Aha! Singaporean food in Philippines   I don’t frequent the Ortigas area or any other location outside of Makati (except paranaque) simply because I have poor sense of direction.  Yes ladies, I am the 1 percent of the male population who will admit that I’m not good with directions and I don’t mind asking for directions.  We went to SM Megamall last week because wifey wanted to check out forever 21.  Her sister even flew in from Davao to check out that store.  It’s a girl thing so I won’t go into details.  Anyway, the trip was fun for me because I get to try the Orchard Road at SM Megamall Bridgeway (I think).  I’m a big fan of hawker centers in Singapore because the idea of choosing from a variety of cuisines like chinese, malay, thai, etc. excites me.  The Orchard Road restaurant at Megamall is not a hawker center – it’s more like the foodcourts of Singapore but that’s cool too.  Ok, nuff of the boring intros – let’s jump right in to the food.

You can watch the chef's cook. The old guy looks authentic Singaporean.

Here's the Orchard Road Menu. To order, just mark it there and go to the counter.

645 for 3 dishes, extra rice, drinks and extra malaysian curry sauce. For 50 bucks, you should order that extra curry - it's really good. Come to think of it, it's the only dish that I enjoyed. Ha ha ha

Singaporean Dude Cooking - Bare hands so it tastes better (Ha ha ha)

Hookien Mee. They didn't do justice to the dish. This is an amazing dish in Singapore - sarap sobra. This one.. not too much so don't get discouraged by this one. The real thing is Yummyiah!

For 135 bucks you get 4 short Satay beef. It's decent.

Roast Chicken Rice - wifey said it was "ok lang"

Ok, let me wrap this up and justify why I posted this entry even if I don’t have much to say about these dishes.

1. I don’ t want you to get discouraged with Hokkien Mee.  It’s really good if done right.  Here’s one of my posts when I first got a taste of this delightful noodle dish in Singapore: http://chibog.tumblr.com/post/226988876/my-oh-my-fried-hokkien-mi-is-the-best-this
2. You have to try the Malaysian Curry – even as an extra order.  It’s only 50 pesos!  It saved our meal.  So good!

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Lumpiang Togue From Via Mare

Commander, general, chief, batas.. also known as “the wife” gave me the first paglilihi challenge of this pregnancy last night.  The winning food craving was… drum roll please… lumpiang togue! Hahaha.  It shouldn’t be too difficult coz I can just buy from one of the jolly jeeps.  But noooo… i can’t just buy off the streets – too risky for mrs preggy of course. Hehehe.  Here’s how it started… (harps and clouds please – flashback time)

I was driving along dela rosa when I got the sms so my first option was to check out the establishments below the carpark.  First stop was tapa king – wala!  Next was manong pepe’s (a subsidiary of Jollibee – naks!) – walang lumpiang togue!  Back to mr. bonkers and drove to greenbelt 1 which was closer to home.  Checked out Binalot – EEEENGK! Wala! Andoks – naddah. Then I remembered, Razon’s! Woohooo! Sure shot… but it was 8 pm already.. CLOSED! Booo!  Ha ha ha.  Anyway, I remembered Via Mare – all filipino favorites.. Yahoo!  I took a look at the menu, no lumpiang togue and just lumpiang hubad. Booo! I asked the waiter, he said yes they have lumpiang togue but he also couldn’t find it in the menu.  I told him it was for my wifey – “naglilihi kasi” and he swore that they served lumpiang togue.  Finally, he saw a picture of one of their dishes with lumpiang togue as a side dish.  There you go.  Whew! Ordered 4 pieces and went home a hero.  K, Thanks, Bye! Bow.

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Max's Spicy Laing Tilapia

A few weeks ago we saw a billboard of the new Max’s Spicy Laing Tilapia.  Mmmm… Laing on Tilapia – sounds good to me.   We tried it out at the greenbelt 1 branch – yep, meron pa dun, sa gilid.  It was actually good.  The gata was a bit too rich but it was good.  Thing is, for Php195 I don’t think that it’s worth it.  It’s essentially one decent sized tilapia cut in half with some laing in between and on top – not even a generous serving of laing.

