The "stuff" Ryan said we ate...

Ryan and I have had an array of foods, which were savory, salty, hardy, meaty, and garlicy.  The aromas and spices combined into delicious delicacies that tickled our palet.  The methods of cooking were similar to Chinese and Polynesian styles.  Delectable at that!  Remedios wanted Ry and I to experience the real Philippines.  Our first meal was a dish of noodles called Pansit Canton, (Canton for it's Chinese touch).  The dish had carrots, mushroom fungus, slices of liver, and chicken.  All were combined with a hint of boullion or powdered chicken broth.  We were also given a glass of coke each.  She pulled out the ice cubes, huge red flags, but we were desperate for a cold drink.  There was also a large canister of fresh distilled mineral water.  Remedios pulled out a bowl of cold rice to eat and toasted Pandisal buns, which are like sweet breads.  The meal satisfied our stomachs.  "I am now going to prepare the fish, sweet and sour style, Norma, cut the ginger!"  Astonished and shocked that we had just eaten a large meal, I thought that she was preparing dinner early.  Little did we know, she was preparing lunch, even though we thought lunch was finished.  It was now 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon. 

Ry and I decided to take a long nap, a couple of hours later Remedios came knocking on our door.  "Food is ready Uilani."  Groggy and jet lagged I managed to pull myself out of bed, leaving Ryan behind.  His digestive track was struggling.  On the dining table was a plethora of colorful dishware and scrumptious serving platters full of unique foods.  A deep-fried fish covered in sweet and sour brown gravy, carrots, and cabbage, a fish ball soup called "soup" by Remedios, no special Filipino name, which had carrots, cauliflower, and bits of pork.  The soup was made from the cloudy water after rinsing rice, chicken boulion, and patis (fish sauce). The broth was exceptional with rice.  There were also freshly cut Carabao or Filipino mango and green Indian mango that could be eaten with salt.  I exchanged valuable cuisine conversation with Remedios and Norma.  It was fascinating the similarities and of course the differences.  Ingredients were similar, yet preparation different.  After lunch we preceded to the garden area where there were very similar plants that are found in Hawaii.  Bread fruit, two varieties of taro (gabi in Tagalog), papaya, banana, a kalamungai tree (leaves used to make soup), mango, and of course tomatoes, egg plant and bitter melon.  There was also a weed used for soup and medicine.  Similar to Hawaiian la'au lapa'au (medicinal herbs).

After a garden tour, Remedios expressed what to eat for supper.  She insisted she would prepare fried chicken, a Japanese seaweed dish wrapped with pork, steamed taro leaves in coconut milk, and halohalo (Filipino shaved ice).  I was thoroughly full, Ry of which by this time had a little soup, and so I begged her to make these special foods for breakfast the next day.  She did, plus a little more.  For breakfast we had an egg omlette with chopped onions and sweet tomatoes, fried chicken covered in sweet soy sauce (I guess like teriyaki), hot Pandesal buns, tiny seaweeds wrapped in slices of pork braised in sweet soy sauce, and a wrapped tofu sausage thing with pork, noodles, and carrots.  She also pulled out of a cereal box, individually wrapped banana leaves that covered a mochi like food with black bean called "Two-Pic."  "I just picked these up too right down the street from here.  Usually they throw in a ton of vegetables, but I only got two tomatoes."  And that is the "stuff" we ate!   

Vanilla in Manila

The last couple days were, well, a reality check.  At our last post we were sitting in the dining area of our hotel in Makati.  We walked around the area adjacent to the hotel for an hour waiting for the local money exchanger to open.  The bank was located in a upscale mall called "Greenbelt".  We apparently had stayed in a very affluent area of Manila.  The mall boasted a number of luxury clothing and accessory outlets, a high end theatre, and arguably more Starbucks and Seattle's Best coffee shops than the Pacific Northwest.  Everyone was well dressed and happy.  This wasn't so bad we said to ourselves. 

After converting a few bucks to Filipino Pesos, we hopped in a cab to head into Quezon City, to meet Remedios.  That's when we saw the real Manila.  About 10 minutes into our ride, the cabby reached back and locked our doors.  The glistening skyscrapers transitioned into dark, filthy stretches of homemade lumber and corrugated metal shanties stacked against all physics laws several stories tall.  Each legitimate business establishment that was nestled between street vendors had an armed guard with an automatic shotgun and a belt of no less than 10 shells.  We are talking the 7-11's.  The few police that happened to pass by openly carried M-16s.  I was half waiting to drive by a shooting of Anderson Cooper 360.  Street families scampered in the shadows, eating scraps of food from a variety of vessels and guarding their possessions.  The filth and poverty was all consuming, with none of the positive effects of being "breath taking", but completely definitive of the word nonetheless.  13 million people lived somewhere in metro Manila after all.   We met a guy today at the beach who described a story about his friend that occurred only two days ago. The cab driver changed the price halfway through his ride and when his friend didn't pay the difference, he dropped him off in a bad part of town.  Within seconds the guy was stripped of all his possessions at knife point.  Lesson learned - take a government sanctioned cab.  After twisting and turning down alley after alley, and me being thoroughly convinced that this was an attempt at disorientation before our final words were spoken, we arrived on the street where Remedios supposedly lived.   Our cabby spoke far too little English for a mutual understanding of anything.  He looked around as lost as we were, which didn't improve my comfort level.  We drove up and down the street, peering into rundown structures.  Suddenly I saw a sign with "U'ilani Chong" hand written on what turned out to be the outer of two iron security gates.  The relief was intense.  I paid our cabby who was a really nice guy afterall, and didn't plan to sell us off to highest bidder. 

