I hate to say this, but every good thing must come to an end. This will be the last leg of my ZamBaSulTa adventure covering the Province of Sulu. Just like Basilan, Sulu is accessible via ferry ride from Zamboanga City but this time, it's not a quick ride but an overnight one.
Moving around in this 9-day backpacking has been easy except for that grueling 18-hour boat ride from Tawi-tawi to Zamboanga. Right from the start, I made it clear that ZamBaSulTa is infamous for a lot of reasons (kidnapping, bombing, war, etc.). But among all the Provinces in this backpacking, Sulu was the strictest.
A few weeks before this trip, I called their Tourism Office and learned that I needed to send a letter of intent to their Tourism Head for this trip. This is back in mid-2019 so I'm not sure if this still holds true to date.
My email:
Content of my attachment:
When I arrived at Zamboanga Port from Basilan, I bought a ticket immediately, securing my overnight bed on the lone ferry sailing to Sulu. The ferry was mostly loaded with passengers who were going home to Sulu; it's a rarity to see tourists flock to Sulu.
Another thing I learned to love when solo backpacking is that I get to meet a lot of people along the way. On this particular trip to Sulu, I made friends with this group heading back home, they even gave me hot instant noodles. 🍜 If you travel, be friendly, and get to know the people that surround you especially if the trip extends to hours.
Scared to death!
The night went by fast and before the sun could rise, the ferry's captain announced our arrival at the secluded Province of Sulu. With all honestly, I didn't sleep so well; no one word could describe what I felt that night. It was the last Province and my 8th day of backpacking and who knows, I might not return alive in Cebu. But if I die doing the thing I love, I won't regret anything.
I texted the tourism staff who was in charge of accompanying me that day.
"Don't go out of the pier; I'll come and get you!" That was the one instruction that set all the alarms off! I was calm on the surface but deep down, anxious thoughts were starting to pile one over the other.
"What is she talking about?" "Is it that unsafe to get out of the boat without her waiting for me outside?" I asked myself. But knowing a handful of stories about tourist abduction and kidnapping in Sulu, I listened to her instructions and waited in vain inside the now-empty boat.
There was technically nothing else I could do inside the boat so I took my mobile phone and roamed around the ferry; I was mesmerized by the morning activities that took place inside the port premises. It wasn't as busy as Cebu Port but I noted unloading of goods from the ferry I was in. Porters who saw me might have noticed my unconcealable fear.
From atop the second deck of the ferry, I had a good view of the entire port, including the entrance and exit points where several soldiers were stationed, and a few military vehicles that roamed around the port as if expecting the worst.
Now we're talking!
One text message broke my budding fear. "I'm already outside; get off the boat and head directly to the passenger exit point."
I grabbed my bags and walked towards the soldiers. I was happy to see her but when she saw I was wearing shorts that exposed half of my thighs and my entire legs, she suddenly panicked: "You can't wear that here!" "Do you have any cover-up?", she added. Thankfully, I bought cotton pants in Tawi-tawi; I wore it on top of my shorts.
Our first order of business at 7:30 in the morning was, of course, breakfast!!! We visited Shara's Cafe and ate our breakfast. What we ordered was very similar to the ones we had in Tawi-tawi.
You are not obliged to pay anything to the tourism officer who will accompany you so the least you could offer is to buy them food and be nice to them! 🥰
What a bummer!
Our stomachs were full and we had a long day ahead of us. The tourism staff picked the destination we visited in Jolo, the capital of the Province of Sulu. There are other municipalities and even islands in Sulu that you can visit but in my case, I opted to visit Jolo only. I was short in time and cash; if you decide to stay longer, make sure to hop in other islands that are home to amazing white beaches in Sulu. I heard you'd be accompanied by soldiers on the boat ride going to and from the islands.
I knew that there were only a handful of destinations in Jolo but it's better than not visiting this Province at all. Our first stop was a public beach that the tourism officer was so proud of. I mean if you don't live on an island surrounded by beautiful beaches everywhere you look, you'd probably be proud of this beach but I live in Cebu and my standards for beautiful beaches are a bit high. I wasn't particularly happy with this beach bumming attempt; also, forget about wearing your favorite two-piece here. As you can see from my photos, I swam in my black leggings; not a single part of my legs was exposed.
Now taking a bath?
After dipping in their public beach, there were no comfort rooms around so they took me to their capitol and here we go again doing extraordinary things on solo trips! If you could remember my hilarious experience of falling asleep at Basilan's Governor's Office, well guess what, I did something crazier this time. I took a bath at their capitol; it wasn't the Governor's comfort room tho. 🤣😂
It was a Saturday so no one was around to witness another shameless activity of the lone backpacker from Cebu and truthfully, I couldn't be thankful enough for the timing. What would people think of me if they saw me all dripping wet as I came inside their capitol? Hilarious and one for the books! 🤣
After changing into my last pieces of dry and clean clothing, I roamed around the Sulu Provincial Capitol. I've seen countless government headquarters in my years of traveling around the Philippines and without sugarcoating, Sulu's Provincial Capitol has the most commendable architecture. It's designed like a huge mosque that reflects the main religion in this area, Islam. By far, this is my favorite Capitol and one that I'd certainly not forget. How could I when it became my shower for a few minutes, right? 🤣
What else is in Sulu?
We also passed by Masjid Tulay (Tulay Mosque), Jolo's biggest and oldest mosque but we didn't bother to go inside. A few months before this trip, another nearby mosque was blown into ashes. If you want to go inside, it's best to familiarize yourself with the dos and the donts of the area.
It was like we had a city tour of Jolo; right after dropping by Tulay Mosque, we went to Jolo Town Hall or Municipal Hall. Unfortunately, since it was a weekend, it was close and we couldn't go inside.
Here are photos of downtown Jolo. It's livelier than you imagined,right? Business is booming in this part of the Philippines too.
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We had a lot of free time; we thought of other things we could do and naturally, we thought of thrifting in Sulu because why not? My tour guide led the way and I found myself in one of the largest thrift stores I've been to. And the assortment was surprisingly complete from Muslim traditional clothing to rubber shoes, we came to the right place!
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Free! Free! Free!
I had a lot of freebies during this trip. Since we'd exhausted all possible destinations in Jolo, the tourism officer decided to drop me off at the port where I'd wait for my boat trip back to Zamboanga. I was still early but who am I to contradict her? I didn't want to neglect her warnings so I stayed inside the port premises.
With my bubbliness and friendliness, it took a couple of minutes to befriend every single person in the port, including soldiers, construction workers, and other people in the area. They were all curious about my stories and why I was traveling alone; I was obliged to share my story.
One of the heads of the ongoing port renovation/construction asked me to come with him and give me another tour of their town. I hopped in and we were back near the capitol to check some things. Another free tour! 🤣
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Perhaps, it was the first time in a long time that these on-duty soldiers saw a beautiful backpacker that when they had the opportunity, they were happy to pose in a photo that now looks like a remake of the famous Korean drama Descendants of the Sun LOL! 🤣
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