Zamboanga del Sur: Around Pagadian

Pagadian is the capital of Zamboanga del Sur and regional capital of Zamboanga Peninsula. The first thing you'll notice when you arrive in the city are its unusual tricycles which are inclined at about 30 to 40 degrees. The unique design of Pagadian's iconic tricycles add stability given the city's hilly terrain. It's quite amusing seeing 6 to 7 people (including the driver) jam-packed in this peculiar-looking tricycle.


Hoping on the tricycle is quite an experience. Getting on, especially the top level, is quite a challenge. Make sure to ride on one of these tricycles when in Pagadian.

The main attractions of Pagadian are beaches (Dao Dao Islands and White Beach), waterfalls (Lourdes, Lison Valley, Manga and Ditoray Falls) and caves (Twin Caves and Kendis Cave). This is one trip where I chose not to do research hoping to rely purely on the locals. Unfortunately, the hotel frontliners could not answer my queries about Pagadian's tourist attractions and I ended up seeing nothing major. The tourism office should train people on how to answer these queries.


They ended up pointing me to a beach resort in the town of Tukuran, which was a 45-minute jeep ride north of Pagadian. Baguio's Beach Resort was a bit too rocky. While Serena Beach Resort didn't have much of a beach and had a really noisy videoke! While videoke is an important national pastime, I've always advocated that it be kept in a contained area of a resort so as not to disturb other visitors who may have wanted to visit a beach for some peace and quiet.

Being regional capital, there are a good number of decent hotels in the city. Anyway, I decided to rest early instead since people had suggested I visit the town of Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur. So my plan was to visit the town on the way back to Zamboanga City.

Zamboanga: Satti at Pilar Street and Canelar Street

Satti is an early morning dish sold in Zamboanga City. It's actually from Jolo, Sulu but was made popular in Zamboanga City. It was a good thing satti restaurants open as early as 4 a.m. in Pilar Street. So as soon as I arrived from Jolo, I went straight there for breakfast.


For an affordable Php50, you get eight sticks of beef satti and puso (rice) floating in a generous serving of the sweet and spicy sauce that accompanies the satti. There's also chicken satti and you can pick which chicken part you want. In one corner of the restaurant, one of the staff was slicing puso into small pieces preparing them in bowls where the satti and sauce would be added later.


Pilar Street has a lot of satti restaurants. But there's actually another satti place in Canelar Street if you're staying in a hotel near the airport. It's very close to Jollibee. Just make sure you visit in the morning since supply doesn't last until the evening.

Now I'm craving for satti! Does anyone know where to get satti in Metro Manila?

Nestlé Fruit Selection yogurt with Jelly, a new twist to my favorite yogurt snack

The other night, my mom was talking about this new yogurt product which my niece really liked. She's quite hard to please and has only a few snacks in her list of things to eat. So I checked the fridge to try out some. It turns out, it's the Nestlé Fruit Selection yogurt with jelly added!

I've always been a fan of yogurt because it's both good and healthy (with live microorganisms). And it was good Nestlé introduced a new twist to snacking by adding jelly to its already yummy yogurt. We always have Nestlé Fruit Selection yogurt stocked in the fridge. So this will be a new addition to our snacks at home.


It's actually jelly on top and Nestlé Fruit Selection yogurt at the bottom. Right now, it's available in Strawberry and Buco Pandan flavors. I personally liked the Buco Pandan flavor since it reminded me of one of my favorite desserts which has buko, pandan jelly and cream.


But I hope they add more flavors and include my favorite Berry Mix Medley in their Nestlé Fruit Selection yogurt with Jelly line-up. I saw my niece liked the strawberry flavor a lot and she always asks for some every afternoon.

Looks like I'll stock up on Nestlé Fruit Selection yogurt with Jelly, perfect for a snack when I get really hungry! And it will be a very important ally as I try to move towards more healthy eating.

JellyGurt Bounce Game
Now here's something I also found out. There's this amusing game called the JellyGurt Bounce Game which went live yesterday, September 6, 2010. I actually got to try it and it's a good distraction in moments of stress. It's integrated with the NFSY Facebook fan page.

For the next 8 weeks, five weekly winners will get prizes like two movie passes per winner, Sodexho and Adidas P500 gift certificates. So click that like button on the NFSY FB fan page since this is where you can play the game and join the contest. Good luck!