Okay , i am super late on this but this way my first time trying JOLLIBEE. Jolliebee is the largest fast food chain in the Philippines, and this one happens to be in Jacksonville on the corner of Atlantic and Kernan blvd. first thing there weren’t a lot of options for me because i don’t really eat meat. So i ended up getting rice with gravy, mash potatoes with gravy, peach mango pie, and a halo halo dessert. The halo halo was of course my favorite, is was basically shaved ice with beans, coconut milk , a scoop of ice cream, and fan on top. The peach mango pie was pretty good too. filipino people believe it not a real meal unless you ate it with rice, so yes rice with spaghetti! i also loved the that their was a Christmas tree already in there and it not even thanksgivings yet. The bee is cute too. Over all I thought Jollibee was okay. would it my first option no, would i recommended people to go no. but i also was not able to try everything on the menu so it could be great for someone else.
For the last two weeks i have been in Asia visiting the Philippines and Vietnam. My youngest sister is a marine and was approved for leave so we decided to go together. The flight there was so long.
We did a bike tour when we got to Manila of the city history.
My sister booked us a hike on Mount Pinatubo, i still don’t understand my sisters obsession with hiking. They literally don’t realize how out of size i am to do these ridiculous hikes. Anyways i can said i did it. We had to wake up at 1am take a 2hr bus ride and then a 40 mins jeep ride it was a long day.
I found a dessert museum called The Dessert Museum. They had the best mango ice cream.
And the food…
Also the Philippines had Christmas decoration up since September
I don’t have any picture of this but what was different to me about the Philippines was they had armed security guys with like big guns everywhere like malls, parks, banks, grocery stores. Im not sure what’s going on in their country or government for them to have security everywhere but coming from America i felt really safe with those guys around.
Oh Vietnam! my country i haven’t been back in 12-13 years. i don’t miss it or anything, i wasn’t born or raised here but it still nice to visit where my parents born and raised.
one of my favorite thing in Vietnam is the sugar cane drinks! it just sooo sweet and refreshing which is great because it so freakin hot!
I was very surprised to see so much tourist in Saigon than i did in Manila.
I wish i could haven’t taken more pictures but vietnam has a very high theft rate and after i saw a girl right outside our hotel get her phone snapped out of her hand by a motorcyclist i literally did not take my phone out anymore. but other than that i had a great time visiting and seeing my sister. ill do it again maybe in 3 more years.
Jax Beach Art Walk is free entry every second Tuesday of each month from 5pm-9pm, its located along 1st street. The weather was pretty terrible when i went, so i only got to go to one little shop called The Attic. When you first walk up to it there’s a DJ playing hip hop music outside.First thing i notice was complimentary cookies, wine and coffee on the table (my fatass) literally anything that involves food i’m down.There wasn’t a lot of traffic because of all the rain which was actually good for me i don’t really like being around crowds. This was my first time attending so i brought along two other friends, i figure i could find something for my apartment.There were lot of paintings, photographs, jewelry, and pottery all created by the locals. I didn’t end up getting a wall decor like i had plan because it was just way to expensive(400$), but i did get a coffee/tea mug it was super cute. I definitely will come back. its a great for families/friends and helps the local artistes. Theres also lot of great restaurants around like Hawkers, Coop 303, Poes Taverns if you having try now is the chance, i love Hawkers! also the bars is pretty nice if you’re old enough.
HII, i’m Jannet Nguyen (probably thinking about how many times or people you know with that same last name), it an extremely common Vietnamese last name, and i am Vietnamese. Well looking at me you wouldn’t typically guess that i am, because i’m mixed, but both of my parents were born and raised in Vietnam. My parents had me after they come to the United States, so i consider myself an asian american.
In my culture we eat a lot of rice, everyday. We cook a lot, rice with some meat and lot of veggies. I personally love rice, but Vietnamese food isn’t my favorite, just because i don’t eat any other meats other than seafood and a lot of our meal are made with pork and beef. But if you want to try Vietnamese food try PHO, that’s is our well known rice noddle soup.
We are buddhist, but we are not religious, like i don’t even know what buddhism is, my parents are semi religious but never pushed it on us. The only thing i see my parents doing is go to the temple for the American new years and the Chinese new years (they do give us a red envelope ), and light an incense every morning and place it in the shrine.
We are hard workers. A typically vietnamese living America does do nails. My parents owns a nails salon and put me straight to work when was only 9 yeas old. Of course i hated that when i was younger seeing my friends going shopping on the weekends and going to the pool all summer while i was already working. But now that i’m older i’m very grateful that they made me do those things, and understand why they work so hard everyday to suppose their family. 15 years later we are probably the most well known salon at the beaches.
FAMILY we are very family oriented, it is very common for Vietnamese people to live with their parents until they get married(if you’re a female) and to live with your parents forever if you’re a male. I mean i don’t live with my parents anymore because i’m more americanized, but i’m still close by like i still work for them so i see them a lot and live close by to still stop by and steal some groceries. Also my grandmother still work with my parents at the salon because that just what we do, we stay together and build.
So i am a 23 year living in jacksonville, fl. I was born and raised here, my parents are both mixed, raised up in Vietnam (Aisa). i am black and vietnamese. Since my parents were raised by single asian parents in asia they only know the asia culture and that how they raised me up in america. Anyways i feel like the first thing people ask me is where or what is the best place to get some vietnamese food? (even though i feel like thats the worse questions to ask because honestly, my parents cooking is the best annddd its free ) but i would say “BOWL OF PHO”. We eat a a lot of noddles, my favorite is Pho (without any meat of course).
People assume since we are vietnamese we MUST do nails, and they’re absolutely right! lol. My parents work the s*** out of me at that salon, started me young too. It definitely disciplined me. But we are very hard workers, we believe that whatever you want in life you got to work hard for . you know what we also believe in? that family need to stick together foreverrrrr. Like you don’t move out until you’re married, and when you do move out you’re moving to your husband’s house to live with his family and take care of his parents!! Guys!!! this is why i can notttt marry an Asian man! we need our own space, probably because i’m more americanize. Anyways i don’t really listen to vietnamese music, because its just so lovey dove , and depressing sometimes. There’s not a certain way we have to dress, but we do have traditional outfits for holidays like ” áo dài”.
My family is buddhist, but we are not religious we don’t go to temples or church. my parents allow me to believe in whatever i want to believe which is pretty cool. Their not really strict that why its probably going to take me 10 years to get a damm degree. They still do take care of me, thats probably weird to other people but thats how asian parents are. so i get to take my time with school, go on vacation and enjoy my single life.
adventures 