Last night I attended Aimee's company Christmas party. This party was quite different than what I'm used to from a Canadian Christmas party. At the office Christmas parties I've attended in Canada there's usually dinner, drinks, some hired entertainment and various speeches thanking the staff for all the hard work they did that year. This recent Filipino Christmas party had the speeches, the food and the entertainment but in this case, the entertainment wasn't hired, it was supplied by the staff.
The staff were broken into 7 teams and each team had to put on their own show. The shows could be singing, dancing, acting ... basically anything. The shows were judged and the 3 top teams would win cash prizes. This year the judges were management (Aimee and her family) and special guests (myself and two others). Now imagine yourself being a judge for a Filipino variety show. It's really not that easy when you think about it. I don't understand the language so anything involving spoken comedy won't work on me. Anything that involves Filipino pop culture like current to old television shows will also make no sense to me. So I was at a bit of a disadvantage as a judge in this competition. Judging was organized this way: Creativity 30%, Originality 30%, Costumes 30%, and Audience Impact 10%. So the competition started. Each team put together a 20 minute show. I won't bore you (or excite you for that matter) with the details but it was pretty much what I thought: all in tagalog, and all cultural references I didn't understand. So I had to judge on how the entertainment effected me even without understanding most of it. Most of the employees are men so cross-dressing seemed to be quite common among all the team's shows. One team did a spoof on "Deal Or No Deal" (finally, some pop culture I understand), and all the 'beautiful models' were men in dresses. One team did a beauty pageant, once again, men in dresses. There was even a cheerleader team, once again men in dresses only this time, miniskirts. Pretty much every team had at least one man in a dress. So finally all 7 teams performed and it was time for us judges fill out the points. I added up my points and based on that picked my 3 top teams. I was happy to see that my Team 1, and Team 2 ended up being the winners with the other judges as well. Oddly though, my last team ended up being Team 3 with the other judges. I actually thought their performance was terrible. But hey, I'm a Canadian, I didn't understand the language nor the cultural references, so maybe Team 3 really was that good. To me though, I just didn't get it!
Being a confused judge is a perfect way to start off the holiday season!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
First Friends
My first friends to come to the Philippines and visit us have come and gone. Evan and his girlfriend Aleessa arrived here a few days ago and only stayed in the Metro Manila area for one full day. Their goal is to spend most of their holiday on the Philippine island Palawan enjoying all the awesome diving sights they have there.
During the day it was shopping for bargains (like fake name-brand bags) at a place called Greenhills. Greenhills is notorious for its pirated DVD sellers. They're not allowed to sell them but they'll go up to any tourist and whisper in your ear, "DVD Sir, DVD". If you say, "yes" they will lead you off to some secret location in the mall (or outside the mall in a Shanty Town) where you can buy them. Evan and I thought it was so funny having these guys whispering these "DVD" sweet nothings into our ears that we decided to start a running count of the number of times these sellers came up to us. By the end of our stay at Greenhills the count was up to 22! I always thought it was funny when DVD sellers came up to me trying to sell pornography when Aimee is staying right beside me. It's also amusing to note that most of these pirated DVD sellers are Muslims. So daytime was fun! By night it was dinner, drinks and fun at the restaurant and bar spots Serendra and Greenbelt 3. At Serendra we had snacks at a restaurant called Chelsea's. Although the service there is always deadly slow the food and atmosphere more than make up for it. At Greenbelt 3 we took them to our favourite Thai restaurant People's Palace. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and definitely not cold. We sat on the restaurant's patio on huge confortable leather couches. To end the evening we went to Martinis bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the city of Makati. Apparently there was a dress code there because the waitress made an issue about Aleessa's footwear (standard woman's open-toe shoes), she didn't notice Evan standing there wearing beach-style flipflops. Dress code or not, we were finally allowed to stay.
Te next morning we all awoke at 5:30am; tired and hungover. Evan and Aleessa's flight to Palawan was at 7:30am.
But now they are gone. Although it was a short visit it was nice having two friends from Vancouver coming here to see us. I hope next year more of our friends can find the time. Like Evan and Aleessa, we'll treat you like the Kings and Queens you are. Pinoy Kings and Queens of course!
