Philippines 2006

It was in the fall of 2006 my trip to the Philippines and Thailand, I really started to take pictures of my meals so I could show my friends and co-workers back home. My first trip to the Philippines was 1988 and my parents made it a point to vacation and visit there every 2 years until my siblings and I got older into high school. It was important for them to know our extended family, so if we decided to visit on our own, we can go with no worry. For this trip, we went back for my cousin's wedding. It was only my parents, my sister, Angela (Ang) and me. My brother, Chi, was still in school. The third day after we arrived in the Philippines, we flew to Boracay, about an hour plane ride south of Manila and a 45 min boat ride to the island. Take a look at the boat we rode to the island, the boat couldn't come close to shore bc it was already shallow and we had to tread through the waters. It was crazy, yet amuzing to experience.

Boracay is a popular tourism spot for the Filipinos and out of towners. Its beaches and leisure activities makes your trip worthwile and relaxing. We stayed at Gold Crowne Resort located at Station 1 of Boracay island, which was in the middle. The resort was literally on the beach, it was amazing! We had a day of excursion including snorkeling in different spots and also parasailing. My dad's first cousin lived there as well and we had dinner there one night. The meal was delicious and I really enjoyed the dessert. Turon(plantains wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and fried) with chocolate sauce.
The next day was filled with roaming the markets and shops in the center of town. We had a mid afternoon meal at the "wet market" where we picked out fresh seafood and brought it to a restaurant to have it cooked for us. I swear this is the best way to make your meal. Our meal consisted of lobster, blue crabs, marlin and large prawns.
Our mini getaway was so much fun. It was nice to get away from the city life and experience another region of the Philippines. Another place to hit up is Jollibee, it's like our McDonald's. Menu has burgers, fries and to make it Filipino, they have fried chicken and rice and Chi's favorite, spaghetti. Their burgers come with this special sauce almost like a thousand island and their spaghetti is awesome. For those who don't know, Filipino spaghetti is unique, it's sweeter and has a bit of a tang to it and it also has slices of hot dog! Whenever we visit, the first stop is Jollibee!
One of my dad and Chi's favorite to snack on are chicharon or pork grinds. We found a stand in one of the malls that sold fried chicken skins. So, we bought a small bag and next thing you know it we came back in a couple days to get some more. Pretty good stuff, but I could only have it in small doses. crrunncchhhh!