3 National Symbols of the Philippines

• The Philippine Flag. The flag of the Philippines is commonly known as the "Three Stars and a Sun". The royal blue part of the flag symbolizes justice, peace and truth, while the scarlet red part represents bravery, courage and honor. The three stars represents Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three major parts of the Philippines. Finally, the eight rayed sun symbolizes the 8 provinces that started the 1896 Philippine Revolution, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Manila, Tarlac, Bulacan, Pampanga and Cavite.

Something unique on the Philippine flag: If the Philippines is at war, the flag is turned upside down, where the red side is up.

from wikipedia.org

• The Sampaguita. The Sampaguita (sam-pa-gee-ta) is the Philippine's national flower. In where I live, San Pedro in Laguna, it's actually called the Sampaguita Capital of the Philippines. We also celebrate an annual Sampaguita Festival.  

The Sampaguita festival is a really fun event to experience. It's filled with tons of street dancing, exhibitions and a hell of a lot of dance contests. Everyone participating is seen with a garment of sampaguita, may it be a necklace, bracelet, crown, or maybe even their underpants (I'm kidding, who would wear a flower crown?). You might also see floats and a parade!

from dipologcity.com

• Philippine National Food? From my knowledge, the Philippines has lots of "national foods", all of which are disputed. I personally like Lechon which is a whole roasted suckling pig, 

from pangbahay.com

I love Lechon, especially it's toasted, crispy skin! However, they also say that adobo is the national dish. Adobo is meat marinated in a sauce of soy sauce and vinegar. Another disputed National Dish is sinigang, a soup with pork / fish and tamarinds. Sinigang = very sour.

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That's it. Thank you for reading!

Sorry, that the plan of Stockholm's Parks in Winter didn't do so well, so I scrapped the idea. Maybe next week?

Read More:

 Jollibee (Should be considered the Philippines' national fast food chain)

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POST ROUNDUP - The Philippines Trip {Dec. 2013 - Jan. 2014}

Our holiday to the Philippines has been so much fun, and as you read this, I'm already at Stockholm in School. Here's a rather new segment of the blog, Post Roundup, which will recap the posts for you. Enjoy!

• Highly Recommended Posts To Read

Group Bonding at the Alabang Town Center  - It has been five, almost six, months since I've seen the people which I normally see every weekday, so it was awesome to spend a day with them at the mall and arcade we love!

EATS: Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant (Greenbelt)  - After the scrumptious scrambled eggs served with my tapa and the clubhouse sandwich with French-bread, Conti's really proved to me that they serve the best cakes ever.

The University of the Philippines  - It's been four years since I've been here, and it's really great to see the Oblation and the Sunken Garden again.

EATS: Love Desserts -  A buffet of ice cream, pastries, chocolate mousse and peach cream in shot glasses and cakes all for PHP 199 (~ $ 4.50). Experienced with an awesome bunch of travellers too, this has been one of the most unforgettable experiences in the Philippines ever!

Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant

The University of the Philippines' Oblation Statue

• More Awesome Philippines Posts

Jollibee  -  Probably one of the most iconic things in the Philippines. No trip to Manila is complete without experiencing Jollibee, a fast food chain that offers a range of hamburgers, fried chicken and even pasta, for a very affordable price.

The Filipino New Years   -   Experiencing the replacement of the old year to the next year is incomplete in the Philippines without knowledge on some of the superstitions we Filipinos follow, like jumping at the stroke of midnight and those 12 round fruits. 

Festival Supermall   -   One of the popular malls in our area is undergoing a "facelift like no other", where it will expand its area to accommodate much more shops and restaurants and attract loads more people. 

Greenbelt Mall  - Another Philippine mall that offers a wider range of boutiques, shops and clothing stores, all of which may be a pure Filipino brand, or one of the more internationally known brand. Greenbelt Mall also has a chapel, and features numerous food stalls and eateries. 

Street Food @ UP  -  Street food has been a part of Philippine neighbourhoods for as long as I can think of. It features a bicycle with an attached cart filled with cooking needs and even a stove!

EATS: Starbucks at the Greenbelt  -  It's Starbucks. Let it speak for itself.

EATS: Rodic's Diner at U.P - Rodic's is a diner in the University of the Philippines' Shopping Center which serves their all time best seller, tapa. This blog post is exclusive for Facebook Page Likers, but you can still click to read the post. 

