Stories of Places, People and Photography in the Philippines and Beyond
The visit to the Studthuys, St Paul Church and A Formosa was just part of what Malacca has in terms of heritage sites. We had an authentic Nyonya Cuisine lunch at Seroni Restaurant to take a break from the tours. Once satisfied, we moved on for some walking tours at a couple of popular streets in Malacca, the Jalan Tokong and Jonker Walk.
We found ourselves up hill continuing our walk from the Studthuys Square. We could feel the sea breeze coming in as we walk the hill. It was refreshing as it dampens the humidity a bit. From the hill we could see the parts of Malacca heading to the sea. I remember Marie telling us that most of the lands here were reclaimed. Originally, the sea shore reached up to the main road near the hill.
We originally had a different itinerary for the day. But with help from Martin’s persistence to his higher ups, we were granted our request to go to Malacca (Melaka as how the locals call it) instead. Being one of the recent awardees by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site last July 2008, I’m equally excited to see the place and to add to the list of UNESCO sites I’ve been to. We left Kuala Lumpur past 10am then took an hour’s drive to Malacca.
“It looks like La Trinidad many years ago” I remember my writer companion tell me while we look at the cloud draped expanse of Malico ridges and troughs. Barangay Malico is 10km away from Imugan. It was our jump off point to our climb to Salacsac Pine Forest at Sta Rosa. But there is more to this developing land.
Our last stop for the day after visiting some Buhid Mangyan Villages was the historical town of Mangarin. Just close to the sea and cut through by a river, the town of Mangarin plays a major role in the history of San Jose, Mindoro. Along with Iling Island, Mangarin is one of the oldest settlement in the island.
After visiting Xieng Khuan, I had lunch nearby and not to let the tuk-tuk blunder ruin my travel, I went on my afternoon exploring the city of Vientiane, which would be on spotlight in Asia later this year as Laos hosts the upcoming SEA Games on November 2009. For participants and audiences, there a number of attractions to keep them busy around Vientiane in between games. The city is dotted with numerous temples, it may not be as many say as Luang Prabang, but there are special ones worth a visit. If I were only to visit a couple, I would start first with Wat Si Saket and Haw Pha Kaeo.
From Zamboanga City our next stop was up north of Mindanao to the twin cities of Dipolog and Dapitan. It was a long 8 hour ride from an ordinary air cooled bus. Departing mid-day and arriving a little past at 8 in the evening. It was tiring since we were expecting it to be shorter. Spending a night in Dipolog, moving the next day to neighboring Dapitan. It was rainy in these parts already when we got there and was only able to take photos of the beautiful church of Dapitan.
