I have been traveling this week, and it should have been quite a journey so far. I am writing this column on Saturday, May 10, 2008. It will be automatically posted on the site on Wednesday, May 14. I left Davao on Sunday for a 3 to 4 day trip. By later today, I should be home, and I will be telling more about my trip in tomorrow’s column, I expect. If everything went as planned for the trip, I will be home in time to write a column for tomorrow.
So, where am I? Where have I gone? Well, the plan is that I will be traveling with John Grant and Migs Bassig, both authors on this site. We are headed to the ARMM, which stands for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. I have traveled the ARMM quite extensively already, but neither John nor Migs has visited the ARMM before.
Our plan is to head south from Davao City, and head through Kidapawan City to Cotabato City. From Cotabato City, we will head west on the Cotabato-Pagadian Highway to the Zamboanga Peninsula. Zamboanga, and the Peninsula is not part of the ARMM, but it is an area that I have yet to visit, until now. I have been to Zamboanga City, but not to the Provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay, and I will be visiting all of these places during this trip.
Here is an interesting fact for you – did you know that Cotabato City is the Capital City of the ARMM. However, Cotabato City is not part of the ARMM? That’s true, all of the area surrounding Cotabato City is not included in the ARMM, yet it is the Capital of the ARMM! Interesting, huh?
All in all, we will be visiting the following Provinces here in Mindanao: Davao del Sur, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabangsuan, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon, in that order. I’m looking forward to the trip, but also to my return and sharing some of my experiences here on the Live in the Philippines Web Magazine. It should be a great trip!
I’ll be returning with lots of pictures, videos and stories to tell, so tune in over the next few days for a recap of the trip!
Hi Bob – Welcome back and I look forward to your stories about this trip. I will look at a mindanao map just to follow the route you've taken.
Hi Marilou – Yep, I did make it back! It was a really enjoyable trip. I'll only be sharing two stories about the trip, but hopefully people will enjoy hearing about them.
The best part of the trip is that we had a wonderful time, learned more about Mindanao and got home safely! 😀
…can't wait to see and hear about Cotabato City, as I spent a year there as an exchange student soooo long ago. Did you get a "Smiley Burger" while on Magallinas (sp) Street? Good times indeed!
Hi Wade – Sorry, we didn't have a smiley burger in Cotabato. We were there in the early morning hours! Just toured around town a bit, and headed on to Parang, Maguindanao. 😆