J J & J

I should've known just from our initials things would work out the way they did for an overnight excursion to Tanza, Cavite.

A few friends and I had been wanting to get out of Dodge (metro Manila) for a few weeks. For me it was just to be out of the city. For them it was to get their pictures taken. I like taking pictures. Win. Win.

It started when my friend Allan (the bodybuilding nut) said he wanted new pictures done since he is much bigger now and also has a new look.

I guessed right off what the new look was: he shaved his head. Basically, anytime a guy tries to surprise you saying he has a new look, that's male lingo for shaved my head. Edson's brothers did the same thing. Gay or straight makes no difference. New look = no hair.

Anyway, he wanted pictures.

Next comes this guy I know by the name of Pery. He's leaving for Sweden in about a month and wants some nice shots to remember the Philippines. He even knows the perfect, cheap...er, inexpensive resort not too awfully far from metro Manila.

Then come our friends Jeremy and Johann, just about the sweetest, cutest couple of human beings on the planet...aside from Edson and myself, of course! (Hey! This is my blog. Go write your own if you want to describe yourself that way!) They are soon to celebrate their first anniversary together and wanted some nice "summer" pictures, as it is fast approaching here in the Philippines.

Well, Allan never could tell me that he was or wasn't going to join us, so that's the reason this blog entry isn't titled 3 Js and A.

The plan was for me to meet Jeremy at 7pm at the Ayala MRT bus station in Makati and we'd go together to meet Johann and Pery at SM Department Store in Bacoor.

At precisely 7pm, just as I am to meet Jeremy, my phone stopped working. I couldn't place any outgoing texts or calls. I couldn't even check my balance to see if I'd run out of credits. I ran to the nearest Mercury Drugstore (ironic?) to buy more credits, fearing I had ran out. The associate there was hitting all the right buttons to send credits to my phone, but it wasn't working.

In a panic I ran out of Mercury Drug and to a Globe Telecom counter the Mercury associate had pointed out to me. I bought a P500 load and tried to activate it, but the activation line also could not be reached!

My last text message to Jeremy was that I was eating at Pizza Hut Bistro in Glorietta Mall, so I went there figuring he would look for me there. He texted (I could still receive texts!) to let me know he was looking for the restaurant. So I was right!

We met, boarded a bus, and were on our way. About fifteen minutes into the trip I received three text messages telling me my load had been activated. That was followed minutes later by a call from Mercury Drug that I need to come back and pay for it.

Oops!

Unfortunately I was still unable to send texts or make calls! My phone would regain this ability about ten minutes before we arrived at SM Bacoor...over thirty minutes after leaving Makati!

I was supposed to notify Pery as soon as I left Makati that I was on my way. Calling him as soon as we disembarked found him still at home, thinking we'd bailed out on him without calling.

We met Johann at the entrance to SM and Pery showed up a half hour later. Another bus and a pedicab later, we found ourselves at Villa Excellance Beach Resort.

Pery unsuccessfully haggled about the price of the room but did manage to successfully embarrass the three of us in so doing.

It was 11pm, and nearing our cabin all we could hear was the unfortunate sounds of poorly-played, pre-recorded, 1970's through 90's tunes done on 1970's-era Hammond organ amid the squawkings of keyless as well as clueless vocalists on videoke.

Bad music and bad singing must, of course, be done at the highest volume imaginable. It scares away Martians and explains why there is no intelligent life remaining in the solar system.

Trying to sleep through it was not possible, unless you are Johann. He tried his best to drown it all out with his snoring, but to no avail.

At 5am Pery received a call that he needed to return home immediately to take his sister to the airport. She had a change in flights and the new one was to depart at 9am.

So with his departure, that left just the three of us, and another reason for the title of this entry. And the videoke idiots were still at it!

Most of the daylight hours were relatively un-noteworthy!

We did get some wonderful pictures of, as Edson calls them, the lovebirds.

The guys at the swimming pool seemed to take great interest in me when we went to the beach, unabashedly staring the whole time. (Yes, white people DO exist...not just on TV.)

As we walked along the beach, we noticed a trio of trannies striking poses, vying for our....oh, who am I kidding?...my attention.

Around 4pm we called it a wrap and headed home. Here's some of the scenes along the way.

Not exactly Makati, huh?

Finally, the scene in front of SM Bacoor.

The Day After

What do you the day after you stay out until two in the morning at your office party?

Well, if you're us, you start by sleeping in a little bit.

Then, to avoid the frenzied crowds at Glorietta (Yes, the crowds are back, despite one-quarter of the mall still being closed due to the blast.) we headed off to brunch and a movie at Mall of Asia.

I should pause right now to inform you that we've been reading quite a few other blogs recently, and we've noticed many of them revolve around what the bloggers eat and where. They like to photograph themselves at all the restaurants they patronize, including the food. I don't know why this is. They just do it.

For a time I thought it was because they really didn't have anything worthwhile blogging about, but felt people wanted to know where they ate and what they ate there. Perhaps it is to rate the establishments, much like the Mobil guide. Of course, it could also be for documentary purposes in the event of food poisoning.

So, in this spirit of taking pictures in restaurants and posting it for the world to see I write today's blog entry.

We began at Burgoo, then window shopped while waiting for our movie to begin. We decided on Enchanted. We wanted something that would make us feel good. Disney's always been good at that, and Enchanted is no exception. It's one of those films where, from the moment it begins, you know it's going to be good.

The first thing you see is traditional, hand-drawn, classic Disney animation. Despite the technical wizardry of the computer-animated films from Pixar and others, nothing comes close to capturing you like real, old-fashioned animation. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed the film.

Edson also enjoyed the big sketchpads that cover the tables at Burgoo.

Sitting in a dark theatre watching a movie doesn't exactly take a lot out of you, but it did make us want to go get a bite to eat, so we headed to a shop specializing in chocolate desserts.

Dark Chocolate with Baileys and Dark Chocolate with Kahlua cakes! Yum!

Right about now there are probably more than one of you out there wondering why if this is my blog about my interpretations of life in the Philippines (blah blah blah...) that I'm not in any of the pictures.

Well, I'm the photographer, that's why.

I know that in this, the "MySpace" era, everyone is supposed to go around snapping pictures of themselves at arm's length everywhere they go, but that isn't me and this is the blog entry about pictures in restaurants, not pictures taken at arm's length. Although that sounds like a fine idea, and one that I may pursue sometime in the future.

Although you may want to remind me about that, since to me those kind of pictures rank right up there with those people shoot of themselves looking in their bathroom mirrors.

Instead, I'll share with you the shot from Mall of Asia of the sunset over Manila Bay...

...and the five o'clock crowds coming and going at Mall of Asia.

Pics of the Day

Some pics from the Quezon Avenue MRT station...


...and what is around the station.