Christmas Day Zamboanga Part 3

Christmas morning after a good sleep we all woke up feeling refreshed. We were all pretty deprived of sleep from all the traveling. Today we were going to the beach for a picnic. All gathered at the family house for breakfast first. We took a Tricycle there. So fun. Tricyles here are extremely colourfull as the owners can colour and decorate their tricycles however they want it. Something like how Penang Trishaw owners do too.

The tricycle

Ed in the tricycle. I'm sitting in front of him

Breakfast we had fried banana, pan de sal and steamed banana.

This is the fried banana which we had. It's fried in oil with no batter like how we do our Goreng Pisang. Then you eat it together with the sugar provided. A bite with a dip of sugar. I loved it coming from a no banana fan. It's good when you eat it still hot and crispy. Then the steamed banana which I did not take a pic. It's the whole banana with the skin they steam it first before serving. So the banana when you peel it open is all soft and cooked like. I didn't try this as was abit banana-fied from the fried bananas I ate.

Fried banana 'brito saging' (left) and the Pan de Sal bun (right)

Then there was the ever famous Pan De Sal bun. This bun according to the aunty is the main bun which every home here in the Philippines will have for breakfast. The bun has a very rich butter taste and is hard on the outside and soft inside. You can eat the bun with anything but this morning we ate it plain. Ed's favourite. I do not know how many buns he took.

After breakfast we hired a jeepney to take the whole family to the beach. I love sitting in these jeepneys as its something you will never get in Penang. These Jeepneys can carry up to 15 people on time. Where do the rest go, well they stand behind holding on a half their body is in and the other half hanging outside. There's also some jeepney which I saw which had people sitting on the roof top. My gosh aint that dangerous. Jeepneys here are crazy drivers as they roam the streets driving fast and cutting to the opposite site. But the weird thing is that even if you drive the opposite direction, the vehicles all give way. They have somekind of understanding here. Not like here in Penang, where no one will give way and show you the finger straight away or give a loud honk. Also accident here rarely happens too.

The Jeepney backside where you enter in

Me in the jeepney

Ed in the Jeepney

The journey to the beach, we passed by some houses along the roads which had really poor people staying. There were some areas which I saw like a community of people staying together just like a small kampung area. Then there was a stretch of houses that were right at the beach area. Houses were in the shape like those orang Asli houses you find on the way up to Cameron Highlands. Different in it's own way.

When we reached the beach, I instantly fell in love with the beach. The water was so clear and it was so beautiful. But i'm sure there's other beaches better but this was my first experience in seeing such a clear water beach. The tide was low so there were alot of seaweed growing at the shore of the beach. Then there was a group of small boys catching something in the water, so we went to buat kaypo. They were actually catching puffer fish. For what reason, I think to sell and eat. I guess the locals here living by the beach knows how to each this fish without getting poisoned. Then later on saw another lady squatting down peeling something which had the water around turn red. Went to buat kaypo again. She was actually catching something like oyster here. I was so amazed! It was so easy for them to find it under the rock and all. And it's all at the shore. I went in for a swim. Couldn't resist the water. You could actually walk really far in and the water level stays up till my below chest. Oohh lovely. Water was all cold and clear....we rented a tyre and went floating around in the water. If it wasn't for the hot sun, we would have just kept floating till evening.

The Beach

The green seaweed and alga

The boys looking for the puffer fish

The captured puffer fish which we touched

The people swimming in the beach

The water. Tide coming in

Me in the water standing on a rock

Ed and his uncle standing on the rock

Clear water. See my feet!!!!!

The beach shore side

The 'oyster' like creature which lady was catching

She slaughters it. Cuts it open

And this is what the lady takes to eat

Lunch on the other hand was extremely good. We rented a little hut to sit, eat and enjoy the beach. I took pictures of the food but sadly it is some elses camera which I forgot to ask to upload the pics for me. So I only manage to get the snap shot of this fish dish below.

The hut we rented by the beach

This is called the 'Kinilaw'. It's the Philippines style of sashimi. It's actually raw fish mixed with vinegar, lime, chilly, lotsa ginger and onions and abit of santan. At first when I was offered this dish I did not know that it was raw fish. My first few bites I loved this dish as it was nice and sour. Then later on one of the uncles told me it's raw fish....wHAT!!!!! I never ever had raw fish before. But I guess that's why no one told me before I ate it so that I would taste how it is. I fell in love with this dish even though it was raw fish. But come to think of it, with the amount of vinegar used to wash the fish and mix it together, the flesh is probably already half cooked.

Kinilaw. The raw fish dish

Besides this dish we had my ever favourite stuffed squid which was humongous, BBQ fish, anchovies fried in batter to a cucur type like, left over lechon from last nights dinner which they make it into the bak kut teh like dish and rice. Food was so good!

What was leftover after eating.
Remember I mentioned Zamboanga not so save, this was one of the road blocks we crossed on the way to the beach. It's guarded by the military who are armed with guns.