Sketches

One lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to drive up North along the coast of Negros Oriental. My path took me from Dumaguete City through Sibulan, and eventually Tanjay. These are scenes of life along the way: people on a picnic, a skin diver, a sleepy public market, and apathetic mourners waiting for a funeral procession to start.

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Bacong is a seaside town a few kilometers south of Dumaguete City. While the place itself is not fully developed, it does boast of several private beachfront properties. This is one such place, owned by some family friends. Sights like these are the reasons why I am loath to leave the Philippines.

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Bais City really spends for its Christmas celebration. Here at the plaza they've set up a Christmas fair of sorts, complete with automated mannequins and a gigantic electric palm tree-go-round.

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Pictures from Dream Park in Sibulan, one of the smaller resorts on the island.

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The boulevard is one of the treasures of Dumaguete City. Facing towards the east, it offers a spectacular sunrise to early morning joggers and fishermen. All day long there is a refreshing breeze from the sea, and the ancient acacia giants offer ample shade from the sun.

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I stumbled back into Dumaguete in time for the Bear Brand Kite Flying Festival. Four years running now, it's a spectacle that I had been looking forward to. And fortunately, the display that day did not disappoint. It was quite uplifting to see squadron after squadron of kites take to the skies as they caught the wind.

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Need a broom? A flashlight? A shovel, maybe? You'll find that, and a whole lot more at the Dumaguete Trade Fair. At first sight nothing more than a set of makeshift tents, the trade fair is actually composed of merchants from all over the country. They have all signed contracts with the local government to rent the stall space for around three months. Bargains to be had all around, and the prices are so low I sometimes find myself hard-pressed to bargain. Shoes? Pots? Dress? Action figure? VCD? All here!

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The cathedral of Dumaguete is usually packed on Sundays, but it's even moreso on this fiesta Sunday. Vendors and various hangers-on wait for the Mass to finish to hawk their wares. And after Mass, some devotees of Saint Catherine pass by the image of their patron for a touch.

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People's Park in Davao City is a popular jogging circle by day and a strolling walkway by night. Built on what was once the PTA sports grounds, the city government of Davao renovated it at a cost of P70-M, adding trees, tiled paths, and statues by famous local artist Kublai.

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Pictures of an island hopping outing covering Samal, off Davao City. Covers Kaputian Beach, Wishing Island, and Vanishing Island, plus pictures of the Samal coastline and fishing boats in the area.

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I took an impromptu biking trip to Samal Island on Christmas Day 2007. These are the pictures. The story is up at my main blog.

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Kadayawan is Davao's annual harvest festival and is a homage to the different tribes of Mindanao. "Indak-indak", or street dancing, is one of the highlights of the festival. Groups in colorful regalia perform on the main thoroughfares of the city.

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Float parade for Kadayawan 2008. Note the extensive use of flowers and vegetables in many of the floats.

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All of 25 years old, Kitchie Nadal is a genuine Filipino superstar in her own right. Starting out as a replacement lead singer for the popular band Mojofly, Kitchie went solo after a brief hiatus to finish her studies. In short order, she caught the ear of the listening public with her single "'Wag na 'Wag Mong Sasabihin", theme song of the hit Koreanovela "Lovers in Paris." Kitchie cemented her place in modern Filipino alternative music with "Bulong" and "Same Ground."

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Scenes of life in jail. These were secretly taken in the Bulacan Municipal Prison.

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Dad and I took a bus from Dumaguete to Bacolod. It's a bit scary, what with the narrow winding roads. There's not too much to see, though. What I did find amazing were all the vendors who plied their trade in the bus stops.

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My old friend Eric and I took a weekend road trip from Dumaguete to Bacolod and Iloilo. Bacolod and Iloilo are small cities, somewhere in between the size of Dumaguete and Davao (if that's any point of reference for you). They're fairly old, though, with lots of Spanish colonial history behind them. Bacolod built its fortune on sugar, and lost it in the bust of 1985. However, it's regained some of its old glory in recent days.

Being good boys and historically inclined, we visited mostly Churches and museums. These are pictures of the cathedral in Bacolod.

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The Sugar Museum of Bacolod, formerly the provincial capitol of Negros Occidental. It's not very well organized though, and is more a storehouse of memorabilia than anything else. They do have some good dioramas of the revolutionary days of November 5, 1898. There's also a large collection of toys from all over the world donated by a benefactor. No pictures allowed inside. Bummer.

The plaza is nice, though.

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My friends and I took a boat from Surigao City to Cebu. Tourist class accommodations were fully booked, so we ended up in economy class. They might as well have called it cattle class. But, being the good Filipinos that we were, we took it all in stride. One interesting episode: an old lady passenger arrived just as they had raised the gangplank. Did they turn her away? Oh, no, not at all. We had moved only a few feet from the dock and the cargo door was still open, so she made the leap.

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Smack in the heart of Makati is Greenbelt, a park complex composed of palm trees, restaurants, shopping malls, and a Church. Recently renovated and expanded, Greenbelt now sports a sparkling new food court, upscale shops, and movie theaters. And, of course, for the truly wealthy, a row of full-service apartments for long-term lease. One wonders if an ordinary employee the likes of which toils in Ayala will ever find residence here. Oh well....

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The balloons I remember were all round and came in primary colors, plus a few shades in between. Not so with balloons today: they're come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Metallic silver seems to be a very popular variety. But the way of selling them hasn't changed much it seems: balloon salesmen with weatherbeaten faces in well-worn sandals still ply the streets with their wares.

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When we cut down the steel frames for carport, we found this bird's nest lodged in one of the posts. There were baby chicks still crying for their mummy. I took these photos before replacing the nest on the roof, but I don't know if mummy bird ever came back for the chicks.

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Unlike the staid communist Beijing one hears of in the past, the new Beijing is very modern and very western, replete with nightclubs and other bourgeois pursuits. We stumbled into a fairly decent one with middle eastern entertainment. Oh, yes, it shouted 'Tourist Trap' all the way, but we were heedless fools. Capping off the evening was line-dancing on the tabletops. Ugh.

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Bintang Walk is a trendy strip in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Flanked by five-star hotels and upscale shopping malls, the outdoor cafes and restaurants do brisk business.

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EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype: City of Tomorrow, but it's really more than that. Sure, one side is dedicated to science and technology but to me, the real attraction is the long boulevard of replicas of monuments from around the world. Worthwhile seeing again, and no, one day is definitely not enough.

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Shopping is the new anthem of China, and the proof of it is central Beijing, with its rows and rows of specialty shops, malls, and restaurants. In a way, it reminds me of the New York Times Square. There are Chinese touches all around, but for the most part, the buildings are very modern and very western.

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The fountain in the waterfront park is where the denizens of Portland go to cool off on those bright, sunny days. Fun! fun! fun!

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Malacca was a Dutch colony before ultimately being seized by the British. It's one of the amazingly well-preserved and well-maintained historical sites in Malaysia. These shots were taken around the main tourist area called Stadthuy's.

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A three-day workshop, from May 19 to May 21, with Davao's writers, both seasoned and up-and-coming. Literature and friends, what more could one ask for? Held at the La Storta Retreat House, Shrine Hills.

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Our music studio Notespell held its first recital on June 7, 2008. Lots of rockin' and rollin'. The parents were pretty impressed. Overall, a success!

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