Chris. But they all had ~~excuses~~ reasons for not coming so it ended up just the three of us. (Just like old times, no, Heids? ^-^)

Here are some photos we took of that day. (Sorry for the low quality, I only brought a camphone. I no longer lug my camera around Zamboanga City for security reasons.)

Heids and I

Heids and Gim

The three of us trying our best to fit into the screen while Gim held my phone at arm’s length.

It was a mighty fun day. Heidee fed me the latest chika from her side of the class pool, and I fed Heidee the latest fibs from mine. Sorry about that, Heids!

Tags: Personal, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Curacha in Alavar Sauce

Flisha — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Gim and I had a spectacular lunch today. Curacha cooked in coconut milk and Alavar sauce. Divine!

Curacha is a type of crab commonly found in the waters of Zamboanga. As such it’s available in the city markets round the clock. I would love to eat it as regularly as I eat lechon (roasted pork, goes very well with a Sunday) but unfortunately my cook is a bit allergic to crustaceans. He gets hives all over, and hyperacidic, when he eats too much crab or shrimp. So I have to wait several weeks in between curacha fests.

Today happened to be my lucky day. I slept in the whole morning and when I woke up, Chef Gim had already gone to the market, bought three large curachas and whipped up my favorite Guinataang Curacha in Alavar sauce! Yummy! So good it deserves to be on the menu of a five-star New York City hotel.

Alavar is a famous seafood restaurant in Zamboanga City, and they sell Alavar sauce, which is a secret concoction of aligue and spices. Whatever they put it in it, it’s sinfully delicious and makes every seafood dish doubly tasty.

In Chavacano, Curacha means “cockroach”, but the similarity between the two creatures ends in their furry-looking legs. Curacha is a wonderfully tasty crustacean. It is meatier and much cleaner than the mud crab, though ironically with a slightly earthier taste, and it’s meat a little less smooth but just as juicy. However the difference in taste is very subtle and I am sure most people would not be able to differentiate the two without checking their shells. I’m not yet sure which I favor more, the mud crab or the curacha, so I prefer to have them both in one dish!

Jump inside to see more photos of today’s lunch, and Chef Gim’s simple Guinataang Curacha in Alavar Sauce recipe below.

How to Make Guinataang Curacha (or Crab) in Alavar Sauce

Ingredients:
1 kilo curacha or crab
1/2 kilo grated coconut
1/2 kilo Alavar sauce
1 bulb of garlic
1/2 thumb of ginger
4 pinches of salt
4 pinches of monosodium glutamate (Ajinomoto)
1 1/2 cup of water

Wash curacha or crab. Place in cooking pot. Set aside.

Place grated coconut in a mixing bowl. Pour water and mix. With your hands, squeeze all milk from the coconut. Set aside.

Mince garlic and ginger into tiny pieces. Set aside.

Sprinkle the salt, Ajinomoto, garlic and ginger all over the curacha or crab.

Pour coconut milk all over the curacha or crab.

Turn stove on high heat until the coconut milk comes to a boil. Then drop the alavar sauce into the pot and lower the knob to medium heat. When the coconut oil starts to surface (happens after around 20-30 minutes), turn off the stove.

Serve.

P.S. If you don’t have Alavar sauce, go right ahead and do the recipe without it. It will just be Guinataang Curacha, then.

Tags: Foods, Photography, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Dapitan the Beautiful

Flisha — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:00:00 +0000

I don’t remember uploading these photos of the last time I was in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte. That was about three months ago. Although I do not miss my very poor living quarters there, I do miss the beautiful, relaxing sights of Dapitan.

Nature never let you forget her majesty in Dapitan. It was easy to just let the romantic days wrap themselves all over you… ’til you forgot that there was more to living than the here and now.

So… enjoy these photos.

