Shanghai Express
December 25, 2005 | 12:00am
Shanghai – I’ve been to this fabulous city, the Oriental Paris, so many times that it feels like my second Makati already! Whatever. But while the other times that I was there were for fun and play, this time, I went there with my latest travel friends, the Department of Tourism’s tireless Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, Tourism Assistant Secretary Edu Jarque, and the great, mega-talented and world-renowned Bayanihan National Dance Company, and christened the trip Famous 11 with the mission to make our dearly beloved country famous in Shanghai.
We just came in fresh from another international travel trade show in Taipei, where we wowed them all with the Bayanihan Dancers’ numbers. Of course, not settling for the tried -and-tested formula, we stirred things up some more in Shanghai, teaming up with Bench, our country’s number one fashion retailer, for a fashion show of a different kind. After all, Bench is already familiar in Shanghai, since there are now four Bench Body stores over there and counting. O, di ba? A Filipino brand in that shopping paradise. And since they asked me to coordinate it, I brought along five of my favorite models for the show – Zanjoe Marudo, Robby Mananquil, Valerie de los Santos, Melissa Frye and Bridget Inoferio – to strut their stuff.
The whole point of going to Mainland China’s über-fashionable city is to spread the word about how gorgeous our country is, and how it’s just the perfect getaway, not just from their chilly winters over there, but all year round. The DOT is really heating up the Wow Philippines campaign in China. Our advertising over there is so good that Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are falling all over themselves to follow our lead.
"We’re so different from them," said Secretary Durano. Our appeal to China is that the Philippines is so not Oriental, unlike our neighboring countries. All the way from the way we dress, to the atmosphere, even – ahem – our politics are non-oriental, hence a richer and unique traveling experience." And I say, "Korek!" I’ve never looked at it that way before, but he’s right! It’s that flavor that gives us the edge. So, guys and girls, if you have any doubts about how great our country really is, all you have to do is go to Shanghai, see the Wow Philippines ads, and you’d want to go to the Philippines, too.
Thanks to the Philippine Consul to Shanghai Jesus Yabez, Philippine Consular Office in Shanghai and Philippine Airlines, the Shanghainese were given an oh so tantalizing taste of the Filipino flavor at the cultural show-meet and greet-dinner at the Regal International East Asia Hotel for the Chinese trade and media. Travel agents from the Philippines schmoozed and talked with their Shanghai counterparts about the different places to go to in the Philippines, and encouraged them to create local tour packages for our country, too.
And when things were looking like it was just all talk, in came two men blowing conch shells to get the audience’s undivided attention. Then, to the rhythmic pounding of percussion, the Bayanihan Dancers took to the stage in the fabulous red costumes of the T’boli and Bagobo tribes. Oh, they just owned the stage from then on. No wonder these guys are world Famous! Their next dance, the traditional Muslim dance of the Kazilimut and the Kuntao, showed us over a dozen ways to wear a malong. If they weren’t so fast, I would have learned a thing or two that might come in handy someday. After the Muslim dances, they took us to rural Philippines with a dance famous for its quirky use of coconut shells – the maglalatik – and the very cute subli dance. Of course, the one that got the most raves and applause was their last number, the one-minute tinikling. I mean, I’ve seen that before, and I’m still amazed by how their feet could escape those snapping bamboos. Ouch!
In between the dances, the models strutted out in their Bench outfits – hip and casual streetwear shirts and Overhauled jeans – with Filipiniana touches to complement the Bayanihan Dancers’ costumes. For the finale, the models came out in so-cool neo-Filipiniana couture combining Overhauled jeans and Bench camisoles and T-shirts with iconic Filipino costumes, like the butterfly sleeves and scarves for the girls and the ever-present barong for the guys. After all that, who can say traditional and modern can’t come together now? And of course, we thrilled our audiences by giving away Bench goody bags and copies of "87," Bench’s commemorative magazine, to take home.
After all the work at the conference, we decided to take advantage of our free time before the models were shipped home and the rest of us go on the second leg of our trip to Kunming. We hopped into a bus and went around the shopping districts like Dong Tai Road and the famous Bund for some long-overdue sightseeing.
We posed, we jumped and we smiled with the ever-present and important FAMOUS sign, with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Jin Mao Tower sparkling in the background across the Huang Pu River. When Secretary Durano jumped gamely with the dancers, models and Bench’s Stephen Sevillas and Efren Te, there were no words to describe it. Good thing our favorite photographer of the who’s-who Patrick Uy managed to get a picture.
We window-shopped on Nanjing Road, then we found the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China and counted ourselves as part of the over 10 million visitors since its opening 50 years ago. Even if we just stood in front of the door. Whatever.
