Old Manila

Nostalgic for what could have been. The fuzzy video "Old Manila" has that hot summer afternoons of my childhood feel about it. Some of the scenes are familiar: an Intramuros gate in silent sentry from the old Spanish rulers, Roxas Boulevard has a continuous stand of trees that was gone by the time I was a child there, bridges going over Pasig river. And there is a scene of trams (trambia) ferrying people through the streets that I only heard about. A city on its way to gaining it's full identity in the world, given the promise from our custodians, the Americans, that we were being groomed for independence someday. All this before the war. Google video here.

I really love the video. I keep playing over and over. I just wish my dad was still around to watch it as he would love it just as much as I did. I remember my dad telling me how beautiful Manila was at that time and this video showed what my dad said was true.

--Comment on the video by Boly SM. Linsangan

The country today, as ever, is faced with many challenges too complex and enormous to even take in. Time and history has not been kind, but we muddle through. I was very happy to see many things have improved as well as see more things stay the same. Still, there is much to be hopeful for.

____

Trolling the net I found this flickr album by brownpau. I hope he doesn't mind that I link to them. The photos are amazing. You can find them here.

Another small gallery of old Manila here.
Austrian-Philippine website has a gallery of even older images here.
Wikipedia on Manila.

Happy New Year: Philippine Style

A makeshift stand just two blocks from my in-laws' house in B.F. Homes, P'que. The vendor was a little wary that I wanted to take a photo since these are illegal (law enforcement response to this tradition has been to throw their hands up and hope for the best)

BOMBS! That's what they are. Little bombs. Sold on almost every major street corner around town it seems. Not much has changed from when I was a child in the Philippines on New Year's eve. Families have a stash of firecrackers in the house. I never gave actual danger much thought as I handled the simple paper bags they came in, dusty with gunpowder shaken from each triangle of paper bound explosive. Every kid (as young as five) walked with a bag, box of matches or candles to light these bombs and God help our eardrums.


The wood table (two-thirds the size of a ping pong table)was heavy with packages wrapped in colorful cellophane like they were gift baskets. I peer under the table and there were boxes stacked like bricks and packed solid of their supply. If a stray cigarette spark were to light that stash...And this was a tiny operation compared to the gaggle just around the commercial center of town.

"Triangulo," is what we called the small triangle the size of a regular guitar pic, but the larger variety are the "5 Star" kind, now those were serious. The small dynamite shaped ones (above photo) are of a higher order, likely able to blow chunks of asphalt as it goes off. There's more. Cinturon ni Judas (Judas Belt) is a long braid of explosives designed to explode in rapid continuous fire, machine gun like. It will, in a few short hours, sound a lot like an actual war zone here in Manila.


Just a few steps ahead on my walk to my morning coffee I found a lone 5-Star laying on its side, looking quite ready to be deployed. The city irrigation truck winded its way towards me as I took this photo and rather poetically drenched it into a benign pad of wet paper and powder.


When we were young we also made our own cannons. That's right, a real cannon made of bamboo. A fire slowly stoked under the lower chamber of the long bamboo cooks fuel to a boil, releasing it as vapor. When enough is in the chamber a stick lit with fire at the end is touched to the blow hole igniting the gas and...BOOOOM! Boys. It was a lot of fun. Really dangerous and toxic. Of course we didn't think of it that way back then. We even loaded the barrel with empty milk cans as projectiles, aimed at a competing bamboo cannons manned by other kids.


But that was years ago. Apparently a modern innovation came out of Cavite (where I was born and grew up).


Went to visit relatives in Cavite City. On the way back I made a point of stopping by this shop by the road where these very convincing weapons were hanging. That's my brother-in-law, Mano, asking about the price of these "Boga" guns. We weren't buying really but just a ruse so I can snap a pic. Those boys are just like what me and my brothers were with our bamboo cannon long ago. Ahhh, meh-moh-reeez!

LUCENA CITY--A retired band member in this city has fashioned a cannon out of a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe, turning it into a hot-selling noisemaker to welcome the New Year.

John Almario, 37, got the idea from the "boga" cannon invented by the Caviteños.

He bought a red PVC "bazooka" in Cavite last year, tinkered with its parts and mechanisms, added some innovations and came up with his own design.

He now has a booming business selling the cannons in a makeshift stall along the main road of the Market View Village here.

"I knew I could make money from it," Almario told the Inquirer.

Two years ago, the "boga" cannon was very popular because it was a safe, cheaper and more effective noisemaker.

Like the cannon invented by the Caviteños, Almario uses PVC pipes and fittings as the main materials.

