Senti Queen

Yesterday, a friend invited me to Chinatown in Binondo. It was Chinese New Year’s Day so I readily went with him because it would be a first-time experience for me. We rode the LRT and upon reaching Recto, we walked all the way to the heart of the Chinese territory.

We found ourselves among a group of people lining up to buy tikoy at Eng Bee Tin. We bought three packs of ready-to-eat tikoys and some hopia. Had I known that the tikoy would taste that good, I could have brought much money and bought a dozen! (I ended up giving the remaining two packs to my other friends whom I met later that day. I was laughing my head off when one of them kidded me, “Hindi lang ito konti, konting-konti!” )

Out of curiosity, my friend and I then decided to buy our respective charm bracelets. There were lots of them at bargain prices! ‘Yong dating P650, P100 na lang daw. Though I don’t really believe in such, I still bought one as a remembrance. It amused me when my friend said, “Even if you don’t believe raw in the power of a charm bracelet, it still works!” Sige na nga.

We met a Chinese woman who was on her way to the Chinese chapel and she invited us to have our bracelets “blessed”. “Wala namang mawawala, tara!” my friend and I chorused. For the first time, I saw first-hand how the Chinese do their rituals for “good luck, good health, and more wealth.” I just hope that the Year of the Ox would be a better year for me, if only for those rituals I also did with respect to Chinese traditions and beliefs.

After a tiring day of having a taste of anything Chinese, I invited my friend to go Pinoy! With 40 pesos left in my pocket, we rode the jeep leading to the UP Campus to eat isaw! While I’ve learned to like tikoy, nothing still beats the taste of the isaw dipped in sukang maanghang. My friend and I finished a dozen sticks!

New things or experiences will continue to fascinate us but at the end of the day, things that we have learned to love through the years still fascinate us more.

————–

02/08/09

A little update:  After reading this entry, this friend showed up the next day with a bag of dozen tikoys and hopias in hand.  Awww..