Jollibee at Festival Supermall

Rodic's Diner @ U.P Diliman

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Read More --
Eats: Chopsticks Restaurant and Asian Buffet (Stockholm)

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EATS: Love Desserts

After our trip to the University to the Philippines, we went to Trinoma and to SM City North Edsa (I was going to blog about these two, but there was not enough content). We met with a ton of good friends of my auntie and uncle.

These good friends (I think) they met via WOWTrippers (Backpacking adventures to the Philippines!). It was the owner of WOWTrippers' birthday (Janine / J9!) and we met her at the TriNoma Foodcourt.

After a hell of a lot of browsing in at a store that sells backpacking and hiking gear (Good Lord, I hope my description of the store is correct), we went on a car journey to a place that has a buffet. But this is not an ordinary type of buffet, this was a dessert buffet (diabetes for everyone!)

NOTE: Once you see a word "shot" on this blog post, it was a non-alcoholic thing, and was purely cream, toppings and calories. I'm not that stupid to consume alcohol. It was just in a shot glass, that's all.

When we got there, we just sat down for a literal five seconds before everyone got up, got plates and browsed the selection of desserts.

There was an array of cakes and pastries, cookie jars were present, so was tarts. On the other side, the  crew was making fresh crepes, make-your-own halo-halo (shaved ice with toppings! very Filipino), ice cream and toppings and three drinks, water, iced tea and boba (pearl milk tea / buble tea)

From Top Left, Clockwise: Smarties Cookie, Cookies & Cream Shot (non-alcoholic),
Brownie and a Mini Tart.

Off the bat, I didn't want to try any cakes, because they were heavy on the stomach. The cookie, brownie and the tart tasted the same, which was very surprising. The Cookies & Cream shot was awesome. 

I also wanted a crepe. They had four crepe flavor options, and I took strawberry. Tita (auntie) Janine and Tita Joy opted for the blueberry crepe. Crepe tasted purely like jam. 

The best part of this was the shots (Please read the note above if you haven't already) and the ice cream. The ice cream I had was vanilla and strawberry. They also offered three shots, Cookies & Creme, Peach and Chocolate Mousse. The Cookies & Cream one was to die for. I would have it every day if it wasn't for the weight I'd gain and the diabetes I'd get. 

From Left - Cookies and Cream, Peach Shot, Chocolate Mousse

The buffet of desserts was incredibly affordable, at PHP 199 (~ USD 4). I would say that I mostly enjoyed this EATS because of the company I had, which was friends with my uncle and auntie. I didn't enjoy the food that much, maybe because I sampled the same things all over again. Hope to change that.

***

CONTI'S BAKESHOP & RESTAURANT 

Contis' has the best cakes I've ever tasted. Really.

How To Make Simple Cheese Crackers {Recipe}

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EATS: Jollibee @ Festival Mall

Ahhh Jollibee. If you roam around the streets of Manila, there's a 90% chance of you spotting one or two (or four, or twelve...), Jollibee is the most iconic Philippine fast food chain. It serves fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches and even pasta. 

We went to the Jollibee at the Festival Mall's fourth floor. No doubt, it was really busy. If you're living in Scandinavia, Jollibee is as busy, if not much more busier than Jensen's Böfhus. 

So they're famous for their Chickenjoy, which to me is a really weird name for fried chicken. My sister had this. 

I had the Burger Steak! They're basically two burger patties smothered with some kind of special gravy and a bit of mushrooms. The patties were "eh". I needed more gravy and mushrooms though.

Some fries on the side. There fries are really good because their long and crispy. Highly recommend!

Honestly, Jollibee is just one of those things that you need to experience when you're going to Manila, or the Philippines. Just get some fries and a Coke or whatever, and just experience the atmosphere. I really don't know if you'll like or hate the atmosphere, but as long as you experienced it. 

***

A 3 Million US Dollar Painting Inside An Apartment?

The Big, Huge, Fat, Gigantic, Fantastic Surprise On The 19th Of January!

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Travel To The Philippines! Part 3 - MANILA ITINERARY

I highly recommend seeing the first two parts of this series / segment. Click the links below!

• Part 1 - Tourist Spots   

•  Part 2 - Famous Food

Here is the long-awaited part three!