Shanghai is really a great city, with all the lights and buildings and the river flowing through it. The shopping there is just divine! But they really should try the shopping in the Philippines. After all, with all my visits to Shanghai, isn’t it about time that the people who live there came to visit us? Frankly, they don’t know what they’re missing. I guess that’s why we were there to tell them.
We just came in fresh from another international travel trade show in Taipei, where we wowed them all with the Bayanihan Dancers’ numbers. Of course, not settling for the tried -and-tested formula, we stirred things up some more in Shanghai, teaming up with Bench, our country’s number one fashion retailer, for a fashion show of a different kind. After all, Bench is already familiar in Shanghai, since there are now four Bench Body stores over there and counting. O, di ba? A Filipino brand in that shopping paradise. And since they asked me to coordinate it, I brought along five of my favorite models for the show – Zanjoe Marudo, Robby Mananquil, Valerie de los Santos, Melissa Frye and Bridget Inoferio – to strut their stuff.
The whole point of going to Mainland China’s über-fashionable city is to spread the word about how gorgeous our country is, and how it’s just the perfect getaway, not just from their chilly winters over there, but all year round. The DOT is really heating up the Wow Philippines campaign in China. Our advertising over there is so good that Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are falling all over themselves to follow our lead.
"We’re so different from them," said Secretary Durano. Our appeal to China is that the Philippines is so not Oriental, unlike our neighboring countries. All the way from the way we dress, to the atmosphere, even – ahem – our politics are non-oriental, hence a richer and unique traveling experience." And I say, "Korek!" I’ve never looked at it that way before, but he’s right! It’s that flavor that gives us the edge. So, guys and girls, if you have any doubts about how great our country really is, all you have to do is go to Shanghai, see the Wow Philippines ads, and you’d want to go to the Philippines, too.
Thanks to the Philippine Consul to Shanghai Jesus Yabez, Philippine Consular Office in Shanghai and Philippine Airlines, the Shanghainese were given an oh so tantalizing taste of the Filipino flavor at the cultural show-meet and greet-dinner at the Regal International East Asia Hotel for the Chinese trade and media. Travel agents from the Philippines schmoozed and talked with their Shanghai counterparts about the different places to go to in the Philippines, and encouraged them to create local tour packages for our country, too.
And when things were looking like it was just all talk, in came two men blowing conch shells to get the audience’s undivided attention. Then, to the rhythmic pounding of percussion, the Bayanihan Dancers took to the stage in the fabulous red costumes of the T’boli and Bagobo tribes. Oh, they just owned the stage from then on. No wonder these guys are world Famous! Their next dance, the traditional Muslim dance of the Kazilimut and the Kuntao, showed us over a dozen ways to wear a malong. If they weren’t so fast, I would have learned a thing or two that might come in handy someday. After the Muslim dances, they took us to rural Philippines with a dance famous for its quirky use of coconut shells – the maglalatik – and the very cute subli dance. Of course, the one that got the most raves and applause was their last number, the one-minute tinikling. I mean, I’ve seen that before, and I’m still amazed by how their feet could escape those snapping bamboos. Ouch!
In between the dances, the models strutted out in their Bench outfits – hip and casual streetwear shirts and Overhauled jeans – with Filipiniana touches to complement the Bayanihan Dancers’ costumes. For the finale, the models came out in so-cool neo-Filipiniana couture combining Overhauled jeans and Bench camisoles and T-shirts with iconic Filipino costumes, like the butterfly sleeves and scarves for the girls and the ever-present barong for the guys. After all that, who can say traditional and modern can’t come together now? And of course, we thrilled our audiences by giving away Bench goody bags and copies of "87," Bench’s commemorative magazine, to take home.
After all the work at the conference, we decided to take advantage of our free time before the models were shipped home and the rest of us go on the second leg of our trip to Kunming. We hopped into a bus and went around the shopping districts like Dong Tai Road and the famous Bund for some long-overdue sightseeing.
We posed, we jumped and we smiled with the ever-present and important FAMOUS sign, with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Jin Mao Tower sparkling in the background across the Huang Pu River. When Secretary Durano jumped gamely with the dancers, models and Bench’s Stephen Sevillas and Efren Te, there were no words to describe it. Good thing our favorite photographer of the who’s-who Patrick Uy managed to get a picture.
We window-shopped on Nanjing Road, then we found the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China and counted ourselves as part of the over 10 million visitors since its opening 50 years ago. Even if we just stood in front of the door. Whatever.
Shanghai is really a great city, with all the lights and buildings and the river flowing through it. The shopping there is just divine! But they really should try the shopping in the Philippines. After all, with all my visits to Shanghai, isn’t it about time that the people who live there came to visit us? Frankly, they don’t know what they’re missing. I guess that’s why we were there to tell them.
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