So there… it’s good but not worth Php195 bucks in my book.

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Yes, you read that right.  The infamous “Jejemon” now has a page on Wikipedia.

Jejemon is a pop culture phenomenon in the Philippines. Jejemons are defined by Urban Dictionary as those “who has managed to subvert the English language to the point of incomprehensibility and online lynch squads.”^[1] A Jejemon is described as one of a “new breed of hipsters who have developed not only their own language and written text but also their own sub-culture and fashion.”^[2] Jejemons also imitate “gangster” like attitudes which make them similar to the English chav, Scottish ned, Irish skanger, Russian gopnik and Australian & New Zealand bogan.

What’s surprising is that it’s quite extensive.  Here’s the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jejemon

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I just love the way this website let’s you navigate around.  All praises to this volkswagen site from Australia.  http://follownoone.com.au.  The site is to promote the Volkswagen Polo car.  To navigate, you get to use the up, down, left and right keys on your keyboard and it moves just like a remote controlled car would.  Real fun driving over content and parking on spots to open up information.  Check it out here: http://follownoone.com.au Follow No One.

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PaterAnswers

Here’s the link:

http://peteranswers.com/

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YYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH!!!!  Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao wins over Ricky Hatton in just 2 rounds!  The fight was short but AMAZING!!!!

1st round was lightning fast, both boxers threw combinations exhibiting their trademark moves.  Again, our pinoy kamao superstar prevailed and knocked out Ricky Hatton twice!  I could just imagine every filipino watching jumping up and down.

2nd round Hatton was obviously in survival mode.. a quick jab, some combinations and always ends with a hug.  How sweet.  This style by Hatton wasn’t bothering our hero Manny… a seamingly harmless right jab followed by a lightning fast left hook smack right on Hatton’s chin and the rest is history – you could just imagine someone shouting “TIMBER!!” and the british tough guy came falling down flat on his back with his arms stretched right above is head – TIMBER!!!!

Whew!  I used to think that when a boxing match ends abruptly it lacks showmanship, flair!  This match proved me wrong, this was short but the showmanship was spectacular!!!! cliche moment: Sweet and Short

Good Job Mr. Manny Pacquiao.  You deserve all the support, attention and glory that everyone in the world is giving you.

Some cool comments I heard during the match:

• Best boxer that ever lived, not in the world, not this year, but of all time
• Force of nature
• Impossible
• Everyone should learn from him, even when he’s on top.. he keeps learning
• Ad: Party like a rockstar (hahahaha)

Below is the 24/7 special created by HBO for this War of the Worlds match.  Now that we know how it ends… watching this again and hearing the comments from Hatton and his camp – hihihihihi… (*wink)

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I’m starting this new dream destinations posts where I plan to put up travel destinations that I plan to visit one day. I’m going to place myself in the photo – to keep me motivated. This is the first post.

I saw this while watching discovery last night – Building the Future. This is a pyramid in Kazakhstan – I think that was the place where Borat came from right? Anyway, its amazing and I would love to visit it one day.

Pyramid of Peace (Astana, Kazakhstan)
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, has air temperatures that range from minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter to 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The brutal climate must figure in any architect’s calculus, if a building is to survive its ravages. When Kazakh President-for-Life Nursultan Nazarbayev commissioned a monumental building to serve as the site for a meeting of religious leaders, the assignment wasn’t for the fainthearted. But British architectural superstar Lord Norman Foster, whose projects have included the gherkin-shaped 30 St Mary Axe office tower in London, and the Turkish firm of Tabanlioglu Architecture & Consulting had the imagination and chutzpah to tackle the task. The 203-foot-high Pyramid of Peace (also known as the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation) consists of five triangular stories of pale granite and stained glass, supported by a steel frame atop a concrete base. The structure is designed to expand and contract nearly a foot to cope with temperature extremes. The pyramid, which took 18 months to build at a reported cost of $73 million, opened in late 2006. Nazarbayev flew in Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe to give an inaugural concert in the pyramid’s basement, which contains an opera hall. In April 2007, the pyramid hosted a concert by the European Union Youth Orchestra.

