party animal

have a dear friend in singers who first clued me into the joys of a roasted pig. the mister and i would traipse round to his bearing hawker centre goodies and a roast suckling pig to celebrate getting into medsch / his phD / numerous other life-changing achievements, and occasionally just because because being young and alive is reason enough for celebration, no? so it was kinda cool when our hosts took this a level up by slaughtering the fattened teenage (as opposed to suckling?) pig because there was lots more pig!!! and come on, how dramatic is watching it slow roast on a spit for hours and hours? delayed gratification at its best ;) also, i can sorta get why mark*zuck made a thing about only eating animals he'd slaughtered himself. not that i did any slaughtering but there's something less guilt-inducing about eating an animal that was born and bred in supreme comfort, treated really well during its (short) life and killed humanely. makes me want to avoid supermarket bought pork now and only have pork if it's from a farm shop and reared on site.

but this is quick evolving into a husbandry / responsible farming + consumption lecture so no! needless to say, piggy tasted amazing. roasted to perfection (our hosts are not new to this game, oh no...) and lechon as they taught us was customary for them. the skin was crispy, crunchy and chewy at the same time. they very kindly gave me the ear (!!!) which i enjoyed thoroughly and hm i don't think i can go back to duck*waffle pig ears in a bag after enjoying the real deal.

dusty roads

friendly locals! the people are such a warm and giving bunch .our hosts told us that if you were to be their guest, they'd surrender the sole bed and borrow money for a feast in our honour. our former help retired a few years ago and returned to the philippines. she's a long term health condition and we brought her medication with us to mail to her. in a way wish we could've visited but she's in a different part of the country. coming from singers we've such warped sense of distance and i fail to appreciate how remote somewhere could be. it's a country made up from 7102 islands (and counting) so don't even get me started on how its governed!

farm life

makati was overwhelming, and that's already the most chichi part of metro manila. hosts explained that when people refer to manila they probably mean metro manila which comprises a number of different districts, of which manila itself is one. we were in makati and even then i was amazed by the obvious poverty / lack of infrastructure. the taxi queue at the airport spanned the length of the building (!!!) and the train queue was beyond the platform, out of the station and round the block. our hosts said people even use adult diapers (!!!) because it's so time consuming a commute they can't afford to waste any time on a comfort break. crazY ! and i do think she was being serious :/

needless to say, it was a welcome relief to escape to the countryside after lunch at greenbelt.

is that not the cutest kurobata piglet ever? only two weeks old and so intelligent ! the moment it heard the ostriches being fed it scuttled through the holes in the fence and out of its enclosure to eat with the ostriches. i fell for its intelligence and wanted to bring it home, saving it from certain death, but alas was not allowed to :( they're not domestic and would've loved cuddles but couldn't catch them! 

cute story - our hosts were gifted a pair of kurobata pigs and the pair had a litter of seven (they killed one for dins!) and the 'children' pigs went on to have another litter of four grand-pigs. the meat was lean and tender, and i didn't experience carnivore remorse because we saw the piggies in their pen. happy, running freely, lovingly fed fresh leaves from the farm, great environment and that's when i realised the origin and good husbandry is so important.

had half a mind to pretend the palm trees were coachella but realised i was a couple of weeks off!

gutai collection

the purpose of the trip was ostensibly to see our hosts art collection at the museum. call me left-wing but i think it's such a waste when collectors buy premium artwork for their personal collection, as if such national treasures are a social good and should remain in the public sphere for communal appreciation. maybe that's the point of collecting i.e. to have something coveted that no one else does. so i found it very generous of our hosts to lend their private collection to the museum for everyone to enjoy.

they've incredible foresight and acumen, always one step ahead of the curve and supporting artists just before they become commercial successes. hosts shared some pretty jaw-dropping anecdotes, like how they were the only one to bid for a certain piece at an auction, securing it for a steal and a fraction of what they'd have been willing to pay should there have been a bidding war. i wish i had their ability to peer into the  crystal ball. the sort of appreciation (60x in a couple of years... OMG) is unheard of in stocks / property etc. and it's hard not to be swayed by the potential upside to such investment. 

also, i realised how appallingly little i know about art and wished i was more aware of what's out there. it's almost as if art's a luxury few can afford as we pragmatic singaporeans focus on bread and butter professions. i can tell you about medicine, and maybe a little about law, but am far from being well-versed in the art scene. would very much like to be able to hold my own, to look at a painting and instantly appraise the confidence with which the brushstrokes were made, the emotion it conveys, the concept behind it, why the artist did it that way etc. aware that so much of it is marketing, about grooming and pushing more bankable artists but do feel it's an area i need to know more about. feel shallow, otherwise.

manila

was in manila for less than 48h. recounted the brief getaway to F who described it as 'bleisure' (bizniz+leisure) which's supposed to be the latest buzzword i'd yet to hear about. as usual, slow on the uptake! had the most gracious hosts who spoilt us rotten, taking care of everything. it was nice to go into man mode, army-speak for being a follower. they're old friends who very kindly let me stay in their berlin apartment when i was on exchange in stockholm all those years ago, so to finally visit in their home in makati was a real treat. the scale of which they've acquired art is nothing short of awe-inspiring. the level of curation, thought and expression of pure taste and class was sublime. 

will be the first to admit i know scarce little about art but always happy to learn, and no one better to learn from than experienced collectors with decades of good calls under their belt.

we'd dins at makati*garden club then 2h massages. silly me, only ever having had 1h massages thought 2h would be too long. turns out that they're onto something good and the 2h massage was a game-changer. 120min of pure bliss and left feeling like a very relaxed noodle. can't go back to hour-long massages now! relatively late night (past midnight! i zz by 9ish usually so this was wayy after my bedtime!) and early start at the polo club. delicious brekkie and i loved the arroz caldo (like porridge!). the thing about filippino food is that it's different yet familiar. same same but different? oops wrong SEA nation. defo shared elements with chinese / straits chinese cooking i'm accustomed to (garlic, ginger, sugar) and it was new but still comforting, to say the least.