A few nights after Christmas, I noticed my 2-year old son, Andrew, rummaging through the fridge looking for something to snack on so I came over and helped him. We couldn’t find anything he like so we went out to get a bite of whatever there is on the streets.
Ten minutes of non-stop walking brought us to the Christmas Tiangge, a night market, in the middle of the city. We went around looking for something we'd both like, something meaty paired with cup of ice filled cup of any refreshing drink.
The first thing we passed by was the “I love Marikina” sign where groups of (probably) friends and families stop by to take a groupie while others for their turn - 'coz we sure like to take pictures!!!
This is while Andrew is begging to take a picture of the fish outta’ water.
It’s a fish shaped lantern on top of a pole on the riverside. The bridge on the background is the Marikina Bridge with an artificial waterfall streaming from its side – or could just be a leaking pipe.
Going through this arc will get us from point A to point B.
This one right below is Point B, a mini amusement park with tons of food to choose from.
It will take lots of hard work to get there but I’m sure it’s all worth it!
The arc is the gateway to the night market, where you can buy stuff at the lowest possible price. Not necessarily authentic but no one seem to care. So you see, the crowd is a little dense.
People are going through piles of shirts and blouses that only cost 50 pesos, or G-Shocks that sells 2 watches for 280 pesos.
You can also buy for yourself a pair of your favorite sneakers for 300 php and match it with a jacket that says “werpa” (power said backwards) that will take you back just another hundred or two.
And did I mention there are also bags and eyewear?
But that’s not what we came here for. We have now grown hungrier and couldn’t wait to get to the street food section of the tiangge. Trekking through the dense crowd got us nowhere.
We walked right out of the arc and found a small cluster of food stalls. No as much as we would find if we got to the other side of the Marikina River but it will do. Like what I said, we’re both starving and anything that will fit into our mouth will be just fine.
We had the chance to bite into these.
I have no idea who King Michael is but this Shawarma looked really promising.
Ihaw-ihaw is Filipino for grilled food. This food stand offers grilled pork, chicken, squid, sausages and anything you can put on top of a pile of steaming hot coal.
There are food stands selling traditional Christmas food like the ones above. Bibinka and Puto Bumbong are most often bought after Simbang Gabi, Midnight Mass, and eaten at home with the whole family.
There’s even a Korean themed store that sells Korean food!!! I'm sure my wife will love this!!!
This one caught Andrew’s attention…Fries!!!
While these caught mine, Meat on a stick and cupped goodness!!! My favorites are Shrimp, Crispy pork skin, or Sisig in a cup. And there are also footlong hotdogs and burgers on the side.
We went home after taking a breather to let all the food settle in our bustin’ bellies and get ourselves ready for our long walk home. With Andrew full, and sleepy, I picked him up to carry him home together with a couple of bags of leftovers from our little food trip along the Riverside Tiangge.
Footnote: 1 usd = approx. 50 php
Know more about Simbang Gabi by visiting Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simbang_Gabi