Hopefully, this is my last sembreak

While the first half of October meant virtually zero sleep because of all the tasks I needed to accomplish, the latter half of this month was spent doing what I do best: Bumming around and sleeping. I think I have earned this reward well and fair, though. Haha.

I began re-watching Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (2007) again. It's where I fell in love with the perfection that is Ikuta Toma. Haha. Watching the dorks of Osaka Gakuen made me wish (again) for a high school life as crazy as theirs was. It's not that ours was in any way inferior. I just wonder what fun it would have been if we were as reckless and bonded and were all living under one roof as those ikemen in HanaKimi. Of course, it was just a work of fiction and I would never trade those four years I had spent with the people I dearly love until today. It was a huge part of who I am now, and when I think of "friends," it's still them that instantly spring to mind.

Speaking of friends, I've been occupied with helping one of my friends accomplish her photo portfolio for the modelling workshop she's attending. I immediately said yes when she asked for help, firstly because I do want to help her and I want her to feel accomplished because she's been feeling extremely directionless and sad lately. Besides, I'd like to try testing my potential in photography. Haha. I don't really know anything about fashion but I think the "shoots" we've been doing allowed me to explore the nuances of digital photography. So that when I finally have my own camera for the coming semester, I'd have an inkling of what to do. Yay. 

And then, one of my best friends has been hired at my workplace! It's weird to have her around in such a different setting. But I'm excited and happy nonetheless! She'll finally get to know some of the people I've grown fond of. Isa na lang ang kulang, kumpleto na kame. HAHAHA.

Isdaan: Fresh fish, bamboo huts and bridges, and the Tacsiyapo Wall

In the town of Gerona, Tarlac is a unique restaurant aptly called Isdaan. Also known for the Tacsiyapo Wall, it boasts of theme park-like statues, a vast fish pond over which nipa huts connected by bamboo bridges serve as the dining areas.

Giant fish statues welcomes visitors and diners

From the entrance visitors are welcomed with giant fish statues, life-sized figures of a security guard and even of former President Joseph Estrada. In fact, the whole place is filled with a curious hodgepodge of various enormous statues—from the Buddhist-inspired monuments, Aztec-looking sculptures, different dinosaurs, monkeys and other sorts of stone giants.

However, what sets Isdaan apart from other dining places is its being a floating restaurant. Below and between the nipa huts is the fish pond where hundreds of brightly-colored carps and other fish swim about. Once settled, diners are given free fish food that can be fed to the fish while waiting for the food to be served. Isdaan also has roaming musikeros in groups of three who sing and even dance for the customers’ entertainment. For a tip, visitors can even request for songs, and the musikeros, dressed in coordinating outfits, would pull the performance off accompanied by a guitarist.

Musikeros sing while you wait
(Photo by Dawn Fabrero)

Isdaan offers a wide array of Filipino cuisine dishes, and the menu is made up of the usual fare of adobo, bulalo, and inihaw dishes among others, to meals with playful-sounding names such as “Pinaputok sa Dahon,” “Inapoy na Hipon,” and “Chicken na Ginataan with the Magic Dahon Flavor.”

Curious about the how the magic dahon tasted, my companions and I ordered the latter, plus lumpiang bukid, rice and a bilao of fried seafood which included, tilapia, hipon, tahong, bangus, tawilis, alimasag, and a dish of finely diced green mango, bagoong, and whole boiled tomatoes at the center of the bilao. The seafood was delectable and fresh, and the uniquely Filipino setting was unmistakable. The chicken with the magic dahon flavor was also surprisingly tasty because of the combination of coconut milk, ginger, and the sweetness coming from the banana leaf.

The floating restaurant concept of Isdaan is both an advantage and a disadvantage. For the most part, the ambiance is unique and the floating huts above the water added more the dining experience. However, because the areas are a little far apart from each other, the service crew members are a little inefficient when it comes to taking orders and responding to the customers’ requests. It was a good thing that there were many things to be preoccupied with while waiting for the extra bottled water or following-up the order for a side dish that wasn’t served.

Hit the wall. The Tacsiyapo Wall.

(Photo by Dawn Fabrero)

To cap the Isdaan experience off, visitors queue up for a chance to use the Tacsiyapo Wall. Coined from the Northern Luzon term for “Shame on you!” the Tacsiyapo Wall is famous for allowing visitors to vent out their anger by hurling mugs and plates (and even vases and wall clocks) to the wall for a price. Inscribed with issues Pinoys are usually frustrated about such as “5/6,” “Mother/Father-in-law,” “Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend,” “Taksil,” “Intrigera/Tsimosa,” “Boss, Managers, Supervisors,” and many others, the predominantly red wall had become battered and cracked over years of cathartic shouts of “Tacsiyapo!” and throws from customers.

Within Isdaan is also a store where visitors can buy pasalubong such as fresh goat milk, carabao pastillas, and quesong puti.

Indeed, visitors can come to Isdaan not just to simply eat authentic Filipino cuisine but enjoy the ambiance and the setting quite unlike what can be usually found in the Metro.

Carvajal Street Market: More than what meets the eye

Situated between two towering buildings along Juan Luna Street and some meters worth of walk from the Binondo Church is Carvajal Street, a quaint alley barely three meters wide. Nestled between a bank on the left-hand side and a Western-style fast food restaurant on the other, Carvajal Street is one of the go-to places in Binondo for quick food finds and a unique Chinatown experience.

