flip'n travels

So why did we attend this year’s TravelTour Expo?
Because we are planning to avail a package complete from airport transfer to food, souvenirs and guided tour…
NOT!

Again, backpackers don’t get tours or vacation package, unless required for visa approval. If you have the money and don’t have the time to plan for it, then TravelTour Expo is the best place to get SOME of the good deals. So other than the freebies and being surrounded with other travel hungry people, we attended this event just for the kick of it. We drove from my place to SMX at the Mall of Asia Complex early morning and we literally opened the event, we could’ve cut the ribbon, I swear.

The TravelTour Expo was conceptualized by PTAA in 1994 to showcase the products and services of its members. Since then, the show has evolved into a much awaited annual industry event and is considered the biggest gathering of travel agencies, tour operators, local and national tourism organizations, hotels, resorts, airlines and suppliers of travel-related products and services.

With the theme “Ready, Jet-set, Go!” they held the event last February 19-21 2010, some of the biggest travel agencies, airlines, tourism boards and other travel related groups and product distributors participated and filled three huge halls of the venue. Hoping to beat last year’s record of PhP 216,000,000.00 generated sales.  We found interesting booths, countries where we would want to go really soon.

But the destination that caught our short term attention was the Islands of the Pacific. Thanks to the island swaying music and the dancing to the beat, we were hypnotized and almost booked a flight, our credit cards were being magnetized and literally dragging us to the Continental Airways booking counter.

There were Daily Raffle Draws, Entertainment & Games and Exhibitors’ Presentations & Surprises. And talking about surprises, when the performing group from Guam came up the stage—MAN ALIVE surprised we were! bolted from the blue when an unexpected big Kekoa peeked out of the grass skirt. Monette’s jaw dropped down the floor, and the imagery is still haunting her up to this moment.

The event is like a traveler’s Sodom and Gomorra, it is evil, too EVIL!

So as a displacement mechanism, I’m going to enjoy my lechon bread!

Being that we are backpackers, it always follows that we travel on a budget. Our plane tickets carefully booked, our hostels painfully scrutinized, and our daily allowance tightly budgeted. It is also an art of backpacking to find the most affordable places to eat in. We also consider the cultural requisites like flavor, tradition and the old school way of cooking it.

In most cases, we end up being seen in the streets and hawker stalls getting down and dirty. Hawker stalls can be found all over Asia, and the Philippines got a good version of it too. Although Filipino street food are irreplaceable, its nearest and most accessible incarnation would be the food court of SM Malls.

SM Sta. Mesa got a pocket full of stores with treats from different regions of the country. It is indeed a one stop traditional Filipino food expo. We were invited to try out what the food center has to offer.

Lugaw – know generally all over the Philippines as the local version of Chinese congee. It is so easy to make, just by combining the broth, rice, ginger, scallions, some other spices and chicken or beef then VOILA! You have the staple snack of the social class A to E. Lugaw ni Juan is the newest member of the chain of food stalls in SM. Sta. Mesa, their version got strips of ox tripe that made it really unique and special.

Lechon de Cebu – Lechon or roasted suckling pig is a popular star of Filipino celebrations like Fiesta, birthday, wedding, baptismal and the list goes on. As a celebratory dish in the southern city Cebu, it is luciously cooked with juicy meat and crispy thin outer skin. Just make sure it is served hot and crunchy.

Empanada - unlike the mexican empanada, Ilocanos’ version is fried, not baked. The northern colonial towns of the Ilocos region boasts a menu of treats that are uniquely Ilocano. Empanada is one of the most popular among them. Balay Ilocos (Ilocano House) serves those traditional cuisine showcasing the flavors of the north.

Sisig - this is one kapampangan’s pride, known as the kitchen of central Luzon, the Province of Pampanga started a pulutan culture. This dish is made from parts of pig’s head and liver, usually seasoned with kalamansi and chili peppers. It is indeed and undoubtedly the most popular beer match across the country. Where else to try it? But from the kitchen who invented it…

FACT: Lucia Cunanan of Angeles City has been credited with inventing sisig. The Philippine Department of Tourism has acknowledged that her “Aling Lucing’s” restaurant had established Angeles City as the “Sisig Capital of the Philippines” in 1974.

