waterbugs

From 1001-Cebu

From our room at the Hilton - Maktan Island (Cebu), we had a magnificent view on the boats at sea. At daytime, they hit for the shore; in the night, they move back to the sea. Like a flock of insects, gracefully highheeled walking over the surface of the water. Fascinating.

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airports

Airports - although inevitable - are a horrible place to be. Especially in the Phils! Just some examples:

* Davao: it's forbidden to smoke OUTSIDE of the airport. In the airport, there are smokers zones. Funny.

* Cebu: exactly as last time, there was a HUGE queue, due to the fact that all the luggage must be scanned at the entrance of the airport, and there is only one scanner functional. The above picture is funny because it's 3 pictures stitched together, so you see some persons 3 times in the same picture. The waiting line was not so funny though. If you need to board a plane in Cebu, calculate at least 30 minutes queuing time!

But after all, we managed to survive the airports :-)
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Ng

We were so privileged to meet the famous photographer Mr. Ng. His work is most impressive: technically perfect, and filled with joy and human intensity.
He lived in Manila, but choose to move to Davao: close to the mountain (he loves mountainclimbing) and the beaches. And much better quality of life.
Admirable guy !!!!
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the T'boli Bag

unique! this bag is fully made of fiber from the pinapple. Strong and beautiful, a specialty from the Tboli tribe. HL couldn't resist buying one!

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midnight streetsleepers vs midnight dancers

On HL's birthday we went out, bars, gogodancers (the so-called "midnight dancers"). While we were amusing ourselves, the streetkids were enjoying a quiet rest on the comfortable and refreshening clean tiles. Nobody disturbed them.

Our friend N. told us that those streetkids actually have shelter and food in government houses, but then they have to follow rules. They prefer freedom. I'm sure he's right!
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the national fish ...

the national fish of the Philippines is the BANGUS. Its quality mostly is that it's boneless. It's available on the market in such huge quantities that one wonders how long the Bangus will last!
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baby for sale?

so funny, during our stroll in the (huge) open-air market: while mama & papa are working (making sausages), the baby hangs there, sleeping in a net. No need for a nanny: the baby is at work. Hopefully not for sale!
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80

8O students per class ... that's the usual practice in this government school. Not enough teachers, not enough classrooms. But they manage, they say, although they welcome private sponsorship. Anyone to sponsor a class?

save on swimwear and earn money!

this boy was so cute. He knew that nudity sells, so he was running around in the water, nude to the butt, exposing himself to everyone who wanted to watch, and asking only ONE PESO for his beauty. And he was so proud when he got rewarded. Plain lovely. I don't dare to post the pictures on the net, but this one might be acceptable for the Law: there's nothing to see :-)
Do look at the reflection of the boy's face and body in the water! Amazing!
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the pearl in the oyster

most oysters are ugly on the outside. This boy is not an oyster, although he seems to have a pearl in his mouth!
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homemade!

what's in the bottle? it's home-made!!! Must be yummy :-) and look at the expression on the faces of the drinkers .... even extatic !!! But what is it?

streetkids

I didn't expect to see them in Davao, but the streetkids are plentiful here too. Nobody seems to give a damn.

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orgastic fireworks

never ever seen something like this ... for more then 2 hours, the whole city of Cebu was one huge display of fireworks, far and near, a seemlessly endless fantastic orgasm of sound and light. It must be said, when the Pinoys go crazy, they really have no limits!

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The Shirt

As promised, The Shirt was ready on Friday. It's based upon Medieval colorcombinations (left side has a different color then the right side) with a twist: the sleeves are unicolor, and the black background of the front side is stronger represented on the back side. The collar follows the color of the bodypart.
The decorations are only situated on the parts with a black background.
All in all a lovely shirt, and obviously an eye-catcher!

Now I'm curious how long it will last: since the colors are from natural substances, the shirt needs to be washed with a non-aggressive soap, and it should stay out of bright sunlight, otherwise the colors will fade away in time. I'm not too worried about it: I'm planning to wear it as much as possible, though not in the heat of the day :-) (and be assured, Yogya can be very hot in the middle of the day! It hasn't rained here for many days already, and we clearly see - and feel - the temperatures climbing up each day!). No need to say we love it !

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the desire of being pictured

One of the things that strikes me in Indonesia so far, is the desire of boys and men to be photographed. It really is incredible, when I show my camera and start taking pictures, everybody wants to model :-)

Like here in a chinese temple, some boys were re-painting the pillars, and I took a shot at one of them. The others ventured their highest creativity to attract my attention so that I would picture them too. Even an old man who was sitting there made it clear to me that I should not forget to portrait him. It's a photographers paradise here!