During the day it was shopping for bargains (like fake name-brand bags) at a place called Greenhills. Greenhills is notorious for its pirated DVD sellers. They're not allowed to sell them but they'll go up to any tourist and whisper in your ear, "DVD Sir, DVD". If you say, "yes" they will lead you off to some secret location in the mall (or outside the mall in a Shanty Town) where you can buy them. Evan and I thought it was so funny having these guys whispering these "DVD" sweet nothings into our ears that we decided to start a running count of the number of times these sellers came up to us. By the end of our stay at Greenhills the count was up to 22! I always thought it was funny when DVD sellers came up to me trying to sell pornography when Aimee is staying right beside me. It's also amusing to note that most of these pirated DVD sellers are Muslims. So daytime was fun! By night it was dinner, drinks and fun at the restaurant and bar spots Serendra and Greenbelt 3. At Serendra we had snacks at a restaurant called Chelsea's. Although the service there is always deadly slow the food and atmosphere more than make up for it. At Greenbelt 3 we took them to our favourite Thai restaurant People's Palace. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and definitely not cold. We sat on the restaurant's patio on huge confortable leather couches. To end the evening we went to Martinis bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the city of Makati. Apparently there was a dress code there because the waitress made an issue about Aleessa's footwear (standard woman's open-toe shoes), she didn't notice Evan standing there wearing beach-style flipflops. Dress code or not, we were finally allowed to stay.
Te next morning we all awoke at 5:30am; tired and hungover. Evan and Aleessa's flight to Palawan was at 7:30am.
But now they are gone. Although it was a short visit it was nice having two friends from Vancouver coming here to see us. I hope next year more of our friends can find the time. Like Evan and Aleessa, we'll treat you like the Kings and Queens you are. Pinoy Kings and Queens of course!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Smeg
A good friend of mine, Evan, is coming to the Philippines in a few days with his girlfriend. When I saw this sign I immediately thought of him.
Smeg is a brand of kitchen appliances from Italy. They have a few stores here in the Philippines. The word 'smeg', as Evan and I know it, isn't kitchen appliances but a playful swear word used in the British TV show Red Dwarf. It's interesting that Smeg products are shipped to the UK as well. I wonder what the British fans of Red Dwarf thought of these Smeg-named products?
But yeah, I know what you're all thinking; why is this funny? Well, it probably isn't funny to you, but it's funny to Evan and I and that's all that matters! :)
Smeg is a brand of kitchen appliances from Italy. They have a few stores here in the Philippines. The word 'smeg', as Evan and I know it, isn't kitchen appliances but a playful swear word used in the British TV show Red Dwarf. It's interesting that Smeg products are shipped to the UK as well. I wonder what the British fans of Red Dwarf thought of these Smeg-named products?But yeah, I know what you're all thinking; why is this funny? Well, it probably isn't funny to you, but it's funny to Evan and I and that's all that matters! :)
A Day Touring Metro Manila 2.0
Yet another Metro Manila touring day! Look at the sites my cousin Richie and I saw this time around:
We started our day at the Coconut Palace.
The Coconut Palace is a palace commissioned by former First Lady Imelda Marcos for Pope John Paul II's visit in 1981. However, he declined the offer, saying that it was too ostentatious a place to stay while in the poverty-stricken Philippines. The Palace's architect Francisco Manosa, later claimed that the Coconut Palace - a showpiece on the versatility of the coconut and its viability as an export - was planned long before the Pope even decided to visit the country.
The Coconut Palace is made of several types of Philippine hardwood, coconut shells, and a specially engineered coconut lumber apparently known as Imelda Madera.
This decorative lighting system in the main dining room consists of a combination of Philippine hardwood and coconut shells. The light bulbs/lamps are sitting on coconut shells cut in half and then overturned like a plate.
The huge table in the main dining room has seating for 22 guests. Our guide at the palace sounded proud when she said, "the detailed shapes in the table are polished coconut shells that have been cut and then placed into the table's top by children. We used children because their hands are small enough to do the work.' My cousin and I looked at each other and you could tell we were both thinking, "isn't that called child labour?"
A closer look at the table's 'child designed' detail.
Leading up to the second floor...
