Taal Volcano

Mini roadtrip!

That's right, we had a mini roadtrip a few days ago. A few of us hopped into a van and drove up to Tagaytay. The City of Tagaytay is in the province of Cavite, Philippines. Only 55 kilometers (34.18 miles) away from Manila via Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, it is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. Tagaytay City provides a good view of the Taal Volcano. The city is a popular summer tourist destination because of its cool climate due to its high altitude.

Taal Volcano is part of a chain of volcanoes along the western side of the island of Luzon, which were formed by the subduction of the Eurasian Plate underneath the Philippine Mobile Belt. Taal Lake lies within a 25–30 km caldera formed by four explosive eruptions between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. Each of these eruptions created extensive ignimbrite deposits, reaching as far away as where Manila stands today. There have been 33 recorded eruptions at Taal since 1572. A devastating eruption occurred in 1911, which claimed more than a thousand lives. The most recent period of activity lasted from 1965 to 1977.

One of the best lookout places for Taal Volcano is ... a Starbucks. So we drove there, sucked back an american-pinoy latte and then took these photos:

All of us sporting our american-pinoy Starbucks coffee cups!

Aimee and I posing with Taal Volcano in the background.

The countryside overlooking Taal Volcano. Notice the hundreds of fish farms along the water.

A closer look at Taal Volcano.

An even closer look at Taal Volcano.

For lunch we went to a famous local restaurant called Mushroom Burger. They grow their own varieties of mushrooms and make either meat/mushroom burgers to veggie /mushroom burgers. The restaurant doesn't look like much but the burgers are really good.

I personally like how the "Mushroom Burger" logo is very reminiscent of a certain other fast food joint starting with "M"!

Filipino Food - Kare Kare

If you look through the past blogs I've written you will find two about food, 'balut' and 'halo halo'. I think those two are a good start but let's continue with some more Filipino foods.

There's a long list of foods here that a non-Filipino might find odd. Many Asian foods in general are quite different than what the Western palette is used to (when I say 'Western' I'm referring to the McDonalds eaters of the Western world - Mr. Burger and Fries, not the Westerners who are open to the odd food eating challenge) . Although balut was featured in an episode of 'Fear Factor' not all Filipino foods are as 'disgusting' to the Western palette. Some are pretty tasty. Today we're going to talk about kare-kare.

Kare-kare is a Philippine stew. It is made from peanut sauce with a variety of vegetables, stewed oxtail, beef, and occasionally offal or tripe. Meat variants may include goat meat or chicken. It is often eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste), sometimes spiced with chili, and sprinkled with calamansi lime juice.

The reason I bring up kare-kare, as with most foods in the world, I often wonder how they were first invented. Did someone set out to invent a meat stew that tastes like peanut butter or did it happen by accident? According to information I found on the internet, kare-kare came from Pampanga, known as the Culinary Center of the Philippines. Some say that the name comes from a corruption of the word "curry", and that the dish evolved from the cooking the Indians did who settled in the area of Cainta, Rizal many years ago.

This is the official history ... but I have my own. There is a commercial I remember watching when I was young. It was advertising Reeces Peanut Butter Cups. The invention of Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, according to the commercial, occurred one day when two joggers were out jogging and for some odd reason, one was eating a chocolate bar as he ran and the other was eating peanut butter as he ran. Little did each know that they were running towards each other and then - BAM - they collided. The chocolate fell into the peanut butter, the joggers tasted it, loved it, and Reeces Peanut Butter Cups were born. I think kare-kare shares the same origin as Reeces Peanut Butter Cups. Imagine two Pinoy joggers; one jogging with a jar of peanut butter, and the other jogging with a big slab of beef. They collide and there's beef and peanut butter everywhere. Our two pinoy friends - although embarrassed about the accident - decide to make something positive of the whole situation and share the beef and peanut butter mix with all the villagers who saw the accident. They cook it up, someone adds some vegetables, and there you have it, kare-kare is born.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it. The Kenniverse is here to rewrite Filipino history!

Here's your kare-kare. You can have a peanut butter cup for dessert.

Pink Male Urinal

What if you're a man, you're in public and you really need to pee? Well, over here, a wall or tree will suffice. But what if the city wants to stop public urination? What better way than to install public pee stations all over the Metro Manila area? I think the idea is smart, but why are they coloured pink? Pink isn't a very manly colour. Maybe blue or black would make more sense? Add a beer dispenser and maybe a little TV that broadcasts sporting events to make it a true masculine experience.