Have a safe New Year's eve celebration. I'll try to save my hearing by stuffing cotton in me ears. I'll also try not to have any part of me blown up. If I get any good pictures tonight I'll post them right quick.

Happy New Year!



Link to Inquirer.net
Link to Reuters India
Link to Manila Times short history of fireworks in the Philippines.

Pinoy Eats

While having adobo and rice breakfast at Las Paellas in B.F. Homes, we spotted the taho vendor walking past. I gave chase and promptly procured two of these.

Let the feasting begin! Oh, what's the point of going home if you're not going to on a pound or ten, huh? Part of my childhood was about waking up after an afternoon siesta (imposed by adults on us overactive kids) to the lone sound of the Taho vendor. "Ta-hoooooo!" Made of bean curd, tapioca and caramelled sugar syrup it was a great reward for being such a good boy for taking the afternoon nap. Then, after being properly dosed with sugar, my brothers and I are off like a shot to the outdoors and boyhood shenanigans. Here's another look for those of you who've had the pleasure.

Pagsanjan

Of Boatmen and waterfalls. My very first job in movies happened a few days right after I graduated from high school. Hemisphere pictures was hiring crew for a Vietnam movie being shot in various provinces in the Philippines. I got in on the recommendation that I knew how to draw. Which was entirely neither here nor there as I was going to be a grunt weilding a house brush most of the time. That was how I got to work on "Apocalypse Now."


Half-way point. Stopped for lunch by this cascading falls. One of many leading up to the main one.


The last location I worked in my few months stint was the municipality of Pagsanjan (pronounced, Pag-sang-han) where the falls of the same name is located, and also where Martin Sheen's boat inched along to get to Marlon Brando's temple. A typhoon wiped out the set I was working on and the river rose up the jungle canyon walls. I saw the plaster and burlap parts of the temple, soggy and limp, floating down the river with the storm showing no signs of abating. It was every man for himself and soon I was on a bus trudging through floodwaters headed for Manila.



I hadn't been back until now. This last trip home I wanted to finally get to the falls myself and also glide by the location of the set. The boatmen knew to hype this up though it was rather anti-climactic since all that's left are a few stone steps well into be being claimed by the moss and jungle.



The river ride on bancas (wooden boats) is quite exhilirating, traversing 14 rapids against the current! I didn't do any work, the boatmen did all the heavy lifting. Literally. We just sat in the boat got carried over rocks like precious cargo. The Pagsanjan falls at the end of a box canyon is quite a sight to see and the roar of the water completed the spectacle. After you arrive you see that there is an option (an added fee) to be dragged in on a raft right under and behind the falls!


From under the main falls. Camera all wet. Even took some little movies. Check the links below this post for little movies

That was so awesome! I highly recommend that if you were to stop over Manila do get the hotel to arrange a day trip. You'll have a grand time. Be prepared to get wet, and have a spare set of dry clothes waiting for you at your car. Also great rainy or in the heat of summer. Mabuhay!

Pagsanjan movies 1,2 and 3.

Visited a volcano. Having a blast.

Hike and draw. Taal volcano is about two hours away from Manila and not as angry as Mayon these days. Couldnt' fly to Legaspi City anyway with my schedules and this little beauty was quite accessible. The drive brings you to Tagaytay City where people with signs saying "boat to Taal" flag you down (be judicious and choose only Tourism Bureau sanctioned ones). The boat ride takes you across the fresh water lake (refreshing)for about fifteen minutes. You land on the island and go on a 45 minute hike...up. After huffing and puffing (you can rent a horse and guide for about $12) you end up at the lip of the caldera looking into the interior lake. What a grand view!

UPDATE Fixed--Movie clip of Taal here.



I attracted a crowd. Even this gentleman was curious about how I was going to draw what they see everyday. The gun was loaded. He was the local security person of sorts. Friendly, if rather loose with the decorum of his office.



After a few more drawings it was time to drink coconut juice and finally eat the coconut meat. Notice the improvised spoon made from a slice of husk.

Of course. A volcano.

Mayon Volcano. Known for its nearly perfect conical shape of all vocanoes, Mayon is also the most active volcano in the Philippines. And, as luck would have it, getting rather testy lately. It's 212 miles south of Manila, so I'm well away from any fiery retribution. I think. Flights might be affected. Doesn't seem to faze the locals.



Never gone to see the volcano myself, and maybe this isn't the best time to. And my schedules don't have that much wiggle room right now. Really.


I hope the drills work. I wonder if they get any more gear than just hankerchiefs over their faces. Troubling photos.


Wikipedia on Mayon volcano
Philippine Officials:Volcano May Erupt

UPDATE:Alert level 4 raised as Mayon eruption ‘imminent’