Learning the Art of Photography

Blogging will not be complete without using a photo just to picture out a scenario of your article. A person may not be fond of photography, however he or she may use an existing photo grabbed from any source to describe a certain situation of the written article. It does not take one to be an expert to shoot a subject but you can always gain exposure by using a point and shoot camera.



Recently, I use a digital SLR camera to capture moments. As an entry-level, it lets me do some experiments as cameras like this have a lot of features compared to a point of shoot one that I have used before. That also lets me crave more to do an extra mile and explore the art of photography which has been my long time passion and it goes with my travel. Usually I like to shoot some scenery but not really so particular about the label as this would allow me to do some experimentation to different subjects. Just as long as I can capture the best moment, that is something that I would really want to do as part of my fulfillment. Let me get some tips from the experts first before I go into a deeper value about photography.

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Caramia's Banana Blast

The other day I was in Robinson's Galleria and tried Caramia's best selling dessert called "Banana Blast". It's not more of an ice cream, but it's like a frozen chocolate cake or combination of both. Aside from banana, it is filled with sliced frozen strawberries and chocolate ganache syrup, crushed cookies crust, topped with the same gelato scoops. Imagine the day when it's hot and you are inside the mall, refresh yourself by tasting a Banana Blast. Caramia is in front of Guess boutique shop, just when you walk along the mall's main path way. The dessert is simply irresistible and mouth-watering, especially when you are tired walking and the crowd sees you while you sit back and relax in a wide open space area. They would just simply stop to see how delightful Caramia's desserts are. Ahh, I would love to go back there and taste some of their unique ice creams.

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Baguio City Part 2

I was in Baguio City the second time around in the month of May and such purpose was implemented two weeks after the first one transpired. The weather was a bit colder and is manageable, as the summer capital of the Philippines is experiencing isolated rains in the afternoon which prevented us from going out from the hotel that we stayed. Occasionally there's a rain shower during the three-day stay in the city.

Session road, as always, is crowded as I can see some tourists surfing the main road as most of the restaurants can be found in this area. I bet your tour will not be complete without walking to the Session road because the cathedral lies in the city and is also considered as one of the tourist spots in the Pines City. But there's absolutely some places that I've missed to visit as time is short to complete everything.

Some places are truly educational, like when I get to visit how the weaving is done by the manufacturer. Scarves are one of the authentic products that show its culture, so I had a chance to visit the two manufacturing sites. The first one lies in the city itself, and the second one is in the outskirt, located in La Trinidad. These are hand-made woven,with special threads are used and according to the manager, it takes almost three months to complete the production of scarves. Usually they are thick and rough when you touch it with your hand. Their scarves are export quality and is not really commercialized as most of the common scarves are seen in the shops or boutiques.

If there's one place in the Philippines that I would like to live and rusticate, I would consider Baguio because of its cool weather that would probably shut off your stress, foods are not expensive especially when you like vegetables which are absolutely fresh, and you can find transportation cheap. Seems like I didn't want to return to Manila yet as two nights stay are not enough to have my body satiate with a stronger vigor.

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Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon

Pahiyas Festival is a colorful feast in Lucban, Quezon celebrated every 15th of May in honor of San Isidro Labrador. A must-see festival which highlights procession of the image of San Isidro Labrador and features a parade of papier mâché figures of a farmer and his wife. All the houses are decorated with agricultural harvest like vegetables, fruits, flowers, ferns and rice stalks. This is to ensure bountiful harvest in the coming season.

The long queue of traffic with all the vehicles stretching the main road had made me impatient that I decided to get off from the jeepney ride and walk a mile to reach the town. Most people were walking to and fro so I've figured out these are visitors who are about to see the town fiesta and some are about to leave the place after witnessing the colorful feast . Different vendors have narrowed the streets as some are selling hats, necklace, key chains, foods and souvenir items. I arrived Lucban 5p.m. a 45-minute travel time from Lucena. As the town is filled with tourists, most of the restaurants are full-packed making me hard to find a restaurant that I could easily get an order. My intention was to eat pancit hab-hab, one of their delicacy the town is famous of aside from longganiza de Lucban, so I found one that isn't crowded.

I saw a lot of visitors carrying their cameras, but I tried to compare mine, which is a digital camera but not expensive as what they have. So that made me crave more to buy a high-end one. A photo enthusiast like me has a desire to acquire a camera which has more fully functional features so I could take advantage of its benefits.

