Author: owrange

Working on a cowl for someone.Nakarating na talaga sa Manila.Looky at our socks 🙂

FooddddEnded with so-so #milktea.

Last Saturday, we went for a hearing test. He was diagnosed with hear lose in his right ear. He is totally fine. But from time to time, we’ll have hearing tests for monitoring.

After the tests, we went to a cafe, and pungko2x because they were nearby the laboratory.

I realized that I rarely get to go out with just him unlike with Meg and Mateo. I guess because he’s just too obsessed with his computer, and he’s just not into “small talk” kind of stuff.

03/02/2019

We have this annual road trip with kids. But this year, it involved “air” instead of road. The kids are now bigger, they have their own demands now. The #kid2 wants to go to this BT21 shops, which sells BTS merchants, in the Manila, and since she’s the boss, the rest obliged.

We picked BGC because it’s “elysium.”

So Meg likes books, we went to Fullybooked.

Meg liked milk tea but she said she’s not feeling up to line for the Tiger Milk Tea so we went to her another favorite, KK.

So here she in her BTS-themed ensemble.

And her BTS Shooky / Suga which has to photo-ed in every food she likes…

First time in Taiwan but 1st humba at Mactan Airport. 🙂

Got my beanie done just in time we landed, which was perfect because weather is too cold for me, and I have not brought enough for-warm clothes because Mark assured me it’s not going to be that cold. 😡

I was expecting Taiwan to be very busy with a lot of people but surprisingly it’s weirdly not that crowded.

The default hairstyle of Titas of China.

Taiwan is definitely a favorite of Chinese tourists. I felt like 70% of the tourists are Chinese.

The most important items, data & public transport card.

First coffee in Taiwan, a freebie from the hotel we’re staying.

The cold weather is really making me lazy that I just wanna curl up in bed and sleep. @.@ Anyhow, we drag our asses to a coffee shop by a barista champion but was closed already. So we just walked aimlessly around.

2nd Milk Tea of the day, which I have not drunk yet as of this writing. I bought this because this milk tea brand is too popular in Cebu, there’s always a long queue according to friends but there’s none here so took the chance.There’s a lot of Japanese restos here. So food I encountered here is like Chinese, then Japanese food.

Going back to the hotel, we passed by this alley with souvenir shops and restos after one another.

We conclude we like Taiwan on our first day. Mark said that it feels like Osaka, Japan but more affordable.

and Feeling historical so I have to diary this. 🙂

I always delay (i really have no interest) learning to drive because I still have faith and hope that one day our public transportation will be upgraded. And, it looks like I’m not going to be totally disappointed. Hopefully, it will be “fully” realized in my life time. 🙂

Riding jeepney is still romantic but sometimes you wanna skip romanticism…

Anyhow, the bus ride was still romantic as it was so intimate like were are this squeezing on each others’ body. 🙂 But that’s how it is wherever we are in the world during peak hours, right?

…because internet is installed. 🙂

So we lost internet connection for 2 weeks last December which felt like death sentence to Mark. So to solve it and won’t happen again, Mark rented a condo unit in the city where there’s a cafe and co-working spaces in less than 500m radius just in case that same major crisis will happen again (God forbid!). To make it look not a waste, he called it “office.”

And, also the sky looks pretty today so I’m making 1.28 the official moved in date.

12/18/2018

I’m just making this entry for the knickerbocker.

We’re on our way to the airport when I read the advisory for change of flight schedule aka delayed flight. So we went to have knickerbocker instead.

I have to agree with mg Zamboangueno cousin that there was really nothing extra special from it compared to the typical halo-halo. One main difference is that knickerbocker has no crushed ice. Other than that, like halo-halo, it’s the ingredients that what makes it special.

Other random photos from this date:

Shooky going places according to Meg.

Waiting for My Bus 🙂We went straight to SM City Cebu for her school Christmas party stuff. @.@

12/17/2018

The reason why we were really in Zamboanga was for the wedding of my cousin, Jack, to her fiancee Lara.

But rewind to early morning of that day, we attended Misa de Gallo. The mass was in Chavacano. It was cool to hear some traces from being looted by Spain. 😂 Jowk!

On our way home from the mass, I asked the aunts and uncles to give me some bloggerpose.

It was kinda late but I went for a 10km run because I badly need a long run for the CCM2019.😭

I kinda need to plot carefully my route, and had it checked by the cousin for safety reasons. I hate to say it but yeah, I had to do it. It kills the “serendipity” of running in new places.

I took the road to Pasonanca park. I was on the main road most of the time, and it was not that pleasant because of cars.

Once I was in Pasonanca area, there was less traffic. It made running more pleasant. I went on, and reached another park.

I wanted to go on longer as it got greener and lesser traffic but I did not want to risk it.

So it’s time to go back to the city.

