In my hand: Philippines

Whilst in the Philippines, you notice the cute and interesting little things. The little details that someone who lives there probably do not pay attention to, but for me, I found them things to add up to the overall experience.

I love food, snacks, desserts, etc. and thus I snapped a few photos throughout the trip whenever I could of whatever I was eating or drinking (that is, if I remembered to). So let me take you through a journey of the small treats I had, in my hand. 

 The travel to the Philippines was long. We had a stop over at Hong Kong International Airport and bought a few snacks. One chocolate muffin costed 39 Hong Kong dollars (roughly £3.29)?! Did not feel it was worth it, since it did not actually even  taste of 'proper' chocolate. Advantage of the airport: fast Wifi.

 For our first full day, we chilled by the poolside and I had my first Ube Ice Cream in the Philippines after such a long time.

 Did not like this at all. They even failed to notify me that they ran out of tapioca pearls and I looked like an idiot complaining and explaining that I was pretty sure that Bubble Tea contains tapioca pearls. Boo.

 Club Echilon, Davao City. Fun night, turned into too much = mistakes.

 Fresh corn on the cob at Dahilayan Adventure Park, Bukidnon. Dahilayan was so much fun! We went zip lining and I even did one of them upside down. There was also a Dropzone, where you go in pairs, they lift you up in the air and literally just drop you. That was hilarious. The GoPro video of my sister still makes me laugh so much!

Every one loves Cheese Piattos. If you don't, then you suck.

I was eager to try the snacks available in the Philippines, so you can imagine my happiness when we went grocery shopping for the first time.

 My sister and I were obsessed with Cheetos. They don't sell the large packs where we live and so we don't really get them here. I think Cheezy is the Filipino version of Cheetos - not as nice and cheesey, but overall alright.

 Davao's specialty: Durian. Not into it.

 Mangosteen. Now this was more like it! Really liked the taste of this fruit. It has a kind of sour taste to it. The white inside part resembles what you would see in an orange, except for it is white in colour.

 Suman. Sticky rice cooked inside a banana leaf. We had someone to make these for us. Half of the batch were plain and half were part chocolate. Of course, my choice was the one with chocolate. These are also nice with a scoop of sweet yellow mango.

 I was rather strangely fascinated by these creatures. At night you can see the ground 'move' as these guys, in different sizes, walked around the place as if their community came to life at night and were gathering for a meeting.

 They say the Spanish San Miguel has a different taste to the San Mig in the Philippines. I would not know as I have only tried the Philippines versions. I would say that I am not really into San Mig light, but a San Mig Apple actually tastes pretty good, Kind of like a fizzy apple juice.

Before setting off from Sta. Cruz, we had Ice Cream at my cousins' place. The tubs of ice cream there are dreamy! Such large tubs of beautiful flavours. The above photo is probably my third serving of a mixture of Double Dutch and Cookies and Cream. Throughout our vacation, we also had Mango, Ube and Rocky Road. The readily available ice cream in the Philippines really satisfied my love for this refreshing sweet goodness. A delicious ice cream is perfect as a delicious treat on a scorching hot day. Yes, I was in paradise. 

 We had heard about these branches of a new Buffet called Vikings and we were invited by my Mother's High School friends for dinner there. I had Milo Chocolate Milkshake, I repeat, MILO SHAKE. As usual, I had a problem with eating so much food hence why I usually express that I prefer sit-in dinners as you are able to appreciate the flavours of the food more. Who's with me on this? 

 Dagupan's specialty: Puto. A little hard to explain, but they are sort of like flavoured streamed rice buns. Flavours I particularly enjoy are: pandan and plain with cheese on top.

 Despite containing so much sugar (since that is what the "brittle" is), I love peanut brittle. We bought a few tubs of this and a few different brands.

 It was absolutely scorching that day. Thank goodness the van had air-conditioning. How else could I describe the heat apart from, imagine standing or sitting and one spot and your forehead, neck and back would be sweating as if you have just done a lap. Yes, that's how how it was. I don't understand how some some people were wearing jeans on that day. I wore a dress and still could not handle the heat. My Aunt recommended I try this Ice Tea. It was nice.

 Mango smoothie at Pedrito's, one of the oldest restaurant in Dagupan. Delicious food with Mexican influences.

 Grape flavoured slurpee. Being sat in the van whilst the parents had to sort some things out, my cousins bought us a large Slurpee from 7 eleven. I don't think they have 7 eleven in the Uk. 

