Monday, October 15, 2012

Mabuhay

'Mabuhay', the purser said as the plane prepared to land. 'Welcome to the Philippines'. It was 5.30am and the temperature outside already was 27 degrees centigrade. I've had an overnight flight from Sydney to Manila via Melbourne and I'm sleep deprived and twitchy and my eyes feel full of sand. But I do feel welcome.

There are brilliant bunches of spiky yellow and red tropical flowers gathered in the forest gardens in the country-side and brought to the city house:

Yellow flowers 1
red flowers

There are heaps of rambutans and bunches of tiny sweet lady finger bananas also gathered in the country-side, and buttery-textured Philippine mangoes and papaya from the market:

rambutans
Bananas and papaya

For lunch we ate tuna in soy sauce and a vegetable stew of pumpkin, beans and tiny eggplant in coconut milk, followed by neon-green bibingka (sticky rice and coconut milk cake topped with brown sugar and wrapped in banana leaf).

Bibingka

I'm in the Philippines for a week before a three-week trip to China.

Mabuhay.

6 comments:

Rose Red said...

Ooof, 27C! Have a wonderful trip!

Anonymous said...

You have just made me feel like I've gotten off a plane in the tropics (and my feet feel cold in real life). enjoy!

Lynne said...

Have a wonderful trip. I loved the Philippines on my visit long ago. BTW, Manila via Melbourne seems a tad illogical!

DrK said...

lunch sounds delicious. i hope its a bit cooler as you head further north at least, im so looking forward to your photos.

Brendaknits said...

I can feel the sunshine in those colours.

Unknown said...

Knitted socks are out! Welcome to a land of yummy food, vibrant colours and unpredictable happenings. I too look forward to the posts as the adventure unfolds.