Blog Marco

I'm running the Sydney City2Surf (a 14km fun run) this year on Sunday, August 12th and I'm fundraising for my favourite charity Gawad Kalinga. Gawad Kalinga is all about addressing the issue of poverty by providing housing, services and building communities in Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Cambodia, East Timor, India and South Africa. You can donate some money to the charity by credit card or paypal. Or you can pledge some money by just getting in contact with me.

You can find more information about Gawad Kalinga at this new blog I set up.

Gawad Kalinga Youth Great Adventure Tour (GKYGAT) is officially over. View the photos of the GKYGAT 2007. The Tour was good. The People were great. The 50km bike ride, Christmas caroling, chocolate drives and the ACE4GK were all worth it. Woohoo!

As you would or would not know - I am going to participate in the GKYGAT in early 2007. What is the GKYGAT? Well all can be answered in my previous post... I'm going to be participating in the Sydney Spring Cycle this Sunday. The Spring Cycle is a 50km bike ride (its not a race) from North Sydney to Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush. That's my Giant 840 Mountain Bike (MTB) in the photo above which would hopefully make the 50km to Homebush. You can find the map of the event from here. I'm looking for sponsors to support me in raising funds for my mission trip. Here is what my sponsorship form says:

"Participants of the Gawad Kalinga Youth Great Adventure Tour (GKYGAT) would like your support in raising funds for their mission trip in January 2007. GKYGAT is a program run by GK Youth that allows young people to build houses for the homeless and poverty-stricken people in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea."

"Our goal is to raise $2000 in 25 days by gaining YOUR monetary support as we participate in the Sydney Spring Cycle on October 22 2006."

I thinking of going to the Philippines (yes, again...) next January/February with the GKYAT (GK - see below for more details; Y = Youth; GAT = Great Adventure Tour). A $200 deposit is due at the end of this month (30th October) and I've already committed myself to selling fundraising chocolates and to get sponsored on the Sydney Spring Cycle. So I guess I'm committed aren't I?

Gawad Kalinga (GK) , translated in English means "to give care," and it is an alternative solution to the blatant problem of poverty not just in the Philippines but the world. Its approach is integrated, holistic and sustainable – a concrete action plan to rebuild this nation by harnessing the best of the Filipino – our faith and our patriotism.

What started barely five years ago in the Philippines as a simple but daring initiative by Couples for Christ has now become a growing multi-sectoral partnership driven by a vision of a new Philippines with NO MORE SLUMS. Together with its partners, Gawad Kalinga is now in the process of transforming poverty-stricken areas, many of them now empowered to further improve their quality of life! And the heart-work of GK volunteers is evident in the beautiful colors of the GK homes that have been built for and with the poorest of the poor Filipino families nationwide.

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Submitted by Marco on Fri, 06/10/2006 - 4:59pm.

I was fortunate enough to be able to catch Business Class on Qantas on the way back home from Manila to Sydney. Want to know what people in Business class eat? Let me tell you that these people get fed pretty well. I remember flying Economy on the way to Manila and I was still hungry after the lunch service. On the other hand, eating in Business left me satisfied from the great tasting food but somewhat bloated by the end of the flight. I had the Cod Fillet with Mustard Crust. I would like to commend the Qantas flight attendants - they provide excellent service.

Max's restaurants have been an institution in Manila in the past 60 years. They are known for their chicken. Sad to say, ever since they have expanded rapidly, franchising out their concept all over the Philippines - their chickens never do taste the same as the good old days.

Max's Spring Chicken is still up to scratch. Even though their taste have somewhat degraded even since their massive expansion via franchising. What's a spring chicken I hear you ask? It's basically a young chicken (I think). Beside the chicken are kamote chips. They only serve a stingy four pieces of those chips! Cheapos!

I must've looked like an easy target for one of those ShoeMart (SM) scam artists to approach me (and my cousin). She came out of nowhere, clutching a handbag, looking very normal. She asked us if we were going to buy anything and if we want to exchange our cash for a gift cheque. This seemed odd, so we politely declined. At the counter thse was a notice to customers (the above photo): "Please say NO to strangers exchanging SM Gift Cheques with your cash." I guess they have some sort of scam going on where they would give you bogus SM gift certificates and offer you a little more than what you exchanged in cash. Be warned.

I know you can barely read the picture above but it’s a receipt from Max's restaurant. We fed three people for P693.16 (pesos) which is around AUD$18. If you were in Australia, you would only have fed two people (complete with drinks) in a food court with $18. But Philippine standard-wise, P693 is expensive for a meal. I noticed that the further you got away from Manila, the cheaper the food became. If you want to feed a van-full of people, say about 15, take them to the province and you can get them a great meal for less than AUD$60. Complete with desert and alcohol...

Manilians (aka people who live Manila) are technologically disabled. Take this case in point: The lines were long - super long, something like 30 or 40 people deep time 3 lines waiting to purchase a ticket for the train. There were two ticket machines located on either end. Guess who first lined up, realised there was no one waiting at the ticket machines, bought a ticket and passed all those who were waiting - leaving them speechless (they saw me, I noticed, I saw their expressions too). Yes me! I could not believe that out of all those people had no change for a simple machine. The machine only had a few buttons – compared to our 100+ button ticket machine in Sydney. My case in point: Manilians are technologically disabled.

The Black Eyed Peas (BEP) were visiting the Philippines as part of their "Monkey Business" tour and I went along to their concert. It was great... Araneta Coliseum in Cubao was packed with people and the house was rockin'.

Here's my ticket stub from the Black Eyed Peas 'Monkey Business Tour'. They played in the Araneta Coliseum in the last week of July in 2006. The Coliseum itself is famous for the match between Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a match that was dubbed as the "Thrilla in Manila". You can see the price I paid for the concert: It was P3,150 (pesos) which is about AUD$83.

The standard for Brucshetta needs to be lifted in the Philippines. It was crap! There wasn't enough parmesan cheese. The tomatoes were shredded and not fresh (I think they were canned) The herbs weren't fresh either. Well maybe because I got it from Cibo in Gateway Mall in Cubao.

About a month ago my cousin treated us to Cibo in Gateway Mall located in Cubao, Philippines. Don't eat there. Cibo serves "Italian food". It was disastrously bad. It was awful! Even I can cook better than what they served me. My main complaint was the pasta. The sauce was livable but not terrific. But the pasta! Don't get me started, the pasta was not al-dente. It wasn't even cooked enough – it was still tough. I hope they improve, Italian food can be tasty if done right. Save your cash and just eat at Burgoo (another restaurant at Gateway Mall).

Tasty Lechon! Lechon is pork – well to be specific I think it is "young-suckling pork cooked on a spit for a few hours". You know where the best lechon is? You can find tasty lechon in Cebu, Philippines. And it's cheap too! Just have a look at the photo! A kilo of the cooked pork is only P280 which is about $7.40. A kilo! And no need for Mang Tomas (The popular sauce people use for Lechon) - the meat is succulent and full of flavour that there is no need for any sauce. At this restaurant - Bernadette's – located close to SM Cebu City in an alleyway, we managed to feed 5 people at this restaurant for about AUD$15. The meal was complete with the lechon + soup + drinks + ihaw'd sergeant fish...