First class traveling in Manila

Nothing to add to further promote first class traveling in Manila.

Photo from San Juan, Metro Manila, August 2008.

Living along Manila's train tracks

Photo from August 2007, Sampaloc, Manila.

Gun dealer keeps the overview

A gun dealer sells his stuff (not the plastic versions) above a bridge in Quiapo, Metro Manila (August 2007). Next to the guns you find hundreds of brass knuckles, butterfly knives, and all kinds of martial arts equipment such as throwing stars and black ninja sais.

All for self defense—the gun dealer reassured.

Scorpion fish in colorful dress

August 2007 photo of a scorpion fish in Anilao.

Beautiful face

Still a bachelor, but it comes with a cave.

Photo from August 2007, Anilao, Batangas.

Black Frog Fish

Above one of my favorite weirdos under water: a black frog fish.

Photo from yesterday in Anilao, Batangas (Philippines).

Wheels of fortune

Photo of a four wheel bicycle from Manila, Metro Manila in August 2007.

Fiesta, fiesta

Wanna party?

Photo from Sampaloc, Manila, August 2007.

One failed English lesson

It seems that the deterioration in comprehending English in the Philippines is a fact.

Photo of 'park facing wall' from Cubao, Metro Manila, August 2007.

Manila’s Beauty War

After the highly despicable Ms Ugly (no more) advertising campaign the slimming and artificializing giant Beverly Hills is reaching out for higher levels of insipidness in ‘from ordinary women to stars.’

The other campaigners in Manila’s advertisement sky are Marie France and Vicky Belo, all involved in an advertisement beauty war to attract clients for their surgery clinics.

These are the real development problems of the Philippines!

Giant billboard above EDSA at Guadalupe MRT Station, Makati in August 2007.

Man possessed by evil spirit

Not much to add to this ABS-CBN article from 20 August 2007:

"A 19-year-old man was reportedly possessed by an evil spirit during a drinking spree Saturday night in San Mateo, Rizal. His father said Alexis Leona of Barangay Ampid was drinking with friends when he went out of the house to relieve himself. When he returned, Leona's eyes were blood red and his voice had changed, his father said. It took eight people to restrain Leona. Leona's father said that the voice identified himself as "Pepito." The family said Saturday's incident involving Leona was not the first. On July 13 last year, a Friday, Leona was also possessed by an evil spirit. His family took Leona to a neighborhood medicine man for help. Following the incident Saturday, village officials rushed Leona to hospital where doctors injected him with downers. He is currently under observation."

Lesson learnt: Spirits facilitate spirit communication.

Since I wasn't part of that evil spirit drinking spree please find above a typical bar picture from Mandaluyong, Metro Manila (November 2006) and just imagine that Pepito was there.

Shopping for something more colorful?

Photo from August 2007, Quiapo, Metro Manila.

Imelda's spa: Too big to enjoy it alone

The Santo Niño Shrine in Tacloban (Island of Leyte) is one 29 presidential rest houses that late President Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda had built. All guest rooms have different themes which represent features of particular regions of the Philippines. Imelda and Ferdinand have separate bedrooms in this guest house. While Ferdinand’s bedroom is adjoined by his bodyguards' bedroom—at least an option…—Imelda’s grand bedroom is adjoined by a classy spa as pictured above.

I am glad this guesthouse is named after something as holy as Santo Niño since this spa seems a bit oversized for one person only.

Photo from April 2007.

Burps lead to global warming

For more details on the following please read the full story in the Christian Science Monitor (16 August 2007):

When a cow digests its normal diet (up to almost 70 kilogram of grass, hay and silage per day) it produces methane and releases such gas with a belch into the atmosphere. Two things are important regarding the burped methane. First, methane is considered to be about 21 times more effective at warming Earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Second, a cow burps every 40 seconds.

If we add up all these burps by also including goats, and buffaloes it is estimated that about 80 million metric tons of methane are produced every year, accounting for about 28 percent of ‘man-made’ methane emissions annually.