The dish is said to have originated from locals residents who bought unused pig heads from the commissaries of Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga. Pig heads were purchased cheap since they were not used in preparing meals for the U.S.Air Force personnel stationed there.

Pancit Malabon -The ingredients clearly represent the origin of the dish. Situated with the northern fishing ports of Manila, Malabon is the drop-off point of fresh bounties from the South China Sea. Pancit Malabon is a type of pancit, or stir-fried noodle dish. It has a yellow-orange color due to a sauce that includes patis (fish sauce) and crab fat. Its toppings draw heavily from the fresh seafood that is available in the area and may include fresh shrimp, squid, oysters, and hard-boiled duck or hen eggs, as well as pork.

Kakanin (Rice cakes) – There’s a myriad of documented preparation of this traditional snack/desert. Philippines being covered with vast rice paddies, the crop comes really handy to our pre-colonial ancestors. And with recipes passed from generation to generation we are still enjoying the old original and traditional taste and texture.

Who would’ve thought we can experience a good historical and cultural culinary tour inside the Philippines most popular shopping center? Our visit with SM City Sta. Mesa became a sampler of what Filipino kitchen has to offer.

The relaunching of SM City Sta. Mesa Food Court showed an impressive recovery from the wrath of typhoon Ondoy last year. The new festive look and Wifi enabled food park is cheerfully serving the universities and communities of Sta. Mesa in Manila.

We would also like to thank Jolibee SM Sta. Mesa, Pizza Hut SM Sta. Mesa, Island Gas, ASC Marketing, Inihaw Express, Kusina ni Gracia, Baliwag Express and Mr. Maynard Bulosan for showing us what they have for the budget conscious foodies like us.

Damnoen Saduak is popularly known as the floating Market and the Venice of Asia.  Every Morning, the Floating Market is routinely crowded with hundreds of vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats. They usually use small traditional boats, however, today the long-tailed engine boats became more popular. Vendors are selling and buying or exchanging their goods, which are particularly food, fruit and vegetable which mostly brought from their own orchards, in recent years these goods were replaced with souvenirs and trinkets for tourists, and the floating market became a huge souvenir shop.

Other than “Damn! I lost my Calvin Klein sunglasses there!” I can only say this, and I quote:

“I will say no more, because there’s no more to say!”
~Anna Leonowens (The King and I, 1956)

HOW TO GET THERE: There are public buses both air and non air-conditioned leaving from the Southern Bus Terminal in Pinklao-Nakhonchaisi Rd. for Damnoen Saduak every 40 minutes from 06.00 AM. onwards. Fare is around Baht 49 (one way) for air-conditioned and Baht 30 for normal buses. The most suitable time to be at the market is from 8:00 – 10:00 in the morning and the travel time is about two hours.

We are creatures of the night. Aside from the fact that Ron and I work in the medical management/contact center business, our age group is known to survive 48 hours without a shut-eye. It is but natural for us to find refuge during wee hours. Tired with the usual noisy and rowdy scene, we convoyed along the streets of Makati together with a couple of friends to a place called “Driveway.”

Owned by Grace Domingo, Alice Galang, Buboy Arriola, Alden Torres and Ron Coronel, the concept of the bar and restaurant is fit for yuppies seeking recluse. Being yuppies themselves, they surely know what the greater urban population want, a place with a doormat with COOL written on it. Driveway sits on top of a third floor ramp overlooking Makati skyline. With a steady cool breeze wafting inside the bar, it is a perfect place to enjoy a couple of beers with the company of friends at any time of the day, especially at night. Part owner Grace even graced us with her presence, recommending the best of the best in their menu. Speaking of hitting two birds with one stone, bring your car and while you chill out, have it detailed, repaired or cleaned as the ground floor houses a car shop.

The menu does not contain your usual bar chows. Their chef slash DJ Gerard whips up the ordinary into a sumptuous meal. My personal favorite, and as what Grace said the most popular among their guests, Liver Pate in Filo Flowerettes (140php). Chicken liver in wanton wrapper fried to crisp was enough to make me go back to this place.

Among other interesting food on their menu are the Tenderloin Tips in Mushroom Sauce (190php) and Tofu in Asian Barbecue Sauce (120php). The food are especially prepared that you won’t think you are in an ordinary bar. Even the plating of these entrees has an attitude.

