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)
.
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!!!!

Mooncake Festival - Dice Game

The Mid-Autumn Festival also known as the Moon Festival, is a popular Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty.

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together (I've included pictures or both a mooncake and pomeloes for your viewing pleasure).

To celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival here in the Philippines we attended a gathering of the Tai Association. The Tai Association is a group of people with the common family name Tai who immigrated from the Fujian province of China to the Philippines. Aimee's family name is Tai. Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival they gather together to play something called the Dice Game as well as majong. The basic rules of the Dice Game is to get various doubles, three of a kinds, four of a kinds, and straights, using the dice and depending on your roll you win prizes. The game is for fun so the prizes are pretty inexpensive and simple. Each table has a maximum of 15 people and each household cannot have more than one person per table. Because of this Aimee and I played at different tables. 15 people per table, hundreds of Tai so dozens of tables. The game is fast: if you win you quickly collect your prize, pass the dice on and wait for your next turn. The easiest prize to wine is if you roll a the 5 dice and one reads a 4. With a 4 you win a package of 2 fruit cups (I told you the prizes were simple). The grand prize was an electronic pressure cooker. The prizes between the fruit cups and the pressure cooker were cans of Spam (remember, they love Spam here), cans of corned beef (which is pretty much like-Spam), a rice cooker, and a toaster. Each table has the same prizes and you keep rolling dice and passing to the next player until all the prizes are won. 30 minutes later all the prizes were won.

I have to admit, my dice rolling luck was terrible. I only walked away with 4 cans of corned beef (I didn't even win the Spam) and a package of fruit cups. Aimee was lucky, she won fruit cups, corned beef AND Spam Lite!


Mooncake: Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries with a thick filling usually made from lotus paste or sweet bean paste and surrounded by a relatively thin crust. They may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

I gave one to my Dad once, he bit into it thinking it would contain western-style filling like cream or berries. My Dad is pretty open to new foods but I've never seen someone gag so quickly after biting into something. I guess it makes sense considering he bit into
it expecting cream and berries and he got a mouthfull of salted duck egg and beans.


Pomelo: It looks like a big grapefruit, it tastes like a big grapefruit, it's estenitally a massive-sized grapefruit!

Toast 2007

Aimee and I went to our first wine festival here in the Philippines. TOAST 2007 is the third annual wine festival sponsored by the local wine store chain called WineDepot. It's unfair to compare it with the wine festivals I've attended in Vancouver because obviously Canada has a greater access to international wines but from what I understand the Philippines wine market is increasing every year. The country that's leading the pack in wine sales here is Australia. They entered the market early so every where you go (restaurants, stores...) it's easy to find Australian wines. The festival also had representatives giving samples of wines from New Zealand (not surprising considering their geographical closeness to Australia), France, Italy, Chile, South Africa, and USA. Although there was no Canadian booth at the festival there was one wine available for purchase there. Inniskillin Ice Wine was for sale at 6,400 peos per bottle. That converts to $141.54 CAD. That expensive for both Canada and the Philippines. In Canada you can buy the same bottle for $50 CAD. To get an idea what 6,400 peso buys you in the Philippines think about it this way: You can hire two live-in maids for one month for that price. So I guess it all depends on your priorities; one bottle of delicious Canadian Ice Wine or a month of a clean spotless house, clean clothes, and cooked meals. You choose. :)

SPAMJAM

I was looking through some old photos I took here in the Philippines and I came across this amusing restaurant. I've haven't been to this mall recently so this restaurant may or may not still exist. But exist or not it's still worth a blog.

Filipinos love Spam! Everytime we go grocery shopping I'm amazed by the size and selection of the Spam aisle. Sure we have Spam in Canada but have you ever seen Garlic Spam, Spam Lite, Hot & Spicy Spam, Cheese Spam, or my favourite, 70th Anniversary Spam (I hope this one is only a marketing ploy to celebrate Spam's 70th Birthday and not that the Spam inside the can is 70 years old!)? When you're in a country that loves Spam this much what's the next step in Spamdom? A restaurant of course! Roll out the red carpet and welcome to SPAMJAM!


Although I don't eat Spam I found myself attracted to the happy Spam mascot waving to me.


He certainly seems ecstatic about offering up the lives of his Spam brothers to the world! I went in and looked at the menu.

They offer up a delicious selection of Spam and eggs, Spam burgers, Spam fries, Spam Poppers, Spam Hotdogs, and many other Spam-tastic combinations. I didn't see any Spam desserts (thankfully).


Aimee loves Spam (like all good Filipinos) but hasn't tasted a morsel for years. Apparently she says it's bad for you. Spam? Bad for you? How can that be??

There are Spam factories in the USA, Denmark, South Korea and, you guessed it, the Philippines!


To conclude: Here's a photo of some 70 year old Spam!