Showing posts with label URBAN LIFE. Show all posts

🇵🇭 VIGAN • Sitio Food Park: First Urban Food Park in Northern Luzon

Edmar del Castillo Guquib at Sunday, July 09, 2017 0

Stories of town explorations.

The food park has an open square enclosed by cargo containers piled into two layers with food stalls and restaurants occupying the cargo container spaces.

✈ It was a welcome treat for me after staying away from my hometown longer than the usual.

✈ This was more than just a dinner, of course. It's a moment of reminiscing the eight-year relationship we had as colleagues in the nursing services of our hospital. I realized I missed my old job badly that I had this emotional surge of wanting to go back.

[Vigan, Ilocos Sur Province, Ilocos Region, Luzon Island, Philippines]

COVER PHOTOYOUTUBEFACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM

[VIGAN] ► Tapa or beefsteak, whatever you call it, it's CHON for muscles. / #TownExplorer #Vigan #Ilocos | https://t.co/MaPBZ13yp7 pic.twitter.com/RoZCViJ65L
— #TownExplorer (@edmaration) July 6, 2017

[VIGAN] ► Millennial rituals are here to stay. It's either you offer them edgy space or a food with great presentation. Otherwise, you won't get the free advertising and hashtag in social media fed by these millennials. #SitioFoodPark #Millennials #Restaurant #FoodPark #Tamag #SureIlocosSur / #TownExplorer #Vigan #IocosSur #Ilocos #Luzon #Philippines #SoutheastAsia #Asia
A post shared by #TownExplorer (@edmaration) on Jul 6, 2017 at 6:38am PDT

There's a great new addition to Vigan's ever growing food, dining and tourism industries. A food hub just opened last April in Tamag called the Sitio Food Park with the claim of being the first urban food park in Northern Luzon.

A Welcome Treat from My Colleagues

The food park has opened about three (3) months ago but I had no enthusiasm to join the hype that time. It was maybe because I'm tired and sick of all these first-day hypes with the opening crowd that could no longer handle the curiosity and excitement. I know it would be hard for me to achieve a relaxing moment if I'm gonna join a frenzy of crowd that couldn't wait to post an update on social media. I opted to let the force subside so that I could have my own moment when everything has returned to normal. So yes, that's the reason I never visited the food park.

[VIGAN] ► WELCOME TO SITIO FOOD PARK!

I'm no longer staying in Vigan often because of some life hacks that I applied and career twists that are so inviting after I resigned from my nursing job in Vigan about 10 weeks ago so the opportunity to visit the said food park was rare until last week when my former chief nurse invited me to have a dinner with them. It was a welcome treat for me after staying away from my hometown longer than the usual.

Reaching the food park was a drizzly welcome followed by a sudden heavy downpour that didn't last for long. The food park isn't waterproof obviously but if you would use your common sense, you could still have a sumptuous meal without getting wet.

What we did was to climb the stair and stay at the second level. The rain didn't stop yet but we were able to secure a place that would allow us to stay dry.

My colleagues chose to bring me to the Rustic Box Steak House. I didn't know why they chose it but I was more than grateful that someone paid for my meals that night.

They ordered a porterhouse for me and it was so juicy, tender and big—perfect for building my muscles since I've returned to chiseling my body at the gym after random comments and soft bullying that I'm so thin.

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1 | [VIGAN] ► This life will offer you many choices and you could never tell which is the best unless you tried them all.

2 | [VIGAN] ► This is the mess of happiness.

3 | [VIGAN] ► If you make things complicated, then it's complicated. Use your hands. Eat the food. Enjoy as simple as that.

4 | [VIGAN] ► The steak that would help me fight bullies away. :-)

This was more than just a dinner, of course. It's a moment of reminiscing the eight-year relationship we had as colleagues in the nursing services of our hospital. I realized I missed my old job badly that I had this emotional surge of wanting to go back.

