Pinoy Shops the World: The 45th International Bazaar with 2 Mexicans and a Lost Key

- November 20, 2011, Sunday.

I. Reminders and Preparations

- Last week, I remembered to check out the schedule of the annual international bazaar, organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the embassies and consulates in Manila, and other local industries. I was to be held today, from 9am to 7pm, at the PICC tent.

- Last night, I was thinking hard of whom to go with, and I decided to ask my friend Michelle Hernandez, a Mexican-Filipina who happened to be a long-time friend and former schoolmate. Michelle was glad that I informed her about the bazaar, and unhesitatingly agreed to go with me.

- This morning, she sent me a text message, saying that her dad was interested to go too, since he wanted to check out if the Mexican embassy set up a stall at the bazaar. I wasn't able to see the list of participating embassies and consulates, so I wasn't able to tell them in advance about the countries that would be joining the bazaar.

- I decided to wear a Philippine-theme look, because I wanted to be "a Filipino travelling/shopping around the world" for the day. Haha.

- I had quite an adventure finding Michelle's house at around 10:40am, since I haven't gone to her house alone. The first time I went there was 3 years ago, in preparation for Michelle's debut, and I was ignorantly following my friend who knew the way to her house.

- I got lost for around a minute, and fortunately, someone from the other street knew Michelle's dad, and told me where Michelle's house was. Soon, I was standing in front of two doors. Not sure which door was to Michelle's house, I just called her up, and her helper opened the door for me.

- I went upstairs and saw Michelle's dad, Miguel, and waited for Michelle to finish preparing for the trip. Michelle was also kind enough to give me some goodies from Mexico. TEEHEE.

- We left the house 10 minutes later, and off we went to the PICC tent.



II. The Bazaar

- We arrived at the bazaar at around 11:20, and Michelle's dad paid for all our tickets. We entered the tent, and looked at the directory, so we'd know if the Mexican embassy had a stall. Unfortunately, Mexico didn't join this year, but some of the other Latin American countries did, such as Colombia, Chile, Argentina, etc.

- The first stall that we passed by was the Japanese stall, and the ladies there noticed, and admired the Ifugao vest I was wearing. Yay for nationalism, and for being a Filipino.

- The three of us first visited the stalls to the right of the center. Aside from Japan, other stalls to the right were China, Morocco, Vietnam, European Union, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Syria, etc. Many local stalls were present towards the far end, near the eating area.

- Aside from shopping, and bargaining (if applicable,) I also had fun practicing the languages I knew, and of course, that usually softened the hearts of some vendors. That usually meant having bigger discounts (again, if applicable.) Haha. Even a simple "hello" in a foreign language would usually excite them.

- Michelle and I had lunch at Mexcali, since I wanted to try out a closest-to-authentic-but-still-not-authentic-Mexican stall. Both of us had enchiladas. Michelle's dad bought a chorizo burger from the neighboring stall.

- Michelle and I spotted the Paris Delice stall. Paris Delice is a French bakery and deli located at Makati Avenue, and is owned by two French men. The two French men, who also happened to be the bakers, were present at the bazaar. I went there with Michelle, talked to the French men, and bought Nutella buns/donuts.

- The three of us later found a spot to eat. I thought my Mexican lunch was great, although Michelle's dad, being a hardcore and full-fledged Mexican, told me that Mexicali's food was crap. I'd believe him, since I'd say the same thing to "imitation" Chinese food/fastfood elsewhere.

- Aside from my Mexican lunch, I also ate the Vietnamese rice rolls, and later, the Nutella bun/donut I bought. My goodness, the Nutella in anything is divine. Hahahaha.

- After lunch, we continued our quest for bargains and foreign souvenirs. I was amazed that among all the stalls there, India had the biggest stall - I occupied four spaces. Since the sherwanis and kurtas from the India stalls cost a fortune (one was priced 9900php,) I ran back to the Bangladesh stall to buy the less-expensive sherwani-and-pyjama set.

- Other countries from the left side included France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Greece, Canada, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Chile, Argentina, Romania, Belgium, Colombia, etc. I had fun at the Russian stall because I was able to practice my (rusty) Russian with the people there; I don't really have much opportunity to practice my Russian here, except from online chats with Russians I think. (The Russians gave me a discount for the postcards I bought. TEEHEE. YAY RUSSIAN.)

- Michelle's dad had a fun time in the Heiniken stall, as well as stalls from other Latin American countries, while Michelle was very much interested in looking at accessories, maybe clothes, and sometimes shoes.

- The Sri Lankan stall also wanted to give me a discount for knowing how to say hello in Sinhala ("Ayobuwan!!") Sadly, I wasn't too keen on the shirt's design, and the sherwani from the Bangladesh stall kinda ate up all my money. Michelle also took the time to talk to the Sri Lankans, and admire the saris the women were wearing.

- The other far end also had more local stores. The eating area at the other far end had higher-end restaurants/stalls such as Kashmir, and Ya Kun Kaya Toast.

- Just as we were about to exit the tent, we saw our alma mater's dean of student affairs. :D:D:D:D



III. The World Trade Center

- Michelle and her dad decided to go to the World Trade Center's "Noel" Christmas Bazaar, to check out what they have there. I tagged along, also curious to see what the bazaar offered.

- The Noel bazaar was just like an ordinary "tiangge" place, but it also had a lot of interesting things, like the buy-one-take-one popcorn, and cotton-candy machine.

- We didn't stay there for too long, since some of the things there can be bought elsewhere for lower prices.



IV. The Climax

- We were all set to go home at 5pm, until we discovered that the car keys were left inside the car. Michelle's dad had several attempts of opening the car door, later with help from the guard and a driver.

- Michelle's dad asked us to get a cab back to their house to get the extra car key, and go back to the World Trade Center parking lot to open to car. Luckily, we didn't wait long before we were able to hail a taxi cab.

- Michelle and I had a fun chitchat time inside the cab, quickly got the car key once we arrived at their house, and had more chitchat time on the way back to the parking lot.

- The whole round trip took us around an hour. So much for sunlight.

- We were able to open the car soon, and off we went to Michelle's house. In order to relieve our stress from the small mishap, Michelle played Thalia songs in the car, knowing I like Thalia's Mexicanovela songs, until we arrived to their house.



V. The Dinner

- Michelle asked me to stay for dinner, so I could taste Mexican tortillas. Fresh tortillas and cheese tortillas were prepared, as well as a bean-based filling.

- While the food was being prepared, Michelle showed me the costume she wore 4 years ago in our Ramayana play. She suggested that I wear the sherwani I bought from the Bangladesh stall, so we could have an "Indian" picture together. Haha.

- We later had a small dinner, with Michelle's dad telling me all about the Mexican cuisine, and how hard it was to find Mexican ingredients here in the Philippines. I understood where Michelle's dad was coming from, especially since I also found it hard to find Indian ingredients here, but that was before I discovered Assad (and neighboring groceries) in Manila's Little India.

- After dinner, Michelle asked me to take home a few tortillas and some of the bean sauce, so my mom could taste them too. I hurriedly fixed my things, and was accompanied by Michelle's helper back to Tutuban, until I was able to ride a tricycle home.

- A day of international fun has come to an end. I am tired and not-so-prepared for another week of work. Still, it was great to meet many people from around the world, share their culture and mine, have a few laughs and free samples, and live in a happy-and-peaceful world.