I noticed tonight that our trip to the Philippines has caused an increase in the amount of traffic to thedude.com. At first, I thought it was because of Grant’s awesome photos, but it’s more likely to be because of friskodude’s recent post, which seems to be working its way around the web. Thanks Carl!
One thing we found in ample supply during our visit to the Philippines was food. I can say without a doubt that we were never hungry during out trip - not for one single minute. Our incredibly gracious hosts saw to it that we were always within arm’s reach of mass quantities of food. This day we visited the beautiful Barin family mango orchard where we were treated to a roast pig, fresh tilapia, boiled shrimp, crab, roasted eggplant, sticky rice, bottomless bowls of soup, some sort of delicious beef dish, endless San Miguel beers, the “world’s tenderest chicken™” and, oh yes - fresh mangos.
After the feast thedude took Kelly for brief but hair-raising spin around the property in a tricycle.
One of thedude’s favorite parts of our trip to the Philippines was the three night spent at the wonderful Manila Mandarin Oriental Hotel. This is one the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in. From the moment we were greeted by a legion of professional, friendly wait staff we knew that this would be a pleasant experience. As you can see from the pictures, this is a very beautiful hotel. But what really makes the Manila Mandarin Oriental special is the quantity and quality of the staff. They are always friendly, efficient and helpful. We were always greeted by name with a broad smile. We dined in the hotel at Paseo Uno one night, where they offer one of the most spectacular buffet dinners I have ever seen. We feasted like royalty for about 40 bucks. Oh, and our quiet tenth floor corner room was about $130 per night. Everything about this hotel makes you want to stay an extra day or two!
This is a panoramic view of the spectacular Lake Taal - more or less the view we had from the Discovery Suites in Tagaytay. The shot was taken late on a cloudy day, so it really did look this dark. In the foreground you can make out numerous fish farms. In the middle-right, you can see the cinder cone of the active Taal Volcano. Wikipedia states that, “because of its eruptive history and location close to population centres, the volcano has been designated a Decade Volcano worthy of close study to prevent future natural disasters.”
panorama by Grant Goya
Kelly and I had such a wonderful time on our first visit to the Philippines. We were shown the greatest hospitality by our hosts, the Barin family. Many thanks to all of you for taking such good care of us while we visited. We’d also like to give a very special thanks to Grant and Sandy for agreeing to take us along in the first place. Thanks so much! We look forward to seeing all of you as soon as possible!
I made a second time-lapse while in Manila, hoping to catch the controlled chaos that is Manila traffic. I pointed the camera out of the sun roof of our vehicle and began snapping at what seemed like an opportune moment. I wanted to show how the traffic continues to move - albeit slowly. We rarely come to a complete stop despite the overcrowding. What you don’t see is how patient the drivers are with one another. People ignore lanes altogether and sometimes even drive against the flow, but I never heard a horn sounded in anger.
As luck would have it, traffic was lighter than it had been at any other time along this route, but once again, the results are pretty cool. I like to look at individual frames and check out the skyline and the hundreds of enormous billboards.
Looks like we left the Philippines just a little bit too soon. Our hosts had casually mentioned that there were rumors of another coup attempt, but we didn’t think it much of it.
This phone pic, taken from the exact spot I shot the traffic time-lapse shows that Manila streets are now crowded with demonstrators. Amazing!
photo by Pinky Lapuz
During our stay in Bohol, we visited the “centuries old” Baclayon Church and Museum. One of the most interesting facts about the beautiful old church is that it’s moss-covered walls are held together with the “white of a million eggs”.
Sandy goofs with school girls from the adjacent Catholic high school.
This hard-working craftsman spends mornings hammering old automobile leaf springs into 10 knives per day with a minimum of precise hammer blows. The sweltering conditions mean a 5:00 AM to noon workday for this muscular man, who has obviously paid a heavy price for not wearing any sort of protective gear on his face. Our tour guide Neil displays the finished product.
We had the opportunity to hang out on the 27th floor balcony of a building in the heart of Manila. I realized that this might be my one chance to shoot a time-lapse of the traffic, so I leaned the D2X and the monopod against the railing and started shooting. I had hoped for rush-hour traffic, but we arrived a bit early and had just 40 minutes in which to shoot the 1000 images needed to make this video. Traffic is not as heavy as I’d hoped, but the resulting video is still kinda cool.
Safely. For those who asked, the mud slide in Leyte was hundreds of miles away on another of the 7,107 islands that comprise the Philippines.
Now the real work begins. The sorting, retouching, color-correcting, uploading and the really difficult part - the search for the right words. Here we go…
While visiting Bohol, we took a tour which included a face-to-face with the one of the world’s smallest primates - the Philippine Tarsier. These cute google-eyed creatures have eyes that outweigh their brains. One Filipina said that Tarsiers scared her because their eyes are always on “high-beam”.
From there the four of us took a trip up the Loboc River on a boat designed to hold 40 or more people. We were served an excellent meal while two Filipinas waved pompons to keep flies from our food. This was one of the most unique experiences any of us had on this trip.
The day trip also included a stop at the bizarre and picturesque Chocolate Hills. The ancient mounds are much larger than I thought they’d be.
Back in Tagbilaran, the noisy streets are clogged with deisel Jeepney’s and two-stroke tricycles. It’s noisy, the air is unfit to breathe, tourists make easy targets for the dozens of begging children. It’s a bit much to take. One thing that caught my eye was the religious slogan on the back of every single tricycle. It turns out that these are actually required by Bohol law. Drivers must paint a slogan on their tricycle in order to receive a license.
Another surprise was that the children will pose with the familiar two-finger salute seen in other countries in the region. Funny!
