Monday, August 26, 2019

OF BELTS AND ROADS

the Chinese have been with us ever since, much earlier than the Spanish and historical records, trading with Rajah Ahmad of what is now Manila and his descendants since 1258 or prey to the piracy of Lim-A-Hong who briefly encamped in Pangasinan in 1575 after a raid in Manila, with the Fujians eventually settling in Parian along the banks of the Pasig River and then relocated to an enclave now known as Binondo, created by Governor General Luis Perez Dasmarinas in 1594 for Chinese converts to the church to keep watch on dissent thus establishing the world's oldest Chinatown      

fast forward to present day where Chinese export has outgrown silk to include Huawei and other cheap products, breaking out from the Silk Road into sea lanes and air routes with belts of Chinese money that, as described to us in Phra Khanong, is an outcome of their over capacity and the need to sustain the bubble of an economic growth driven by failing state owned enterprises rather than pursuing world dominance, their South China Sea-grab explained as an attempt to break out of a pseudo-military blockade imposed by the US and its allies       



we speak many dialects but most of us in the Philippines are actually part Chinese, in names (Conjuangco, Aquino, Tanjuatco who by the way are related), the food we eat (pansit, siopao, lechon which comprises comida china), and our looks (Manong Randy and Dinah can be easily mistaken as Chinese); in Bangkok too where Chinese genes abounds in looks, fused in food (the noodles, sauteing and frying) and the lousy breakfast buffet at Ibis Styles Sukhumvit Phra Khanong whose rubbery texture evoke fake food and therefore the bias perception of it being Made in present-day China     



four of us is what's left from our workshop, bounded by a growing distrust of China's intentions in the Philippines (West Philippine Sea and POGOs), Sri Lanka (Colombo Port City Project), Pakistan (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) and a shared lunch of omelette (Persian) and tom yum (Thai) ordered through a colleague's inherent expertise on local cuisine, he who has more Chinese in his DNA than all four of us combined  



Yaowarat is the heart of Bangkok's Chinatown, one of the largest in the world where the Teochew merchants (originaly from Guangdong) were relocated in 1782 perhaps as a punishment of their closeness with the ousted King Taksin, but where they prospered and transformed Yaowarat into today's gastronomic hub mobbed by tourists like Kuya Egay who got the street food walk he requested and a dinner right on the sidewalk stall of Lek and Rut's, his culinary journey ending at the 30th floor of Brewski's rooftop bar and mine extending to the next day, at Suvarnabhumi Airport's duty free shops where I had my usual pre-departure fill of free Chinese-origin rice cookies   



Tsingtao Beer is okey but I can't get myself to like Siok Tong tonic wine 

thank you to the Scots for Johnny Walker blended whiskey and long live China for inventing the lechon!

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