Tag Archives: food
Philippines Days 13: Street Food
Yeah, so when you travel they say to avoid the street food. Who knows what kind of diseases you can get and not to forget the diarrhea. But to tell you the truth, I try only to eat street food when I travel. OR if I am lucky enough I have who I am staying with do some home cooking. Today, it was street food. My place in Makati was close to a great place to get some street food. At the corner of Don Chino and Malolos my travel mate and I found a lot of good eats. I am not talking about the McDonalds or the Joliebees there, I am talking of the amazing finds of all the street food stands. For once I found street food stands that are vegetarian safe, serving tofu and meatless (for once) vegetables and a rice porridge known as lugow, which is usually served with beef tripe, but mine was not.
It is always nice to to eat some good food and enjoy it.
Philippines Days 11 & 12: Bohol Bee Farm and Divisoria
So my plan before leaving Bohol was to do nothing. And Bohol Bee Farm is a good place to just sit back and relax. With a rustic cottage and an organic farming experience, it was a great place to do nothing but eat good food. If you are a foodie like I am, then I would have to recommend Bohol Bee Farm for at least eating. It has wonderful fresh vegetables, which are all locally and organically grown on the farm.
For lunch I ate a fresh lumpia with a wonderful honey peanut butter sauce. I also tried a tomato soup, which was nice and fresh. And my main entree was a vegetarian pasta. Bohol Bee Farm was my paradise, being a vegetarian.
For dinner I enjoyed some chips, the lumpia again and a spicy eggplant with ginger called kinilaw na talong.
The next morning my travel mate and I ate our breakfast and headed off to the airport. We arrived in Manila into a guesthouse known as Makati Apartelle, and then wandered off to find some food, which included peanut M&Ms and Toblerone. Then to Chowking. At that point my travel mate’s cousin called her and invited us over to her place and that is exactly what we did next.
Now I had originally wanted to visit Divisoria area in Manila the first round I was in Manila, but rain and time was against me. This time, all the right things were working for me. We went to Wagas Market, a poorer area of Manila, where we met Donna, Jess’ cousin and then headed off to buy some food to cook. Donna’s home was a small little spot in an alley where convenient items were sold, like cigarettes, candy, water, soda pop. It was nice to be with everyday filipinos. It was also sad to see children sleeping half naked in the streets as the rain came down. It really was an experience. The only regret I had, was that I did not bring my camera to document it all.
After some amazing torta (eggplant similarly cooked like chile rellaños) and rice was consumed, we thanked our hosts and went on our way back to our guesthouse. The next day we are to fly back home.
Philippines Days 4 -7: Mac Arthur to Maasin
So when some one told me there was nothing to do in Leyte I knew they had to be lying. This morning as I woke up, I looked out the sliding windows of the guest house I was staying at and said to myself, “Now I Know they are lying”. The view of the ocean and sun rising was a sight to see.
At first started with some confusion in Tacloban, but my anger and confusion was quickly defused when I got to meet my good friend Jessa. That night we ate at the resort diner, where I had chopsuey and pinakbet, two vegetarian safe pinoy foods. But later that night there was also an anime costume contest. The contestants paraded their costumes for everyone around. This was a sign of the huge Korean influence in the Philippines.
The next morning my friend and I went shopping and then headed off to her home town of Mac Arthur. If you were to ask someone what there is to do in Mac Arthur, they would say “absolutely nothing” and that is about right. And that is also what I did. I did nothing, and enjoyed it. What I mean about nothing, is I relaxed, with the nice beautiful scenery of palm trees and a gorgeous ocean on the beach. Not to mention doing absolutely nothing with the locals who are very welcoming to the tourists. Always willing to invite to sit down and eat and drink some tuba. What is tuba you ask? Well it is not a musical instrument, but a coconut wine equal to moonshine, and damn good; at least when coke is added. This occurred more times than often, where I enjoyed some good
Times with some Filipinos.
Yesterday my friend Jessa and I made way to Castañas Springs in Balinsasayaw, Abuyog, which is about an hour and 15 minute trike trip from Mac Arthur. It is a gorgeous natural spring that is perfect for swimming, if you ask me. But if you ask my friend it was too cold.
After returning to Taragona Beach Resort, place I stayed for 1500 pesos ($35), we ate and cooked dinner like we had for most of our stay. The next day we would start our adventure very early to make our way to Maasin, a great place for hiking and cave dwelling. Unfortunately, the hiking and cave dwelling was not going to happen. Trying to hail a van passing by in Mac Arthur was hard as many vans were already full. Instead we made our way to Tacloban to catch a van. We waited about 3 hours for the van to fill up til we finally left. Now our adventure in Maasin awaits us, which is probably just a disco and some beers now, but tomorrow we head off to Ubay via ferry to the island of Bohol.
3 days until Philippines: Cuisine
So here I am a diabetic, vegetarian, who is basically limited to cardboard and leaves. Well not really, I am only kidding. But, when it comes to Filipino food, all I really know is of Puto (a cake which I can not eat) and adobo, which is the equivalent to curry of India. Adobo is the stable of style of dish in Philippines. I heard there are some other dishes I should try is lumpia. But what else is there to try? If you have any vegetarian safe foods that are low in carbs let me know. Or if there are any other foods you can suggest, could you let me know as well?
