The Philippines Geographically

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The Philippines is a country consisting of over 700 islands. Some of these islands are small and not inhabited. It is situated in the Pacific Ocean just north-east of Borneo (Malaysia).  It is separated from China to the north-west by the South China Sea.  To its west is Vietnam.

The capital Manila is situated on the main island of Luzon. It is situated on Manila Bay.

Let's Party

The Filipinos are generous hosts at family gatherings, parties and most public functions such as a fiesta. There is always plenty of food. If you go to a party and go away hungry, don't complain for you may be to blame, has been my experience. It is probably easier to accept another small helping than try to convince your host that you have eaten enought and you could not possibly eat another thing. 

 I am one of those people who celebrate the anniversary of my birth during the week between Christmas and New Year. I was blessed that as a child my family always celebrated the day. So during my first visit in 1999 we also had celebrations  for all three occasions. Hence,  in this Post I will give a brief description of some of the cuisine that a Filipino may enjoy at such  functions.

Rice - As in many Asian countries, rice is one of the staple foods. The rice is  normally washed to remove the starch and then cooked in a rice cooker.

Odobo - A rich, dark, well-marinated stew of chicken and/or pork, with flavors that hint of the vinegar and soy sauce. The pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, and black peppercorns, and often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterward to get the desirable crisped edges.  Its relatively long shelf-life is due to one of its primary ingredients, vinegar, which inhibits the growth of bacteria.

Kare-Kare - It is a meaty oxtail stew with pieces of tender tripe and vegetables in peanut sauce.

Pancit - It is sauteed noodles with bits of fresh vegetables, thinly sliced savory sausage and tiny shrimps laced throughout. This is easy to prepare, and the recipe is very flexible. Different types of noodles can be used: bihon (rice noodles), Canton (flour noodles), sotanghon (soybean noodle) and mike (pronounced as mee-kee, fresh egg noodles). 

Lechon -  In the Philippines, lechón (roast pig) is often served with vinegar, lechon sauce (made out of chicken livers or liver pate combined with vinegar, garlic, and pepper), plum sauce, or other sauces, or with other seasonings or accompaniments. The term lechón also came to mean any meat prepared by cooking on a pit, such as lechón baka (roast beef) and lechón manok (roast chicken). There are other Philippine versions of lechón. Lechón kawali involves chopping the meat into small pieces, boiling it, and then frying it. Lechón paksiw involves boiling lechón leftovers in a vinegar mix or lechon sauce, and then stir-frying it along with other ingredients. Another variation, known as Pritchon, consists of a deep-fried piglet chopped into small pieces and wrapped in pita wedges (à la Peking Duck), and served with an array of special sauces.

First Visit - 1999 - First Impressions.

Photos from the Philippines#
My wife was born in Tanza, a suburb of Cavite; a city in the Philippines a few miles south of the capital Manila. This blog describes some of my experiences during my six visits there since  December, 1999.  I had not met any of the other family members prior to this trip. So  I had mixed feelings - excitement and a little nervousness.

We travelled from Sydney to Manila aboard one of Philippine Airlines' Airbuses. The flight is non-stop - approximately seven hours.  The route took us over inland Queensland, the Gulf of Carpentaria and then west of New Guinea in a north western direction to our destination. The plane landed in the late afternoon.  I must commend the Filipino pilots - they are excellent - e.g. landings are very smooth.  One advantage of travelling via Philippine Airlines is that they have exclusive use of their own terminal at Manila airport. This means that you pass through customs and immigration much quicker. After meeting the family members that picked us up, we set off to Perlie's (my wife) home.

Traffic - you haven't seen anything yet! In Sydney we complain about some of our main roadways being 'parking lots' during peak hours.  Unfortunately, many of the streets and roads in the Philippines are narrow. Many of the rural cities and towns have no footpaths (sidewalks). The front of the houses and shops are very close to the edge of the street pavement. Some of the streets may be one or two lanes both ways. Just imagine the traffic chaos when you have six or more cars side-by-side across say 4 lanes. You are not going any where fast.  There is a lot of horn blowing as vehicles squeeze into the available lanes when the street narrows from two lanes to one or you need to pass through an intersection. We joked that the only road rule is that there are no rules. All you need is patience, while the car needs to have a horn and good brakes. Needless to say that a journey that should have taken about one hour took about four.  Given the conditions though it probably wasn't too bad being a Friday night and a week out from Christmas.  The streets are decorated for Christmas with lantens, stars and similar decorations - many are very attractive and elaborate. It made the journey more pleasant.  One amusing incident was that we passed a broken-down bus and the passengers were pushing it - a tough way to get home from work on a Friday night! Later I was to observe that when a traffic warden directs traffic at an intersection all the drivers behaved,  order is restored and traffic moves efficiently. Once the traffic offical leaves it is back to chaos again. From an outside observer's point of view I was reminded of the old cliche,  "old habits die hard".

To add to the road congestion there are several modes of transport besides cars, motor cycles, buses and trucks.  One of the most common is the tricycle - a motorbike with a type of side car or small cabin fitted. The other is called a jeepney - like a jeep truck with a covered back and seats built parallel along each side.  Both vehicles can be privately owned or used commercially as taxis/buses.  The jeepney is usually decorated with the owners' names and other images.