And perhaps the most interesting, or better yet, the most exotic among their line-up of food is the Fried Chicken Ass (160php). With the way they prepared it, you will forget that ultimately, “you are what you eat.” And Filipinos definitely love their chicken asses.

Their concoction of bar drinks awed me. I was staring at the pitcher of Carafe (PhP 250) for a good 10 minutes. It was almost fluorescent. And here, Ron and I learned a very important lesson on cigarette smoking. To reduce the nicotine intake, we were told to dip the cigarette butt in liquid, in our case, the Carafe. The nicotine gets stuck in the butts creating a lot of dark spots. Voila! A healthier cigarette smoking life!

And the Driveway experience doesn’t end there. The host asked us to sign on their fancy notebook, telling us we’d get our nameplates when we go back. I think it’s high time for a second visit.

Hot air balloons were just pieces of my story book childhood. Like candies flying in the sky peeking behind white fluffy cotton clouds. This came to life in the fields of Clark in Pampanga. 

For 15 years, Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is being celebrated at the Omni Aviation Complex in Clark Field, Angeles City, Pampanga every February when the air is cold, suitable for hot air to rise up the sky. In the later half of the recent decade, Filipinos discovered this event. The sight attracted both photographers and kids, though I must say, if you’re a photo enthusiast, it will be a struggle to take perfect frames if you don’t have access beyond the fence.

Yes, the spectators are confined in a viewing area within the tarmac, the balloons are taking flight from the grass field separated by a whole stretch of wire fence. That’s what you get for a general admission fee of around PhP 200. But if you want the real thing, you may pay US$ 100/person to fly with the balloon, you may also want to get in touch with the organizers to have a basket reserved ahead of time.

Balloons start revving-up the torch while it’s still dark, say 5-ish. That means if you’re driving from manila, you have to leave the metro during the wee hours at around three to reach the venue in time for the flight. Also, give a time allowance for you to queue-up the ticket booth, line can stretch up to 500 meters.   

The flight may last for an hour, that’s the only time window to take good shots AND what most spectators are waiting to see.

Things to do after the last balloon left:

• Watch air craft/sky divers exhibitions
• Ride a light weight aircraft
• Take pictures of people
• See the Philippine Air Force exhibit
• Join the photo contest
• Fly a kite
• Buy toys (all sorts)
• Feast on ice cones, hotdogs and freebies

The festival also features a number of events in skydiving, flag jumps, micro light and rocketry demonstrations, small plane fly-bys and fly-ins, remote-control airplane and helicopter flying exhibitions, freestyle aerobatics, precision maneuvers, light airplane balloon bursting, ultra-light flying formation and bomb dropping (oh yes they do! but not those like of Hiroshima’s), kite-making and choreographed kite-flying, hi-start launch gliding, pylon racing, banner towing, aero-modeling symposium and races between ultra lights and motorcycles.

In a bird’s eye Balloon’s eye view, it was an event for the kids and young at heart. It started as an event for aviation and aero-enthusiast, then it slowly became a family oriented tradition. That is why it’s an ironic juxtaposition of contrasting subjects. After all the “coloring book comes to life“ images in the sky, you will see armed platoon with all the ammunitions and arsenals on display.   

You can play with the toys…

… as well with the boys.

looking for where you parked your car is a different story!

GETTING THERE BY CAR:
Take the North Luzon Expressway from Manila, Philippines and exit at Dau, Mabalacat. Make a left turn towards Angeles City then a right to Clark.

The sun baked our skins as we made our way out of the Grand Palace feeling bitter and shunned by everything Thai. We wanted to turn our lucks by walking towards nowhere thinking we’d probably stumble upon something interesting, like a drag queen who looks like Lady Gaga. A tuktuk driver spider-sensed that we were confused and disoriented and approached us with a plan. “I’ll take you to two temples for free if you can drop by to this tailor shop that I know,” he said. Too tired to argue, we hopped on to his mechanical beast and drove off to the shop.

hahahaha… ha!