The unique and busy alley of Binondo's Carvajal Street. (Photo from here)

Unless one specifically looks for it, this street closed to vehicular traffic is barely noticeable to an unobservant eye. However, even heavy rains cannot prohibit a plethora of pedestrians, buyers, and sellers from coming and going to and from the street.

According to Ivan ManDy of Old Manila Walks Tour, Carvajal Street was first called “Ho-Sua-Hang,” which means “umbrella alley” in Fookien, during the days when the main product traded in the place were umbrellas.

Drivers of pedicabs and kuliglig (sidecars powered by motors used for fishing boats) call on to passers-by, code-switching between Filipino and a handy dose of Chinese. Strong-built men go about the street, carrying stacks of boxes on their shoulders while Chinese-looking mothers usher their children, still clad in their school uniforms, in and out of the shops.

Roderick Manansala, a resident of Binondo for twenty years and a seller at Carvajal Street, recalls that there were drug stores first before food became the primary attraction of the alley. Today, the street is lined with wet market-like stalls and eateries, among many others.

Upon entering the street, a vivid display of colors welcomes potential customers. The walls are lined with cases heaping with fruits of various kinds not usually seen in regular supermarkets and groceries. On both sides, green and red apples, plump mangosteens, cherries, kiwis, pears, lemons, exquisite-looking dragonfruits, lychees, huge watermelons, papayas, and watermelons are sold by vendors who, unlike in most wet markets, do not beset the customers with unsolicited offers and remarks.

A fruity feast for the eyes.

Carvajal Street's selection of gastronomic delights welcomes visitors and "suki" alike

Alongside the fruit stalls, other establishments can be found showing how the residents and proprietors at Carvajal Street succeeded in mixing modernity with traditional practices, most notable of which are the drug stores. On one side of the street is the usual kind, gleaming in white light with stern-looking pharmacists. On the other side are traditional Chinese ones with cabinets of bottles filled with herbs and curious-looking concoctions, giving off a slightly pungent smell.

One of these is the Lui Chuon Tong Chinese drug store, which its manager Bonita Uy claims to be the original drug store in Carvajal Street. “We’ve been here for 60 years,” said Uy in her heavily-lilted English. Visitors who wish to buy authentic and traditional Chinese medicines are sure to find what they’re looking for in shops like Lui Chuon Tong.

There are also vendors selling meat, poultry, and fish displayed casually on low tables beside air-conditioned meat shops with glass doors, uniformed crew, and big signage. There are also travel agencies, side-by-side optical shops, bookstores, health clinics, and “convenience stores” which sell Chinese figurines and knick-knacks visitors can buy as souvenirs.

Going further inside, one can attest to Carvajal Street’s claim as an all-in-one stop in Binondo, especially for food adventurers. Hole-in-the-wall stores offer both Chinese and Filipino delicacies, both for those on the go and those who wish to stay and eat inside the shops. Some stores sell Chinese street food and some sell Pinoy rice cakes such as suman, bibingka, and sapin-sapin.

A Chinatown must-have: Siopao in various colors, sizes, and flavors

In the middle of this cultural fusion are restaurants and eateries that serve quick and delectable meals for people dropping by in Carvajal Street. Rita’s Native Food-Lutong Bahay offers Pinoy favorites such as sinigang, menudo, adobo, and dinuguan, among others. Quick Snack, on the other hand, has a wide array of Chinese dishes. For as low as 70 to a couple of hundred pesos, foodies can try the sumptuous noodle dishes, dumplings, fresh spring rolls (or lumpia), and an assortment of Chinese cakes.

Towards Yuchengco Street to the other end of the street market are stalls selling vegetables neatly lined on wooden trays. It is noticeable, however, that unlike in usual wet markets, vendors in Carvajal Street do not put price labels on their products. Selling a kilo of apples at P100 and a kilo of cherries for P600, they must be trying not to baffle newcomers with the price of their goods.

While the products at Carvajal Street aren’t the cheapest, a stroll in this unique alley is a must-do while in Binondo. The assortment of sights and sounds, the hodgepodge of Filipino-Chinese culture and cuisine in such close proximity behind the unimposing façade can disarm both natives and tourists alike.

Almost there

Thesis proposal-writing has gotten me restless, and worried to the core. Will it be good enough? What if my variables aren't concrete enough? Is it actually feasible? Will I pass and actually move on to doing it for next sem?

Exams on Macroecon, where I barely manage to scrape passing grades, have rendered me in a state of panic all the time. If not for our kind and competent teaching fellow, I would have given up all hope.

Papers, reports, articles, exams, and group works pile up so suddenly I stagger at the quantity. I would have to finish piles of readings, interview a few sources, do some legwork, create presentations, set up another blog (and therefore conjure its would-be contents). To make it worse, some of the people I have to work with don't seem to care about the task at hand at all.

I haven't even been showing myself to my orgmates, and I am ashamed of my lack of participation in the activities, not to mention that it seemed like I was sick for the whole of September--sore eyes, colds, then cough.

Then there's work. And other extra-curricular worries.

But (temporary) freedom is barely two weeks away. I've managed to hold on for the past four months, this second to the final crunch will be a cinch. Or so I hope.