Chinese.

Plagued by health foods, last monday seemed like a dream for me. I woke up and there was this miraculous text from heaven (actually from my classmates) saying that we were going to Ongpin, a small china town-esque place here in the Philippines. Dragging myself out of bed and to the place, I was astounded to realize that we were gonna have nice, normal Chinese food. Little did I know that I was gonna get all that and more.

Now living in the city, the only Chinese food I get is Chao-fan (fried rice), siomai (dimsum), siopao (pork buns), and all the regular stuff. When I got to Ongpin, I was in awe and I felt like an alien.

this first picture is, believe it or not, Fukien Rice. It's so smothered in toppings, you can't see the rice.

<-- this is regular siomai. these are the HUGE siomais I encountered -->











The pictures do not give the difference justice so let me just say that one huge siomai is roughly the equivalent of the three normal ones.



this is a lollipop, though not your average lollipop. it's sweet, of course, but if you look closer, you'll find that it has something in the middle we call 'Champoy'. It's extremely salty and has a slight bitter taste. Mixed together, it's an awesome combination. I wouldn't be too crazy about chomping on the sweet part though. It's VERY sticky.






next, we reached a bakery shop. I was in heaven. All the sweets were half the normal price back where I came from. And they tasted heavenly.




Well, that's it for now. I'm planning to go back to Ongpin and savor other stuff, so you guys wait for those next posts.

-R