Street Hawkers in the Philippines: A Photo Gallery
If you travel along city streets here in the Philippines, chances are you have encountered colorful and enterprising street hawkers along the way. They have such an interesting array of goods for sale and they bring these goods right to your car or wherever you are along the street.
You can think of almost anything that you might need while on the road and chances are there is a street hawker that is around to sell that item.
Street Hawkers Galore
Do you need a newspaper? There is a newspaper vendor who will appear in front of your car the moment the traffic stops. Observe how this newspaper man to the right is able to display at the same time all the major papers for the day.
If you are feeling thirsty or hungry, then these street hawkers below will have the exact goods for you. You can even have different brands of bottled water and junk food.
Then there is a candy/gum as well as cigarette vendor you can call anytime you feel like having something to chew or to puff on. Not only that, you can buy your cigarette per stick (not by pack) and the vendor will even produce a lighter if you want it lit right away. How is that for service?
This lady vendor aside from candies and cigarettes even has an additional item - a flower garland made of sampaguita.
Sampaguita is the national flower of the Philippines. It has a very sweet smell and people love to hang this on their car rear view mirror. This gives a clean, sweet smell to the car, better than any car freshener.
Do you need fresh fruits of the season? These two street hawkers below sell guavas and strawberries!
This young coconut or fresh "buco" juice vendor either waits on a street corner or brings his goods to wherever people need him. You can drink the coconut juice fresh from the fruit. The vendor has a way of preparing the coconut for you so that you can just insert a straw on the fruit and drink away. Then you can ask him to take out the flesh of the coconut for you so you can eat it after you finish the juice.
Other street hawkers sell cooked food like this corn vendor below. Other common cooked foods that are peddled on the streets are boiled peanuts and boiled bananas.
This vendor below stays along the side of the street as he prepares to cook the favorite street food of many people - fish balls, squid balls and kwek kwek (boiled eggs wrapped in flour and fried). You have to dip these foods into a specially prepared sauce. People swear that it's the specially prepared sauce that makes the difference among various vendors of these foods.
The hawker below on the other hand, walks along both major and minor streets hoping to catch somebody wanting to buy his product - "taho". You can hear him calling "tahooooo" along the streets!
Taho is a drink made from gel-like soya sweetened with molasses and coupled with tapioca balls.
Street hawkers are exposed to all elements as they go on about their business. Thus, to protect themselves from dust and from the heat of the sun, they sometimes have to wear some protective gear as the hawker below.
Or if the vendors can no longer bear the heat, they take a rest under the shade as these two below.
Some hawkers frequent streets near parks and churches hoping to entice kids to buy their goods as they wander about.
In the Philippines, we don't have an ice cream man driving a truck. However, we have an ice cream man pushing an ice cream cart.
Or would you believe that inside the styro box of this vendor below, you will find frozen delights like: popsicles or pinipig crunch?
You name it, and there surely is a street hawker who has the goods you want while on the street.
Some street hawkers are so persistent, you want to shoo them away. However, this hawker below has such a charming smile; I just smiled back at him as he offered his goods. He is really so funny, first he offered the feather duster which he carried in his right hand. When he saw I was not interested, he lifted his left hand and showed these crunchy rolled "barquillos" or wafers. If that is not persistence, I don't know what is!
There are more street hawkers that I have not yet taken photos of. Some of them peddle things you can use in cars like: rags, mat, screen, backrest, and the like. Others peddle goods that are in season. For example, during the month of February, street hawkers sell flowers and heart-shaped things while Christmas decors are sold during Christmas time of course.
Not That Kind of Street Hawker
"Street hawker" may have a negative connotation to some, but this kind is not the focus of this hub. Rather, the street hawkers here are really the ones that I shared with you through this photo gallery.
I hope you enjoyed getting acquainted with them!
Other Photo Galleries Plus Tutorials
If you enjoyed this photo gallery, I'm sure you will also enjoy my other photos as well as tutorials right here in HubPages!
How-to-Change-the-Mood-of-Your-Photos-Use-Layers-and-Blending-Options
How-to-Create-a-Small-World-A-Photoshop-Tutorial
How-to-Improve-your-Photography-Frame-It
Lines-Lines-Lines-How-to-Use-Lines-in-Improving-Your-Photography
