Me and my colleague went to Manila for conference to present paper sometimes mid 1990's. It was fasting month. Were there for 1 week if not mistaken. Stayed in one of the hotel (cannot remember anymore the name but quite famous one). The hotel just walking distance from shopping mall (pun tak ingat apa nama nye..).
The conference story as usual all the technical presentation which not relevent and not interesting to jot down here. The first day, we kind of hope that it was not too bad to find food to eat there. 45 minutes before buka puasa time, both of us merayap kat shopping center tu..We could not find even a single restaurant that we could hop into becoz every where from outside we could see "that" hang everywhere. Masa nak buka hampir tiba ...masih mencari2.. Sambil jalan2 nampak this chef carry one big tray..and guess what is inside this tray: sitting beautifully with a smiling face of "that" again...terus hilang selera nak makan bila nampak tu...tak tahu pasal apa tah..Finally we gave-up then we just had water to buka puasa and find some bun to eat. Masa sahur kat hotel tu hentam maggi, roti and sambal daging ajelah...Masa tu berahim tak dak dalam pasaran lagi..
Second nite we went to this Indonesian restaurant which was very far from downtown. Entered the restaurant, very impressed with the setting of the restaurant (typical indonesian decoration). More interesting was the song played there...Kak Nita punya lagu...again tak ingat apa nama lagu nye...hehehe..ada sikit memory lost.. Lega rasanya dapat makan something yang tak dak "that". So kami berdua pun buka puasa sakan lah malam tu, qada for the previous nite and tapau for sahur sekali. We went there twice becoz it was really far. By the time sampai hotel dah mid nite.
Subsequent nite we just eat something lite that we could find around hotel...Well that was about 10 years ago. I am sure now shud be more choices..
After conference finished, we got chance to jalan2 sikit. We chartered Taxi to take us around the town. Rizal park (kalau tak salah namanye), we stopped to take picture. Biasalah enkau ambik gambaq aku dan aku ambiq gambaq enkau. Then this security approached us nak tolong ambik gambaq kami berdua. So we let him do that. Surprisingly ingatkan for free like tolong only..rupanya dia mintak duit. So my friend pun bagi 5 but he demanded another 5..waaaa.. rupanya security buat part time job kat situ..Takut nak argue sebab dia ada pistol, so bagi aje. We believed this people must be very poor..as there is such a huge gap berween the rich and the poor in this country. I thanked Allah for all that He gave me..
What both of us got from Manila..well we bought several nice looking preserved orchids which beautifully framed. Balik gantung kat dinding.
End.
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6 comments:
Anggerik Merah, malas sungguh kan kalau berjalan bulan puasa? Bulan ni pun ada conference di Holland, tapi tak mungkin akan pergi. Manila must be interesting. Kak teh tak berjalan jauh di negara2 jiran..tapi bila keluar terus sampai ke sini - jadi bila sekali sekala balik memang teringin sangat nak ke Indonesia, Vietnam dan kalau boleh nak ke China.
Selamat menyambut bulan puasa.
KT, true. Kalau pegi places yang senang nak cari makan no problem masa puasa. I had been to negara jiran;Indonesia and China. Experience benda pelik2. Nantilah ada masa boleh jot down as I do not wish to forget them. Those experience are really valuable to me. Holland should be Ok in term of food and it is so beautiful especially country side.
Selamat menyambut puasa untuk Kak Teh & family in London.
Kak Teh!!!!, terkejut seing my blog link to sentral station. Thanks for the link and feel honoured. Malu lah pulak nak tulih nih!
AM, your entry reminds me of how fortunate we are in this country (in terms of makan & living standards). Overseas, sometimes kedai makan yang nampak Melayu/Indon tak tentu halal pun. Pernah masuk restaurant kononnya 'Malaysian' tengok2 nasi goreng pun ada "itu" .... terus tak lalu nak makan. Even in S'pore ... at the buffets, you may find "that" next to the foods you 'think' you can eat. Pernah pergi conference in S'pore .... lapar!!!!
QOTH, exactly we are very fortunate to live in our country.
AJ...malu sebab kena sensor lah skit bila tulih and make sure tak tulih masa tengah tengelam dalam river...nanti satu dunia bloggers terperanjat plak...the roller coster..
Bila baca AJ's blog terus loud speaker...gelak terbahak2 !!!
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