Benguet Feb 2006

Trinidad Valley, with its flower and strawberry fields make such a beautiful backdrop. I asked Erika to stand in and be the subject that will complete the picture. A version of this photo with me as subject won in a Travel Club contest. (wow, it took 14 minutes to upload this photo :-) and then the attach picture wont budge. This is it for now.

Amazing Photos

Camel Caravan. I got this today, 081206, from my brother Nilo. "This is an amazing aerial photo.The real camels are white, the black marks are just shadows. Blow up thephoto to see for yourself."

Vanishing Places

I have long fancied to shoot that strip of coastal community near Island Cove in Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite, and it finally happened last Sunday, with a lot of help from friends.

What makes it a dream subject? It's not like any I’ve seen before and it might not be there for long.

Within that 1-km strip, you'll find a couple of makeshift, multilevel dry docks for bancas, stretching to about 50 meters each. In bright sunlight, they are both a study in color, while in an overcast, the muted tones reveal the intricate patterns of the bamboo scaffolding.

At the foreground is a very narrow and shallow body of water, which looks like what's left of the river that once ran there. That morning, we had to make do with it to reflect our subjects. That morning, a boatman had to make do with it to get to the sea and catch the day's food.

Here, mangroves compete for space with the dry docks, the shelters and a road right behind the dry docks. What’s a road doing in that place? It leads to a private property on reclaimed land.

There are about 20 houses on stilts on this side of the highway. Some are “full-time homes” while others are “rest houses” of families across the highway. Garbage in its many forms littered the shore. Birds have made this a no-fly zone and have relocated to the fishponds about a kilometer into the sea.

There's talk that this side of the highway would have to give way to some road widening project. The folks wouldn't know exactly when, while some don't even think so. The kids as expected, do not know or do not care, and are just happy to have a place to play.

Just the same, life here goes on, and some are even starting life in this place. And at the rate it’s going, it may be just a matter of time until we lose this place, if not to a wider road, to the garbage or some other man-made causes.

Six lessons I learned in my trip to Jimenez

1. Back in elementary school, Misamis Occidental was nothing but one of those provinces whose name I had to memorize, just in case it gets included in the exams. Until last year, I never
   thought I would someday have a reason to go there. That is, until my brother got assigned to Jimenez.
   
   “Where?” was everybody’s question. No one among family or friends knew where Jimenez was. Jimenez, it turned out, is a municipality in Misamis Occidental. It is also one of the original nine towns of the province of Misamis, before the latter was split into Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental in 1929. The airport nearest Jimenez is in Dipolog.
   
   My summer trips had been fun trips, but this one had been planned to be a reunion of sorts. I wasn’t expecting to find many discoveries, and yet, I was pleasantly surprised that at the end of the trip, I could look back to the fun, and the lessons I learned. Let me share them here.
   
   1. X-ray does not pass through ube jam
   Last Maundy Thursday and we were at the Centennial Airport, checking our bags in for the Manila-Dipolog flight, when the crew manning the x-ray machine asked, “What’s inside the bag?” He was pointing to a perfectly oval shape on the monitor. It was my father’s bag, so I didn’t know. I ventured a guess. “Slippers?” They didn’t look convinced. So I called my father. “Huh?” was his first reaction. At that point, a lady crew picked up the bag and quietly led us away from the line. My father still couldn’t seem to remember what item that was, so we told them it’s alright to open and inspect the bag. That was supposed to simplify matters, except that the key couldn’t be found – not in my father’s pockets, or in his small hand carry. During those awkward moments, I was doing my best to erase thoughts of missing the once-a-day flight to Dipolog, and hence, the 4-months-in-the-planning visit to my brother. Then the lady turned creative and started asking questions. “Where are you going?”; “Where are you coming from?”; “Is there food inside?” To the last question, my mother answered “Yes, there is ube inside, in an oval container.” Bingo. That became the lady’s cue to let us go. And that became my father’s cue to stop the search for the keys for the meantime. I’ve never felt so relieved in a long time.
   
   What was that all about? My brother loves ube jam and my mother makes one of the best ube jams I know. All she wanted was to bring some to my brother. Well, we got that done, and we even learned a little lesson on x-rays, ube jam, and how not to miss your flight.
   
   2. Competitors can work with each other
   I work in a company that provides leadership, marketing and management training. I remember how a year ago, my client in Petron became aghast when I told her about my brother who works in Caltex –a natural reaction among competitors, I suppose.
   
   In Jimenez, it was my turn to be shocked when I learned that what I thought as a Caltex depot there is actually a joint operations between Caltex and Shell. Meaning, among other things, they use the same tanks to store their products. Not only that, the depot has a two-storey building. Shell holds office in the second floor, while Caltex holds office in the ground floor. I also learned that elsewhere in the Philippines, there are Caltex-Petron joint operations on the other hand. That probably partly explains why my client in Petron remains a client to this day.
   
