|
Juices, Shakes, Soft drinks and Alcohol.
When I visit any of the Malls one of my favorite stops are the fresh fruit juice booths that have sprung up everywhere. They are small carts in the middle of Malls that have a juicer, blender and free fruits. One of the most common franchises you see everywhere is called “Thirsty”.
They mostly sell shakes that are juices mixed with ice, milk and lots of sugar. When we would holiday in the Philippines in the past I would always have various shakes and actually looked forward to being able to have them regularly when I lived here. It was surprising how quickly I got sick of them. They are made with too much sugar, which is the problem of most foods and beverages here.
So fresh juices are the go for me now. For around 89 to 99 pesos I can get a full 22-ounce cup of freshly squeezed juice of your choice. Despite Apples and Oranges not being local they are still readily available at these booths. Fruit choices seem to be limited to Apples, Oranges, Melon, Watermelon, Mango, Banana and pineapple plus carrot. There certainly is more choice back home and there is the option of adding various health boosters.
You quickly get sick of over sweet soft drinks and the limited variety available. There are small cans of fruit juice but I these are sweetened and diluted and would not qualify back home for the label of juice.
One of my favorite drinks here is Buko which is the juice of the green coconut. You can buy these for 12 to 15 pesos.
Beer is cheap and I have met many expats that seem to drink themselves to oblivion day after day. I can have the odd drinking binge but more and more my body rejects excessive drinking and after any drinking I am inclined to stay off the booze for a day or so.
Really Philippines is a drinking haven for alcoholics and if you are not an alcoholic when you are arrive you can easily become one. One of the cheapest things here is drink including some of the imported spirits.
You can obtain just about everything here. I have found Absinth which is banned in many countries. I also found a place specializing in Single Malt Scotch Whiskies, which I enjoy from time to time. I am also surprised by the increasing popularity and availability of wines which were difficult to obtain just twenty years ago.
Posted: Wednesday 26th July 2006, 6:09 AM
|
