... on Jack's Rice
Restaurants along the Halsema Highway have this thing about "Rice". For instance, Morning Star Restaurant, one of the more famous dining stops in this rugged and lonely roadway, would serve a special dish called Morning Star Rice. Jack's Restaurant would serve Jack's Rice. And being unfamiliar with these eateries, a traveler is advised to go for these "Rice" meals. Most often, it is their most impressive dish.
Halsema Highway is arguably the Vegetable Highway of the Philippines. It originates from La Trinidad, Benguet and goes all the way to the Bontoc area. And it winds through kilometers of vegetable gardens through most of it. Those cabbages, beans, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes in your refrigerator most probably passed through these roads. Most of the traffic here would consist of jeeps, elfs, pickups and trucks filled with vegetables. Carved in the sides of mountains, Halsema is a narrow road with significant sections that are only one lane - often with a vertical drop inches away from the wheels of the passing vehicle. It winds through most of Benguet and Mountain Province, passing through villages with a handfull of houses, rural communitites and the occasional settlement with just one or two houses.
I think that the Halsema Highway is one of the last unexplored frontiers in the Philippines. Unlike Sagada that is at one of its nodes, tourists do not intentionally visit the Halsema Highway. Thus it is unsullied by these tourists, letting it maintain all its gentle roughness and geniune charm. This is a place where the locals listen to folk and country music - most wouldn't know who Britney Spears is but would recognize such country music stars as Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks. This is a place where leather jacket and cowboy boots (with spurs) is high fashion and is the definition of formal attire. This is a place where to partake in an 'inuman' session would mean drinking Ginebra San Miguel with water as chaser - I once asked for San Mig Lite only to be laughed at, "Walang ganyan dito." When a newcomer arrived for a drink, and was informed that I asked for San Mig Lite, there was much dirisive, albiet good-natured laughter.
This is the place where a kilo of cabbages could sell for PHP2.50; sayote are routinely fed to the pigs; and when a road slide closes the highway and prevents the gardeners from transporting their goods, you can see sacks of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes being given away to anyone who would like them because the only other option is to just to let them rot besides the road. This is also the place where pears, persimmons, peaches, strawberries, mulberries and blackberries are common everyday fruits. And a place where gardeners often complain that their vegetables are destroyed by frost, hailstones and below-10-degree-celcius temperatures.
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Anyway, I always wanted a blog of my own and after several false starts, I hope to keep this one going... :)
Halsema Highway is arguably the Vegetable Highway of the Philippines. It originates from La Trinidad, Benguet and goes all the way to the Bontoc area. And it winds through kilometers of vegetable gardens through most of it. Those cabbages, beans, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes in your refrigerator most probably passed through these roads. Most of the traffic here would consist of jeeps, elfs, pickups and trucks filled with vegetables. Carved in the sides of mountains, Halsema is a narrow road with significant sections that are only one lane - often with a vertical drop inches away from the wheels of the passing vehicle. It winds through most of Benguet and Mountain Province, passing through villages with a handfull of houses, rural communitites and the occasional settlement with just one or two houses.
I think that the Halsema Highway is one of the last unexplored frontiers in the Philippines. Unlike Sagada that is at one of its nodes, tourists do not intentionally visit the Halsema Highway. Thus it is unsullied by these tourists, letting it maintain all its gentle roughness and geniune charm. This is a place where the locals listen to folk and country music - most wouldn't know who Britney Spears is but would recognize such country music stars as Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks. This is a place where leather jacket and cowboy boots (with spurs) is high fashion and is the definition of formal attire. This is a place where to partake in an 'inuman' session would mean drinking Ginebra San Miguel with water as chaser - I once asked for San Mig Lite only to be laughed at, "Walang ganyan dito." When a newcomer arrived for a drink, and was informed that I asked for San Mig Lite, there was much dirisive, albiet good-natured laughter.
This is the place where a kilo of cabbages could sell for PHP2.50; sayote are routinely fed to the pigs; and when a road slide closes the highway and prevents the gardeners from transporting their goods, you can see sacks of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes being given away to anyone who would like them because the only other option is to just to let them rot besides the road. This is also the place where pears, persimmons, peaches, strawberries, mulberries and blackberries are common everyday fruits. And a place where gardeners often complain that their vegetables are destroyed by frost, hailstones and below-10-degree-celcius temperatures.
====================================================================
Anyway, I always wanted a blog of my own and after several false starts, I hope to keep this one going... :)
posted by Jack's Rice at 8:03 PM
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