A dark, short, well fed Filipino woman met us and the talking didn't stop for 18 hours.  Nor did the eating.  Filipinos love to eat, and they eat about every two hours.  Full meals.  After consuming plate after plate of items that i can't pronounce nor really describe (execpt for the rice), i retreated to our room and felt my digestive organs turn to motor oil.  Ok, it wasn't that bad, but thank you science for Pepto-Bismal.  The house - it was large, and while somewhat rundown, it was homey in a dark, cavey sorf of  way.  There were plenty of floor to ceiling glass cases full of lots of nothing, and a little of everything, much of which was still in the original boxes from 1984.  It probably wouldn't have made an episode of Hoarders, but only because it was far too catologued and organized.  We crashed by 6pm after only 4 hours of sleep during the previous 48.  Up by 6am, bellies quickly full of steaming piles of stuff, we waited for our driver who would take us up the coast to San Juan, the surfing capitol of the Philippines.  When he arrived, we loaded the SUV with our things and started the 5 hour drive North. 

Slowly the landscape transitioned from super slum city to rural country side.  We passed through too many small towns to count.  Have I mentioned the driving yet?  Just google driving in Asia.  Somehow it works, that's all i can say.  The biggest difference I noticed wasn't the scooters, the tricycles, the roto-tiller-converted farm wagons, or the numerous forms of human powered vehicles, but the Jeepneys.  Nope i haven't heard of them either before this.  Think a jeep wrangler, slammed to the ground, stretched out and plopped on a handi-van chassis, with a padiwagon rear end for passengers, and as highly decorated with whatever the owner could get his hands on.  Dozens of shiny truck horns seem to be popular.  Deep purples, blues, oranges and pinks, almost as loud as the diesel motors which are most certainly circa world war 2.  They put the mini-trucks of Waipahu to shame, and they are freaking everywhere.  It is the official Phillipines public transportation system for the patient. 

As we neared our final destination, we took a pit stop just north of San Fernando to visit the countries first Taoist Temple.  I can't remember what century it was built, but she was an old one.  Finally we hit the surf community of San Juan, which occurs a long the main road for a bout 1/2 mile.  A mix of Bali-style concrete block Warung homestays sprinlked with a few newer luxury "resorts", although every structure with a roof was aptly named "Resort".  I'm currently sitting in the nicest of the surf clubs, The Big Kahuna, as they are the only outfit in town with Wi-Fi.  The beach is a dirty colored sandy strip with a beach break that mimicks Belows, and a reef point break called Mona Liza that is a short version of Cali's right points.  This morning we jumped in at 6:30am.  It was perfect glass, and perfect peeling rights offering 15 second rides.  Only problem is it was 1ft.  Supposedly there is a large Typhoon stirring up some fetch in the China sea, which could bring us head high plus sets by Wednesday.  I'm not holding my breath.  It blows out by 10am, but that's fine as 90% of the 30 or so surf tourists in the area don't wake up before 9.  The setup is pretty sweet.  We have 3 more nights here, then catching a bus back to Makati (this time its seven hours), for a day or two before Indo.  I don't think you'll have to pull too hard to get us to leave when the time comes.  I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Manila!!

And we are off!  While grabbing a last American burger and beer at Kona Brewing Company at HNL airport, in walked our friend Dave, who was off for a week of snowboarding in Colorado.  We wished each other well and boarded the plane for a 7.5 hour flight to Guam.  They fed us two meals and the large male passengers in front of us promptly dropped their seat backs into our laps, reducing my legs to noodles.  After touch down, we raced to the next gate and boarded our 3.5hour flight to Manila.  At some point when I was using the bathroom, U'i made friends with a well dressed gentleman several seats over.  Before I returned to my seat, we had a ride to a hotel of our choosing in the city.  We touched down at 5am Hawaii time (10pm local time), wiped out and ready to sleep. Customs was a breeze, no questions, no bribes, no fees, no hassles.  Much easier than Indo.  Our new airplane friend Dan guided us to the arrivals holding area, where we were to meet our Filipino contact Remedios, to drop off coffee and Hawaiian Host chocolates that we had been hauling with.  After making the exchange, we jumped in Dan's luxury SUV, piloted by his private driver Mark, and headed into the  City.  It turns out Dan is a senior partner at a well known architecture firm in Manila.  He was in Guam interviewing Mechanical Engineers for a new hospital project they are developing.  Needless to say we got along.  It also turns out that Dan owns a club in Malate, where he was heading to let loose and DJ till dawn.  Then for him it was a quick cat nap, and off to the University to teach a class at 10am.  Manila is a mega-city made up of 13 actual cities, each the size of Seattle and with an accompanying hi-rise skyline.  Its easy to feel very insignificant.   Dan's friend owns a smaller hotel in Makati, where he negotiated a room for us.  We thanked him, and headed off to catch a few hours of sleep before dawn.  This morning, after we managed to clog the toilet, we looked out our window to heavy construction and widespread development.  Tower cranes everywhere, raw rebar protruding like blades of grass in this concrete jungle.  At this moment, we are downstairs in the hotel eating our complimentary breakfast.  Langanisa (filipino sausage) garlic rice, egg and coffee.  Today we will be catching a taxi to Quezon City today to visit Remedios and figure out the next step.  Paalam na ho.
Ryan and U'i

P.S. we haven't had time to properly setup the blog yet, in the rush to get things ready to leave.  We will be adding much more info about our proposed trip soon.