Last Christmas break, I did something rather unique than most of my previous Christmas breaks. The break was the time we travelled to Cagayan De Oro city, in Philippines, in less than one day. I didn’t experienced going out of our hometown, Zamboanga City, via land transport. Worst of all, I didn’t even knew we travelled with my Uncle’s brother and my other Uncle’s “Someone”, so a total of 8 passengers in a rather a puny six-seater van. It was a bit traumatizing sitting in one position in 14 hours, but our travels were worth it. We passed Ipil, Dapitan, Iligan, Lanao del Norte, and more that I can’t remember amidst the entertainment we had on the road. . We stayed for about 3 sunny days and 4 spectacular nights in C.D.O. We visited different malls and tried out some food Zamboanga didn’t have. At least that simple trip will leave a lifelong memory.

At around 3:30 in the morning of December 19, we jumped up and immediately prepared ourselves for our first trip. My aunts were like Walkers from Walking Dead, and prepared as much as they can. Before we left, we had to read something from our holy book and did a simple ritual before heading out. I only ate half an egg and a hotdog. On the road, we heard songs by Oh Wonder, Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding, Calvin Harris, Eraserheads, The Carpenters, Disciple, Skrillex, Clean Bandit, Westlife, Muse, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, and too many to count. We saw pretty surprising land forms, road side objects, and even store names. There was even this clinic named “All things great and Small”. I think its part of a child’s poem “All things bright and Beautiful”.

We arrived at C.D.O at around 7:30 at evening, and we headed straight to  GV hotel, near Centrio Mall. We settled down, took a small break, then headed out to Centrio to explore. Our Exploration went to shoe stores, including Vans, Nike, Air Jordans, and even DC. We also dropped by in a local album shop. We took our dinner at Yellow Cab; a pizza place. My brother ssaid that he can finish those two whole pizzas with no sweat. In the end, one slice took my brother down with no sweat. We kept the remaining pizzas to serve as our breakfast, which is very unusual for us.

The next day, we stayed in our hotel room the whole morning. I stayed near the window, taking pictures of vehicles you don’t see in Zamboanga. Around 10:00, I watched Star Wars episode 4. We went out again at 2:00 at the afternoon and headed to SM Cagayan. We actually lost our way going there, thanks to my Uncle’s brother. We went there and immediately bought snacks from Zagu and a Nacho stall. We took a stroll and my little brother bought a new Nerf gun; a N-Strike Sharpfire. I too bought something, which is a mini Gundam figurine, the chibi one. It’s my childhood; you can’t blame me, I guess. We went to the hotel we stayed and, again, went to Centrio and looked for a place to eat. We ended up with Sunrise, and their fried chicken is tastier than of Jollibee. After eating, I noticed a sign saying Timezone, and I was amazed. Immediately rushed to the place the arrow was pointing at, it was really Timezone! But before that, we bought stuff from an Anime cafe shop thing, which includes my bag and keychain. We played our heads out and scored 300+ tickets, while our Uncle was busy relaxing in a massage chair. We went back to the hotel, then I didn’t know what happened. They said I slept by the time I sat in the floor.

The last day was not that much; same routine but different mall. We went to visit Limketkai- the largest mall in C.D.O- and hang out. We didn’t do much that day except for the time we ate at Dong Juan, which is at Centrio (again). I ordered their Burger steak, and the results were outstanding! It was served in a sizzling plate, sizzling in it’s glory. The taste was phenomenal, the sauce compliment the patty, providing a light grvay texture to it’s rich and heavy beef taste. The patty was like 0.6 inches thick! Oh man, I can still remember it’s taste.

We went to Pagadian and decided to stay there overnight. The hotel we went to was cheap, but so spooky. It didn’t matter because we were too sleepy. We went to eat breakfast at the Lakewood resort and after, went to Zamboanga again.

That was about it. The rest of the remaining days were the days I haven’t played PC, nor my Ukulele.