On the other hand, I learned that one of my colleagues who was also with me that night has pursued her plan to work in Saudi Arabia. Her reason? I don't know and I believe it's a personal decision she has to make. It's the same thing with me. I left my old job because of personal decisions too. How I wish to stay there longer but it's human nature that we want to achieve more. Me, I just wanted to grow and pursue my passion and goal of traveling the world.

The rain has stopped but not our conversations. The sky dimmed but the food park lightened as bulbs, lamps and smiles brightened up the space once consumed by darkness.

A New Food Park for Ilocanos and What to Expect

The Sitio Food Park is located in Barangay Tamag of Vigan, just along the Quirino Boulevard after the Ilocos Sur Provincial Hospital-Gabriela Silang. As far as my memory is concerned, the present location of the food park was the same location proposed for the construction of a fancy hotel with the perspective already on display. However, the proposed project has gone in the wind. After more than a decade, this project came out—the Sitio Food Park.

The location used to be a green space I've always adored everytime I passed by this area. It was surrounded by lush thick vegetation of trees, shrubs and maybe herbs that made me felt like I was so close to nature. The green space is already gone upon the birth of the Sitio Food Park.

The food park has an open square enclosed by cargo containers piled into to two layers with food stalls and restaurants occupying the cargo container spaces.

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1 | [VIGAN] ► Innovation is here. Sitio Food Park is said to be the first of its kind in Northern Luzon.

2 | [VIGAN] ► Lush thick green vegetation surrounds the Sitio Food Park. The area used to be an open green space.

3 | [VIGAN] ► Rainy days are young. We can still consume our chilled overprized juice.

4 | [VIGAN] ► One layer of courage is safer yet seemingly dispassionate. Double layer of courage is more adventurous and commanding.

5 | [VIGAN] ► Images and colors could speak a thousand words.

In the middle is like a concert ground with a performance stage at the western part of the park. It opens from 10:00 AM up to 2:00 AM the next day. The center square is an open space. The ground was designed with adorable tiles of pleasing patterns with dining tables and chairs on it.

The Sitio Food Park is near the Baluarte Zoo of Chavit Singson and less than 1 kilometer to the next municipality (Caoayan).

For first-time visitors, get an extra cash since the prices here were marked-up higher than the average. Party drinks are available and you have a wide array of choices in terms of what food to it.

There is also a concert stage for live band performances so expect that this food park would have a party atmosphere starting 10:00 PM onward.

Night and Rain

The light faded, creeped to oblivion. The chatter, laughter and occasional silence made time ran so slow that we didn't notice it was already dark. More people gradually occupied the spaces of the food park from the ground to the structures.

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1 | [VIGAN] ► Oh night sky. Why so full of soul?

2 | [VIGAN] ► Collective beauty exists. See the tiles.

3 | [VIGAN] ► The sky masterpiece is incomparable.

4 | [VIGAN] ► There's up. There's down.

5 | [VIGAN] ► It was a rainy night at Sitio Food Park

6 | [VIGAN] ► Millennials are everywhere.

5 | [VIGAN] ► Sitio Food Park has a concert ground.

How to Go or Commute?

The tricycle terminal for Tamag (UNP TODA) is located in front of the Vigan Public Market near the Jollibee Vigan Market. Fare should be 10 pesos per head if there are at least two passengers but since this is a trike terminal, they will wait until the trike is full (four heads) unless you will pay for the other slots.

Vigan is known for infamous tricycle drivers who would charge you more than what the city ordinance mandates. Inside the tricycle is a sticker with the schedule of fares in Vigan. If you are wise, don't negotiate with the driver. Just ride and pay after based on the schedule of fares. If they insist you to pay more, you might opt to report them at the Vigan City Hall.

Basically, you can get a trike anywhere from Vigan. The same fare applies when you get a trike anywhere as long as it's inside the poblacion. However, if you took a trike from the residential districts of the Vigan poblacion, they might charge you higher and it's your choice if you're going to agree or not with the amount. As I said, you could just ride and pay after based on the schedule of fares posted inside the trike. Some trikes might not post it though so beware. You may request the schedule of fares at the city hall. Proceed to the information desk and tell them you're a tourist.

