Duck politics

I also saw this amazing thing.. ducks marching single file (we call them solidarity march in the Philippines), and being led by a very young duck who'd look back from time to time to check if the rest were following. I was focusing my camera for a good shot, but my 4-year old niece got in the way, and the picture above is what I got instead. She wanted to lead them to their home.



Naturally, the startled ducks scattered and jumped to the water and had an immediate noisy senate hearing.

Yin and Yang

At the farm.. I saw this rooster and duck. One is yin, and the other is yang.

Puto

This is rice cake, beautifully colored rice cake. Yes, they taste good too.

(Photo by JT, I think.)

Tabo day

'Tabo' means market day. Saturday is a big market day at Palo (12km from Tacloban), so people from nearby towns come to buy and sell just about anything. I like market days.. not only do I get to buy cheap ingredients, everything I see is fresh.

Tadyaw

In remote places where there's no water, drinking water is sourced from a deep well, or a deepwell pump. Then they're put in a tadyaw (a jar used specifically to store drinking water). Because it's made of clay, it cools the water inside so when you do drink the water, it's refreshing. I remember drinking water taken from jars like this when I was small, now I drink bottled.

Dirty kitchen

Most houses here have what we call, 'dirty kitchen'. It's where we cook some local dishes that's more delicious when cooked with firewood, or coal. Because firewood is used, the dirty kitchen is built outside the house so the smoke won't get inside. Of course, in some poor houses, the dirty kitchen is all that they have.

Balisong

Talking of knives, there's this Tagalog knife called balisong. It's used widely around the country, as a weapon or as an ordinary knife. It has a reputation for being the choice of weapon by the street gangs. It's sharp. Look at this kid peeling a santol with a home-made sharp balisong.

Sundang

Called a 'sundang', or long knife(?). It's a multipurpose knife used to cut down trees, tall grasses, kill an animal, chop the lechon or big-boned animals.. it's also used as a weapon, to kill another person when in a fight. Farmers go around with the sundang tied to their waist, kinda like a sword.



Closer look.

Talyan

Okay, I promised I'd post a picture of the talyan, the rootcrop used to make the binagol. Here it is. It's like a giant gabi plant that's taller than people. I was sneaking at someone's house, that's why the sneaking effect of the photo.

Calle Zaragoza

There's this place in Independencia St. called Calle Zaragoza, Calle Z for short. It's an outdoors drinking place that also serves cheap dinner. Before drinking, I recommend you eat their delicious tapsilog first. I also recommend you take your photos before drinking.

Marjorie's Garden

Inspired by Hilda's post yesterday, I wanted to post my favorite chocolate cake because, sorry Hilda, from the choices offered in the display, there wasn't anything there that attracted me. For me, nothing can top this chocolate cake at Marjorie's Garden (in Basey, 30 minutes from Tacloban). I haven't been there for awhile though, so I'm not sure they still serve it. In fact, I heard the coffeeshop was sold to a Filipino. Marjorie's Garden used to be owned by an American named Marjorie. I will post a photo of this charming place someday, it was where I shot the sunset photo.

Tacloban souvenir

I've been on travel and I'm running out of stock photos. To save up what I have left.. I'm posting this souvenir tshirt for a break. Translated it says, "Been there..." hahaha.. ok, not really. The tshirt shows the San Juanico brdige.. and some coconut trees growing in the middle of the bridge :-

Diorico's Bakeshop

Diorico's Bakeshop is one of the oldest bakeshops in Tacloban. The original place burned down in the 70s, this is the new building. Diorico's is known for its sweet cinnamon bread.

Diorico's Bakeshop
Cor Real and Veteranos St.

Primeval escabeche

Yes, we serve the head with the fish for aesthetic purposes. They'd be considered weird headless. This is escabeche, a Filipinized version of a Chinese dish. Ate this at Tacloban's seafood restaurant, Ocho. Go there if you feel like eating fresh seafood in an a/c place.

And yes, I was referring to the series Primeval. Fish looks like it came out from an anomaly.

Bangon River

Boy contemplating a swim in the deep and swirling Bangon river? The river has risen lately because of the incessant rain, but the outflow to the sea is nearby that the town is not in any danger of getting flooded. The houses by the river have been evacuated though. Note: If you're not from here, you might notice in maps that many rivers are called Bangon river. It's because bangon in Waray means 'rapids', 'cascading' or 'swirling' waters, so a bangon is more a description (adjective) than the name of the river.

Tacloban sunset

Sunset over the San Juanico strait. The strait separates Leyte from Samar island so technically I am taking this photo from Samar.. thus a Samar sunset? To my knowledge, I haven't seen a sunset in Tacloban yet, it's always sunrises or the orange sky in the distance, sign that the sun is setting somewhere we can't see. Sunsets are always covered by the mountain ranges or by coconut trees. You've to cross over to the Samar side to see a sunset as beautiful as this. I took this photo from a hill near the San Juanico bridge, the mountains in the photo are on the Leyte side.