~~

I can honestly tell you that there are A LOT of awesome sights in Manila, but you might not want to stay in Manila for that long. You don't want to get drowned by the sea of people, don't you?

But seriously, if you are planning to travel in Manila, I recommend only travelling for one, to a maximum of two-three days. With this, I prepared some kind of "itinerary" that comprises some of the awesome spots you can see in Manila!

• Rizal Park {Luneta} (free admission)

I don't remember if I already talked about this in a previous post, but Rizal Park is one of the most iconic and recognizable places in the Philippines. It is a monument dedicated to our national hero, Jose Rizal. The base of the monument stands is where he was shot by the Spaniards. {Photo on right, courtesy of wikipedia.org} 

• Manila Ocean Park (General Admission: PHP 550) 

The Manila Ocean Park is an oceanarium. It is located near the Children's Museum (Museo Pambata) and houses a large number of diverse marine species. It's oceanarium contains different sections, such as "Agos" (the flow), "Laot" (fishing grounds) and "Bahura" (the reef). 

• Fort Santiago (General Admission: PHP 75, Children PHP 50) 

Fort Santiago was built in the 16th century, during the colonial period of the Spaniards. The Fort itself is used to symbolize the bravery and heroism of the Filipinos throughout the centuries. Step inside its gates to see a very unique historical and cultural feel of the Philippines. 

The Spoliarium. | Photo from wikipedia.org

• National Art Gallery (Admission fees unknown) 

The National Art Gallery contains lots of art, sculpture and cultural-themed exhibits that can give you an insight of the Philippines during the eras of the Japanese, Chinese and other influences that brought the Philippines today. You can see Juan Luna's famous painting, The Spoliarium here.

• Binondo: Manila's Chinatown 

The Philippines is also heavily influenced by the Chinese culture. Binondo is the oldest Chinatown in the world, and features colorfully decorated streets and uber-cheap food from street vendors / hawkers.


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TRANSPORTATION in Sweden and in the Philippines

So the day before yesterday (25 September '13) was our two months in Stockholm! What better way to celebrate our second month in this wonderful country by comparing it with my previous country, right?

NOTE: These thoughts come from a thirteen year old boy that has no intention of harming, violating or offending anyone reading this. He is just expressing his honest opinions.

The first thing I'll compare about is the Transportation. Since the Philippines is in Asia and is quite a melting pot of traditions handed-down by other Asian countries and that Sweden is more of a Northern-European country influenced by more Nordic countries, so don't question me if you think that differences are a lot, let alone in the transportation section.

So in the Philippines, tricycles are perfect in short distances. You might find tons of them in the residential areas. Tricycles are basically just motorcycles with an added sidecar which is used for the passengers. These are ridiculously cheap (no normal fare goes up to PHP 70/ SEK 10), although they may charge extra for longer distances.

 A Tricycle. Picture from hobotraveller.com

In my two-month experience in Stockholm, I have not discovered a mode of transport that is good for short distances. The Stockholms Tunnelbana (the Stockholm Metro/Subway), could be good, but I think that the price is to steep. I am not sure with the prices, but in the Philippines, the metro costs PHP 25-40 (SEK 4-6), which is about five-six times cheaper than the metro in Stockholm. 

The Stockholm Metro To Morby Centrum. Picture from sv.wikipedia.org

Taxis in the Philippines are smaller than the ones in Sweden. Also, the fares are really cheap, with the normal flagdown fare being PHP 40-50 (SEK 6-8). If you wish to spend a hundred Swedish crowns on a Philippine taxi, prepare for a long journey. The only crazy thing in the Philippines is the traffic. 

A Typical Philippine Taxi Photo by definitelyfilipino.com 

Taxis in Stockholm just blows my mind. When my family occassionaly rides on a taxi, I think the flagdown fare is SEK 60, and rises by one crown per four-six seconds. I do not know why this is... By the way, if you're going to take a taxi in Stockholm, make sure you check that yellow sticker on a window. That symbolizes a regular 10 minute fare. They are allowed to rip you off just as long as you see the fare. 

Photo by rongid.ee

So if you really want to see the breath-taking sights of Stockholm and not willing to walk that much, save your butt off. Literally. 

READ MORE: Skansen -- Stockholm's Open Air Museum

SHOUTOUTS: Joylene Love D. Suarez 

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