Each of the suites is named after a specific region of the Philippines and displays some of the handicrafts these regions produce.
The upstairs has 7 guest rooms.
The swimming pool in the back of the property is shaped like a coconut that has been cut down the middle then opened. The star shaped decoration in the forground is called a parol. It's a Filipino Christmas lantern. It's a popular decoration you start seeing all over the country as early as September 1st.
If you were to continue up to the third floor you would find several offices as well as Ferdinand Marcos's Office.
The palace celebrates the coconut as the ultimate “Tree of Life”. From the coconut's roots to its trunk, bark, fruit, flower and shell, the palace's design, form and ornamentation echo these elements.
The Coconut Palace has been a guesthouse for many guests, including Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, Brooke Shields and George Hamilton. Now, it is a museum, with a butterfly garden and an orchidarium.
On leaving the Coconut Palace I stopped by to say hello to an old friend.
Our next stop is the National Museum of the Philippines. The museum houses many artworks of past and present Filipino artists. The world famous painting The Spoliarium, a painting by Filipino artist Juan Luna which he completed in 1884, is displayed at the museum.
The Spolarium measures four meters in height and seven meters in width. The canvas depicts a chamber beneath a Roman arena, where bodies of dead gladiators are being dragged into a shadowy area, presumably to be put in a bigger pile of dead bodies. But sadly, no cameras were allowed in the museum so you can't see the painting here. You'll have to travel to the Philippines to see it for yourself!
Outside the National Museum is this statue of Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the Philippines.
Our final stop for the day was at the Paco Park Cemetery. This sign pretty much sums up what makes this cemetery famous. Jose Rizal is a Philippine national hero and leader.
Jose Rizal was buried here from December 30, 1898 to December 29, 1912.
In 1912, burial or interment at the Paco Park ceased. It had been the burial ground for several generations and descendants of those who were buried in the park had the remains of their ancestors transferred.
The body of Jose Rizal is now buried in Rizal Park, under a national monument.
Behind me is Chapel of St. Pancratius.
During the Second World War, Japanese forces used Paco Park as a central supply and ammunition depot. The high thick adobe walls around the park was ideal for defensive positions of the Japanese.
The Japanese just before the liberation of Manila in 1945, dug several trenches and pill boxes around and within the Park with three 75 millimeter guns to defend their fortification against the charging 148th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Battalion of the United States Army.
Paco Park’s grandeur was slowly restored after the war.
The park was converted into a national park in 1966 during the term of President Diosdado Macapagal.
Besides being the first resting place of national hero Jose Rizal, Paco Park has recently become famous for another reason. Last week's episode of The Amazing Race Asia had its Pit Stop right in front of the Chapel of St. Pancratius. One of the Filipino teams came in first! The contestants ran where I WALKED!! So exciting!
We started our day at the Coconut Palace.
The Coconut Palace is a palace commissioned by former First Lady Imelda Marcos for Pope John Paul II's visit in 1981. However, he declined the offer, saying that it was too ostentatious a place to stay while in the poverty-stricken Philippines. The Palace's architect Francisco Manosa, later claimed that the Coconut Palace - a showpiece on the versatility of the coconut and its viability as an export - was planned long before the Pope even decided to visit the country.
The Coconut Palace is made of several types of Philippine hardwood, coconut shells, and a specially engineered coconut lumber apparently known as Imelda Madera.
This decorative lighting system in the main dining room consists of a combination of Philippine hardwood and coconut shells. The light bulbs/lamps are sitting on coconut shells cut in half and then overturned like a plate.
The huge table in the main dining room has seating for 22 guests. Our guide at the palace sounded proud when she said, "the detailed shapes in the table are polished coconut shells that have been cut and then placed into the table's top by children. We used children because their hands are small enough to do the work.' My cousin and I looked at each other and you could tell we were both thinking, "isn't that called child labour?"
A closer look at the table's 'child designed' detail.
Leading up to the second floor...Each of the suites is named after a specific region of the Philippines and displays some of the handicrafts these regions produce.
The upstairs has 7 guest rooms.