Like what Ron mentioned in the previous article, these tuktuk drivers commission their passengers to visit jewelry shops and tailor shops in exchange for gas coupons. The receptionist welcomed us with disappointment. He knew we were just looking around… We really didn’t care. The first day, we were taken to this huge jewelry factory (not sure if this is the appropriate term) and the lady kept insisting Ron to buy me a ring. People! If you could just lend me your ears… We are NOT dating! So anyway, we hopped back on to the tuktuk and asked the driver to just take us wherever it was he was going to take us.

Luang Pho To at the Wat Indravihan Temple

A guy selling birds for offering

Flowers for sale

A faithful

The driver took us to Wat Indravihan Temple where a huge well-known statue of the Buddha stands. The 32-meter tall and 11-meter wide edifice is called Luang Pho To and was built during the reign of King Rama IV. It was noticeable that the place was very much like Quiapo with the noise and number of people roaming around the complex. At some point, I really thought that the guy barking his merchandise sounded like the guy facilitating a BINGO game on the sidewalk. It was so chaotic that I practically dragged Ron out and back into the tuktuk and told the the driver to take us to the last of the temples he suggested.

Not sure if this is Wat Bowon Niwet or Wat Ratchanatdaram… Pft!

So the driver rode off and parked at a seemingly nice temple. We went inside. It was closed. We were not amused…

It was about 3pm when we got back to the hostel. We dumped our bags and went to 711 and had lunch. Back at Lub*d, we went straight to the PC and updated our statuses to hateful bantering. I decided to get my book and read and Ron obtundedly sat inside the hostel room. Clearly, at about 4pm in the afternoon of our second day in Bangkok, the day was officially over.

After our anticlimactic Muay Thai momentus-interruptus and we finally convinced ourselves that watching two amateur fighters throwing bravado on each other is too high a price, we headed of the most beaten path in Bangkok.

Upon entrance in the grand palace, Monette rented a mothball smelling cover-up. Apparently, we were entering the most sacred temple in Bangkok and her tank top was too revealing that monks may get an unwanted wood works.

hor phra monthian dharma

It was mid-day and it seemed like clouds were not so popular in Thailand. It was too hot it can make straight hair curl, and gay men straight. Despite that, we still tried savoring every single minute inside the temple complex. After an hour, we barely moved and we were still within 20 meters away from the entrance.

giant yak in front of hor phra monthian dharma

phra siratana chedi

kinnorns (a mythological creature, half bird, half man) adorning prasat phra debidorn

It was uncomfortably hot to sketch and taking photos was a painful effort. There were lots of tourists loitering the complex and so the numerous distractions were hovering us unstoppably. So we just sat, looked around, watched tourists, stared blankly in front of a Chedi.

Temples of Wat Phra Kaew are actually… well they’re… pretty… and… sorry I’m short of words to say. Just like the over-used break-up excuse, I would sincerely say–It’s not the place, it’s me!I may have to blame the route that we took, because Siem Reap is definitely a hard act to follow. Wrong order of destination.

Siem Reap temples invoke unexplainable emotions. You stand there and you feel that you are standing in the presence of something great and magnificent and ancient. You feel one with the environment. Temples in Bangkok are nice, don’t get us wrong. The intricate designs, wonderful carvings, detailed paintings and tedious mosaics are all pleasing to the eye. It’s just that seeing them within the city with all the other buildings takes away the spiritual essence of such religious edifices. They’re just… buildings…

The comatose-inducing boredom was broken when another tourist approached us, telling us we better hurry because the complex will close in an hour.

“What the F*ck!? How come the lady in the ticket booth didn’t tell us that the king and queen of Malaysia were in town and that they will be closing the palace!”

Unbelievable! That meant we barely had an hour to explore the 218,000 sqm complex. GREAT!

notice our pictures from hereon… fake smiles or no smiles at all…

We tried demanding for a refund, but what’s the point of arguing if the one whom you’re talking to cannot even conjugate a clear message.

ME: “we want a refund, we just bought the ticket an hour ago”
Ticket Lady: “Yes?”
ME: “we want a refund, you didn’t tell us that you will be closing at 1:00 PM”
Ticket Lady: “No, ticket not wasted, can go to Vimanmek”
ME: “But we haven’t seen 80% of the Grand Palace!”
Ticket Lady: “yes?”
ME: “NAK NG TOKWA NAMAN ’TEH O!”

