lovers at the bay

Lovers at the bay spotted along san miguel by the bay at the Mall of Asia. I am sure that a lot of couples spend their valentine's date at the bay, cheap and romantic awww specially during sunset.

No, this photo was not taken yesterday but during the Canon photomarathon last November where i was a participant, will be posting photos that i have taken on that event in the following days.

maintenance

text

who doesnt know how to send a text or SMS these days? even 5 year old kids know how to text, specially here in the Philippines where texting has become a new form of communication (did you know that philippines is dubbed as the texting capital of the world? LOL) that is how addicted people are into texting that even you leave in the same house, you even text your brother who is in a different room to ask something... so what happened to good old way of communication? texting is helpful in many ways but i think sometime s the use of sms or text has hindered soem in ways of communicating with each other. other problems with texting is that people, especially kids are getting poor in spelling.

well, anyways, as shown in the photo, the old man preferred using his cellphone and text someone instead of calling or using the phone booth beside him. could be one of the reason is that Prepaid Phone Card is cheaper and the cost of texting is only 1 peso, but if you think about it, you can use Phone Cards in calling someone specially the message you need to seen is urgent or important. and it is also a good thing that Calling Cards are now cheap and international rates has dramatically decreased, so calling or texting someone abroad is also affordable now a days.

so what do you prefer? calling or texting?

human statue

these kids really like this human statue at luneta, i cant remember when did i start seeing human statue at the metro but i know that this kind of entertainment have a long history in Europe.  i really do admire the patience and control of living statues and how they can keep their cool

happy father's day

about two sundays ago, i did a half day tour of manila with diwa of http://walkwithyoung.com

one of the places i showed her is Rizal Park or the Luneta, we passed by the rizal park chess plaza and saw this old man competing with a kid and both players looked serious...
by the looks of it, the kid was winning :)  overheard the proud father of the kid that the little girl (i think he said she's about 11 years old) compete for her school, and her father brings her at the chess plaza to find worthy opponents for her which serves as good training for her, and that they travelled far just to go to the place and wake up early.  what father's will do for the love of their kids huh.

happy father's day to my tatay, and to all the loving father's out there.

old house at binondo

a sample of 19th century house at san nicolas area in binondo, where the neighborhood is lined with old houses that withstood the bombing of manila during the world war II... but sad to say it seems that these houses can no longer stood the test of time, due to neglect and/or "progress', meaning torning down the old houses to build buildings. it's just sad to see these beautiful architectures full of history being torn down and left to decay.


a closer look at the photo... it's siesta time i guess ;)

lavezares

Lavezares Street corner Barcelona Street in Binondo. A typical morning street scene in residential areas in Manila, where folks - young or old - gather in the streets and stand by (istambay) with a group of friends and neighbors discussing anything and everything under the sun :)

related post: San Nicolas Distict by Sidney, and Manila's Old World Charm

gone

"Gone - flitted away, taken the stars from the night and the sun
from the day! Gone, and a cloud in my heart." ~Alfred Tennyson

fishing

oblivious

pakwan

summer is really here and as i have said before fruits aboutn when it is summertime, and its not only mangoes and turnips that is being sold per slice on the street, we also have pineapples and watermelons too

quaipo vendors part 2

quiapo vendors

happy easter

may your guardian angels be with you always... have a happy easter :D

faith healers at quaipo

Faith healers at Quaipo, Manila.

faith healer

Based on old Tagalog movies that i watched, it is told that the "powers" of faith healers are at its peak on Good Friday... according to wikipedia: "Faith healing is the attempt to use religious or spiritual means such as prayer, mental practices, spiritual insights, or other techniques to prevent illness, cure disease, or improve health. Faith healers say they can summon divine or supernatural intervention on behalf of the ill and say their practice may afford gradual relief or bring about sudden "miracle cures."
Took this photo of a faith healer in front of the Quiapo church this Good Friday, and the man uses the wooden stick (see first photo) to heal any back pain and there were people who tried and some said the pain is gone.  The second photo, he used his belt, which is a big rosary and uses the crucifix to heal the pain of the man who claimed feeling pain at his lower back.  

The faith healer proceeded on asking for anyone who feels pain and accommodated anyone who come forward and heal them by using the wooden stick, the crucifix, or just by his hand.  There was even a man who claimed that this faith healer cured him last year of his lump at the chest hence he went back this year to be touched and cure by the man.

So do you believe in faith healers?  

old manila walks tour

Last Sunday, i joined the Chinese New Year editon of the BIG Binondo Food WOK! A special WOK-ing edition of Old Manila Walks. From the website, they describe themselves as "a bunch of passionate, obsessive and saucy ‘street walkers’(!) determined to walk and talk about one thing: the history, the culture and the heritage plus everything over, under, outside, inside this city of our affections - Manila." Ain't that something? :)

I wanted to join this Binondo tour for the longest time because i've heard great recommendations and read about it but i have been busy and when i finally had the chance i grabbed it, and a very nice timing if i may say since i get to join the tour on the day before the chinese new year, which made it more exciting.
Meet Ivan Man Dy - our great tour guide who is very nice. I really had fun while nibbling our way through Chinatown, thanks to this great chap! I'll be posting more of my wok-ing tour, i recommend you guys join one of his tours to learn something new and appreciate our history. If you want to join one of his tours check out the schedule here.

live mannequin

Found this "live mannequin" photo shoot at the La Mesa Eco Park's camping ground

taho sa gabi

i just wanted to show you this beautiful arch of the Manila Cathedral aglow, i've posted the door here before. so nice to see the manila cathedral well lit up this christmas in time for the simbang gabi.

anyways here's a taho vendor in front of the manila cathedral, yum yum yum

container lady

Found this old lady along Roxas Boulevard and find her "package" interesting, hence the title container lady, i'm not exactly sure what those containers are for or what used to be inside the containes, i just find it a nice photo opp and i love the woman's pink sweater :)