Speaking about paradise, I told one of the poolboys that Indonesia is a tourist paradise, and he reminded me that life for ordinary people here is not easy at all. Nevertheless, they don't loose their smile. Brave folks.

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batik

Yogya is one of the cultural capitals of Indonesia. No wonder the art of batik is so developped here. HL & E have spent half a day in dwelling the countless batik shops in Yogya, and they presented me the top 3 of their findings. What a luxury for me, to only visit the best.

The lady in this picture knows her stuff. I ordered a shirt, and she immediately understood what my idea was. At least I got that impression. As soon as the shirt is finished, I'll keep you posted!

That being said, batik here is obviously big bussiness. My friend R. in Semarang told me that his native village (2 hours from Semarang) is also famous for its batik, though not on the commercial touristic route. I'm very tempted to check that out, next time.

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Fences

Isn't it remarquable that we all build fences around us? We try to shield us from others, from those we consider the unwanted outside world. We park our car in a fenced location, so that the so-called "drop-outs" cannot reach it. We hide our emotions and feelings, afraid that they would show our vulnerability. We fence who we are.

And I plead guilty here ... I do the same in my country. It has to do with citylife and modern society, because where I grew up (a rural village), there were no fences, everybody was who they were, and they were accepted. Doors were open day and night, and nobody felt the need to hide himself.

And when I'm travelling, I return to my childhood and my fences drop. No doubt because we travel in a well-protected environment, where fences are not a necessity. Nevertheless, the feeling of liberation is undescribable. When we travel, I feel my potential unleashed, the stream of energy is unbelievable, and the feeling of wellbeing is a blessing. One could rightfully say that I'm a different person when travelling.

Do you feel the same, when away from daily routine? How can we preserve this most valuable feeling, and ban the negativity of routine out of our lives?

Do share me your insight!

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Boro-Budur (the Buddha near Boro)

A remarquable place, this 8th century Buddist temple near Boro (1 hour drive from Yogyakarta). A huge complex, and not one gram of cement was used: all the stones fit perfectly into each other and interconnect with each other, which in itself is a wonder.
If only the human world could achieve the same perfection ....

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Violent Education

Strange thing when we talk with our friends here ... all of them where beaten up by their parents when they were young. And I'm not talking about simple disciplining, but really beating.

Due to our travel plans, I have no time to do a research on this topic, but it surely is fascinating: how violent is the invisible layer of the culture here?

And for my other friends: what were your experiences, where you beaten up when you were young? Was it considered to be a normal thing? And why?

Too many questions for today :-)

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eyeing towards the future

We are only a few days here, so I am in no way able to form an opinion on the country and its future. From what I've seen and heard, I think that the country is looking to the future with a legitime confidence, although not without setbacks, mainly because of corruption. There is a lot of wealth, but it doesn't always go where it should be going.

That being said, I admire most of the people I've met. Their "joie de vivre" is their greatest strenght. I admire them for that.

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2 models for the price of 1

Funny thing in the square in front of the "stadhuis" in Jakarta, Indonesia. There was a photoshoot going on, a female model with high heels, and fancy clothes, was performing her actions (beautiful ruined art deco buildings in the background) and suddenly one of the streetkids thought that she had the same capabilities and joined her in the modelling, disturbing all the carefully staged settings. Life is chaos, and streetkids will remind you of that in case you forgot!

It was quite lovely though to see the modellist gently remove the streetkid. No harsh words, no brutal pushing, just gently persuading to stay out. Unfortunately she came back, time after time. She wanted to be in the picture!

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The Thumb

Funny thing in the "Stadhuis" in Jakarta, Indonesia: amongst the many canons that are standing there, this one has "the thumb". According to our guide there, it's a fertility icon (females who can't get pregnant have to push their private parts to the thumb, and males who cannot produce a kid perform the same ritual), although for me the real original meaning indicates something that is centuries old: I'll f*ck u :-) which, in the way of a canon, includes a lot of balls :-)

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obesitasia

There's one thing that puzzles me. Howcome there are no obese people in Malaysia? They enjoy food soooooooooo much, and the restaurants that our friends brought us today indeed served the most yummy food. One could suppose that this should lead to US obesitas situations, but it doesn't! They eat like crazy (and yummy) yet they manage to stay slim !!! How do they do it? Is there obesitas in asia? And if not, why?

There are still many unsolved questions in this world :-)

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the joy of puddles

THREE LITTLE DUCKS!

Three little ducks go into a Bar......