We gave up the hopeless battle and asked what gate we’re suppose to exit. They unanimously pointed us towards the other end of the square. So we walked under the scorching sun and reached the other end of the enclosure wall just to find out—they sent us to the WASH ROOM!

After 30 minutes of trying to find the exit, we found ourselves outside the walls of the Grand Palace, just in time for the arrival of the entourage of the king and queen of Malaysia. We decided to leave the scene before our schizophrenic selves ran amok because of the harsh deprivation. And no, this was not the last of the mishaps we encountered that day.

So… why don’t we continue the story… in the next entry…

“… Pairs of MALE Elephants will be released to the forest of America. There is hope that they will grow in number…”
~King of Siam (Yul Bryner, The King and I 1956)

The day started with a half-baked excitement. We pretty much wasted more than two hours looking for the money changer that would accept our Peso bills. After 140 Baht on the cab meter, several kilometers of Bangkok sprinting action and litters of juicing fat squeezing out our pores, we couldn’t help but pacify the plea of our intestinal parasites, so we settled with a 7-Eleven brunch. To our surprise, the iced coffee tastes better than most non-Starbucks lattes, and the spicy chicken floss sandwich is no less palatable than those of Bread Talk’s—not bad for a 100 Baht meal. We’re not sure if it was a subconscious compensation because we were (at that point) technically broke; or it was really that good. It became our refuge for the entire three days of Thai shenanigan.

Walking around Bangkok was definitely not a walk in the park for us, as we had difficulties going to places simply because road signs are all in Thai and not a lot of people can speak English. In some cases we got shooed even before we even got the chance to say Sawasdee Ka/Krup. So, get used to the classic rejection “No English!”

When I think of Thailand, the first thing that comes in to my mind would be the temples. And yes there’s a fair share of temples in Bangkok and it’s not an outlandish experience if you stumble with one of them while walking around the city. In our case we came across Wat Intharawihan, Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew. I know it’s a mouthful, the official names are even longer, even a spelling bee wiz will get an epistaxis (READ: Nose bleed).

If it’s not for the monks, Thai signage, temples, tuktuk’s and the endemic sightings of the King’s pictures, we would feel that we are in the Philippines. The weather and people are so much like of what we have back home. We even, at times, accidentally call the street vendors “Ate” and the drivers “Manong.”

TIP: Tuktuk ride costs between 50-150 baht depending on the destination. But you can have the ride for free. Try to negotiate with the driver to bring you to affiliated commercial establishments (Jewelry stores, textile shops, souvenir outlets and the likes) they get a fuel vouchers for every tourist that they can bring regardless if you’ll buy or not. This will consume 20-30 minutes of your time, but the deal is fair considering you get a free ride to your desired destination. We did this the whole time we were in Bangkok to save few of hundredths of Baht.

FACT: The traditional name of Bangkok is ‘Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit’. It is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest name for a place.

There are other things we could’ve done if we had sufficient funds to finance our caprice. One is experiencing the infamous Muay Thai game. We asked around for the price of a ticket, and realized it was too expensive–“dude, we don’t have plans of taking home the fighters after the match… and with that price, we can resurrect the male Nong Toom.” So Muay Thai is definitely out the window.

Instead, we decided to gravitate towards the classic over pop—We bought tickets to the Grand Palace. According to the map that we snatched from the hostel, the Grand Palace is behind this temple thingamajig which turned out to be several kilometers away, GREAT!

Outside the ticket booth, tourists from all over are coming in and out like there’s a relief operation happening inside the complex. Ticket costs around 700 baht. OK, fair! We can stay and hang around the entire day savoring history, art, architecture and what not. But to our dismay, another unfortunate thing happened…

to be continued

After the uneventful arrival in Bangkok, we found ourselves taken to Lub*d, our home for the next three days before going back to the pain of reality. Yes, we do have day jobs we sadly keep to finance this capricious traveling lifestyle.

We were greeted by a modern building with wooden chairs and tables filled with tourists. Ahhh, the familiar smell of home… Clearly, we were smitten. We did not realize we were standing at the ultimate highlight of what Bangkok had to offer, at least for Ron and I.