Tags: Dapitan, Photography, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Solar Eclipse 2009 Pictures

Flisha — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:00:00 +0000

The first solar eclipse of 2009 fell on January 26 (coincidentally, the Chinese New Year) and I was there to see it firsthand. Lucky for me I live on the edge of the Philippines, in Zamboanga City, Mindanao. At 4pm Monday, I parked on one of the benches along the coast, armed with my Canon S5 IS and some old floppy disks, then started shooting.

None of the photos below have been altered save for some resizing (the original pics are too high-res), bordering and watermarking. Take a look!

The Red Series

I don’t have a high class IR filter for my camera, or anything like that. All I did to be able to capture the solar eclipse in photo was to dig out one of my dad’s old floppy disks, take out the black film thingy from inside it and then manually hod the film in front of the lens of my camera. How very old-school, huh?

All photos below are arranged in the order of when they were taken (mostly).

The Black and White Series

The Mixed Series

I find I like this series best. Using the floppy film brought out the solar eclipse but it also blacked out everything else. I liked just covering part of my lens with the filter so my camera could capture the ocean in full color.

This woman had no idea there was a solar eclipse behind her. In fact, very few people knew. There was this one guy who seemed frustrated that his DSLR + zoom lens + very long hood could not capture the eclipse. He kept stomping around in vain. There was a family of three who were trying to see the sun without so much as a pair of sunglasses to block the sun’s rays, so I have no idea if they were actually able to see the eclipse. Most people were just enjoying the sunset, like any normal day. Very surreal.

The Non-Series

No filters were used for the non-series. As you can(not) see, it was next to impossible to see the solar eclipse with bare eyes. But I liked the way that my camera somehow captured the reflection of the partial eclipse. Very pretty. The eclipse was only visible during the last few seconds of the sunset. Unfortunately, the sun petered out before it reached total eclipse.

A Nice Day at The Beach

The Props and Photog

Yup, that’s me in the second and third pics. People were passing by, looking at me with a funny look. I must have seemed quite strange, hahaha. And… that’s Zamboanga City’s busy coastline in the last pic.

Click the pictures for bigger resolutions!

It was a fun day! I love solar eclipses! Do you have photos of the solar eclipse? Leave a link!

If you liked this post, please digg! Thank you!

Tags: Photography, Solar Eclipse, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Zamboanga, Indian Ocean to See Annular / Solar Eclipse on January 26

Flisha — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:23:00 +0000

On January 26, the year 2009 will experience its first solar eclipse. Greatest eclipse will be witnessed by those in the Indian Ocean and western Indonesia, while a partial eclipse will be experienced by those in the southern third of Africa, Madagascar, Australia. Partial phases of the eclipse will be visible from southern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

To check if you will be able to see the eclipse from your city, check this PDF file for the circumstances of the solar eclipse across the world. All times are in Universal Time and you may have to convert to your local time. You can use this time converter.

NASA describes the solar eclipse as such:

The annular path begins in the South Atlantic at 06:06 UT when the Moon’s antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms a 363 kilometre wide corridor. Traveling eastward, the shadow quickly sweeps south of the African continent, missing it by approximately 900 kilometres. Slowly curving to the northeast the path crosses the southern Indian Ocean. Greatest eclipse^[1] takes place at 07:58:39 UT when the eclipse magnitude^[2] will reach 0.9282. At this instant, the annular duration is 7 minutes 54 seconds, the path width is 280 kilometres and the Sun is 73° above the flat horizon formed by the open ocean. The central track continues northeast where it finally encounters land in the form of the Cocos Islands and onward to southern Sumatra and western Java (Figure 2). At 09:40 UT, the central line duration is 6 minutes 18 seconds and the Sun’s altitude at 25°. In its final minutes, the antumbral shadow cuts across central Borneo and clips the northwestern edge of Celebes before ending just short of Mindanao, Philippines at 09:52 UT.

I converted the UT times in the NASA report and so, in Philippine time, the annular eclipse begins on January 26 at 2:06 PM. The shadow begins in the South Atlantic and slowly crosses to the southern Indian ocean.