"Say, what's your name?" the bartender asked the first duck.
"Huey," was the reply.
"How's your day been, Huey?"
"Great. Lovely day.. Had a ball. Been in and out of puddles all day. What else could a duck want?" said Huey.

"Oh. That's nice," said the bartender. He turned to the second duck, "Hi, and what's your name?"
"Dewey," came the answer from duck number two.
"So how's your day been, Dewey! ?" he asked.
"Great. Lovely day. I've had a ball too. Been in and out of puddles all day myself. What else could a duck want?"

The bartender turned to the third duck and said, "So, you must be Louie?"

"No," he said, batting his eyelashes.

"My name is Puddles."

a new look at Malays

Strolling in the Pavilion shopping mall (to my knowledge funded by Q8 money, correct me when I'm wrong), I couldn't help but notice that almost all of the male sales persons were wearing nametags that referred to Muslim names (Mohamed, Kamarul, Saiful, ....). Which is fine by me, I don't have any prejudice against religion, the question is not which religion one belongs to, the question is what one is doing with his religion. Furthermore, I couldn't help but notice that most of the sales persons were gay, without doubt, they are happy to express their feminine side, although male. Which brought me to the conclusion that the staff in the mall is mostly Muslim and gay, and clearly open about it.

I must admit, I never looked upon Malay guys this way. This is an eye-opener for me. Are these guys really so confident about their racial (and therefor religious) background and their sexuality, or is this only allowed within the limited boundaries of the shopping mall?

Maybe I should ask them this question personally, next time I'll go shopping. I wonder if I'll get a clear answer.

Meanwhile, I stay pleasantly surprised! There is more in Malaysia then one can imagine!

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golden movies

One needs to be humble. I try to be. At the same time, I'm tempted by so many temptations, that it's hard to resist.

For instance: we decided to go for a movie tonight. We had the choice: join the masses, and pay 13 RM to sit in an overcrowded movie theatre, or pay 50 RM, and enjoy the luxury of a private lounge, bathroom, limited audience, comfy chairs (180° flat, if you like), button to press if you like refreshment, and so on and so forth.

We remembered Oscar Wilde ("I can resist anything but temptation") and decided to go for the gold class. 

It's highly recommendable. No need to say more :-)

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stitching

you know what stitching means: a needle goes into an opening, comes out again, goes in again, and so on and so forth :-) (don't get horny LOL).

Here is another fine example of 4 pictures, stitched together into one. You see HL swimming in the pool, and the full facade of the hotel the pool belongs to. Impossible to create this view without stitching!

BTW, the pool is extremely fresh in the morning, hence the wetsuit, HL is wearing :-)

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wet feet (and whatever there can be wet)

No photoshoot of KL can be complete without a picture of the twin towers! The endless money of the state oil company Petronas was poored into concrete and stainless steel, to build the (at that time) highest building in the world. Meanwhile it's a dwarf, compared to the newest highest  :-)

Most tourist visit the twin towers, and take pictures from its basement. Impressive, no doubt, but I wanted another view. I knew from the maps that there is a park nearby, with lots of water, and that's where I went. Strolling around in the cool summer of Malaysia (still 30°C), I discovered a touristfree spot, where the Malay were predominant, and their kids were cooling off in the splashing water. I focused on one boy, so clearly enjoying himself in the shallow coolness, you'll find the pix on the picasaweb. After the waterfun, he went to his mother, who was maximum overdressed, headscarf and tutti quanti, and while she was drying him carefully, he looked at me taking pictures and he enjoyed it :-)

About the picture of the twin towers on top: it took me no less then 4 pictures to get the whole image, fortunately I have this lovely stitching program that seams them together flawlessly :-)

I also feel the hunger to visit the less glorious parts of the city. Maybe one day I'll do it, provided I find a guide. For the moment, I've been told clearly to stay away there.

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the world in one city

it's actually quite amazing ... KL being the worst performer of all Asian tigers, yet that city offers anything your heart might desire. In all aspects of life.

When it comes to food, we can blindly follow KaiLee, a friend of HL, she knows all the good spots to taste marvelous food from all the corners of the world. Did I say amazing? It really is !!!

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jingle bells & co

"Pavillion" is a huge shopping mall in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Here you find the true commercial christmas spirit: jingle bells and other christmas music 24/7, the most spectacular christmas decorations, and all the customers love it ! What is quite interesting, and new for me, compared to last christmas visits here, is that the young malay (muslim) obviously like it too !!! They flock at the mall, still clearly adapting to this joyful feeling, and mostly in groups. They have a fancy hairdress, are wearing flashy sunglasses, but they don't buy, they just gather there, much to the irritation of the security guards :-)

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it's your energy !!!