The swimming pool in the back of the property is shaped like a coconut that has been cut down the middle then opened. The star shaped decoration in the forground is called a parol. It's a Filipino Christmas lantern. It's a popular decoration you start seeing all over the country as early as September 1st.If you were to continue up to the third floor you would find several offices as well as Ferdinand Marcos's Office.
The palace celebrates the coconut as the ultimate “Tree of Life”. From the coconut's roots to its trunk, bark, fruit, flower and shell, the palace's design, form and ornamentation echo these elements.
The Coconut Palace has been a guesthouse for many guests, including Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, Brooke Shields and George Hamilton. Now, it is a museum, with a butterfly garden and an orchidarium.
On leaving the Coconut Palace I stopped by to say hello to an old friend.
Our next stop is the National Museum of the Philippines. The museum houses many artworks of past and present Filipino artists. The world famous painting The Spoliarium, a painting by Filipino artist Juan Luna which he completed in 1884, is displayed at the museum.The Spolarium measures four meters in height and seven meters in width. The canvas depicts a chamber beneath a Roman arena, where bodies of dead gladiators are being dragged into a shadowy area, presumably to be put in a bigger pile of dead bodies. But sadly, no cameras were allowed in the museum so you can't see the painting here. You'll have to travel to the Philippines to see it for yourself!
Outside the National Museum is this statue of Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the Philippines.
Our final stop for the day was at the Paco Park Cemetery. This sign pretty much sums up what makes this cemetery famous. Jose Rizal is a Philippine national hero and leader.
Jose Rizal was buried here from December 30, 1898 to December 29, 1912.In 1912, burial or interment at the Paco Park ceased. It had been the burial ground for several generations and descendants of those who were buried in the park had the remains of their ancestors transferred.
The body of Jose Rizal is now buried in Rizal Park, under a national monument.
Behind me is Chapel of St. Pancratius.
During the Second World War, Japanese forces used Paco Park as a central supply and ammunition depot. The high thick adobe walls around the park was ideal for defensive positions of the Japanese.
The Japanese just before the liberation of Manila in 1945, dug several trenches and pill boxes around and within the Park with three 75 millimeter guns to defend their fortification against the charging 148th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Battalion of the United States Army.
Paco Park’s grandeur was slowly restored after the war.The park was converted into a national park in 1966 during the term of President Diosdado Macapagal.
Besides being the first resting place of national hero Jose Rizal, Paco Park has recently become famous for another reason. Last week's episode of The Amazing Race Asia had its Pit Stop right in front of the Chapel of St. Pancratius. One of the Filipino teams came in first! The contestants ran where I WALKED!! So exciting!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Subic Bay and Avilon Zoo
As you can tell by this sign we went to a place called Subic Bay Freeport this weekend. Subic Bay is a former US Navy base that has been transformed into one of the country's most successful industrial and tourism centers. It was a 2 and a half hour drive from Manila. On entering the Subic Bay zone the first thing I noticed were the drivers actually obeying the traffic laws! Unlike other areas in the Philippines, Subic Bay is very strict with their traffic offences. There are many things to do and see in Subic but since we were only there for a day trip, we only saw one thing: The Subic Bay Yacht Club!
Here's me posing at the Subic Bay Yacht Club. We don't own a yacht so this is the best photo you're going to see. There are yachts to the right of me; use your imagination. After my model shoot we had lunch and drove back to Manila.
The next day the family and I stuffed ourselves into a car and headed over to the Avilon Zoo. The Avilon Montalban Zoological Park is the largest zoological park in the Philippines, to date. The 7.5-hectare of the zoo lies in the picturesque valley of Barrio San Isidro, Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal, Philippines.My impression of my zoo? It's a nice zoo although I found it odd that they didn't offer maps to the park at the entrance. The zoo is a little confusing without a map to guide your way. Once we started walking, I discovered the zoo has quite a nice assortment of animals. Some from the Philippines, and some from other countries. Oddly, the monkey section of the zoo didn't include any monkeys from the Philippines. I've always wanted to see the Philippine monkey, the tarssier. Look at the photo below that I 'borrowed' from the net:
Monkey? Or alien? Either way, wouldn't you want to give these little guys (smaller than your hand) a hug?The animals we DID see are below:
Leopards.
Cougars.
Hyenas.
