Being home & settled now (even tho its snowing here) I wanted to post the last few days I had in Manila that was filled with family, food, & SHOPPING. We spent a night at my aunts to have a good old family din din that majority of my cousins were at. I was nom’n pretty hard on the palabouk… soo GOOD! It was nice to see all my little cousins that were taller than the last time I saw them four years ago. The shopping part was majority at Greenhills a.k.a. street market where you can bargin for all the fake goodness you can handle. We also went to Greenbelt in the Makati area that had tons of great shops like Fred Perry, Greyone Social, & many others. The day before we left we had lunch at one of our cousins house that I got really inspired to take abstract photos from the architecture & landscaping design. Food wise we ate at a Shabu-Shabu, Max Chicken, & an Italian restaurant where I had a truffle cream pasta that was soo delicious…*drool* Hope you enjoyed the photos of my month vacation in the motherland of Philippines & thank you to those who always checking out the blog of my daily life in Edmonton or anywhere really!

Cebu was the most relaxing part of the trip thus far because all we did was chill in the hotel, pool, & our own section of beach area. We stayed at The Hilton… which is very noticeable in Cebu due to the fact they are just two tall PINK buildings haha. It was actually really nice inside the rooms & out where the pool/beach was. One night I had the most expensive burger in the Philippines (1300 PHP) which was the Wagyu Burger at hotel. Honestly it was a good burger BUT they masked the meats flavour by putting 5 slices of bacon on it… other than that it was good. We also went to this restaurant for BBQ seafood which was pretty good as well. For the shopping side we went to the Ayala Mall that had some stores but nothing too amazing compared to Green Belt in Manila. Cebu is wayyy cleaner than Manila (no smog & less garbage) & the city is just getting bigger… just give it a few more years to become a bigger know city!

The night before we left Boracay we went to a local farmers market which has fresh… EVERYTHING & nothing was hiding at all with fresh meat just hanging out, fresh seafood, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, & fresh eggs. We grabbed crab to cook back to our staying area which I wish I could of ate BUT my stomach has been hurting for awhile now (I don’t know if its the water or the food)… its been hurting for awhile now… ANYWHO! My impression of Boracay is that its the Philippines version of Cancun. Busy beach fronts, people trying to sell you stuff, a lot of eateries, & a beach for days. I enjoy this part of the trip for just the realizing aspect & having my first salad of the trip… haha The best part of that trip was snorkeling in two different spots where we fed some fishes pandesal (a.k.a. a bread bun) & they would eat it from your hand… such a cool feeling/sight! Enough talking & here are the images

Last Night my family & I finished our part in the festival by leading a candle lite procession throughout the town. All my family members held the crosse while the rest of the town held candles that are lite around us. It was really cool to see the street light up by only candles & lanterns…really memorable part of the trip thus far. Here are some images that I was able to take while holding a candle in one hand & getting hit by the elders for going out of the procession line haha.

Here in Lubang there is a festival every year that is named Santa Cruz Festival. This tradition started here soo far back even my mom & her sister don’t remember when it started but had been going since they were babies. Basically its a 9 day festival where there would be 9 different family hosts that would feed the entire town. There would always be a live band playing to dance to, raffles for gifts, & of course drinking! Last night was our night to do the dinner which there were 4 pigs killed to feed the entire town. There were TONS of people that showed up that I did not expect at all… funn times was had all night & here are the images to show some things that was going on that night.

Life on Lubang Island is really HOT & chilled out… the only thing to do is go to the center of the city to go on internet, play basketball, go to the “clean” beach, drink beer, and sit infront of fan because its HELLA hot here! It’s soo hot here that even sitting down inside with a fan I’m still SWEATING my ass off… uncomfortable hot. Here are some images from the boat to the island, the beach, my grandmas house where we are staying, & drinking with family. I did break the rule a bit by using my 24-105mm to get some scenic views tho… but its all good because rules are meant to be broken for the right occasion!

I decided once I landed in the motherland is to shoot with only a 50mm with my 5D to make myself move towards or away from the subject rather than using a zoom lens. As well I’ve been shooting Manual Focus to make me think more of my main focus in the shot. Shooting with the 5D that has a full frame sensor with a 50mm lens is like capturing images that I see in my own sight due to the fact that 50mm is a relevant perspective as the human eye. These new images are from the past two days of being in markets, malls, visiting my grandma’s grave, and eating out of course! The only place that I feel comfortable to bring my laptop has been at the nearest Starbucks where I have my morning coffee and surf the web for 100php for an hour…soo basically just $2 CND! Well till next post, my minutes are running out & I have to upload the images still and I still wish I got CS4 to edit these images…haha

Finally I found some internet at my cousins and I am able to upload and fill you guys in how my first two days were in Manila, Philippines. Traveling from Edmonton to Vancouver to Philippines was probably the hardest/longest plane ride ever… BUT once we got to the Manila around 4am it felt like 6pm for us because of the time change of 15 hours. Though it was a long first day in this busy city we did accomplished a lot: eating, drinking beer at 5am, unlocking our blackberrys, and eating more! Here are some images that should keep you informed about my sightings thus far.

Till the next post!

Right now I’m in the Vancouver airpot awaiting to board the plane 13 hour flight AHH! to the Philippines which me, my family, & cousins are going to spend our next month… soo if you don’t see me posting as much it’s because I don’t have access to the internet or just HELLA lazy to post. Either or you will see tons of photo’s & video’s from this vacation for sure!