Pusit

Dried squid. This is delicious and usually very expensive. The barol/dinaing/dried fish is lighter in color too, which means it's a more expensive variety of fish. So when you visit the Philippines and smell something awful coming in from a neighbor's kitchen, it's probably a dried fish being fried. You should give it a try though, it's delicious.

Mr Donut

Coffee break at Mr. Donuts. This one is the cleanest in Tacloban. It's well maintained. Doughnuts.. yum.

Pepsi truck

Pepsi, like the other soda giants, subcontracts their deliveries to other companies now. Unlike in my childhood years when they had uniform trucks. This is the delivery truck I saw of Pepsi's.

Afternoon at the beach

A quiet time at the empty beach. This one actually faces the Pacific Ocean, which is not in the picture. I was aiming for the leaning coconut trees.. maybe next time. This beach is 20 minutes away from home.

Eating seaweeds

This is lato, a seaweed rich in iodine. Being a coastal city, we get this fresh everyday. I seem to remember eating this only during lunchtime. Why? Because it wilts by evening. Even if it's freshly bought, it's not freshly caught, or should I say gathered? We eat this seaweed dipped in kalamansi (local citrus fruit) with salt. It kinda pops inside your mouth when you eat it, like eating teeny tiny grapes. This goes well with seafoods.

The Astrodome

This is the newest LGU-funded building in Tacloban (project of Bejo Romualdez, former mayor). It's called The Astrodome, and it's where concerts are held. Every night it comes alive because bars and restaurants are located around the building. The building looks different from other government-owned market/shopping centers, but believe me, it's built the same way structurally. Lacks built-in wirings and drainage (if you want to build a restaurant for example). But it has the cheapest rent, like in market buildings/stalls all over the country and the best view of the Cankabatoc Bay. A lot of people jog here in the morning.

Badminton Republic

The badminton craze, it's a nation by itself. I could never really understand games where you've to run after a ball (or in this case, a shuttlecock) then hit it. But then, I'm not the violent type. See, there must be something to the feather design. My friend says that in French the shuttlecock is called a 'moineau' which means a house sparrow. Makes me wonder badminton's origin and its players.

Ok, no more wondering.. "Badminton originated in China some 50 years before the birth of Christ. Modern day Badminton originated at a party in India. A few of the guests, soldiers, and statesmen fastened feathers onto a champagne cork, and used the bottles as bats, and thus instituted a game which they called "Poona". This game received immediate popularity and was taken to England by English army officers stationed in India in 1873. The name of "Badminton" came from the village of Badminton, the residence of a Duke who was an enthusiast of the sport." (lost the url). But here's a more detailed history of the game. So no, they didn't really hit small birds with a racket.

Sunday lunch

Let me name them clockwise, starting with the rice at the top, burnt roasted chicken, soy sauce dip, steamed fish (freshly caught, never frozen), kinilaw with gata (raw fish with coconut milk, the way we make it), adobo clams (without the shell), and in the middle, kalderetang kambing (goat). Oh yes, I was just a guest.. no cooking and no washing the dishes for me.

Merlie Alunan, poet

Filipino writers probably know Merlie Alunan, that multi-awarded poet/writer who now resides in Tacloban. Inside her daughter's restaurant called Sunzibar, hangs this painting that she painted. I remember it hanging at the UP Guest House where she once stayed. In fact I remember watching her paint it. I even offered to put the finishing touches which she politely declined. Hehe..

Binagol

Our binagol. Binagol is a Leyte delicacy that's made of talyan and placed in a coconut shell and wrapped and tied with a string. Bagol means coconut shell. There's the special variety and the regular variety. Make sure you buy the 'special', which you can find at Felisa's cafe. The other delicacy in the picture is called a sagmani made from the rootcrop gabi. This one you can buy at Aida's.

Fashionable coconut shells

Speaking of coconuts, I saw these 'bags' made from coconut shells. Maybe they're just containers because I doubt anyone would use those as bags. I wonder what people use them for. Coconut is one of our major crops here, second to rice. Photo was taken at a trade fair where there were all sorts of handicrafts on display.

Tuba

This is our local 'wine' called tuba that comes from the coconut tree. The Tagalogs have their white lambanog version which is not fully fermented like our version. What also makes ours red is the 'barok', a red bark which is added during the fermenting process. If you ever go to Leyte, you'll find the best tuba in Palo (12 km from Tacloban). Although that's open to debate.. What's not open to debate is that drinking tuba can make you drunk.

Lechon

Roasted pig. Yum.