After months of trying to find the right schedule and the right company, I was finally able to join ivan dy’s “the BIG Binondo Food Wok!” last june 12. To borrow ivan’s term, it was really a power walk which started in binondo church at 1 pm and ended in the same church at 6 pm. And it was all worth it.
I’m not a Chinoy nor do I live near the area so I haven’t had the chance to explore the binondo area before the walk, well, except for occasional trips to nearby divisoria. So, on that day, i w
as literally a tourist in my own country, as we walked along Ongpin and Salazar streets…the only streets I could remember.
Good thing my former roomy, A, joined the tour too coz she was as eager as I was. On second thought, she was a little more eager than I was. In fact, more than once, we were left behind by the group coz she was busy taking pictures.
Since it was a food walk, we ate at around 5 different places and sampled different kinds of authentic Chinese food, from rice to dumplings to fried siopaos and a lot more. That was the main reason I became interested with the tour in the first place. Ivan promised that whatever calories we would get from th
e food would be burned by the time we finish the walk. Well, he was right. By the time it was all over, my stomach was growling.