Atraksyong Magaganda sa Bustos - A Basic Photography Seminar

Under the auspices project of Mayor Arnel Mendoza of Bustos, Bulacan, I was given the opportunity to attend the free basic photography workshop sponsored by the Municipality of Bustos held at Villa Rosalinda Events Venue. 

The Honorable  Mayor was even more generous to offer the workshop not only to Bustos but throughout the province of Bulacan. I reside in Plaridel which is the nearby town of Bustos J Thank you po for allowing us to participate in this project.

The said project aims to promote the tourism of Bustos focusing on the theme of “Atraksyong Magaganda sa Bustos”.

Participants were given lectures and techniques by Mr. Val E. Rodriguez, Chief Photojournalist of The Philippine Star and a favorite photographer of the late President Corazon Aquino. 

While Mr. Borj Meneses,  a contributing photographer of FHM and other known magazines gave his take of Basic Photography and some post processing wonders .

Since both photographers were known Ambassadors of Canon, Canon Marketing were also present during the event. All canon user attendees were given free service cleaning of their cameras and lenses. It’s a good thing, I’m an avid Canon user since then so I was able to avail the free cleaning services J.

  

Long before, I’ve only known Bustos for its delicacies. If Malolos has its ensaymada and San Miguel has its Pastillas de leche, Bustos has its pride of Minasa cookie and dry wafer like Barquillos. In fact these products has been a favorite pasalubong of some Bulakenyos.      

Today, Bustos has been continuously making wave in promoting their town. The Minasa Festival,  a one week event televised activity showcasing  the colorful parade of street dancing, local delicacies and photo exhibits of some of the known tourist attraction and cultural heritage sites of Bustos is one of the pride and successful project of the municipality. In fact, chosen photos for the photography workshop will be seen in the photo exhibit in SM Baliuag next January 2014.

During the photowalk, the participants were divided into different groups. I was grouped and assigned to visit, Our Daily Bread Farm, Ivatan House of Nazareth Orphanage, Bustos Dam and Mercado Ancestral House. This is my first real photowalk experience and I could say that this was indeed an awesome and fun learning experience. Photo enthusiast of all ages gathered for one purpose which is to capture the fun and beauty of Bustos.

Allow me to share with you some of my shots during the photowalk :)

The opportunity and experience I have obtained during the seminar is indeed a once in a lifetime experience. With this seminar, I was able to explore the wanders of Bustos and the bonus part of it, you acquired new friends sharing the same passion for photography. Salute to the Office of the Mayor for spearheading this successful endeavor. Good luck and More Power to All.   

        

A Taste of Winter Street Food in South Korea

Street Food 101, South Korea Edition

I am a confessed street food addict. Paralleled with our hunger to explore new places is also our gastronomic adventures to try some of the famous street food of the place. Thus, on our visit to South Korea last November of 2012, allow me to share our take of Korean streetfooding. 

NAMPO-DONG NIGHTIME ALLEYWAYS  

Since we arrived past 9 in the evening at Gimhae International Airport and travel from the airport to Sum Guesthouse at Nampo-dong, Busan took almost 1 hour, we were able to reached the guesthouse at almost past 10:00 in the evening. With the recommendation from Jay, the ever reliable and accommodating manager, our feet brought us to the some of the “pojangmacha” or the late night street cart tent at Nampo-dong. Familiar right? We’ve seen this in some of the Korean Telenovela where yuppies  dine and drink their Soju after office hours.

Since Ahjuhma is not English conversant, we just point to her what we want to order.It's a good thing that ahjumma understand our "turo-turo" order method :) 

Kalguksu

For our first order we tried the steaming hot kalguksu or noodles. Since it was already past 11 pm., and the temperature is freezing at 3 degrees temperature outside, kalguksu is our primer pojangmacha choice.

Kimbap

Kimbap or Gimpap is a famous Korean dish which is made up of steamed white rice stuffed with various vegetable ingredients rolled in dried seaweeds with garnished roasted sesame oil on top and served in bite-size slices. Price would range between 1-2 USD per 4-6 slice. Ahjumma even give us free kimchi as side dish and appetizer. 

Odeng Gook

Odeng Gook is a fish cake on a  stick and broiled in broth. This is a must try during winter season. This is the cheapest street food in Korea. All you need to do is grabbed a stick and start eating it as many as you like and ahjumma will count up the skewers before you leave and ask for your payment after. Each stick cost around .46 cents USD.

We even witnessed one male Korean costumer who after eating his number of Odeng ran away and did not even pay for his order. We pity the nice ahjumma as she cannot run after the bad guy as no one will be left on her store cart.

My friends choice of odeng gook :)

Banana/Strawberry Milk

Until now we are still craving for this kind of milk that we had bought in one of the convenience store in Busan.

INSADONG SSAMZIEGIL

After buying some souvenirs at Insadong Ssamziegil area, we walked down the alley and tried some street foods at Insadong area.

Tteobokki

Tteobokki is the most popular street food in Korea. You can see it anywhere be it in Busan or Seoul as majority of the store cart are selling it. It is a serving of rice cakes and processed seafood in a spicy red sauce.   It is sold between 2-3 USD per serving.

Dakkochi

Dakkochi are simple skewers of grilled chicken and vegetable. It has a unique flame-broiled flavor and you can choose your sauce option for basting be it spicy or not. Average price per stick is almost 2 USD

Hoddeok

Hoddeok or sweet pancake with some peanut butter and cinnamon filling is also one of the favorite winter snack in South Korea. The dough is fried up until the caramel in the center is form and it is best to be eaten while it's still hot.

Over-all we enjoyed our street fooding and snacking experience in South Korea. There are really a lot to try but for a beginner like us above foodies are great choices as primer.