And so on to the wedding… It was a beautiful wedding, the vows made me teary-eyed. I guess I was not alone sniffling because of emotions. 🙂

The parents, aunt & uncle

The cousin…

The wifey 🙂

And the food at the reception 😂

12/16/2018

MISA DE GALLO

We went to Sta Maria Church for Day 1 of Misa de Gallo. My aunts and uncles are devoted.

SATII TOUR

After listening to my aunt’s war stories and my uncle’s personal experiences, it’s hard for my view about Zamboanga City to be not tainted. Somehow, I kinda tend to act a bit with caution when trying to move around the city.

I won’t elaborate because I have a very skewed idea of it. But anyhow, my rose-tinted view of things is a bit tainted. 🙂

After the mass, I went for a run but it’s just really walking with an uncle and cousin. As always, first morning in a new place is dedicated to taking a walk around the area to familiarize where things are.

We passed by boulevard. I wanted to take a longer route around the city But I was with my relatives, and sometimes it’s hard for me to explain why I do such boring walking around aimlessly.

Anyhow, I took aimless boring walks around nee place I’m in for random finds which is probably not mapped in google maps or www.

I thought Satti is a Zamboanga version of satay or barbecue but there’s a big difference. Satti is just not barbecue; it’s a meal set of beef or chicken or mix with sliced “puso” drowned with spicy sweet sauce. Looking at it, it looks like it’s the sauce, which is more of a soup, is the main thing of the meal set. Everyone eats it like it’s a soup, not just a sauce, which explains other local dishes here.

YET ANOTHER CITY TOUR

But minus the van and driver. I really love walking and public commuting in new places. You know that boring thing becomes exciting when you’re in a new place. There’s a certain thrill in me when I figured out or at least tried how locals public commute.

Except that this time, 2 babies joined us. 🙂 It’s not that I don’t want them to join me; I’m just worried about carrying them around in dust, and heat, and crowd. Anyhow, the babies were such a trooper except for their runny nose.

We 360’ed the Zamboanga City. We went up to Pasonanca Park. There’s nothing much there but you just got to tick it off. It’s a nice destination for a public commute. 🙂

We went up via tricycle.

And, this baby was sound asleep the whole time we’re in the park.

We went back to the Pueblo, their city center, via jeepney. Our cousins, the local guide, let us walk around downtown (think of Colon area version of Zamboanga City) with 2 kids in tow just to find a jeepney that will get us to a “that place that cannot be named.” I would have totally love it except I was worried all the time about the kids.

Fast forward, done with walking and city touring, it’s coffee and halal foodie time!

So these “excessive” sauce is something unique in Zamboanga. It’s where the solid food tends to be small proportion then you pour over a lot of sauce, which you eat it like a soup.

This is called pastilla, which is like empanada with a ngohiong-like filling, you must drown it with sauce; remember satti.

From a tourist/visitor, it may not be felt but hearing the cousins’ sentiments, there’s really a bit of something between “chavacano” (usually refers to Christians) and Muslims here. I might have misconstrued it. Like Sta Maria, where we went for Misa de Gallo, is generally a “chavacano” area, and there’s also an area which is generally populated by Muslims.

But as a tourist, I don’t really feel it. And #til that Badjaos are not Muslims; they may be not officially registered as Filipinos as they are really more of nomads. But they’re “protected” by the government as indigenous people.

* That place that cannot be named. There’s that unwritten rule that it’s not a thing for us to just go walk easily to a Muslim’s place. So we went to this “Muslim” resto, and decided to not tell the centennials about it.

12/15/2018

First time that only I and Meg going on a trip.

Twinning. Bahalag init, basta twinning.

Do it for the ‘gram. Yay! Kung ano ang puno, sya din ang bunga.

Someone’sbusy taking photo of her food.

First time in Zamboanga City! 🙂

She looked so excited!

First time reunion.

A 1st cousin will be wed this Dec. 17, 2018. Timely that relatives from abroad are home so everyone decided to attend the wedding. Now the wedding event became a reunion event.

Oh how i missed this high-heel wearing Auntie Arlene!

1st Time Kuracha!

I’m not a crab fan but this popular dish of Zamboanga is just so hard to resist!

First city tour

First degree cousins.

We’re not complete though…

First Coffee in Zamboanga City

Meg and I went to Dennis Coffee Garden which was just 2 blocks away from where we stay.

I got to taste Sulu coffee. It was not that 3rd wave kind of coffee, which makes it something really from Sulu.

What makes it extra delightful is when you pair it with their local delicacies. Perfect pairing!

Mark messaged: U enjoy the food, not model it.

Meg: becauuzzzz u can model it THEN enjoy it >:(((( – Meggg

We then take a stroll to their boulevard to catch the sunset.

THANK GOD for my babies and family!

The night was filled of “war story” (Zamboanga siege) by my Auntie Arlene, which can be summarized as there is really no good in war.

It was weird that I truly enjoyed Zamboanga City in day time, and hear about the worries of my aunt at night. She does sleep with bolo beside her just in case… 🙂