Greatest eclipse, or the point when the distance between the Moon’s shadow axis and Earth’s geocentre reaches a minimum, is achieved by 3:58 PM. That means this is the point when the moon reaches its maximal covering of the sun. Greatest eclipse will have a duration of 7 minutes and 54 seconds.

At 5:40 PM Philippine time, the annular eclipse hovers above southern Sumatra and western Java. This will last 6 minutes and 18 seconds. The solar eclipse will end just short of Mindanao at 5:52 PM.

This paints a pretty dismal picture for the Philippines. It seems that we will not be able to see the solar eclipse at all if it ends before it even reaches Mindanao.

However, upon looking at the PDF file I mentioned earlier, the solar eclipse will be visible to Manila, Philippines at UT 8:55 or 4:55 PM. Malaysia will experience it earlier at UT 8:32 or 4:30 PM. Zamboanga, midpoint of Malaysia and Manila, will probably experience the solar eclipse somewhere between 4:30 and 4:55 PM.

Greatest eclipse will visit Manila, Malaysia and Zamboanga by 5:51 PM. Only Kuala Lumpur will see the solar eclipse end by 6:59 PM (sunset in KL is at 7:25 PM) because Zamboanga and Manila’s solar eclipse will be prematurely cut by dusk (sunset in Manila is at 5:52 PM and sunset in Zamboanga is 5:58 PM).

So, the last question on my mind is, will the weather conditions in Zamboanga permit me to have a cloudfree, fun solar eclipse experience? Ay, the answer might be no, what with these rainy days. Weather prediction for Zamboanga City on that day is scattered thunderstorms day and night. Oh noes. (Even Manila will fare only slightly better).

Still, you’ll see me camping out by Cawa-cawa on January 26, as early as 2 PM, just to be sure. (Okay, maybe not, midafternoon is pretty hot unless it’s a cloudy day.) And I’ll be there until sunset! (Okay, unless the rain chases me away.)

* * * * *

The last time I experienced a solar eclipse was when I was 6 years old. That was the morning of March 18, 1988. I was so excited, and my whole family, my cousins and uncles and aunties, and most especially my dad. Everyone had been talking about it for days beforehand.

My dad, he prepared a big piece of glass for me, and taught me to rub charcoal all over it ’till it stained. He did the same thing for himself. Our neighbors were doing it too. And then we all collectively waited for the solar eclipse. It was like we were all holding our breath.

I remember feeling so giddy and scared and excited, waiting. And then it started, the shadow creeping at the edges of the sun. It was amazing, breathtaking. I held the tinted glass up against the sky and watched in awe. I will never forget that feeling of wonder, of magic.

It was such a beautiful, poignant moment in my life. And a very nice memory of my dad and how much I loved him…

* * * * *

January 26 is going to be an amazing day!

Tags: Solar Eclipse, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

MILF Rebels Cause Massive Blackout in Zamboanga Peninsula

Flisha — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:50:00 +0000

This sucks. For the last three days, I have not been able to stay updated with the news much, or blog much, or surf much, or drop much, or do much of anything that needs the use of electricity. Ugh!

Early Saturday morning (at 2:25 AM), MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) rebels bombed a Transco steel tower in Barangay Tingin-Tingin, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. The targeted steel tower is instrumental in delivering power to the entire Zamboanga Peninsula (including the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, and of course Zamboanga City) and parts of Lanao del Norte.

Affected power companies are Ladeco (powering Lanao), Zaneco (powering Zamboanga del Norte), Zamsureco (powering Zamboanga del Sur) and Zamcelco (powering Zamboanga City).

Transco released the following statement:

The 100 megawatt power plant of the Western Mindanao Power Corporation in Sangali, this city [Zamboanga City] immediately shifted to island mode operation after the isolation of Zamboanga Peninsula early dawn today.The “island mode” supply from the power plant successfully reached Transco’s Sangali and Sta. Clara Substations first, then was extended to Aurora Substation as soon as the voltage condition permitted around 9 a.m. Aurora Substation feeds power to the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Misamis Occidental and part of Lanao del Norte.

