YOUR IMAGINARY TOURISTS goes to CHINATOWN: NO SIOMAI ALLOWED

For quite some time, Your Imaginary Friends has been listing down get-away plans and activities we can do together that are remotely connected to our music. It was never easy, because scheduling can be a bitch and the economic crisis always two steps ahead of our simple dreams. Imagine my gladness when—finally—we got to pin down a date where we can all be together, bring cameras and just go crazy.

chinatown invasion pushing through.

Kids, it was the day Your Imaginary Friends invaded Chinatown.

For those who are not familiar with the place, Chinatown is located across the Pasig River from Intramuros, and right smack in the middle of two major churches: Sta. Cruz Church to the West, and Binondo Church to the not-so-far East. Historians say that it used to be a center of commerce where Chinese merchants sell their wares to Indios and Illustrados and the Spaniards. For us though, it’s a mystical home for good, ole Chinese food.

track n' roll, baby.

All on our way to meet Emerald at the LRT-1 Carriedo Station, rain poured. That did not stop us. Eric, Katrina and I hopped into the LRT-2 bound for Recto—while controlling our urges to cheat fasting by getting filled with bland fast food or those faux-Chinese siomai kiosks.

Wait. Go back. Eric, Katrina (Eric’s creative partner and muse) and I were to meet Emerald. That’s right. There is an Imaginary Friend missing here. He may not be present, but we did order extra for Khalid. More on that, later.

From Recto, Eric, Katrina and I braved the smelly crowd and rancid lobbies of dirt-cheap motels and girly bars to find our way to LRT-1 station to meet up with Emerald.

Finding Emerald was at Carriedo was such joy, because finally, we can begin the journey to Chinatown.

backstreet's back, alright.

We started at Ongpin’s Sta. Cruz gate, traversing the main street and its wet backstreets—despite it reeking with a disinteresting concoction of horse piss, sesame oil, and LPG. From one store to another, we snooped around and snapped us going loco with my Smena Symbol (and Katrina and Emerald with their undercharged digitals. Lomo, 1. Digicams, 0!)

It was Eric’s intention not to have an itinerary so we can all run around not knowing what to expect. And despite us all famished and silently griping we still had difficulty refraining from checking out the Taoist / Buddhist stores and jewelry stalls and Chinese drugstores. We all agreed not to eat until we get to an exotic Chinese resto.

Already shaking from not sinking his teeth in fried siopao, Eric got himself a cup of sugarcane juice. Maybe the sugarcane juice is not originally Chinese, but he says that every time he sets foot in Ongpin, he deserves a cup. This way, he doesn’t have past “juice”.

Emerald's feeling Zen.

Everything in Chinatown is eye-candy, with Eric acting as the unsuspecting, de-facto tour guide. We saw kalesas (We didn’t ride one) and even the purple firetruck. Why in the hell would someone paint a firetruck purple? The guy who owns it probably wants to be mayor. And probably is named Barney.

It was way past two when we let the rambling of our stomachs be heard. Eric took us to Ang Tunay Beef House, a semi-obscured restaurant at Gandara Street serving exotic Fukkienese cuisine. Turtle soups, Ox tails in Bakuten, Duck in Sibut soup—yes, screw your siomai and lumpiang Shanghai. This is the most unheard from the herd of the unheards. We dug in on the Ox tail. Eric feared that we may not like the taste of the other soups. And to add to this merry feast, we ordered Stuffed Shrimp, Chili Squid, Fish Fillet in Soyu, Sauteed Tofu, and four cups of rice. Oh, and a round of Black Tea to help ease peristalsis.

arriving to the main course.

when in doubt, go tofu!

and a soupstar is born.

drunk on jasmine tea.

Since late August, Emerald has already been craving for authentic Chinese Moon Cakes. Luckily, we were already on Gandara that time; Tong Ah Moon Cake is just around the corner.

With an intention to just pick up a Moon Cake, Eric was surprised to find out that DIMSUM IS CHEAP here. Needless to say, it was lunch all over again. Hakao. Spinach Dumpling. Kuchay Dumpling. Scallop Dumpling. Braised Goto. Plus 2 Shrimp Cheongfans—and before Your Imaginary Dimsum Destroyers can breathe, they’re all gone. Very good friend Desiree stepped in to fork on some more dimsum. And to drown the dimsum down the gastric drain, we drank Jasmine tea as if it’s banned the next day.

dimsum for cheapskates!

After that we tried out Emerald’s Tong Ah Lotus Moon Cake. I couldn’t fathom how we managed to go eat all that without having to stuff our cheeks. When we were on our fat feet and back on our track, Katrina battled it out freestyle with this Mainland Chinese merchant selling her a jade ring and an amethyst bracelet. The bangketa pioneer went home with half a victory. Katrina went home brandishing a shiny jade ring.

Next detour was Salazar Street’s Shin Ton Yon Foods and Diao Eng Chay. At Shin Ton Yon, while Eric was buying beef jerky for home, I and Emerald cannot let this curious bun pass without making fun of it. Visit Shin Ton Yon and see for yourself. Diao Eng Chay was a special Chinese bakery. Emerald’s eyes glowed, finding more Moon Cake variants there.

Next munchfest was Lord Stow’s Egg Tart, which was very mouthwatering. A pricey number, but it’s all worth it. We stopped by Binondo Church. Our tour guide Eric said Andres Bonifacio went here to hear mass. Bonifacio grew up in nearby Tutuban, Eric added.

welcome to the magical mystery Binondo church.

We haven’t even reached Escolta, and yet we were already planning our next return. Sadly, the ferry ride to Hulo was closed for the holiday (it was Eid’l Mubarak). It would have been the perfect wrap, but we were too stuffed to even care. We enjoyed a bit of the golden hue from the Manila sunset at Escolta, while talking and sharing what just happened.

We were kids nursing tired feet, keeping flatulence and sharing happy faces. This calls for another date, another time for another visit in a land where Ongpin is Mecca and Chowking is blasphemy.

The sun was almost gone, but never our wanting to return to Chinatown.

dusking in Escolta.

And we will bring reinforcements.

Yes, Khalid. That’s you.

watch out the complete photos of our Binondo escapade in our facebook page.

all photos by Katrina Rivera.