We entered the hotel and checked in. After settling inside our room, Ron suddenly felt claustrophobic and decided to find another room with windows. Luckily for us, we were able to transfer in no time. Yes, the rooms were a bit small, but the clever industrial design made us forget we had to breathe at times.

The place is just peachy. Wonderful interiors with huge solid beams that can kill you IF they drop, a spacious lounge area where you can sit all day and drink beer while smoking and reading your book, a mini library where you can borrow and trade books, a recreation area with dozens of board games, about 10-15 PC’s with free internet access so you can update your statuses on Facebook, a fancy looking café slash diner that serves meals and drinks. We even saw a mini theater on the second floor. Truly, why did we even think of going out into the wild urban jungle of Bangkok when everything we needed was there? The answer still escapes me until now.

If you count the hours we spent sightseeing Bangkok and staying inside the hotel, you’d be amazed on how we spent much of our precious vacay time drinking ourselves to stupor and chatting with friends online. Picture this: a glorious day with the sun shining warm and bright and most of the guests were either buried in the PC’s or watching movies. We were supposed to be in one of the most exciting places to be in on earth and I was locked in our room writing a poem on sadness while Ron updated his blog.

Yes, this is a prelude to articles that will come of our vacation in Thailand. But in the meantime, let me share an enlightening conversation I had with one of the receptionists in Lub*d…

Me in our room, calling the reception area:

Me: Hi! Is this the Lobby?
Receptionist: Yes, this is Lub*d.
Me: I know, but is this the reception? the Lobby? I need to ask some questions.
Receptionist: Yes, Lub*d. You like reservations?
Me: No, I’m already here. Are you the receptionist?
Receptionist: Yes, we are Lub*d, in Decho Road.
Me: I know this is Lub*d! I’m staying at Silom 22! I’m asking if this IS the reception, the LOBBY!
Receptionist: Yes, this is Lub*d.
Me: Okay, THAT’S IT! I’m coming down!

Bangkok welcomed us on a late afternoon from our long lazy bus/van ride from Siem Reap. Being the last leg of the trip, our minds were practically overwhelmed with plethora of enriching experiences, images and a bag-full of stories we can’t wait to tell, which in turn, made an inversely proportional amount of cash at hand.

So with a dwindling budget, the moment we realized we are approaching the capital, we started doing mental computations ’til our mouths froth.

It was late afternoon when the van dropped us at Khaosan Road. I never got the opportunity and drive to marvel the new place, not even to pull out my camera from the bag. Maybe because either I’m panicking and figuring-out where we can have our Peso Bills changed to Thai Baht; or I’m just starving and my body glucose is right below sea level.

TIP: Before Flying in to Thailand, make sure you bring Thai Baht or US dollars. Unlike other asian cities, money changers don’t accept Philippine Peso. We had to wait for the following day to go over-the-counter to have our money changed. Bangkok Bank is the only one that accepted our cold-shouldered money. The bank teller has been so nice too.

Khaosan Road is the backpacker capital of the city. They got souvenir shops, food carts selling pad thai noodles and fried crickets, cafe’s, etc. etc. etc. It reminded me of Malate meets Instruccion Saturday Market in Sampaloc Manila.

Too tired and no time to scout for a cheaper hostel, we immediately hopped on a cab to drive us to our first choice–Lub*d. My thoughts were floating as I stare blankly like a dumb fast food mascot while the driver hopelessly tried talking about Manny Pacquiao. The next thing I know, I was lying on our bunk bed inside a post modern industrial-urban inspired hostel. How I got there from the cab is something I couldn’t remember.

The first night was originally planned to be at Khaosan. But then we realized that our hostel is just few blocks from Phatphong night market. So we decided to just look for a place to eat around Bangkok’s red light district. And HELL NO that’s not what we ate. perv!

After eating in a Carinderia-like food store along the street, like an automatic battery-powered robot, we headed back to Lub*D and totally forgot the Phatphong plan. We ended up drinking cans of beer in front of our hostel

We must confess, right at that very moment, our minds were still in Cambodia. I somehow wished we extended our Angkorian adventure even just for another day. As we quietly sat on a terrace with other European backpackers, drinking Singha beer, half asleep… I asked:

Where are we again?

BANGKOK.

Bang who?!