Tigers.Plus hundreds of other animals. The zoo offered various 'photo locations' where for a small 50 peso fee you can get your photo taken with an assortment of animals.
Our first choice was the miniature horse! Oh, by the way, my brother-in-law on the right isn't a mutant with tiny arms and legs growing out of his back. The photographer unfortunately omitted most of my niece from the photo.
My next animal of choice was an eagle. Then a hawk...
Finally, an owl. I love this guy! Look how he's posing for the photo! Most humans can't even pose as eloquantly as this! I wanted to take him home but the zoo wouldn't allow me. I had dreams of putting a little saddle on my cat for the owl and watch them run around the yard together. But alas, this is one dream that will never see reality.
All in all, a fun filled day at the zoo! The Avilon Zoo: Celebrating Life (but not maps!).
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Kowloon Walking Tour
I've been to Hong Kong several times this year. So many times in fact that I was able to apply for, and get, the Frequent Visitors Card. This Card allows me to bypass the long immigration line ups. A nice card to have even though it's sort of irrelevant when you consider I still need to wait a long time for my luggage to come off the plane. Oh well, at least it's a card I can brag about! Speaking of cards, when I emptied out my wallet before we left Canada and started cancelling unnecessary department store credit cards and various annoying store points cards I made the decision never to have a fat wallet filled with useless cards ever again. It was nice at first walking around with a nice skinny wallet but once the bank accounts were opened, the credit cards were applied for and the shopping started I notice that like Canada, the Philippines loves getting you to sign up for points cards. Sadly now my wallet is fat again (and no, it's not fat on money). But I'm totally getting off topic here, back to my Hong Kong blog:
Since I've been to Hong Kong several times I've been slowly seeing all the museums, landmarks, temples, and sites that Hong Kong is famous for. Beyond the tourist stuff there's obviously the social activities like restaurants, clubs and bars. Seeing as I'm 36 the club hopping evenings are becoming less and less as the years pass by. But bars are always there to help fill my belly with satisfying beer (interestingly enough, the beer of Hong Kong is San Miguel. I get the impression that Hong Kong people don't even classify it as a beer from the Philippines although that's where it originated from. I guess it being a 'Hong Kong beer' is partly correct since there's a San Miguel Brewery in Hong Kong. But I still classify San Miguel as a Philippines beer so while in HK I won't drink it [the market is saturated with the stuff in the Philippines after all]).
Wow, I got off topic again ... damn conversations about beer ... where was I? Oh yeah, touring Hong Kong .
Since I've seen most of the museums and sites in Hong Kong already I decided I wanted to try one of the walking tours the Lonely Planet guide recommended. Obviously I brought along my lovely and talented counterpart Aimee on my quest for Hong Kong knowledge and experiences. We decided on the Kowloon walking tour.
We awoke in the morning to see the sun slowly creeping its way down one of the many Legoland-like apartments building complexes in Hong Kong. I say 'Legoland' because they remind me of the Lego buildings I used to build as a kid: tall, skinny, and blocky. Sadly my Legoland buildings would always fall down but thankfully the Hong Kong Legoland buildings remain standing.
The first stop of our walking tour was at the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden.
It's less 'garden' and more 'market'. It's estentially a market where you can buy birds and various bird supplies. In most cases people have opened entire shops dedicated to selling birdwares (new word, like it?) but I noticed a few old guys standing around trying to sell off one tiny bird in a cage. The picture below shows the types of cages being offered in the bird garden.
Bird supplies include thousands of live crickets hanging out in cages and see-through cloth bags. I suppose you could buy the crickets as either bird food or a pet for your kid. Hmm, not a bad idea ... pet crickets ... I can come out with a line of cricket outfits. But doing that might cause the spiders to get jealous... moving on.
The bird garden is basically one long corridor that has an entrance at the front of the corridor and an exit at the back. There are bird stalls on both sides. It's an interesting place with many things to see. Following the corridor to the back immediately brings you to...
...Flower Market Road.
Flower Market Road is exactly that; a road with flower shops on it. Lots of them. Probably over 50 shops.
After looking at thousands of brightly coloured flowers we came across a shop that sold unique plants. I took a picture of this plant because it demonstrates how wonderful evolution is. A plant that comes with it's own beer cup (several of them); what an excellent invention!
