A Sari-sari Store in Bangkok

I was very excited to read in D's blog about his latest find -- Bangkok's own Pinoy Sari-sari store. I was planning to visit it this weekend when I got an invitation from D that we visit the store last night. So I rushed to Silom after work yesterday.

I swear I peed in my pants when we entered the small store. Boy Bawang! Datu Puti! Skyflakes! Extra Derm! Mr Chips! Eskinol! Del Monte Fruit Cocktail! Silver Swan! C2! They even have TV Freaking Patrol LIVE! And some DVDs of Judy Ann, Sharon, and Vilma movies.

Divine, divine, divine!!!

Oh, it’s like seeing dear, old friends once again.

The store was set up just two weeks ago by a gang of Filipino singers in Bangkok. Tucked in a corner is a table where customers can have a drink of C2 while munching on Chippy, which we ended up doing. I saw some Filipino customers ransacking the store’s stock of cheese and Lucky Me pancit bihon. Apparently Thais also buy pancit bihon but they complain that it’s not spicy at all. Of course.

Now I know where to tambay when I want to swap chismis or watch ASAP and The Buzz.

Go check D's entry for better pictures of the store.

Sunday Fiesta

Our boss invited the office people to the reception of his daughter's wedding. So I attended my first Thai wedding yesterday. In as much as I'd want to see the actual ceremony, the rites were done in the morning and apparently only reserved to family and close friends.

The reception was held at Nonthaburi, a province north of BKK (about 40 minutes ride). The sensational restaurant sits on the bank of the Chao Phraya and is composed traditional Thai houses and salas scattered all over the verdant lawn with winding canals. I was expecting a bit of the usual wedding rituals like the cutting of the cake, the speeches, the dancing, etc., but not in this wedding. We simply ate and nothing else. Roughly three hours after we arrived the reception was over and we were whisked back to BKK.

Later in the afternoon I dragged Kiwi to the Philippine Embassy in Sukhumvit for the Independence Day celebration. The lawn of the the embahada was overflowing with tents that sold overpriced Filipino food. Gazilions of BKK-based Pinoys swarmed the place (OMG, I was reminded how fat Pinoys really are). And you know when Pinoys converge it's total ruckus. I felt totally at home in the midst of people talking at the top of their voice and of laughter that doesn't give a shit who's around.

Our friends at the Pinoy Sari-Sari Store.

Overpriced Pinoy food... I see chopseuy, kalderta, sweet spaghetti, dinuguan. Yum, yum, yum.

For dinner I had adobo and a dozen bottles of San Miguel Beer. The latter was sold at a ridiculously cheap 4 bottles for 100 baht. I went crazy over the beer, I didn't even care if I had to work today.

Moi and Margarita Moran... Binibining San Miguel!

The atmosphere of the celebration was like a big town fiesta. A stage was set up in one corner of the lawn where bands played some Eraserheads. I went berserk when I heard that, along with other popular Pinoy pop songs. Of course, there was a bakla who sang and some dance groups showed their stuff. Even the employees of the embahada danced to the Pinoy Big Brother song. And oh, what is a fiesta without the requisite beauty pageant?! The pageant was called Binibining Kalayaan, which was won by a tisay (very Pinoy indeed!).

The queen and her court... look closely at the queen (middle girl)... may pagka-adrogynous ang lola nyo na bordering on the bakla. Hmmm..

It was cool to bump into Pinoy friends as well...

Baklas invade the Pinoy fiesta: Margarita Moran, PJ, Georgina Jones, Kiwi, and Gemma Cruz Araneta y Lopez y Sy y Gokongwei y Madrigal y Tan y Soriano y Macapagal Arroyo viuda de Marcos (whew)

The girls of the Sari-sari Store with PJ.

Daddy's Girl (standing), E (who is three months pregnant... FINALLY!), and PJ.

Maradjaw Karadjaw... Surigao

Let me take you around Surigao, bitches.

First, I noted that the weather since I arrived had been unbearably hawt. And I mean, HAWT!!!

I did not expect this as Surigao is usually cloudy, rainy, or stormy. And among other things, I love the gloomy weather in my hometown except that it has terribly failed me in the weather department these past days.

Nonetheless, Surigao is still the charming, crumbling, little city that I love. Except for a few new buildings, very little of the city has changed.

Anyway, let the tour begin.

Below is the town plaza in front of the cathedral. We call it the Luneta, after THE Luneta in Manila. The statue in black robe is that of Dr. Jose Rizal, Las Islas Filipinas' national hero. His statue is found in every plaza in the country.

The Surigao City Hall, which is also across the Luneta.

Two pictures of people in the Luneta.

This woman sells mangoes and santol (I don't know what it's called in English). Her stall is outside the Luneta and after class students flock to stalls like this to have snacks of these sour fruits.

A mobile sari-sari store. "Sari-sari" means we-sell-pretty-much-anything-and-everything-bitch.

Aha, the tricycle of course. Surigao city is best seen in our version of the tuk-tuk. They are noisy and are a good source of the air pollution in the city.

This is the style of the tricycle in Surigao and some cities in Mindanao. Some cities have very distinct styles and of various levels of "garishness" as well. Sizes also vary. Some can accommodate as many as eight passengers while others can only carry three people.

Gosh, I could not leave Las Islas Filipinas without paying tribute to Jollibee.

The next three pictures were taken at the Surigao market. Since we are surrounded by water, we have seafoods galore. Clams, seaweeds, and the most colorful fish abound. Well and the occasional chorizo too.