source: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/building-the-future/photogallery/photogallery_04.html

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We were searching for a quiet spot to spend a 3-day weekend. Our criteria was to go somewhere not too far. So we narrowed it to two choices: Batangas or Puerto Galera. Batangas resorts were full so we had to check out Galera. Knowing how crowded and over rated White Beach was, we surfed the net for a a quiet and private resort in Galera. Found a few resorts: Oceana, La Laguna and Sandbar. We finally decided to check out Sandbar Resort in Puerto Galera. http://www.dynastydivers.com/sandbar/resort.php

Booking a room was easy but getting there was another story. We first had to drive from Manila to Batangas Port, which took 3 1/2 hours due to the traffic. When we got to the pier, we were harassed! This port was so unorderly and inefficient! We had to line up 3x to buy tickets (P380 roundtrip), pay eco tourism tax and a pier fee! After being mauled by vendors for a good 30 minutes, we were finally escorted to a very big and very FULL bangka. Some passengers were already shouting, “overloaded na!”. Official capacity was supposedly 80 pax, Im pretty sure we exceeded that number.

After an hour and a half in the bangka, we finally reached White Beach. (Note: if you get seasick easily, I suggest you take Bonamine!!!) Most passengers got off on White Beach, while we stayed in the bangka, we were being dropped off at Muelle where the resort’s van was waiting for us.

Sandbar Resort was just what we wanted, small and quiet. The rooms were decent. We also had free access to the kayaks, cabanas and lounge chairs. The beach itself was so-so, it was pretty to look at but not so nice to swim in. We had a nice time watching people learn how to windsurf though.(P500/hour to learn). We also saw some kids training on their cute sailboats.

For serious swimming, we used the pool. We also hired a bangka (P1500) for some island hopping/snorkeling. But primarily, we spent most of our time chilling, which was really our goal anyways. The sea breeze was constant and relaxing in this place… lulled us to sleep most of the time.

Food was quite pricey for the quality. Average of P250 per meal, it wasnt bad, but it wasnt memorable either.

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bangka

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Sandbar Resort

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beer

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Sandbar Resort

Sandbar Resort

Sandbar Resort

Sandbar Resort

Sandbar Resort

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Sandbar Resort

Sandbar Resort

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windsurfing

wipe out

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Funny that it took me 2 years to finally put this up on a blog – I guess its because I was sure that I will never forget it. I’m also going back in a few weeks, so might as well get this out first. Here we go…

Batanes is located on the northenmost tip of the Philippines – you can actually see Taiwan from one of the islands – Itbayat. That’s also the reason why they have towering lighthouses spread across the islands. Its a place frozen in time where true Filipino culture like Bayanihan still exists.

The picture on top is a lighthouse located on Sabtang Island where we camped out for 2 nights – must try. At night, you can see all the stars clearly like a blanket of crystals scattered across a black velvet sheet.

First stop is Batan Island where the airport is located. Here’s where you can check out the famous Marlboro country.

You’ll be amazed with the stone houses where most of the locals still live. Batanes is frequently hit by typhoons – tip: open up your schedule, you will never know when you’ll be stranded. As soon as the winds start to pick up – all trips are cancelled.

You should also check out the Mahatao fishing village – a place truly frozen in time. Here you can trek to the fountain of youth – with natural spring water flowing endlessly. Take a sip – its all good.