I've seen these things all over the city for quite some time. But recently, I saw something that refreshed my viewpoint of them. The point of these things is to stop public urination. But what I saw this week was a man standing OUTSIDE the Pink Male Urinal and peeing ON it. I wonder if that's what the city had in mind?

Our Anniversary is Pinoy

Four years ago Aimee and I got married here in the Philippines. Today, October 18, is our wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary to my loving wife Aimee. I look forward to many more exciting years ahead!

Hong Kong is (Not) Pinoy

Think of me as your foreign correspondent, traveling the world in search of everything Pinoy! My travels brought me to Hong Kong last weekend. We were there to celebrate my Mother-in-law's birthday!

Hong Kong does have its own areas of Pinoy-ness (including their very own Jollibee), but my thoughts were more of China than the Philippines. So this blog is zero percent Philippines and 100% Hong Kong. So without any further delays, I bring you HONG KONG!

I've been to Hong Kong several times. I really like it there. To me Hong Kong is what London could be if it was younger, less dirty, and more hip. It's an interesting mix of English order and organization and Chinese culture. The people there even have an interesting English and Cantonese infuzed accent that makes me smile everytime I hear it. The public transportation makes it easy to get around. The MRT, their rapid transit subway system, spans the length of all the islands of Hong Kong so getting from point A to point B is simple. During my last trip there I pretty much saw as many museums and sites I could within a two day span. This time around Aimee and I decided to take in less sites and more relaxation. Here are a few photos I took during my current stay in Hong Kong:



Our day started with dim sum. For you people living in a cave somewhere 'dim sum' is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. Think of it as 'tapas' Chinese-style.

It was good I built up my energy eating that dim sum, I needed all the energy I could get doing battle with a Hong Kong celebrity.



Bruce Lee thought he could challange me with his unique fighting style. Little did he know that I too had my own unique fighting style. Us Canadian-German-Pinoy types are of the best fighters in the world. I won the battle and allowed Bruce to limp away with his dignity intact.

To celebrate my gloreous win against Bruce Lee, Aimee and I decided to enjoy a little beer.



Here's Aimee with her little beer.



The Bruce Lee fight, the beer drinking, and this photo all took place in Hong Kong's Kowloon city. This area of Kowloon, called the Avenue of the Stars, is Hong Kong's version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Here's Aimee posing with her favourite Hong Kong star Andy Lau.



One of Hong Kong's famous attractions is The Peak. The Peak is the highest point of Hong Kong. To get there you can either go by bus, car or tram. We chose the Tram. The Peak Tram is pulled by steel cables, the tram climbs 373 metres (about 1,200 feet) up the hillside. It's so steep that the buildings you pass look like they're leaning at a 45°angle!



Here's a photo of the Peak Tram reaching the top.



Once we reached the top we saw a spectacular view of the surrounding city skyline, the world-famous Victoria Harbour and Kowloon, towering skyscrapers and peaceful green hillsides.



Here's me posing for my Peak model shoot.



But wouldn't you know it ... damn Bruce came back for another whipping. He followed me to The Peak. I'm a gentle person but I was forced to teach this annoying guy a lesson. I won again (obviously).



All over Hong Kong there are unique Hallowe'en decorations. Aimee and I thought this one was especially interesting.



Our tourist day ended on the top of an uncovered double decker bus. Hong Kong, like England, uses double decker buses and trollies as part of their mass transportation. It was a good mini holiday and I'm certain we'll be back again.

Cebu

Last weekend we took a trip to the Philippine province of Cebu.

Cebu Island is a long narrow island stretching 225 km from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighboring smaller islands, that includes Mactan Island, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands.

We stayed at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort & Spa on Mactan Island. Yes, this trip was for a little R&R but we got to see some sights as well. First for the R&R:



Most R&R begins with a plane ride. Since we were traveling to Cebu it made perfect sense to fly Cebu Pacific Airlines! Cebu Pacific is known for playing various trivia games with its passengers. During the flight we played 'Name That Tune' badly sung by one of the flight attendants. Needless to say I didn't win any prizes since I had a hard time understanding the songs he was singing.



Once we arrived at the resort I took this picture from our hotel room. Pretty nice huh?



