{Zamboanga 2013} Cruising to Sta. Cruz paradise

Posted in My favourite things, Traveling by Clarisse Shaina

The moon was still out when we awoke the next day. The resort was practically deserted and I took the chance to snap this quick panorama. There was nothing but stillness and silence as far as the eyes could see and the ears could hear, but there was a thick energy in the air.

It was the day we were to visit the beach on the Great Sta. Cruz Island, and because you have to admit that’s a highlight of summer, we were all extremely excited! But first, a hearty breakfast to prepare us for a full morning of swimming and frolicking on the beach! Fried milkfish and corned beef so thin and cooked to a crisp on fried rice with some scrambled eggs on the side. Now that is what I call breakfast!

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5Apr2013

{Zamboanga 2013} Butterflies and a little local flare

Posted in Traveling by Clarisse Shaina

Coming off my previous post, we had just visited the boy scout meeting place in Pasonanca Park when Milabelle brought us to the Butterfly Garden. Located in the same Pasonanca Park compound, the Butterfly Garden covered a tiny area of the Jardin Maria Clara Lobregat.

Maybe you’re wondering why I decided to cut off my previous post and start this one off this way. Since The Butterfly Garden is one of my favourite spots we visited in Zamboanga, I figured it would be nice to give it some due credit by putting it on the top of a post. It’s not because I saw some rare butterflies in the Garden, but because I was awe-struck by its simple beauty. Butterflies are one of Nature’s most beautiful creations, and whether or not it is a common species, it remains to be a thing to behold.

The whole time I was in the garden, I was chasing the butterflies amongst all the greenery; following the flashes of colour from its wings as it flitted from one plant to another. I have been wanting to photograph butterflies for the longest time, and I feel very blessed to get an opportunity to do so up close in this Garden.

4Apr2013

{Zamboanga 2013} La ciudad Latina de Asia

Posted in Traveling by Clarisse Shaina

Zamboanga. Not exactly the top-of-mind location when one hears the word ‘vacation’, or better yet ‘beach’. I must admit I never really considered it a must-go place, let alone a place I bothered to get to know at all. When my Dad booked the family for a long Easter weekend vacation to Zamboanga, I wasn’t overly excited, but due to my desire to explore more of my home country, I was game.

There are only two domestic flights to Zamboanga a day and ours was at 4 in the morning. The flight took about an hour and a half from Manila– ample time for a nap, if you ask me. Upon arriving at the tiny airport’s waiting area, we were immediately greeted by an energetic Bienvenidos! by our tourist guide, Milabelle, who coincidentally is actually the president of the tourist guide association in Zamboanga.

At that point, two things kept running through my mind:
1. I was going to learn a lot from this trip thanks to our tour guide.
2. The people here speak Spanish!

Zamboanga is dubbed as the Latin City of Asia because its vernacular, Chavacano, is a mixture of 70% Mexican Spanish and 30% of other local dialects. Spanish happens to be on the top of my list of foreign languages to learn ASAP, so I was really happy to hear some Spanish being spoken around me. It’s just such a beautiful language!

16Mar2013

{Malaysia 2012} Bringing out the Lego Geek in me

Posted in Traveling by Clarisse Shaina

I’ve always loved puzzles. There’s just something about putting loose pieces together using your hands to form a thing of beauty that is utterly satisfying. I once went through a phase wherein I bought boxes and boxes of 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles ranging from Disney-themed ones to Final Fantasy VII and I would finish each puzzle within a day. The hallway leading to my room is full of framed puzzles, and a couple are still in the storage closet, just waiting. This would have been the same scenario for me if I had easy access to Legos, which are virtually block counterparts of jigsaw puzzles that create something three-dimensional rather than just flat.

As it turns out, there aren’t as many choices for Lego creations nowadays that are as challenging as the ones I remember from when I was a kid. I’m going to keep looking around, but suffice it to say I’ve got a special place in my heart for Legos, so from the moment I heard that Legoland was included in our trip itinerary, I’ve done nothing but look forward to it!

Before we headed into the theme park, we had lunch at the Legoland Mall, which is this plaza right before you get to the entrance of the amusement park itself. We dined in this place called El Migos. My favourites were most definitely the lassi (yoghurt-blended drinks) in mango, dragonfruit, and bubble gum flavours. My Mother ordered baked spaghetti, I ordered a chicken sausage pasta dish, and all the guys ordered the lamb chop pasta dish.

11Mar2013

{Malaysia 2012} Theme parks and monuments at Kuala Lumpur

Posted in Traveling by Clarisse Shaina

Ahhh Kuala Lumpur, home of the Petronas Twin Towers. But as I’m sure you are aware, Kuala Lumpur also houses gigantic establishments mostly geared toward leisure (theme parks) and consumerism (malls). I didn’t find much to buy from the malls that weren’t available back home, although all the kids (myself included) were pretty psyched about the fact that we get to visit three theme parks on this trip. One of those three is located right here in Kuala Lumpur– the Sunway Lagoon.

I’ve been to plenty of theme parks before, the most notable ones of I’ve ever been to are in the US and in Australia (where I also got to visit three awesome theme parks!), so I have some pretty solid points of comparison. But I think that totally defeats the purpose of why one goes to a theme park; it’s not to analyse which one is better, but to have fun!

Forget what the map says– the Sunway Lagoon is divided into two main sources of fun: land and water. It seemed like a big park to tackle since we were only scheduled for half a day here. My family and I held a meeting with a map and a pen, drawing angry-looking circles around the rides we wanted to go to. I have to tell you there wasn’t a lot of them, except for the attractions in the Extreme Park, which were interesting and different.

10Mar2013

{Malaysia 2012} A dose of heritage in Malacca

Posted in Traveling by Clarisse Shaina

I’m still alive! In case anybody was wondering. I’ve just been soooo tired, mostly mentally and psychologically, which is why there hasn’t been any new stuff on the blog lately. Even though I’ve still been baking, it’s been a bit of a challenge for me to settle down in front of a computer to write, so I thought it would be nice to pull something out of the archives as I try to push through this little “blogger’s block” of mine.

I think it’s beyond ridiculous that I am only now writing about a vacation I had last Christmas. And yet here we are. I’ve been struggling quite a bit to find time to blog for weeks now, but I am by no means about to abandon this. I love what I’m doing here too much to stop. Although things may be a little slow around here until everything going in my life settles back to normal, rest assured there will still be posts. Please do bear with me. (The delay for this set of travel posts was also due to the fact that I spent a ton of time picking good pictures to share with you all. I tried to scale down on the number of them. Alas, there are too many things I want to show you!)

Anyway, over the holidays last year, my family and I (with some friends of the family plus a few of my cousins = fun times) took part in a Malaysia-Singapore tour. We flew to Singapore first but immediately boarded a bus to Malaysia. Thank goodness the bus was spacious because I do not take to crammed spaces when traveling, and neither do my brothers as we’re all rather tall and long-legged. It took about 5 hours before we arrived at our first destination: Malacca, Malaysia.