Sabtang Island is a boat trip away, here you will be mesmerized by what I dubbed “Toilet Duck” blue water. My father told me that the sea reflected a rich blue color because of its depth. You will also notice that when the water hits the islands it creates what I could only describe as “Frosted Glass” color. Pardon me for the descriptions – as much as possible I’d like to describe these things with objects/colors that we, city folks, can relate to or imagine. Just like in the Photo below:

Sabtang hosts a secluded beach front where you can safely take a dip without risking getting pulled out to sea. We camped under a lighthouse where we had access to an enclosed secret beach accessed by carefully desccending down a steep hill. With a little effort you can venture to the right of it and find sort of small ponds where you can sit down and relax as if you were in a jacuzzi with a front seat view to the splashing waves – just be careful not to get too close.

Word of caution – the locals will always tell you that the next town is just a few minutes away – NOT! We tried to trek around the island under the assumption that the towns are just a few minutes away from each other – without water, it took us 4 hours just to get to the next town. The spectacular views kept us going, but its not an easy thing to do.

When we reached the very last town, after 4 hours of walking – we had no idea how we were going to get back to the town proper where we left our bags and setup camp under a lighthouse. We also lost communication with our host and couldn’t even imagine trekking back. So we gathered what’s left of our sanity and decided to make the bold move of riding a small fishing boat back. I kid you not – this boat is so small, you can probably just fit 5 people in it. There were 3 of us and 2 boatmen, they have a buddy system – WHY? The question we didn’t really bother to think about BUT its because its dangerous and you can easily get lost at sea – that’s why they travel in pairs.

One more thing, it was already dark so twice as risky – I recall seeing huge rounded waves hurrying towards us. They use the moon for navigation, we were always facing the moon. My hands were hurting because I had a hard sturdy grip on the bottom of my seat and no plans of letting go. Water was splashing everywhere – I started thinking, what if the boat cap sized? Hmm.. we were always close to the shore I could probably swim to safety, then it dawned on me – the loud splashing sound actually came from the waves hitting the sharp edges of the side of the island. Hey, but we survived – back from the trip when I told my Dad (retired Captain) about it, I saw a disturbing change in his face… That’s when I realized that the risk we took during that trip was real. Eeeks.

On a lighter note, the locals are proud of how they run things, no corruption – zero crime rate. Even if there are only a few vehicles on the Island -all the streets were paved.

Itbayat Island is a small plane ride away. Its fun to listen to the stories of the pilot, in one occasion, he had to skip through the airstrip to avoid the cows.

For accomodations, just ask the locals – they are always willing to be your hosts. They won’t even charge you for it.

The best way to go around this island is by renting a motorcycle, unfortunately, they come with wacko drivers that apparently have mastered their way around the island.

My driver was obviously drinking before we went on our way – he smelled like gin. When we were going down a steep road to the port (if you miss the turn, you fly out to sea) he said: “Wala yata tayong brakes (I think we don’t have brakes.).” We were really going fast and at the very last moment we took a really sharp turn to avoid going over. Whew! Then he turned to me and said: “Mahina lang pala and preno (Weak brakes? – not sure how to translate that). Anyway, cool adventure.

We were on this island on a Sunday and exactly 6-7pm, all the houses were empty, everyone was at church.

To wrap this up, Batanes is a must visit travel destination.

1. Safe – you can leave your bags on the street, no on will steal it

2. Culture – imagine how hard it is to be a kid there. You have to go to all the elders when you pass by them and show your respects (Mano po’).

3. Scenery – they say its like the country side of some European countries

4. Experience – this will open your eyes to what being a Filipino is truly about

Here are some other highlights of our trip that I skipped:

1. Willie got hit by a big wave and had to get stitches on his shin – they didn’t charge us for it.

2. Quincy got bitten by a cat that he accidentally stepped on and got some shots for it – no charge also

3. Our host was Noli Gabilo (google him and be amzed).

4. Coconut crab on Sabtang Island – one crab was enough for 4 of us.

I’m so excited to go back in a couple of week. I’ll try to get better photos.

Here are more photos of our trip:

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