The glittering yellows worn by the dancers shimmered, reflecting the hot afternoon sun. Drumbeats rumbled across the asphalt road fronting the natively dressed capitol building as Zambaleños cheer the festival queen holding a basketful of ripe golden mangoes. Her contingent, intricately dressed in gold and greens, gyrated and jumped as they parted the crowd—the queen twirling, her unwavering smile beholden to her audience.

GETTING READY FOR THIS YEAR’S DINAMULAG FESTIVAL IN ZAMBALES

Zambales is a province I've visited countless of times, but witnessing the Zambales Dinamulag Festival was a first for me. And what a first it was.

►BOOK DISCOUNTED ZAMBALES ISLAND HOPPING TOUR

Part of our weeklong Zamboanga City tour includes a visit to the neighboring province of Zamboanga Sibugay to join the first ever World Migratory Bird Day in the Philippines. The celebration is set at the town of Siay where the Siay-Kabasalan Wetlands is located, one of the major flyways for migratory birds in the region.

CELEBRATING THE FIRST WORLD MIGRATORY BIRD DAY IN SIAY

Siay is about four hours away from Zamboanga City and we witnessed how they celebrated the World Migratory Bird Day through art and photo exhibitions, dance competitions, bird costume contest, and even a bird mascot showdown. The festival, being a first, isn’t really as grand as say the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival and lasted only from October 12 to 13. One of the things I really liked about it though was the group of Subanen elders who played their gongs, dancing along the beat with their traditional clothes on. Legit.

►CHECK OUT: ZAMBOANGA TRAVEL GUIDE

Colors everywhere! That’s the first thing that struck me as we arrived at Zamboanga City for the annual Zamboanga Hermosa Festival. The almost hundred-year old festival is celebrated during the whole month of October and is one of the oldest festivals in the Philippines. And at the center of the fiesta, the miraculous image of the Nuestra Señora del Pilar, which was originally brought to the city’s fort by the Spaniards in 1734.

This year’s Zamboanga Hermosa kicked off early, starting during the last days of September with Smoke Out Zamboanga, a grilled food fest along R.T. Lim Boulevard, and rolled with no less than sixty activities running all through October in and around the center of the city. We stayed for a week in Zamboanga City and it still wasn’t enough to see everything!

►FIND THE CHEAPEST FLIGHT TO ZAMBOANGA

Lights glittered at the gates leading to the Sai Van Lake Square as the iconic Macau Tower loomed overhead. We just came from the City of Dreams, reserving our tickets for the next day’s showing of the House of Dancing Water. With no meals yet, except those we had when we crossed Hong Kong to Macau via TurboJET, we decided to drop by at the Macau Food Festival where a feast undoubtedly awaited us.

THE MACAU TOWER, ON OUR WAY TO THE CITY OF DREAMS AND DURING THE FOOD FESTIVAL

We actually have no idea about the event until the concierge from Metropole Hotel told us about it as we were about to leave. Don’t forget to drop by the food festival, he said. What food festival? We stopped on our tracks and asked a few more questions before walking out to the nearby stop where our free bus ride to the City of Dreams awaited.

A pirate ship rose from the stage—a stage made of water—and clinging like spiders from its masts, pirates, diving with abandon several meters from the surface. My jaw dropped in sync with their every jump. I haven’t seen a theatrical show anything remotely like this. It was marvelous. It was astounding. It was (insert more superfluous adjectives).

THE FISHERMAN AMIDST A MAGICAL BACKDROP

Initially, I wasn’t really that keen on watching The House of Dancing Water. Although I’ve seen a couple of grand theatrical productions before, like Thailand’s highly-acclaimed Siam Niramit, and heck, even enjoyed it, I was more drawn to exploring Macau’s side-streets than attending a stage show.

► SEE: MACAU UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE TOUR