Pasalubongs from the Philippines
Posted on January 26, 2003 by Ching under Family.
And I thought mom was on crack when she was describing the barong that she had bought for Brian over the telephone! I tried to describe it to Brian and I told him that it couldn’t possibly be tie-dyed. I told him that maybe the embroidery was, but certainly not the whole barong. She sure proved me wrong! Brian and I had never seen a tie-dyed barong until now. It’s a good addition to his fledgeling collection. At least this one is a lot cheaper than the last one mom bought for him which was $100 (after you convert the currency) at SM. Mom said it was some famous Filipino designer or something. Brian and I don’t really care — we won’t know who the hell they are anyway. Brian just likes to fit in with the rest of the Filipino folk at our annual gatherings. Before she left, I actually told her to just get an “el cheapo” one. Mom’s like, “No way! We can’t have Brian wear some generic crappy barong!” It’s not like he’ll be able to tell the difference — he’d never even seen a barong until we met — but that’s my mom for you! Brian is already excited about the next June ball so he can debut his new barong!
Filipinos are the bomb when it comes to making fake shit! I was actually pretty impressed with this one! It came with a Gucci zipper and everything. Hell, even the lining on the inside says Gucci all over it! All that’s missing is the freakin’ serial number! Here in the States you get fake stuff and it really looks fake. They don’t bother replicating the inside because they figure that no one will bother to look in there. It’s funny because one of mom’s friends actually talked her into buying a faking Gucci bag from one of their friends. On the outside it says: Gucci made in Italy. On the inside there’s a tag sewn into the seam that reads: Made in China. What is up with that? I checked the bag she brought for me inside and out — and thank heavens, there’s not anything like that. The metal label on the outside says: Gucci made in Italy; and the label on the inside says: Gucci made in Italy also. And yes, I checked to make sure that it was spelled correctly!
The one that mom originally wanted to give me was a replica of the original Gucci pochette pictured above. It was a pretty good replica, too! It had black Gucci fabric as the lining (just like the tan one that I got) and no “Made in China” (which is like the kiss of death in the Philippines, back there no one wants any made in China or made in Taiwan crap) written anywhere, but it didn’t have the metal Gucci label on the outside like the original. It’s still pretty good, though. I mean, how many people really know that it’s supposed to have the metal thingie on the outside? I actually wanted both bags, but mom only let me have one so I picked the tan one. I told Brian that I have to take him to meet Mama Iyay (my grandmother on my mom’s side) next year so we really, really have to save money for the trip, but I have an ulterior motive: shopping! Anyway, here’s the rest of the loot..
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