   3. In Jimenez, the skies have “langgam” and your “friends” could be ants
   When my sister-in-law was new in Jimenez, she asked a neighbor for help because she found a lot of “langgam.” To her surprise, her neighbor looked up to the sky. It turned out that Jimenez is a place where birds are called “langgam” and ants are called “hamigas.”
   
   4. Pinoy hospitality is alive and well
   My brother and my sister-in-law took us to MOAP (Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park) on Good Friday. We got there at 315 pm, and proceeded to tour the one-hectare mangrove that houses wild animals in captivity. An elevated walkway made of bamboo allowed us to see at eye level, various species of monkeys; the Philippine crocodile; various species of birds; a snake; and the “alamid” or Philippine civet, famed for its “coffee beans.” Just in case you missed that much-forwarded email, the world’s most expensive “coffee beans” is produced from coffee beans that had passed the digestive system of a live Philippine civet. No animal cruelty involved in the process; everything is done naturally: the coffee beans are fed to the civet, and are harvested after they come out at the other end. Go figure.
   
   We finished the mangrove tour at about 3:45 pm, just in time for the 4 pm dolphin feeding, or so we thought. Alas, the Park is closing early that day, and the front desk said they could no longer accommodate us. Sorry but what was told to my sister-in-law when she did an ocular the day before, was not applicable that day.
   
   When we told them where we came all the way from Manila, they took heart, and allowed us in, on the condition that this will just be a “turnaround trip.” Meaning, we will turn around as soon as the boat gets to the “Dolphin Island,” to join the last trip of returning tourists.
   
   Hmm, not so bad, we thought. At least we’ll get to see the aquamarine part of the park.
   
   From the dock, we could see where we were headed – a couple of structures in the middle of Iligan Bay, with a sandbar beside it made visible by the receding tide. I fixed my eyes on them throughout the 15-minute boat ride, for fear that these might be the only sights I’d see before the Park closes. When we were near enough, I took a quick shot of the sandbar. That’s about all the land there is after all; no island.
   
   We were still allowed to disembark. The 50 or so tourists - mostly families - we found were either getting out of the water, getting dressed, or starting towards the boat. It felt funny to be coming in when everyone’s getting out. One crew noticed us, so we told her our predicament. And that’s when it happened: She said we could join them, the crew, for their return trip, which is after the last tourists’ trip. That means, we get about 30 minutes more on the island!
   
   If that wasn’t hospitality, I don’t know what is. In those 30 minutes, we were able to explore the facilities to watch the dolphins and the giant sea turtle, and we got to snorkel as well. Corals abound but they look dead, or maybe because we didn’t get very far. But the schools of fishes were plentiful and colorful; you don’t need to feed them to make them come to you. They swim around you the moment your feet hits the water.
   
   5. “First in the mind” applies in the provinces, too
   Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote about “first in the mind” advantage about 20 years ago. That is, the first products in the market become first in the mind of the consumers. That is why some people still refer to toothpaste as “Colgate” and I know some folks who still call their ref as “Frigidaire.”
   
   On the morning of Good Friday, my sister-in-law and I went to the market to buy what we would cook for lunch. At the shellfish stall, we asked the woman how much. Her reply: “Bente pesos isang Caltex,” (literally, “twenty pesos per Caltex”) It took me a moment to understand that they use empty containers of engine oil as a unit of measure. The funnier thing was, the empty container she used was actually a different brand.
   
   When I relayed this to my brother, he said that if we had been in Cebu, the vendor would have replied “Bente pesos isang Mobil.”
   
   6. As always, only God knows
   The day before our flight to Dipolog, I received a “statistical report” via text message from my brother. According to the tank truck drivers, there had been an ambush the other day, three towns away from Dipolog. Casualties: 20.
   
   Well, I’ve always believed that only God knows and determines the how and the when of our meeting with Him, so I tried not to let that scare me or change our plans.
   
   Later in the day, my sister-in-law texted me that instead of Dakak, we’ll just go to the Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park, because there had been some conflict nearby.
   
   Again, I reassured myself that God is in control.
   
   I’m glad I chose to believe that. We had a great flight back and forth, and a wonderful time in Jimenez.
   
   Photos:
   The shore of Misamis occidental is also a playground for birds
   Last Good Friday, the sandbar at the Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park was about a hundred meters long
   The Jimenez port wakes up to magnificent sunrises
   The last “floating” hut at the Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park , standing at the edge of the sandbar.
   When the tide is right, fishermen get to work

Mall of Asia

December 30, 2005

Three hours before the World Pyro contest, we were setting up in front of Mall of Asia, so that it becomes foreground for the fireworks photos.

The globe would make a nice silhouette, we thought. We just hoped that the fireworks would be high enough to rise above the mall under construction.

But dusk came, and we took advantage of the blue sky. We thought we got amazing photos -- until sunset came, and wow, it was just breath taking. We must have shot it the equivalent of one roll of film, not wanting to miss the changing of hues.