Memoirs of Beijing

The 2nd Philippine Ball was held last 7 November 2009 at the Doubletree by Hilton at Xuanwu district.  The ball was dubbed as “Pista” showcasing Filipino food and comedian Nanette Inventor.  Ticket price was RMB 600 per person.

Ticket

My friend Richard from Philippine Airlines was one of the major sponsors of this event.  Luckily, the guests he invited decided not to go so Marco and I were able to attend the event for free.  Nice eh!  (Thanks Richard!)

The ticket cost is relatively cheap compared to other chamber events.  A part of the proceeds of this event will go to charity both here and in Manila.  Beneficiaries are PGH Children’s Ward, Philippine Red Cross, and orphanages in Beijing.

Location

Doubletree by Hilton is in the southwest side of Beijing.  For most attendees whom I know, the majority live in the east side of town,  Taxi alone will set you back 50 rmb one way.  For me, it was ok as Richard was able to bill his cab fare to the company.  Thank you Philippine Airlines!  

Food

The food served was mostly Filipino with a mix of Chinese.  The serving was small and will barely make you full.  It was a 7 course meal but the pace was too slow that it took them 4 hours to serve everything from beginning till the end.  The foreigners in my table take a cigarette break after every food served.  Some had to resort to eating bread just to tide their hunger. 

Marco’s cooking is way better than the food served.  My sinigang was better than their sinigang.  Two of the foreigners in my table are used to Filipino food and they even made a comment that “I bet your mom’s cooking is way better than this”.  Hahaha!  It really sucked.  The sinigang lacked the sour flavor that it’s famous for.  The kare-kare was on the dry side and bland.  They even put salt and pepper just to give the food some flavor.  The chicken pork adobo had a rich strong oyster sauce?!?!  The only noteworthy dish was the lumpiang sariwa.  Only thing lacking was the peanut sauce.

Entertainment

The act of Nanette Inventor was hilarious.  The sound system was not that great that sometimes it’s hard to understand what she’s saying.  The foreigners who watched the show were quite satisfied with her jokes, her songs and her showmanship.  Compared to Giselle Sanchez on the first ball, Nanette has taste.

Live band was also available during mealtime and in between segments.  There music was actually quite good with music from the 70s and 80s.  People were dancing and even broke the dance floor.  Hahaha!   They had to pause the dancing to fix the dance floor.

Raffle Draw and Goodie Bag

They raffled off 104 prizes with the first prize as two roundtrip tickets to Manila with a 2 night stay at Edsa Shangrila Hotel.  Additional tickets were sold at RMB 100 for 3 tickets.  I didn’t win anything but two of my tablemates did.  One won a 2 night stay at Hilton Odawara Spa and Resort.  When she asked where it was, the person who gave her the voucher doesn’t even know.

The goodie bag should be left at the party.  I mean there’s nothing inside except for a tiny bottle of mango liquor.  I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t comment on the taste.

Conclusion

If I bought a ticket, I would think it’s worthless.  The food was bad and dragging.  You’ll be hungry by the end of the night.  The only good side was the music as everyone really enjoyed it.  I’m not sure if I’ll attend the next one as I didn’t really get a good experience from this.  Maybe if my ticket is for free, I might be enticed to go.

PS.  Marco and I enjoyed watching the guy on the table beside us.  He was so hot!!!  He’s taken though..