Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

A Visit to Gawad Kalinga Sunshineville

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 18, 2009

Nuffnang invited us to visit GK Sunshineville. It is a village situated in Las Pinas.

This neighborhood came out as a result of some people’s good intention to uplift the lives of poor families all over the Philippines.

Gawad Kalinga is a foundation that started 1995 with the purpose of “advancing & upholding an integrated, holistic and sustainable community development program, especially in the depressed areas, addressing shelter, livelihood, education and health issues in the spirit of nation building, to strengthen the development and improvement of human and spiritual formation of couples and their children and to foster cooperation with others in the pursuit and realization of the objectives for which GK has been established.”

Take this neighborhood for example that the foundation is helping out. The people who are now living there used to live in the squatter’s area.

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Because of this project, these people now can live comfortably in houses the foundation built. The houses are built for free, however, people have to pay for the lot (Php 500 per month).

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Aside from providing them better shelter, the foundation with the help of some corporations, organized a livelihood program that provide additional income to residents in the community as well as sustaining their livelihood.

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Do you want to see how many good people our country has? You can see a list of partners of Gawad Kalinga in helping the community.

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You can also help the GK Sunshineville community by supporting and/or buying their products. Details can be found on my blog post re: Bayong ng Kabuyanan here.

Thanks again to Nuffnang & HSBC for inviting bloggers to this eye-opening event 🙂

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You can see the rest of the pictures here.

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Bayong ng Kabuhayan

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 17, 2009

Today, I was lucky to experience first-hand the project of Gawad Kalinga Sunshineville, Bayong ng Kabuhayan.

Bayong ng Kabuhayan is a livelihood program where community members create eco-trendy & stylish products such as bags & home/office accessories from doypack materials. The project provides opportunities for its residents and has potential to grow into a permanent & profitable business.

I was able to meet to meet the people behind the project and ofcourse, the community members who are part of the program. I was also able to see how the bags were made.

Here are the instructions they showed us on how to prepare the bag:

Cut doypack sheets into strips.

Doypack is the packaging that ready to drink beverages use. The ones that Zest-O sent to GK Sunshineville are their overruns or rejects. Rejects include ones that were printed wrongly or the packaging isn’t acceptable for commercial use. Just to clarify, the ones Zest-O sent are new and have not been used.
Fold doypack strips one by one.

Milagros showed us how to fold strips. It isn’t an easy task to do! They are paid 25 centavos per doypack strip folded.
Weave the folded doypack strips.

This is the most tedious task of them all. I was able to try it out. It was fun, but I bet if you do this everyday, it won’t feel like fun anymore! hehehe! I really appreciate their materials because they are done with care and with personal touch. In a day, the manangs can make approximately 3-4 bags.
Attach Handle to handweaven bags.

In this video, they showed us how they attached the handle to the bag. We were shown 2 types of handles, first the wooden one and an abaca one. The handle is attached by sewing. I bet doing this the whole will really make your fingers tired especially holding that long needle and sewing it to a hard material.

Finished bags look like these:

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The bags are beautiful & affordable, promise! They sell between Php 395 to Php 450.

They also have other products like the ones below:
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In their beautiful product brochure, you’d be able to see the products on sale.

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They are divided into 2 sections namely:

Bags – Silver Bags, Colored Bags
Home – Serving Trays, Placemats, Envelope cases, File Holders, Utility Boxes

I hope you do support this cause and buy the products. By purchasing, you will not only help them by sustaining the business, you will also get good quality products.

If you have any questions about the products or would like to order, you can contact:
Thess Barameda of GKonomics
Tel: (02) 718-1738
E-Mail Address: gkoncepts.info@gmail.com
Address: 4/F Pro-Friends Building, 55 Tinio Street, Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City, Philippines

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å“ˆç“¦é‚£å’–å•¡ (Harwana Coffee)

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 17, 2009

å“ˆç“¦é‚£å’–å•¡ (Harwana Coffee)
å°åŒ—å¸‚ä¸æ£å€ä¸å±±å—è·¯21-1è™Ÿ
886-(02)2351-2035

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I had brunch at å“ˆç“¦é‚£å’–å•¡ (Harwana Coffee) w/ my mom. It is located inside the Eslite Bookstore located at the ground floor of CKSC National Theater Hall.

å“ˆç“¦é‚£å’–å•¡ (Harwana Coffee) was established in 1999 & it now has 12 branches in Taiwan. I really like this place. They have free wifi available and their food is good!

Service was impressive! I noticed that the servers were young & I think they are still studying and working part-time. They were very fast, smart and soooooo accommodating & nice. I don’t know what kind of training the company does but it surely worked real well!

We ordered their set menu worth 180NT that included the ff.:

choice of main dish
choice of drink
soup of the day

We were served the soup first. Honestly, it was sooooo delicious. It was spicy but it was made just right. See how happy I was in the picture?