If you came outside from the poblacion or from another town (say for example Bantay), this is outside the scope of the ordinance. Normally, if you came from a point that is just near the Vigan border, fare should be from as low as 30 pesos up to 50 pesos per trike if you're alone. If there are at least two of you, fare should be at least 15 pesos to 25 pesos each head.

Take note that night fare is more expensive than what I mentioned here.

Ending Insights

For me this is a great addition to Vigan's roster of restaurants & food hubs and... I would claim this as an additional tourist attraction. It's a millennial-savvy destination I think.

More than that, I would like to believe that this food park will serve as a stimulus to that area—I'm referring to economic activity. The area is a dead economic zone and I hope other investors would follow soon so that this area will also develop economically. What do you think?

Above all, this experience for me is more personal. It felt good to catch up with old friends who became part of my life journeys. | end |

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Map Showing the Location of #VIGAN

► FOOTNOTES, DISCLAIMERS, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ETC

✈ This post was filed under the category "Food Destinations." See more posts related to this below.

✈ The maps I used on this post are from maps.google.com.ph.

✈ All photos are mine.

✈ The insights, condition and name of places or properties I mentioned here are based on the facts and situation on the day of my visit. Take note that you may have a different experience when you try or see the properties or places mentioned here. Names of places and properties may also change by time so it's not my responsibility to update all the information on this blog because once published, I already consider it an archive and I won't update my narratives because I want them to become my references of what have happened in the past. I'm very particular of the dates because I want my amazing readers to understand that I am writing stories based on my perspective and insights on the day of my visit. You can see dates almost everywhere on this blog. Exempted from this rule are my travel guide posts that need to be updated.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • Holy Week's Bargeynan (Hawker Street) and Hawker Food Stalls

Edmar del Castillo Guquib at Saturday, March 26, 2016 0

Stories of town explorations.

"To get inside the shopping tents, you have to survive the crowd by squeezing yourself in between strangers, literally."

[VIGAN, ILOCOS SUR, PHILIPPINES] ▬ It has been a tradition in Vigan to turn the streets near the Vigan Cathedral, Plaza Salcedo and Plaza Burgos (Burgos and Florentino Streets) into a shopping haven for cheap goods and cheap local hawker food stalls every Holy Week.

[VIGAN] ► SHOP AND SURVIVE THE CROWD. MAKE THIS A PART OF YOUR BUCKETLIST.

Bargeynan, etiology

#VIGAN

IN VIGAN, WE CALL THIS HAWKER STREET as bargeynan. I'm not exactly sure where this word bargeynan came from but my theory is that it came from the word 'bargain." Basically, this hawker street is a place for bargain goods (a thing bought or offered for sale more cheaply than usual or expected). So we Ilocano Bigueños have called it bargeynan. The word bargain evolved to its Ilocano spelling bargeyn then the suffix -an was added. The latter suffix is used in Ilocano grammar to turn its root word as 'a place or the location for something.' For example: empanadaan (empanada + an: a place to eat/buy empanada), sinanglaoan (sinanglao + an: a place to eat/buy sinanglao), computeran (computer + an: a place for computers—computeran or kompyuteran is our Ilocano term for an internet shop/café).

Take note that not all Ilocano words follow the same grammar rule and some words follow a different rule by adding prefixes ka- (like ka-longboy-an, ka-mangga-an, ka-buslig-an), pag- (like pag-parti-an, pag-panday-an, pag-tienda-an) or repeating the first syllable with the prefix ka- (like ka-kaykayu-an, ka-banbantay-an, ka-taltalun-an, ka-balbalay-an). Ok, enough for this Ilocano 101.

Bargeynan for Holy Week

THE BARGEYNAN DITOY VIGAN (BARGEYNAN HERE IN Vigan) usually appears in our streets at least four times a year. Its first appearance is during our week, (the bargeynan is located near the carnival grounds though) then followed by the Holy Week (March), Viva Vigan Festival of the Arts Week or the every May and the World Heritage Cities Solidarity Festival every September. If there are special occasions, it may appear again. The used to have its own bargeynan also in Vigan until it transferred to the Quirino Stadium featuring more of OTOPs.

