Philippines Trip Day 2 (8/12)

We woke up with these bread hot and ready on the dining table. These bread rolls are call Pandesal and is a type of breakfast food they have here. K had been missing the taste of these when we were still in SG and for the past few days, we were saying that we will wake up early to buy them for breakfast. Of course, that didnt happen and we were lucky that his uncle brought them to us. It taste just like normal bread to me, really nice when dipped with coffee (I think it will taste even better when dipped in Milo). I only had three of them and I was already feeling full. On the streets, I can see a lot of bakeries and small stalls selling the Pandesal too.

It was already 11am when we woke up, and once again we set off to Angeles where K is going to collect his Iron Man stuff (roll eyes). As it was already late, we went there in his Nissan pickup. It was the second time I ha a ride with K driving and its not easy to drive around in this part of the world as the traffic is not smooth, he was really stressed the first day when we drove to the dentist and other part of Tarlac city since his license had expired and he had not been driving for quite some time. I could hear him cursing and swearing a lot more when he's at the wheel, and tension sort of built up at times and I tried my very best to be patient then.

We dropped by at KFC for lunch, we had been going to KFCs at different parts of the world (Sin, Phuket, Vietnam etc) and he was looking for the sauce that they will serve with rice here. He was disappointed again and again and had been looking forward to come back for his rice in KFC here. In my photo, you can see the sauce in the middle and the rice is wrapped up like a burger. There's also a dispenser at the side where they can refill the sauce. Most of the combo meals come with rice in this land as its the favourite staple of the locals as mentioned before. He order salad for me and I realised that I missed the leafy greens, veg and fruits are almost non-existing in K's diet and I feel that I'm really deprived of those when I'm with him.

It took us a whole day just to settle the Iron Man thing, the fact that its already pitch dark by 6.30pm here make the day seems to past really fast. I was totally sleepy and tired on our way back, the slow traffic and dim lights of the dusk didnt help me to get more energized. However, I was excited when we got home as K's mum had brought home some Baluts. I was eager to try this exotic dish as its well known that we can get to eat this here in the Philippines. In fact, its more like a fear factor dish, akin to the fried cockroach they have in Thailand. The Balut is a unhatched duck egg with duckling embroyo already developed inside (around 16-17 days), and then boiled like a normal hard boiled egg. K had been telling me that they will usually sell them at night, when the temperature is cooler and the warm balut will feel really good when eaten. I was expecting myself chewing some soft bones and my mouth full of duck feathers but that didnt happen. The Balut is very much like a hard boiled egg except for the fact that the egg yolk is covered with dark crimson liquid when we broke the shell. There's the egg yolk and part of the egg white which is already harden (they call it the stone), but there's also a very small slice of bloody skin that looks like a small duck, some people find this too gross to consume and would just finish up the other parts without this.

After a little rest, we took a bus to Tarlac City and met some of his friends who are also working in SG as TAs. We went to Kart City and K was really looking forward to have a go on the Go Kart, I wasnt too keen as I was feeling a little lazy although I had recovered a lot from the late afternoon fatigue. To save my day, it started raining and his other friends are not exceptionally keen to go on the Go Kart. We were just having our chillax session and dinner at the cafe next to the track. The place was quite nice when we were sitting outdoors before the rain. We ordered pizza again as I really loved the pizza they served at Zulu the previous night. It was too dark in the restaurant to get a proper shot at the pizza, but I can almost taste the thin crust with fresh ingredients and veggies! Mmmm....

After leaving the cafe, we went to pick up a new kitten that K had bought a few months before we were back in the Philippines. Luckily, the kitten is really tame and shy, it loves cleaning itself and doesnt make any noise (till we switch off the lights and it was pitch dark in the room). I wasnt mentally prepared when K wanted to let it roam around our room when we were sleeping, I was concerned about it peeing and pooping on our bed as we're not too familiar with it yet. On top of it, I will get paranoid about the kitten brushing against my skin in my sleep. Finally, he compromised and brought in a cage for the kitten to sleep next to us. I really heaved a sigh of relief when he did that, even though I felt sorry for the poor cat. Luckily, it didnt whine and just left it to us to decide its fate. K was looking at our gadgets in the room, and as a big fan of Apple products, he decided to name his new kitten Apple. He was really unsettled until he finally he made up his mind about the name.