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My mom ordered Beef Pasta & Orange Juice. My mom was able to finish it all up so I guess, she was satisfied. I can see how happy she was since she could browse the web. hahaha! I guess mom and daughter are really alike as we are both addicted to the internet!

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I, on the other hand, ordered Spaghetti w/ Sausage & Iced Coffee. I’m not fond of pasta but I definitely like å“ˆç“¦é‚£å’–å•¡ (Harwana Coffee)’s version. It was tasty. I didn’t like the sausage that much though, but the pasta was good! How I wish we have this restaurant here in Manila. It definitely give Starbucks a run for their money.

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Rest of the pictures here.

My mom opted to stay at the coffee shop while I toured around CKSC Memorial Hall (I will post later). When I came back 2 hours later, she was still smiling because she was able to finish all the things she needed to do online. The ambience of the place is really good, you will feel relaxed when you’re there. I also saw a musician on the other table trying to compose some songs. We could even hear him humming!

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è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending)

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 16, 2009

è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) is a very popular place in Taipei where the young hang out.

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With over six thousand vendors, and twenty theaters, Ximending is definitely a place any artists would love to perform in as well as a place for businessmen would want to have commercial space in.

You would be able to see almost anything we enjoy doing like shopping, theaters, coffee shops, bars, tattoo parlors, fast food restaurants, gift shops. If you’re looking for something new or trendy, you would surely find it there.

It is in è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) where we tried Taiwan’s famous Pork Stew Rice (ç‡‰è‚‰é£¯). This is also where we tried the modern toilet restaurant, w/c is super cool. (I’ll post about modern toilet restaurant soon!)

è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) is a very busy area. There are always a lot of people hanging around, but nights and weekends are their peak time.

Here is è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) during the day:

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Just to give a little history, è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) got its name during the Japanese era where it was named after an administrative division. Later on, the Japanese decided to set it up into an entertainment & business area. è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) became even more successful after Japan’s defeat.

Some surprises that we’ve seen in è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) were:

Cute Animals being displayed at night.

A pink shop had a ritual when they were closing. I was in awe. I totally forgot to take a video of it! The six pretty ladies in pink would say something in japanese then they would keep bowing to us. They then would step back a few spaces and the door will close on them. You will be able to see that they were just staying where they were until the door completely shut down on them. hahaha what a nice sight to see!

è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending) is definitely a must-go see when you’re in Taiwan. Truly a hip place for us young & for the young at heart 😉

I have 2 sets of albums for è¥¿é–€ç”º (Ximending): daytime & night time, take your pick.

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Wagamamu Cafe

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 16, 2009

Wagamamu Cafe
411 Retiro Street, near corner D. Tuazon Street, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 749-7108

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Tried this out last night because I heard lots about it. I was hopeful that I would be eating good stuff.

Here’s my first impression: I needed to make an effort to open the door. It is a sliding door but you will need to put some effort in order for the door to open. Of course, you would need to close the door or else it will be noisy.

I noticed that the staff were friendly. When I was choosing what to order, I asked the server their specialty. She quickly answered, “Baby Back Ribs”. I followed her advice. The Verdict? I’ll let you know in awhile.

We ordered the ff.:

Grilled Baby Back Ribs (Php 248)

Half slab of Baby Back Ribs, marinated with their special sauce & grilled over charcoal. I was pretty pretty excited because it has been a long time since I’ve eaten Baby Back Ribs. I think, the last time was about eight years ago, at Rack’s.

When I tried to take a slice, I noticed that the meat was not tender. Look at the picture below, that’s proof.

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I remembered that good baby back ribs are easily sliced. Like you don’t even need a knife for it.

It’s funny though that my other friends told me that their baby back ribs was yummy. I guess they were just inconsistent or I was just unlucky enough that at the time I tried their dish, they didn’t do it well.

Pan Seared Fillet of Fish in Lemon Battered Sauce (Php 148)

The fish fillet that we ordered was pan-seared & topped with lemon buttered sauce. My friend said that the fish was good but there was just too much butter sauce. If you love butter, you wouldn’t mind this but if you’re conscious about your health, I bet you will try to remove some of the butter sauce from the fish. I just wish I ordered this over baby back ribs because it did look delicious.

White Choco Macademia Latte (Php 90)

Tasted like Baileys. Enough said.

My friend also told me that the onion rings and cakes didn’t taste good. I don’t think I’ll go back to Wagamamu Cafe. Maybe, if a friend would organize something there, I will go back, but if I have to choose, I won’t be including this to my list of must go back places..

For those who frequent Wagamamu Cafe, I hope you know that they do reward you 🙂 They offer this card and for every purchase of Php500, they will put a stamp in your card. On your 3rd visit, you receive free hot Americano coffee. On your 6th visit, you receive their soup of the day. On your 9th visit, free onion rings. Lastly, on your 10th visit, you receive a 1 year valid discount card. There’s a catch though, you will need to get all those stamps in 60 days. Personally, I think 60 days is just too much, this is not a fastfood restaurant that you’d want to eat there often. Well, that’s just me.

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More pictures here.