For Semana Santa (Holy Week), the bargeynan is located in its traditional location: Burgos Street (south of the Ilocos Sur capitol and the ) and Florentino Street (south of ).

[VIGAN] ► SHOPPERS' PEAK OF ARRIVAL IS FROM 5 PM TO 7 PM

[VIGAN] ► THIS MERCHANT TRIES TO CONVINCE POTENTIAL BUYERS.

[VIGAN] ► A FOOD STALL ALONG BURGOS STREET IN FRONT OF NATIONAL BOOKSTORE VIGAN

[VIGAN] ► ANTIPOLO DELICACIES BROUGHT TO VIGAN

Merchants from as far as secured a coveted space in these seasonal hawker streets to grab the opportunity to attract buyers from the huge volume of tourists.

Dry goods sold cheaper than usual ala Divisoria attract locals while the section for OTOPs and local Vigan products attract the tourist crowd.

[VIGAN] ► THIS VENDOR ATTRACTS THESE CHILDREN

[VIGAN] ► FLORENTINO STREET CROWD

[VIGAN] ► AN OLD BUILDING AT THE BACKGROUND

[VIGAN] ► TOY VENDORS ARE EVERYWHERE.

[VIGAN] ► AL FRESCO ON FLORENTINO STREET

Florentino Street

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCES HAWKER style, Florentino street (south side of the Plaza Burgos) is the place to be. You can dine here al fresco, have some bottles of beer if you wish, enjoy sizzling food, spot for mouth watering bagnet and Vigan longganisa or simply indulge yourself to familiar grilled street food.

On a Maundy Thursday, my brother and my cousin joined me to see what's new here. It was the same bargeynan we've known before. Unfortunately, there's power interruption this day so the hawker street and the Plaza Burgos as a whole went dark. It's also noisy around due to gasoline-run power generators.

On a Good Friday

BEING A RESIDENT OF VIGAN MYSELF, I would attest to the common local observation that Good Friday is the most crowded day in Vigan in a year because of the annual pursisyon. Vigan is a predominantly Roman Catholic city that used to be the center of Roman Catholicism in Northern Philippines during the Spanish colonial era as evidenced by the presence of the last/only surviving Spanish-era archbishop palace in the Philippines, the transfer of the seat of the Nueva Segovia under King Philip II of Spain and the centuries-old churches within and around the city.

[VIGAN] ► BARGEYNAN ON A GOOD FRIDAY

[VIGAN] ► WELCOME TO VIGAN'S BARGEYNAN

As expected, the bargeynan on a Good Friday is also crowded. To get inside the shopping tents, you have to survive the crowd by squeezing yourself in between strangers, literally.

Are the Street Foods Safe?

FOR HEALTH-CONSCIOUS INDIVIDUALS, THEY MAY HESITATE joining the street crowd in giving the street foods a try. So are the street foods safe?

Like any other street foods and street dining areas in the world, 'trust' is a big word. We cannot control the conscience of the vendor if he/she didn't prepare the food cleanly. However, in terms of food safety and health regulations, the city of Vigan is probably one of the most strict cities in the world. Every person who has food-related job is required to undergo chest radiologic studies and laboratory exams annually just to make sure they are free from any contagious or communicable diseases. This requirement from the city government is infamous among businesspersons and minimum-wage earners in the service industry because they think this is an additional burden to them (I know this because I work in a hospital and I usually take part in their medical screening and sometimes they share their sentiments to me as a health care provider) but they have nothing to do but to comply with the strict requirements of our city. Even dishwashers, taho vendors, fish ball vendors and balut vendors are required to undergo laboratory and radiologic exams every year or at least more than once as the case may be. As proof that they are free from diseases, the city government issues a yellow health ID to them. They will be fined or penalized if they engage in food-related business/job without health clearance.