Let’s face it: Less steaks, less burps.

Photo of 'holy' cows in front of Agra Fort, India (October 2006).

Ritired on Manila's Chinese Cemetery

Probably one of the best places to retire in Manila!

Photo from Manila's Chinese Cemetery, October 2002.

Rainy season in the Philippines

The storm update from this morning is informing us that the extremely catastrophic Super Typhoon Sepat (named Egay in the Philippines) barreling dangerously across the Western Philippine Sea remains at Category 5 (i.e. the highest category according to the Saffir-Simpson Tropical Cyclone Scale) with winds of 260 km/h. Egay is now on its way to the Batanes Group of Islands and Taiwan.

This message means that heavy rain can be expected for Manila but due to the direction of Super Typhoon Egay we will not see any monster billboards flying around as it happened last year in September under Milenyo.

Photo from rainy Santa Cruz on the island of Marinduque (but far away from tyhoon category 5) in April 2006.

Private Jeepney

Photo of a private jeepney somewhere close to Sorsogon (southern Luzon), April 2007.

How much space for praying in a plane?

The good thing about planet Earth is that all kinds of religion exist. Life is diverse and that’s good.

Can you imagine being in a plane with people of only one belief and all of them being urged to pray (like in a church, mosque or temple) at the same time? Can you imagine the additional space being needed for example if all Muslims would bring their prayer rugs to enable them to prostrate themselves to Allah and towards Mecca?

If it’s only one or two who stand up (or kneel down) to do their religious exercise as this Jewish gentleman did on a flight from Bangkok to Manila in August 2007 it is bizzare (because it took some 15 minutes) and entertaining especially when the flight is long. My only fear is now a common ‘coming out’ when I fly to more holy places than Manila next time.

Any other use for toilets than washing cloths?

Photo from a guest house in Kathmandu, Nepal, February 1991.

How to finance Paris Hilton?

Lesson learnt: Don’t phone from a hotel room!

I was charged some €38.50 (currently $52.65) for a 15 minutes phone call to a neighboring Belgian town. After that I only skyped and realized how cheap wireless internet access in a hotel could be. That internet access was only €20 ($27.35).

All that happened in the Hilton in Luxemburg.

Paris, would you buy me a drink next time?

Photo from the entrance of the Hilton in Luxembourg in August 2007. No idea what the doorman is doing on the picture but I am sure it adds to the overall wealth of Luxemburg, which is the richest country (Gross National Income per capita) on the globe.

Tie hanger

Don't know if this a new kind of tie hanger or the start of a new fashion.

Seen in Karlsruhe, Germany in August 2007.

Just married! Why not?

Instead of renting classy cars such as Rolls-Royce, BMW, Mercedes or Cadillac why not hiring a tricycle for your wedding?

On the plus side: Your tricycle will be so slow that you can be assured that many cars will blow their horns for YOUR wedding.

Photo from Bernkastel-Kues, Germany, August 2007.

News from Bangkok: Happy Virus

Good to learn that some viruses make Thai happy.

Photo from Bangkok, August 2007.

Chef fumé

Photo from Monal Restaurant on the Margalla hills close to Islamabad, July 2007.

Fruits of counting money ...

... as seen in Lahore, July 2007.

Towing food service

CooCo's den in Lahore has its kitchen on the street and all food is being towed to the rooftop where the restaurant is located (see above).

Check out the history of CooCo’s and enjoy the splendid view from the rooftop terrace. The Badshahi mosque is shown on the photo below but for the Sikh temple, the Lahore fort and the walled city you better travel to this magnificent city.

Photos from my 27th visit to CooCo’s in July 2007.

See also the view from 'Fort view' which is just a few houses away from CooCo's.

Safe for diplomats?

Trust me, inside you will find real fortifications; this is only the entrance to the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad (July 2007).

Drive, park and fly

Scene from Islamabad airport, July 2007.

Why women don't drive motor bikes in some countries?

Photo from somewhere between Lahore and Islamabad in July 2007.