Author Archives: rob

i ate a mole cricket

Posted by rob on

my father, together with my ma picked me up from the airport last monday after my short weekend trip in aberdeen, hongkong.  it was past six in the evening so i thought of inviting them for dinner and so my ma wouldn’t have to exert time to cook for us when we reach home.

there is this local restaurant in angono, rizal well-known to many for they serve “exotic” dishes.  in my 10 things i have not done before post one of the things i have to do was eat an insect delicacy.  i decided then to treat my parents for dinner on this restaurant.

balaw balaw restaurant is also a folk art museum.  wood carvings and impressive paintings are displayed around the place.  it has not changed much since i first visited years ago.

we were the only guests when we entered the restaurant for most likely it was a monday, complimentary bottled water was served the moment we sat on their steel-frame wicker chairs.

my main purpose of dining at balaw balaw was not to fill my tummy but to eat an insect (LOL!).  my ma handed me one of the menu books and showed me the page of exotic dishes as she said: “ayan yung insekto na kakainin mo” (there’s the insect you’re about to eat) LOL again!.  i love my mother!  she just mentioned it a-matter-of-factly! 😀

kamaro or mole crickets are thick-bodied insects about 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) long, with large beady eyes and shovel-like forelimbs highly developed for burrowing and swimming.  it is most commonly found on ricefields, but i have actually seen some of them in our own backyard!  here is one close-up picture i found on the net – just imagine eating this, haha!

out of my persistent determination, i ordered one.  i asked the server on how they cook it, he said it’s fried with garlic and some oil, i told him to have it cooked well done!  my ma ordered some crispy fried native duck, pinakbet and binagoongang rice.  after waiting for a few minutes my kamaro dish arrived in our table.

seriously, it does not look palatable.  it’s a bunch of dead squirmy bugs served in a banana leaf.  my parents told me they use to eat this in the province when they were kids but cooked differently (they are kapampangan).  i read from other articles that it tasted like peanuts, popcorn or chicken.  armed with my sweet sago-gulaman beverage i ate a small-sized one.  the taste did not registered in my brain.  i ate some more and still, it was not the taste that retained in my brain but the consistency in my tongue.  the part of the head was crunchy, the body is like soggy and my tongue can figure out the insect wings inside my mouth.  eeew!

i asked my ma why it was like that and she said the crickets were not freshly caught and cooked.  the fresh ones she said will have juices from the crickets abdominal part bursting inside your mouth . . . now that is nasty!

thai chronicles: two wats and a palace

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i never had a specific itinerary for my trip in thailand.  as i was in bangkok, all i was thinking was the bustling night life that it offers.  i still have two whole days to spend and my first day shouldn’t be wasted by me only staying in my too-comfortable-room.  i think that is one disadvantage of having a good room (lol!) and being alone.

i know grand palace is one place worth visiting, as i was too lazy to find my way to get there, i searched in the internet rental taxis in bangkok.  i did found one that gave me a good deal and informed the cabbie to pick me up in the hotel.

grand palace is a complex of artistically designed complex buildings.  there was a crowd of people when i was there, and being a saturday i have expected it.

tickets to enter the palace costs 350 baht.  grand palace is a complex of artistically designed buildings, and served as the official residence of the kings of thailand from the 18th century onwards.  here’s a proof of how majestic this place is.

there were visitors dipping budding lotus flower in water in the photo i took below, i know there is a meaning of it maybe sort of a blessing for them.

near grand palace is wat prachetuphon or wat pho, one of the oldest wats in bangkok where you can find one of the largest single buddha images of 160 ft length, the reclining buddha (phra buddhasaiyas).  entrance fee to wat pho is 50 baht.

there was a lot of these carved stone giants in the temple.

one of the major tourist attraction in bangkok is wat benchamabophit or well-known as, the marble temple.

this beautiful temple is made of italian marble, admission fee is 20 baht.

that is me infront of the temple, the ordination hall but it is prohibited to go inside.  those chinese tourists are not on line to get in actually.

thai chronicles: sawasdee bangkok

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my plan to visit bangkok almost never materialized.  i was in dubai then for work and things just got ugly when i was about to go home as scheduled.  our personnel department informed me thru e-mail that my departure ticket to manila was cancelled and i do not have a reliever to fill in if i am going for days off.  i have told them that i have already booked a non-refundable, round trip flight ticket to bangkok, even the hotel i was staying in was already organized in advance.  my plea for consideration fell on deaf ears and unanswered e-mails.

i have worked for another four weeks before i was able to go for my days off.  i thought of cancelling my bangkok visit for i have already lost money due to the cancellations.  but still, there was this urge inside me to push through so after a few days after i arrived in manila, i booked another ticket and found myself flying to bangkok.

my flight from manila was actually rescheduled for about two hours, but the limo service that i have pre-arranged from the hotel was still there waiting for me when i arrived at suvarnabhumi airport.  the hotel i stayed in were from the vouchers i purchased from ensogo (that almost expired!).  it was in rembrandt hotel and towers, a four-star accommodation in sukhumvit road.

the deluxe room i stayed in was a corner room in the 11th floor (non-smoking), and offered a view of the chao phraya river.

Rembrandt Hotel and Towers’ Superior Rooms offer inviting, comfortable, elegantly decorated accommodation to business and leisure travelers who know the importance of value.  All Superior Rooms are spacious 30 square meters with bath room. The in room amenities include complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access, LCD screen TV, pay per movie, in-house phone, mini bar and Rembrandt signature toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, body soap. etc. The large bathrooms are all equipped with a bath tub, some with separate shower cubicle, dressing mirror, a hair dryer, hand basin and telephone. The comfortable beds, all with duvets, are available in king size or twin size, smoking or non smoking.

hotel rembrandt has a variety of restaurants and i chose to have dinner at red pepper, a bright, colourful restaurant that offers many thai specialties including a variety of unique vegetarian and fusion dishes.

i ordered one of their appetizer vegetarian specialties, poh pia je (vegetarian spring rolls) and their pad thai goong sod hor kai (fried noodles with king prawns wrapped in omelet).

my stay at rembrandt hotel was over all, satisfactory.