After finishing off at the flower markets our travels took us passed several clothing markets selling questionable 'legitimate' name brand products. Eventually we reached the Goldfish Market. The Goldfish Market isn't one market but a street lined with pet stores mostly selling goldfish. The fish are displayed in small individual plastic bags.
To buy a fish it's easy as grabbing the bag you want, paying , and walking away with your new found friend.
After the Goldfish Market our walking tour brought us down various Kowloon city streets. It was nice seeing areas of the city I wouldn't normally see without a guide book to guide my way. The rest of the walking tour included stops at temples and markets selling jade but unfortunately the tail end of the Kowloon Walking Tour included a walk through the area's night market. A night market 5 blocks long and since we were taking the tour during the day, no stalls at the night market were open. The only thing left to do after completing our 2 hour walking tour (the guide said 2 hours but for some odd reason it took us 3) was to eat lunch!
Nothing like a nice big slab of tripe (or other by-product) after a morning's walk!
Just kidding, for lunch we ate in an area called Kunttsford Terrace. It has lots of cool and trendy places. We decided on Thai food and it was delicious.
Going back to my "Greenland" blog: we did the walking tour the day after my Greenland food experience and I was really in the mood for REAL vegetarian. We decided on a vegetarian restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet guide but once you arrived at the address, it didn't exist. Aimee said with a laugh, "Maybe God is trying to tell you something". I responded, "Tell me what? To stop trusting the Lonely Planet or stop being a vegetarian?" God never replied to my question...
Since I've been to Hong Kong several times I've been slowly seeing all the museums, landmarks, temples, and sites that Hong Kong is famous for. Beyond the tourist stuff there's obviously the social activities like restaurants, clubs and bars. Seeing as I'm 36 the club hopping evenings are becoming less and less as the years pass by. But bars are always there to help fill my belly with satisfying beer (interestingly enough, the beer of Hong Kong is San Miguel. I get the impression that Hong Kong people don't even classify it as a beer from the Philippines although that's where it originated from. I guess it being a 'Hong Kong beer' is partly correct since there's a San Miguel Brewery in Hong Kong. But I still classify San Miguel as a Philippines beer so while in HK I won't drink it [the market is saturated with the stuff in the Philippines after all]).
Wow, I got off topic again ... damn conversations about beer ... where was I? Oh yeah, touring Hong Kong .
Since I've seen most of the museums and sites in Hong Kong already I decided I wanted to try one of the walking tours the Lonely Planet guide recommended. Obviously I brought along my lovely and talented counterpart Aimee on my quest for Hong Kong knowledge and experiences. We decided on the Kowloon walking tour.
We awoke in the morning to see the sun slowly creeping its way down one of the many Legoland-like apartments building complexes in Hong Kong. I say 'Legoland' because they remind me of the Lego buildings I used to build as a kid: tall, skinny, and blocky. Sadly my Legoland buildings would always fall down but thankfully the Hong Kong Legoland buildings remain standing.
The first stop of our walking tour was at the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden.
It's less 'garden' and more 'market'. It's estentially a market where you can buy birds and various bird supplies. In most cases people have opened entire shops dedicated to selling birdwares (new word, like it?) but I noticed a few old guys standing around trying to sell off one tiny bird in a cage. The picture below shows the types of cages being offered in the bird garden.
Bird supplies include thousands of live crickets hanging out in cages and see-through cloth bags. I suppose you could buy the crickets as either bird food or a pet for your kid. Hmm, not a bad idea ... pet crickets ... I can come out with a line of cricket outfits. But doing that might cause the spiders to get jealous... moving on.
The bird garden is basically one long corridor that has an entrance at the front of the corridor and an exit at the back. There are bird stalls on both sides. It's an interesting place with many things to see. Following the corridor to the back immediately brings you to...
...Flower Market Road.
Flower Market Road is exactly that; a road with flower shops on it. Lots of them. Probably over 50 shops.
After looking at thousands of brightly coloured flowers we came across a shop that sold unique plants. I took a picture of this plant because it demonstrates how wonderful evolution is. A plant that comes with it's own beer cup (several of them); what an excellent invention!