Chowking's Halo Halo. When asked to translate this (quite often actually), it is a little difficult since the literal translation is 'Mix Mix', but I guess that it the main gist of this thing. A mixture of ube ice cream, shaved ice, pandan jelly and other stuff here and there. The actual recipes varies a little depending on where and who makes it. Chowking is a fast food chain that one must go to and try when in the Philippines and another is the nation's favourite: Jollibee. My goodness, everyone craves Jollibee and it's round shaped mound of rice and the gravy, oh the gravy...Do not worry, of course I took the obligatory picture with the Jollibee mascot and birds eye shots of my meals. I cannot express fully my feeling when I had my first scoop of the rice, the heavenly fried chicken and of course, with gravy, it was just so delicious! For many years I craved Jollibee and I was finally having my first meal back int he Philippines after many years.

 Taken in Baguio. Carrot sticks and some sort of chocolate fudge brownie/cake. My cousin disappeared for a while and came back excited for me to try these. 

 When you haven't been back to such a special place, especially if it's your motherland, you appreciate and miss the smallest of things and one of them was cheesy popcorn. They don't sell these in the UK, but oh boy, if they did...I'd go to the cinemas just to get them. It may seem weird to those who haven't tried this, but popcorn and cheese? That's two good things combined. The cheesiness, the warmth and the crunch with each scoop, are all just so perfect. We finally scheduled our first trip to the cinemas and in total we had time to go to the cinemas twice whilst being in the Philippines. We watched "The Breakup playlist" starring Sarah Geronimo and Piolo Pascual. In fairness, it was alright, despite my view that Filipino movies are rather soppy and corny. The woman originally didn't put much for our first two buckets, even though we asked to put more, then we bought two more and kind of subtle begged here and she actually discretely put in more popcorn and we paid for the extra cheese. Good on her. I think I may try and make cheesy popcorn some time soon, I miss it.

 There's Dunkin' Donuts in the UK, but you don't find them as often as you would in the Philippines. Two boxes of sugary doughnuts. "Hhhhrrrmmmm...Donutsss" *Homer voice*

 After a bit of shopping in Mall of Asia (often called SM MoA) and then we had an ice cream break. Clever thing liquid Nitrogen, as it was served upside down. I forgot about the "served" bit and tried to tip mine upside down whilst we were walking back to our group and let's say, I was that close to crying like when a kid drops their ice cream. I chose Rocky Road. Lush stuff. 

 Snacks from the Philippines. Awesome stuff.

 Such a blurry picture, but the night we landed in Cebu, my sister ad I were taken into Gelatissimo. This was my kind of place. Enough said. 

 Went to a mall again, for the gazillionth time. Bought some stuff and tried this delicious Ice Blended Chocolate Chip Cream thing.

 We had been there a few weeks and I have been wanting to try a banana in the Philippines. I had been giving them a pass and then I finally tried one. It is sweeter and as you can see, much short and rounder.

 Hot day and my cousin decided to head to McDonald's after her College (equivalent to University). The McFlurry is much smaller.

 Love Barquillos with Polvoron in the middle. We even brought some back.

 On the way to Maxima's, we had to ride a pump boat. Sea breeze, hot sun and salted garlic peanuts. 

Slightly melted big ortion of Rocky Road Ice Cream, nonetheless, it was still lush! This was the night before we flew to Manila and so was two days before we left the Philippines. On this night, I spent hours going through albums and picturing some of the photographs.

Luggage packed, waiting to set off for the airport for our flight to Manila and I decided to have one more 'jug' of Rocky Road ice cream. Oh boy, I miss it.

 KFC in the Philippines do delivery - THEY DO DELIVERY. They also call their Krush'ems, Krush'ers and have more flavours. The Philippines seem to have more selections and restaurants and fast food places. I chose "Rockin' Road" Krush'er. You may notice something started to become an obsession. We stayed at The Gramercy Residences for the third time in our vacation and this time, we had a Garden view, as you can see from the picture above. The Gramercy also has its own entrance to the Century Mall which I visited just before we set off for the airport. A small mall, not so many options that I wanted, but I guess it's nearby.

Hot Chocolate, at Bo's Coffee, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). 

I took a lot of pictures of the food and snacks I ate/drank during my vacation to the Philippines and the ones on this post followed the theme of  "In my Hand". It is true to say that one enjoys not just the scenery and the people, but also the food (& drink). After all, it's More Fun in the Philippines and that includes everything.

If you have any questions on the places or other things mentioned, feel free to contact me.