From the hotel you have access to a white sands beach. As you can tell it was a windy day. Behind Aimee is a small landmass the resort calls "The Paradise". We spent several hours relaxing and drinking various beers and fruity drinks at The Paradise. You see that floating pier behind the The Paradise? After my third beer I thought to myself, "wow, it would be so fun to swim to that pier" ... so I did.



Here I am after my swim. Do I look relaxed? Well, no, no I wasn't. You see after three beers your mind starts making up these impossible challenges. Swimming to something far in the distance seems like an awesome idea at the time but once you start your journey you realize what a stupid idea it was. What you see in this picture is me thinking to myself between heavy out of shape breaths, "That was dumb, I could have died". After 20 minutes of resting I swam back only to discover the water was mostly shallow and I could have walked more than halfway there. Damn Filipino beers playing tricks on your mind!

After a day of relaxing and almost drowning at the resort we hopped into a taxi and ventured off to see some of the Cebu city sites. Obviously what I write below is very summerized version of the history.



This is MAGELLAN’S CROSS. Or at least a replica of the wooden cross Ferdinand Magellan and his men planted in Cebu on 14 April 1521 to mark the beginning of the Christianization of the island. The original was destroyed when Cebuanos turned against the Spaniards 17 days later. There is no record as to when the present cross was erected though there are allusions that this was done around 1565.

BASILICA MINOR DEL SANTO NIÑO – This church was built by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and Fr. Andres Urdaneta on the site where the image of Santo Niño was found in 1565. The first structure of the church was, however, destroyed by fire on November 1, 1568. It was rebuilt in 1602 under the administration of Juan Albaran and was rehabilitated in 1740. On May 1965, the church was conferred the title of Basilica Minor del Santo Niño Antonuitte, Papal Legate during the Fourth Centennial celebration of the Christianization of Cebu.

Santo Nino, is with Magellan’s Cross, the most popular symbol of Cebu. Expressive of the pleasing oppositions in Cebuano culture, it is at once both foreign and native. In history, it was made by Flemish artisans, brought to the island by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. In local tradition, it is a miraculous piece of wood, cast out of the Visayan sea, worshipped from “times immemorial”.

On the other hand, it is a powerful deity that, in the colonial period, was called Capitan General and honored with a 21-gun salute when taken out from the church for a procession. On the other hand, it is an icon that “disappears” to become a playful and innocent child cavorting with peasants and fishermen. Invoked by rulers and subjects to the present day, enshrined in business suites and cardboard shanties, it is metaphor for Cebuanos as a people and for what they desire.

To a non-Catholic like myself I just looked at this little guy and thought, "what a great God action figure".

I'm going to end this blog with a direct 'copy and paste' of the 'A Tale Of The Santo Nino'. I thought this story was amusing the first time I read it:

It is told that when, in the days of Legaspi, the capital was moved from Cebu to Manila, the authorities decreed that the image of the Sto. Nino should also be moved to the new capital.

So, the Santo Nino was crated and shipped to Manila, but the crate arrived there empty. It miraculously disappeared, reappearing in its shrine in Cebu. It was recrated, and the crate placed inside another box, and then shipped to Manila. Again, the boxes arrived in Manila empty. The Santo Nino was crated a third time, and the crate placed not in one but in two boxes - but in vain. The Santo Nino was back in Cebu.

Eventually, the shippers sent the Santo Nino out in a series of Chinese boxes, one inside another, with the seventh and inner-most box containing it. In this manner, it arrived in Manila and was enthroned in the Augustinian church of the capital city. The Santo Nino, however, kept disappearing from the Augustinian church and reappearing in its shrine in Cebu. And so, it is told, the Manila Augustinians decided to cut off one of the Holy Child’s legs to stop it from escaping and returning to Cebu. This proved of no avail. The Santo Nino still kept on returning to Cebu

Manila finally gave up and Cebu kept its little Lord. Today, it is said, one can still notice how unevenly the Santo Nino stands. It is a sign of how, at one time, it had been amputated to keep it from returning to its beloved home.

In other versions of this story, the image was shipped not to Manila but to Spain. Whatever the version, however, it is a story told to show how intimately wedded to each other Cebu and the Santo Nino have become.

San Miguel Beer

This blog is 7 years in the making. As in, it's been 7 years since I tried my first San Miguel Beer!

