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February 28, 2006
Manila Mandarin Oriental
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!
Posted by thedude at 2:53 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2006
Taal Lake and Volcano
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
Posted by thedude at 6:12 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2006
New Friends
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!
Posted by thedude at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2006
Another Manila Traffic Time-Lapse
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.
photo by Grant Goya
Once again there are two versions of the time-lapse, a smaller 13 megabyte file and a huge 98 megabyte file.
Posted by thedude at 11:32 AM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2006
State of Emergency in Philippines
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
Posted by thedude at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
Catholic Girls
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.
Posted by thedude at 5:27 PM | Comments (2)
February 22, 2006
From Leaf Spring to Machete
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.
Posted by thedude at 6:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2006
Manila Traffic Time Lapse
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, and the lighting was a bit problematic, but the resulting video is still kinda cool.
The videos are in Apple Quicktime format. Depending on your bandwidth and your patience, I suggest you right-click and save either the 25 megabyte low resolution file or the really huge 125 megabyte version.
photo by Grant Goya
Posted by thedude at 8:37 PM | Comments (3)
February 19, 2006
We're Back!
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!
Posted by thedude at 11:47 AM | Comments (1)
February 15, 2006
I Know This is a Good Trip
I have almost no time to blog! The business office closes in a few minutes, and I have much to say and too many images to post. Between Grant and myself, we have managed to fill up all of our CF cards and the hard drive on our laptop, and the trip is barely half over. So, without wasting another minute I'll upload a few of the shots I've taken over the last few days. When we get back to Manila tomorrow, perhaps I'll have the time to describe what they all are...
Posted by thedude at 12:20 AM | Comments (4)
February 13, 2006
Bohol Beach Club
We've really gotten into the relaxation mode since arriving at the Bohol Beach Club We've been spending the days lounging in hammocks on the beach. No time for blogging. I'm sure you understand. :) I would not expect to hear much from us until we return to Manila the day after tomorrow.
Waiter! Another mai tai, please...
Posted by thedude at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
We've Been Here Just 30 Hours
We're not even close to being over our jetlag and I already have way too many images to post. I'll do my best...
We're having so much fun with our gracious hosts and learning so much in the process. For example, we learned that no Philippine home is complete without a karaoke machine. (We're just hoping that we won't have to learn how to use it.) This particular house offers sweeping views and a spectacular "back yard" which includes a trail to Lake Taal and its famous volcano 2000 feet below. Google Earth Placemark
Our hosts arranged a private tour of the spectacular Tagaytay Highlands. Now, golf is not my thing, but this site has to be one of the most scenic in the Phillipines. Later, we had a huge lunch at a fabulous Chinese restaurant on the property.
I'm afraid that's it for tonight. The hotel staff just brought us warm milk and cookies...
Posted by thedude at 11:29 PM | Comments (2)
This is Working Out Well
Wow. Our first trip to the Philippines has been great so far! Things started off on the right foot before we even left the airport in San Francisco. We discovered that we had a $100 credit with the airline issued exactly one year ago, which means it was expiring the day we were set to take off. The fact that we were able to use the unexpected discount has set the tone thus far.
Our flights were long, but uneventful. (That's a good thing.) When we arrived in Manila we were surprised to be greeted by Sandy's parents who whisked us through immigration and customs and into two waiting limos. Sandy's parents are both wonderfully kind and seem determined to make sure that we have an awesome time in their country. Their drivers took us directly to our room at the Discovery Suites in Tagaytay.
Our room is large and lovely. We are perched on the rim of a volcano. The staff describes this location as perhaps the only spot in the world with a lake inside of a volcano inside of a lake inside a volcano. More on this when I get some photos of the gorgeous views.
The hotel is a former residence and still feels very much like a home, with its fireplace and parge plasma TV in the common area downstairs. The super-polite staff attend to everything. There is a complimentary cheese and wine tasting at 5:30 and a six course meal on the veranda tonight... they even have free wi-fi.
Like I said, this is working out just fine!
Posted by thedude at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2006
Love Electronic Music?
Check out this incredible site. I've been listening to DI's Chillout stream for a couple years now. This site does an impressive job at describing what "chillout" is as well as a myriad of other musical genres and provides links to mp3 streams as well. Thanks Tobias, for the tip!
Posted by thedude at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