Lumpia
4-5 More days: Colombia
In 4 more days I will be catching my flight to Colombia. In 5 more days I will be landing in the city of Bogotá. What I am really looking forward to is all the food there is to try. Colombia is not known for lots of flavors, but it does not stop me from wanting to try out some amazing foods.
One of the foods to start with are buñuelos. Buñuelos are deep fried corn dough filled with cheese in the shape of a ball. Sometimes coated with sugar, I know that these things may put me in a diabetic coma. I am still willing to risk my life to try them in Colombia.
Arepas which is a rather thick like tortilla sometimes filled with cheese and served with breakfast and buttered, are another meal I want to try. I can not wait to sit down one morning to fill my mouth with an Arepa.
The one thing there is about Colombia is the fruits. There are fruits in Colombia that can not be found anywhere in the world. I am looking forward to try fruits that can not be tasted anywhere else in the world. The best place to get all these is at the farmer’s market.
I can not wait for all the flavors that I will put to my tastes buds.
Photos: Jammu/Kashmir
Me being tired on Trikuta Mountain
It took me a few weeks but I have edited down and sorted my photos from my trip. Took 2200 photos, but I know you don’t want to look at all 2200. They have been edited down to 50. Check them out:
Day 11-13
So my last day of Srinagar… I did nothing. I sat in my boat house and just sat. It was kind of easy to do since most of Srinagar was shut down due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Kashmir. After around 3 pm the streets were open again and that allowed for the noisy new guests to arrive to the boat. One kid really did not know how to walk and made the whole boat just shake with the thump of his heel, so I decided to go for a walk in Lal Chowk and used the internet. I came back and left the next morning via Sumo to Jammu.
The Sumo driver was not quite the best. Despite having a very modern SUV, I got sick most of the way. I was not the only one. After 10 hour drive, I had finally arrived Jammu where Vijay, Pooja’s father, arrived to pick me up. We went back to their house were I spent the night. The next day I had a flight to Delhi.
One thing I have completely forgotten about India is it’s security measures. If you thought the security you have to go through in the US is bad, wait until you have to go through an airport in India. I went through 6 different security checks at least. I had to verify my luggage. In the process of all the security checks, I must have lost my power supply to my Macbook Pro in all the pulling out of stuff from constant bag checks.
I arrived in Delhi on got a prepaid taxi to take me to my place, but he was a bit lazy and didn’t want to fight the traffic so he dropped me off in the area and i had to walk the way. It is a good thing I know myself around Karol Bagh, since it is the same area I stayed in last time.
After reaching my place of stay, i had then realized that I have lost my power supply so I went to Connaught Place to see if I could find a replacement. I knew I wouldn’t, so I tried to see if I could get myself to Ansel Plaza. I was hooked up with a very kind Sikh auto rickshaw driver who took me to Ansel Plaza and showed me a huge Sikh Temple.
The Sikh temple was rather amazing with a lot going on as well as. The dome was all gold and had amazing architecture. It looked a lot like the Golden Temple in Amritsar. It reminded me of a Buddhist Monastary where everything inside is free, food, sleep, books. There was so much praying and chanting going on. It really got me intrigued in Sikh religion.
I then went back to Karol Bagh via the metro rail and then proceeded to walk through Karol Bagh’s intense market. I proceeded to have something to eat then went back to my room.
Today I will eventually head to Chandni Chawk to get to the Jama Masjid. I may or may not hit up Khan Market, since it is a bit out of the way. Then get back and sleep so I can get used to Pacific Time Zone all over again.
22 More Days - Delhi Places
22 more days until I reach India by starting my trip in Delhi. Now I have been in Delhi before and already visited such places as Connaught Place, National Museum, India Gate, Presidential Building and the streets of Karol Bagh. Now it is time to look into some other places worth going to. Where are some of the places in Delhi I should visit? Here some ideas that I have:
LOTUS TEMPLE
Lotus Temple or Baha’i House of Worship was completed in 1986. It is an architectural beauty created by Fariborz Sahba. The temple was designed with all religions in mind for people of all faiths to be able to worship. Having a background in Architecture and fondness for religions I find this a interesting place to visit.
CHANDNI CHOWK
Nah not speaking of the comedy Bollywood film Chandni Chowk to China. I am speaking of the area in Delhi known as Chandni Chowk, known for its street food and well known restaurants. This area is also known for it’s markets as well. The main objective here… EAT!!!
JAMA MASJID
Jama Masjid is one of the largest mosques in India. It was created by the same Architect as the Taj Mahal. You can see some of the similar Mughal designs and styles. It is extremely huge. My architecture curiosity makes me badly want to see this wonder and I will already be in the Chandni Chowk area already, why not go see it.
KAHN MARKET
Khan Market has it’s own facebook page. That makes it a MUST see right? This place is well known to get all kinds of goods to shop for. It has modern stores and is well known for a place to buy books. The main reason for coming here would be again like Chandni Chowk, EAT EAT EAT, for it is also known for it’s street food.
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SO… Anyone have more suggestions? Where else is a good place to visit in Delhi? Have a favorite place to eat? Where is the night life of Delhi?