Whenever I travel to a new country (or Province, State, or City for that matter) I always make it a habit to try both the national mass marketed beer and the regional beer. For you Vancouver types the national beer would be Molson Canadian and one of our regional beers would be Granville Island Brewery. In most countries due to the number of breweries it's impossible to try every beer the country produces, but in the cases of the Philippines, it's actually not that difficult.

The Philippines' beer industry is lead by the powerhouse San Miguel Brewery. I say 'powerhouse' because San Miguel Brewery, a division of San Miguel Corporation, is the largest food and beverage company in Southeast Asia. So there's a sense of pride in my heart that I live in a country that rules the Asian beer market; seeing as I'm an avid beer drinker (or 'beer snob' as Aimee likes to call me). So are the beers actually good? Their beers don't compare with European-style beers but they're actually pretty refreshing. The brewery's flagship beer is called San Miguel Pale Pilsen. It's the brewery's best-selling beer and the 14th largest-selling beer in the world. Other beers produced by the brewery are San Miguel Light, San Miguel Negra, San Miguel Strong Ice, San Miguel Super Dry, and Red Horse. All the beers except one are light pilseners or lagers. San Miguel Negra is a dark lager.

At first I didn't like the beers; but now they've grown on me. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting in the hot tropical sun, on a Philippines white sands beach, and sipping on a freezing cold San Miguel Super Dry beer. Ah yes ... paradise!



Look at these guys. All lining up in single file as if they're saying, "please drink me, I'm delicious!" Who am I to deny this fine beverage their destiny; I shall open and drink one now!

Pet Village

A few blogs back I talked about the total lack of cat supplies here in the Philippines. I also mentioned I was interested in going to a market called Tiendesitas. This market, claimed the website, came complete with a pet store section called Pet Village. According to the website, there's 18 pet stores to shop in. EIGHTEEN!! That certainly sounds like the Godfather of all pet shopping centers. I finally got the chance to visit Pet Village. Was it truly the Holy Grail of pet stores and supplies here in the Philippines? Is it really a mecca of everything my kitty needs to keep her well fed and happy in this Country of Dog Lovers? The answer ... no, but it comes pretty damn close. Pet Village is pretty much 18 dog stores with a few cat supplies available in each store. But when you see that all 18 stores sell something different for cats it's almost like getting all your cat supplies in one place. I ended up leaving Tiendesitas/Pet Village with everything I wanted only it took me a long time going from store to store to find it. This is fine by me, I dont mind a little bit of hunting as long as I get my prey ('prey' being little catnip mice, cat vitamins, treats, and kitty shampoo).


This window display looks impressive but it's 100% pure dog products (unless I wanted to put one of those leashes on my cat)
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At Pet Village they also sell a wide variety of depressed looking new best friends. Yes, that's a cat in the same display cage as a dog. Seeing this kind of enhances my belief that Filipinos treat cats like another breed of dog.

Christowe'en? Or Hallowmas?

In the early 90s I used to work in a department store in Vancouver called Eatons. I remember being bombarded with Christmas decorations and music from the first week of November until the end of December. As soon as Hallowe'en was over the store would take down all the Hallowe'en displays and immediately replace them with Christmas displays. Back then I thought starting Christmas shopping in November was insane, now I see the Philippines starts it even earlier.

The stores here put up their Christmas decorations in early September. I went into a mall the other day and heard an odd selection of Christmas music (Frosty the Snowman) and 70s disco (Earth, Wind & Fire). Certain stores were already selling Christmas paraphernalia like trees, decorations, and such but what I found interesting was this one store couldn't decide which holiday it's promoting more: Christmas or Hallowe'en.

When you first walk into the store you see, on your left, Christmas paraphernalia and on your right, Hallowe'en paraphernalia. Your left ear is teased with the happy joyous songs of Christmas while your right ear is tortured with the goolish screams of vampires and ghosts. It's almost like standing at the crossroads of your life. You have one important decision to make: do you choose the side of God and all that is good. Or do you choose the side of Satan and all that is evil? Christmas or Hallowe'en? Good versus evil? I decided I wasn't ready for either holiday so I just walked straight. :)

I'll get into Philippines Christmas decorations and traditions when it's closer to Christmas but for now, feel the happiness and joy of these Philippine Christmas lanterns.


Maligayang Pasko!!!!