[VIGAN] ► CALLE FLORENTINO HAWKER FOOD STREET

[VIGAN] ► SOME FOOD CHOICES IN THE STREETS

[VIGAN] ► ANOTHER FOOD STALL

[VIGAN] ► THE RICE WE ORDERED

[VIGAN] ► BAGOONG WITH CALAMANSI + TINUNO NGA BANGUS

[VIGAN] ► OUR FOOD, ALL CONSUMED

[VIGAN] ► SWEET CORN STALL

If you observed, we did not use plates to eat. We rather placed our food on a banana leaf inside a basket to safeguard ourselves from diseases that can be acquired from shared utensils or reusing public plate. This wasn't our request but this is the practice being observed by street food stalls as imposed by the city health unit and related legislations. The use of reusable spoon and fork is not prohibited though but you have the option to eat with bare hands. Non-biodegradable disposable eating paraphernalia aren't encouraged though because this may add to the bulk of garbage made by tourists daily in the expense of our city and its people. So tourists should also be responsible. In fact, the city government imposes the rule that every waste brought to our city should be brought back home.

2016 Highlights and Remarks

HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS I observed in this year's Holy Week bargeynan that don't usually happen so I made notes about it so that I may have a personal database of the unusual happenings or observations that are unique or remarkable for each season. For bargeynan 2016, here are my notes:

It's campaign season so expect campaign streamers. Around the bargeynan and the hawker street, you can see streamers of Bongbong Marcos—probably a manifestation of the Solid North Marcos movement. Well, you're in Ilocandia and this is something to expect, didn't you? (This scene may never happen again in the future unless BBM will run again for VP, hence, this note).
This year's bargeynan is a little bit less nicer. There was power interruption on a Maundy Thursday so the usually vibrant and lively Plaza Burgos and the Florentino hawker street went dull and dark. Tourists weren't able to see their food well because there were no lights inside some of the covered dining areas. (It's rare that the seasonal hawker streets of Vigan, especially during Holy Week, experience a black out. So this deserves a note for future reference.)

Ending Notes

I don't usually leave Vigan during Holy Week for holiday tours because I expect that the other tourist destinations are crowded too (unless the trip I'm going to do is worth the time and effort). The only time I left Vigan on the course of the Holy Week for the purpose of leisure traveling was in 2014 wherein I thought it was a worthy Holy Week travel when me and my friend Hazel Ramos embarked to a tandem motorbike adventures from Vigan to Sta Ana, Cagayan with side trip Fuga Island of the Babuyan archipelago. Well I also have several travels within the Holy Week but they are all one-day adventures wherein I also go back home within the day.

I always opt to stay in Vigan during Holy Week and I love documenting the culture of our city during this season. Agyaman 'ak, Vigan nga nakaiyanakak ken dimmakkelak, ta ditoy ko nga nasursuro nga apresiyaren iti nabaknang nga kultura ken kannawidan nga isu iti nang-inspirar kanyak nga ag-viahe ken ag-ballog tapnu bumirok iti lugar nga kapadpadam. Daksang-gasat, awan pay iti nabirukak ta iti kinapintas mo ket naipadpaduma. Itatta, haanakon nga agbirbiruk pay it kapadam no diketdi itultuloy ko it ag-viviaje tapnu ipannakkel iti nasudi nga lugar nga dimmakkelak ken nakasursuruak nga agsao nga kasla kalding (meh, meh, meh). Angaw ko lang diay naudi nga imbagak. Agpayso met, 'di ketdin? / end

Have a blessed Holy Week everyone!

[VIGAN] ► ME AND MY BROTHER AT FLORENTINO STREET WITH BONGBONG MARCOS STREAMER AT THE BACKGROUND

► FOOTNOTES, DISCLAIMERS, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ETC

[1] This post is filed under the category "Urban Life." This is a category here on my blog where I write my stories about city lifestyle, city events, shopping, food trends and related topics.

[2] All maps I used on this post are the works of Eugene Alvin Villar and Mike Gonzalez published on Wikipedia. Source: 1 | 2