After finishing off at the flower markets our travels took us passed several clothing markets selling questionable 'legitimate' name brand products. Eventually we reached the Goldfish Market. The Goldfish Market isn't one market but a street lined with pet stores mostly selling goldfish. The fish are displayed in small individual plastic bags.
To buy a fish it's easy as grabbing the bag you want, paying , and walking away with your new found friend.
After the Goldfish Market our walking tour brought us down various Kowloon city streets. It was nice seeing areas of the city I wouldn't normally see without a guide book to guide my way. The rest of the walking tour included stops at temples and markets selling jade but unfortunately the tail end of the Kowloon Walking Tour included a walk through the area's night market. A night market 5 blocks long and since we were taking the tour during the day, no stalls at the night market were open. The only thing left to do after completing our 2 hour walking tour (the guide said 2 hours but for some odd reason it took us 3) was to eat lunch!
Nothing like a nice big slab of tripe (or other by-product) after a morning's walk!
Just kidding, for lunch we ate in an area called Kunttsford Terrace. It has lots of cool and trendy places. We decided on Thai food and it was delicious.Going back to my "Greenland" blog: we did the walking tour the day after my Greenland food experience and I was really in the mood for REAL vegetarian. We decided on a vegetarian restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet guide but once you arrived at the address, it didn't exist. Aimee said with a laugh, "Maybe God is trying to tell you something". I responded, "Tell me what? To stop trusting the Lonely Planet or stop being a vegetarian?" God never replied to my question...
Lost in Translation
During a trip to Hong Kong this week Aimee and I saw an interesting restaurant we decided to check out. As you can tell from this photo the several green happy dancing pixes really entice you to walk up and take a closer look. The green roof, colourful mushrooms, trees and various planets really make make you feel you're going to a place close to nature. I peaked in the window and saw the walls were decorated with more green happy dancing pixies playing and having a jolly good old time with various happy dancing forest creatures.
The restaurant is called 'Greenland'. Everything about this place was screaming 'healthy food' or even 'vegetarian' to me, but I wanted to take a look at the menu before we decided this was a place for the nature-minded-healthy-food-eating-vegetarian-types (like myself).
Oh, what is this? The picture below proves my suspicion! The sign out front of the restaurant proudly announces it's a vegetarian restaurant. Sure there's some confusing Chinese characters under the English but that one English word 'vegetarian' is all I needed. I was hooked so we went in.
On the way in we noticed it was a 'Taiwanese Vegetarian' restaurant. Even better! My experience with Taiwanese Vegetarian food is they're masterful at producing convincing fake meat dishes. The taste, look, and texture all points you to believe it's real meat when it's actually just tofu and other ingredients.
We go in, sit down, and look at the menu. The menu sitting on the table is all in Chinese. Lots of words I don't understand and colourful pictures. A waitress hands me an English menu but the English one oddly isn't the same size as the Chinese one. It's missing complete sections and has less pictures. The descriptions for the food is lacking in the English one as well so Aimee and I just decide to order off the Chinese one by pointing at the pictures. We order fake grilled BBQ beef on a stick, fake soy chicken, and fake ginger beef. The first dish, the grilled BBQ beef on a stick arrives and we dig in. Wow, what flavour. I haven't eaten beef for years but what I can remember, the taste, texture and look is almost exactly like the real thing. The next dish arrives: soy chicken. On inspecting the fake chicken I notice it has bones in it. Okay, a little odd but I've heard of Taiwanese Vegetarian places that actually go through the effort of adding fake chicken bones to the dish to give it that extra presentation. I bite into the 'chicken'. Hmmm, now I'm getting a little confused. Do fake chicken bones have bone marrow inside? We decide, okay, this is silly, let's ask to be certain this is fake meat. We call the waitress over and say, "is this real meat or fake meat?". The waitress doesn't understand the question and calls someone over who understand English better. So we ask waitress #2. She doesn't understand and calls over a waiter. We ask the waiter. He doesn't understand the question so Aimee decides to ask them in Mandarin (since her Cantonese skills are limited). In Mandarin she asks, "is this meat or vegetable?". They look at us perplexed, then stare at us like we're morons and say, "meat of course!" (I guess it was a silly way to phrase the question considering meat looks a lot different than say, a carrot). Finally it sinks in and I realize I've been chowing down on meat. The third dish arrives, the ginger beef. Once again, it's real meat. What kind of vegetarian restaurant is this? On closer inspection of the menu we discover there is one page dedicated to vegetarian food. A page that was missing from the menus we were given. A page of food that accounts for only 5% of the total food options in the restaurant. What the...? Why in the world would anyone call a restaurant 'Greenland', decorate the place with happy green forest loving pixies and scenes from nature and slap a sign out front that reads 'Vegetarian' when you really don't serve enough vegetarian dishes to claim to be vegetarian?