Oh, Surigao is not Surigao without the chicken BBQ at the pier! Where do I start about this awesome delicacy, bitches? Basta, BBQ is the passion of every Surigaonon.

And last but not the least is Mabua Beach, about 15 km away from the city. My friends and I hang out here every chance we get. On weekends every hut in the beach is packed with families.

The pebble beach also has some of the most majestic sunsets in the city.

Incoherent Weekend

Ay, another requisite weekend report from moi. Ngarag ang weekend na itez... rampa, rampa all over the place na naman ang bayot. I swear, this weekend does not have a coherent theme, so basically it's pagkakalat as usual.

Biyernes... I dropped by the Filipino Store in Silom to chat with the lovely Pinays who keep the store brimming with stuff from Las Islas Filipinas. It appears that them Pinays visit this blog once in a while so let me take this chance to say HALER to them. Ipagpatuloy ang pagpapayat mga tita!!!

As the official spokesperson of Sari-sari Store (charing!!!), I invite all Pinoys and Pinoy-lovers to visit them at the third floor of J-Plaza (with a BTS access to boot) for some goodies that would remind us of the good old third world.

Later in the evening, I met Bubbles, Liwayway, and Nida Blanca in Souvlaki in Silom Soi 4 for some beer and lots and lots of processing. A new club/bar opened in Soi 4 in a building whose wall collapsed just a few months ago (the building was empty then and the incident happened in the morning). The three primera maricones of Las Islas Filipinas dropped by to check it. Goodness, I don't even want to start talking about how lackluster the place is and we did not bother to stay longer after the awful drag show. Oh dear, I hope I'm wrong, but the place is soooo going to close soon enough.

In fact I noticed that quite a number of bars in Soi 4 have closed over the months. Have the gays stopped spending? Ay caramba! Dahling, gays simply don't scrimp on hedonism. If indeed gay men are tightening their belt, this economic crisis is apparently worse than it sounds ha.

Sabado... I dragged my ass to Sukhumvit where I ended up in Dasa Book Cafe, a second-hand bookstore. I did spend a fortune on about six books. I honestly don't have the right to be buying books as of yet coz I still have dozens of unread ones. But self-restraint is not really one of my virtues, and we all know that.

I had lunch at Emporium while waiting for Shanghai Tang and his girl friend. Because they were late, I checked out the latest exhibit of the Thailand Creative and Design Centre called Perishable Beauty, which explores decay, death, preservation, anti-aging, seasons, and conservation, among others. The theme is impermanence and how people face deterioration.

One section of the show reminded of me Miss Havisham's wedding table. A feast is enclosed in a glass box and it is allowed to rot. You simpy see the whole thing eaten by molds. Another installation looks into the beauty industry's exploitation of man's fear of aging.

Finally I met Shanghai Tang and friend and we took a cab to the Bangkok Sculpture Centre, which lies in one of the city's suburbs, about 30 minutes on the highway.

J'adore the architecture of the center, which is a cavernous display space of pieces by some of Thailand's most prominent sculptors from various periods.

The pictures below are some of my favorite pieces.

Later in the evening, I headed to Miss E's Christmas party at her house by the river.

Gawd, I don't want to be reminded that it's already the holidays. I'm sorry dahlings, it has never been my favorite of seasons. I find it a tad too merry for my taste, I could not help it. Hay, I'm just thankful that I'm not in Las Islas Filipinas during the holidays. I strongly abhor all the mindless commercialism and the sheer chaos the way Pinoys celebrate Christmas.

But then, even in Bhuddist Thailand, one cannot really avoid it coz the malls play Christmas songs on loop and gaudy decors are all the rage.

Please let this holiday be over soon so that we can go on living our lives sans the sappiness and the garish decors.

Missing Pinoy TV

I was at the Filipino store in Silom last night, a routine I do on weekends to munch on a pack of Chippy or Boy Bawang together with a bottle of C2. The Sari-Sari Store, which I featured here before, has a TV that shows a Filipino channel. This is really a big draw for my friends and I especially when we want to check out the showbiz news on Sundays via, sabay-sabay nating sabihing... The Buzz!

Last night, a couple of ABS-CBN soap operas were on (I think one is called Lobo and I forgot the title of the other). Having came across a number of equally revolting Thai soap operas, Filipino soaps are not any better. You know, cheesy plots, predictable story lines, convenient coincidences, rough special effects, etc.

But then, I realized that the acting on Pinoy soaps are way better than in Thai ones. I swear that statement comes from an objective perspective. I was especially excited to see the wonderfully preserved Pilar Pilapil still delivering a fierce performance. Ditto for some of the young actors such as Angel Locsin, the delectable Jake Cuenca, and of course the impeccable Piolo Pascual (pictured). And oh dear, our male actors are more gorgeous and manly than the Thai actors who look like plastic dolls slathered with foundation, smeared with thick eyeliner, and who went on a glutathione overdose.

Meanwhile, my friends and I went berserk when we saw this hilarious commercial of Nestle Cream. But before that, this spot evokes a very authentic feel of Manila's streets, which I seem to be missing already. The cinematography and music are also superb. So I did not see the punchline coming, which sent us rolling on the floor while surrounded by racks of Datu Puti, Argentina Corned Beef, and Maggi Savor.

Major genius! Watch.

The text at the end of the commercial translates: You should've used Nestle Cream.