It’s a good thing that Zamboanga City has an extra power plant to cope with the Transco bombing. Currently, the Western Mindanao Power Corporation in Sangali is powering the whole Zamboanga Peninsula. Unfortunately, it was not designed to handle such a large customer base, so power is being rotated among the affected areas.

I’ve been monitoring the blackouts these past two days, and power is rotated every two hours. The power just came back at 5:00 PM, so it’s going to go out again by 7:00, and will return by 9:00. I’ve not been sleeping well at all. And I’ve not been able to do much work. Hayyyy.

The blackouts are supposed to last two to three days. Hopefully power will be restored by Wednesday at the latest.

Anyone care to start a vigilante group???

Tags: Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Zamboanga City | Paseo del Mar

Flisha — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:12:00 +0000

There’s a new tourist trap in town. And it may be successful, too. Just look at these wonderful photos I was able to take of the government’s current pet project, Paseo del Mar (literally Passage of the Ocean), a park built strategically in the old part of town; to the left of it the historic Fort Pilar and to the right the first hotel Lantaka: Paseo del Mar stands right at the edge of Zamboanga City.

The park is still in its building stage, so you will see piles of bricks, unpaved ground and unfinished structures. Locals and visitors alike are not allowed into the premises yet, but we were able to secure entrance by promising to write about Paseo. (And, erm, maybe not mentioning the avenue of the write-up.)

There are so many pictures I cannot caption them all, so, enjoy the photos!

How about some landscapes?

Here is Gim showing off our (not-so-)new motorcycle, Sebastian. (We sold Pao earlier this year.)

We were there (supposedly) on an official manner, so even though I was tempted to have my boyfriend take portraits of me in every corner of Paseo, I had to resist, haha. We refrained ourselves from photowhoring and instead opted for these two simple shots. >.<

And here is my most favorite shot of all.

Happy Holidays!

Tags: Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Zamboanga City Christmas Lights

Flisha — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:00:00 +0000

I meant to upload these much sooner, but I was waiting for my next chance to photograph the lights of Zamboanga City, as I had not taken any of the beautifully lighted Christmas tree in the center of the city nor of the townhall lights in the surrounding barangays like Pasonanca or Sta. Maria.

Unfortunately the holiday season is ending soon and by the time I finish my shoots New Year may well be over, so without further ado, here are my twilight shots of Zamboanga City Hall. Enjoy!

The people of Zamboanga City speak the Chavacano language, the base language of which is Spanish. Thus, on Christmas, we greet each other “Felices Pascuas” (Merry Christmas) and in the dawn of the New Year, we say “Prospero Año Nuevo” (A Prosperous New Year).

Frontal view of Zamboanga City Hall. The lights are truly more impressive this year than last. And I thought we were in recession?

That’s me posing in front of the Belen, also known as a nativity scene.

My boyfriend Gim pretending to offer something to a shepherd. (I think…) You can see a Jollibee franchise right behind us. It started out as only a small business opportunity but now it’s the Philippines’ version of McDonalds.

Plaza Pershing lighted up. And Gim smack dab in the middle of it all.

A tree filled with lights. I love to see trees filled with Christmas decorations. I couldn’t quite capture the beauty of this one, though. The light was dying…

My boyfriend wishing he were as tall as the camel. Ahh, me too. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!! Wishing you all a Prospero Año Nuevo!

Tags: Holidays, Photography, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Christmas Party for the Orphans

Flisha — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:07:00 +0000

My friend Ja is holding a Christmas party for the kids over at the orphanage in Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City on the 28th. She’s got the food and gifts all taken care of and just needs people to help her manage the children, like feed them or help them open their gifts. She says they can get pretty rowdy, so she’s roping us into helping her. Haha.

I’m going, and so are most of my friends. If you’re a Berchie or maybe you know one of us, come and help out, okay? The shelter is right before the elementary school, you won’t miss it.

If you have stuff to donate like textbooks, clothes, cans of food, or better yet, toys, that would be great, too!

Tags: Holidays, Zamboanga, Zamboanga