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Clowns and Mascots

April 8, 2013 – 4:40 pm
Clowns and Mascots

A local business in Legazpi. This operation is right on Rizal Street, and I pass it several times a day. They can arrange for performers to come to your events or they can rent you costumes. Having been traumatized by Stephen King’s “IT” long ago, I experience a small freakout every time I have to pass this sign at night.

My New Room in Legazpi

April 8, 2013 – 4:30 pm
My New Room in Legazpi

My new room in Legazpi, Philippines. My old home in Legazpi was booked by a large group for today and tomorrow, and I was asked to move out. I was just staying day to day, so technically I didn’t have a reservation and they gave me the boot. I moved to a very basic kind of place on Rizal Street called something like “J&Y Dormitory”. …

Lunch in Legazpi

April 8, 2013 – 4:27 pm
Lunch in Legazpi

Meet my lunch in the Philippines. I ordered rice plus one meat dish and two vegetable dishes. The meat dish is called pork steak. The yellowish vegetable dish at the top is called “ginataang kalabasa.” It seemed to be a kind of squash cooked with coconut milk. The green vegetable dish in the middle is called “ginataang sitaw.”

Meet Aljon in Legazpi, Philippines

April 8, 2013 – 4:13 pm
Meet Aljon - Scholarship Worker

Meet Aljon. Aljon works at the Mayon Backpackers Hostel in Legazpi. He works the front desk and cleans the kitchen and rooms and gets the rooms ready for the next guests. Aljon puts in such long hours that I thought he never went home. Then I learned that the hostel IS his home. The owner of the hostel is paying for Aljon’s university education and …

Job Opportunity in the Philippines

April 7, 2013 – 3:15 pm
Job Opportunity in Philippines

Job opportunity in the Philippines. I’ve seen copies of this poster all over Legazpi. It looks like people are paid to surf the Internet – clicking on links – to make it look like advertisers are getting their money’s worth. A bit of a scam, of course. The numbers in the poster don’t add up, though. It says that you earn 10 pesos per click. …

Canteen or “Eatery” in the Philippines

April 7, 2013 – 3:10 pm
Eatery in Legazpi, Philippines

Meet a typical canteen or “eatery” in the Philippines. I’ve eaten pretty much every meal in the Philippines at a place like this so far. The food is great and it’s very economical. The food is cooked beforehand and laid out in buffet trays. You order rice (7 pesos – 17 cents US – per serving at this eatery) and then select from the various …

Bubble Milk Tea in the Philippines (with “sinkers”)

April 7, 2013 – 3:02 pm
IMG_3376

A bubble milk tea stand at a shopping mall in the Philippines. I chatted with the women at this stand and I told them that bubble milk tea was invented in Taiwan. They didn’t believe me. I ordered a Royal Milk Tea (medium). When you want the full bubble milk tea, you can ask for “pearls” or, as they call them here, “sinkers.” So I …

Fruit Shake Stand – Fruitaholics

April 7, 2013 – 11:03 am
Fruit Shake Stand

Ah, fruit shakes! Pick your fruits and it is all blended up with milk, shaved ice, and some sweetener. P38 ($1) for the extra-large. At the Magayon Festival grounds in Legazpi, Philippines.