For revenge I want to open a restaurant next door called 'CarnivoreLand', decorate it with pictures of happy dancing beef eating cowboys, place a sign out front that reads, "Meat", but only serve vegetarian items inside.
You lied to me happy dancing green pixie. I'll never trust you again!
The restaurant is called 'Greenland'. Everything about this place was screaming 'healthy food' or even 'vegetarian' to me, but I wanted to take a look at the menu before we decided this was a place for the nature-minded-healthy-food-eating-vegetarian-types (like myself).
Oh, what is this? The picture below proves my suspicion! The sign out front of the restaurant proudly announces it's a vegetarian restaurant. Sure there's some confusing Chinese characters under the English but that one English word 'vegetarian' is all I needed. I was hooked so we went in.
On the way in we noticed it was a 'Taiwanese Vegetarian' restaurant. Even better! My experience with Taiwanese Vegetarian food is they're masterful at producing convincing fake meat dishes. The taste, look, and texture all points you to believe it's real meat when it's actually just tofu and other ingredients.We go in, sit down, and look at the menu. The menu sitting on the table is all in Chinese. Lots of words I don't understand and colourful pictures. A waitress hands me an English menu but the English one oddly isn't the same size as the Chinese one. It's missing complete sections and has less pictures. The descriptions for the food is lacking in the English one as well so Aimee and I just decide to order off the Chinese one by pointing at the pictures. We order fake grilled BBQ beef on a stick, fake soy chicken, and fake ginger beef. The first dish, the grilled BBQ beef on a stick arrives and we dig in. Wow, what flavour. I haven't eaten beef for years but what I can remember, the taste, texture and look is almost exactly like the real thing. The next dish arrives: soy chicken. On inspecting the fake chicken I notice it has bones in it. Okay, a little odd but I've heard of Taiwanese Vegetarian places that actually go through the effort of adding fake chicken bones to the dish to give it that extra presentation. I bite into the 'chicken'. Hmmm, now I'm getting a little confused. Do fake chicken bones have bone marrow inside? We decide, okay, this is silly, let's ask to be certain this is fake meat. We call the waitress over and say, "is this real meat or fake meat?". The waitress doesn't understand the question and calls someone over who understand English better. So we ask waitress #2. She doesn't understand and calls over a waiter. We ask the waiter. He doesn't understand the question so Aimee decides to ask them in Mandarin (since her Cantonese skills are limited). In Mandarin she asks, "is this meat or vegetable?". They look at us perplexed, then stare at us like we're morons and say, "meat of course!" (I guess it was a silly way to phrase the question considering meat looks a lot different than say, a carrot). Finally it sinks in and I realize I've been chowing down on meat. The third dish arrives, the ginger beef. Once again, it's real meat. What kind of vegetarian restaurant is this? On closer inspection of the menu we discover there is one page dedicated to vegetarian food. A page that was missing from the menus we were given. A page of food that accounts for only 5% of the total food options in the restaurant. What the...? Why in the world would anyone call a restaurant 'Greenland', decorate the place with happy green forest loving pixies and scenes from nature and slap a sign out front that reads 'Vegetarian' when you really don't serve enough vegetarian dishes to claim to be vegetarian?
For revenge I want to open a restaurant next door called 'CarnivoreLand', decorate it with pictures of happy dancing beef eating cowboys, place a sign out front that reads, "Meat", but only serve vegetarian items inside.
You lied to me happy dancing green pixie. I'll never trust you again!
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