When I began to explore the streets, I saw a colorful flake-like food sold by the vendor. They said it is called "kiping" a rice wafer. I bought one for 10 pesos and it tasted like a flake. You can also see some folks dancing and singing in one of the streets and its like a local Mardi Gras of New Orleans, Louisiana.

By 7:15p.m. I was about to leave the place as I went to the long line piled up with people waiting for a shuttle going to Lucena.

By past 12 midnight, I've reached Edsa Central and I took a cab to home.

Pahiyas Festival is a one of a kind fiesta that one should take into consideration if your interest is to explore some of the best festivities in the Philippines.

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Baguio City: Rain, Rain Go Away

The trip for Mariveles was disappointing. There was nothing to explore as compared from the travel that I did recently. Since there was a mix-up with a plan going to Baguio, we decided to go back to San Fernando, Pampanga as the bus drops some of its passengers in SM Mall. Following shortly after taking our lunch in the mall, we proceeded to the Central Terminal but unfortunately we have waited for more than two hours as buses going to Baguio did not appear in time. We went to Dau as alternative path en route Baguio, and a 45-miute drive going to the terminal where most of the buses have its stop over.

We arrive almost 8pm and an agent took us to the tourist desk so we can choose the inn that we can stay overnight. Early in the morning we went to Burnham Park and at the same time we've been looking for a hotel with a better rate. We checked in Hotel Enrico located at Legarda Road and for an affordable rate, we got a bigger room which was nice and clean, it has a bath room and the hotel is equipped with free wi-fi internet connection.

The rain pours as typhoon Bebeng hits Baguio moving from the southern part of the Philippines and making the city foggy and cold as summer was expected to bring warm during the dry season. We went to SM Mall and by noontime we had our lunch at Syblings Nook in the mall. I had pasta with a coke in can. The rain still continues to pour as we never had the chance to visit some of the tourist destinations like Mine's View, the Church, Grotto, strawberry fields in La Trinidad and more. We decided to go back to our hotel after we had coffee at the Starbucks. By 9am the following day, we had availed our free breakfast as we were about to check out the hotel. After checking out by 11am, we have gone to the market and bought some of its famous delicacies like peanut brittle, strawberry jam, pinipig. We also bought carrots, broccoli, peppers and strawberry fruits.

By 1pm we left the city and arrive Quezon City at past seven. My overall experience visiting is pretty good although it rained most of the time leaving us unable to visit some of its popular places. We went short in time that I would love to rusticate more in Baguio for a couple of days.

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Bangus Festival in Dagupan

I had a chance to explore Bangus festival, an annual festivity that kicks off every month of April in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. The fiesta highlights the province's Bonuan bangus famous for its unique taste. We arrived around 5p.m. taking us an hour to find an inn as most of the hotels were fully booked due to festivity which ends on the last day of this month. While trying to organize my thought what we should do, most of the time we had some walks along the main streets of the city.



The main source of our dinner is the street foods and some of these vendors prepare barbecues as they have been waiting for the highlight of the festivity lasts the following day. Then we had coffee at the shop close to the inn where we checked in.

We left the city at two in the morning without having witnessed the most important part of the event - the bangus parade, as we have some commitments in the next period of time. The stint in Dagupan fell us short as the plan was not organized well prior to visiting the place.

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Moriones Festival in Marinduque

At last I was able to visit Marinduque again after eleven years have passed. I left Manila on Good Friday because I knew that thousands of tourists go to see the Moriones Festival held on Holy Week in the island. So I figured out that it is best to leave when all are already set into a place of festivity. Although there are few ports available for disembarkation in the island, travelling time from Lucena, Quezon to Balanacan, Marinduque would take approximately two hours. You'll get to know once you arrived in Balanacan because the first thing that you would notice is the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary which serves as a landmark as seen while approaching the island. My late grandma Asuncion Bunag Madrigal was a native of the island and she used to serve as Recamadera of The Virgin for Our Lady of Biglang Awa from 1949 to June 1973.

The trip exhausted my energy as the summer season jives with my body temperature making me enervated throughout the day. As the festivity's taking place, I was able to catch up with some of the activities and as usual, aside from my cellphone, there are two things that I don't miss out to bring - my laptop and my camera. These electronic devices are as important as my cellphone as it becomes my habit by using them as often as I want.

So I hanged out in a Cafe fronting the court and opened my laptop to upload some of the photos I have taken during my trip.



I spent my dinner at Casa de Don Emilio-one of the place's fine dining. They served me "Binusog na Pusit", a squid stuffed with onions and tomatoes. So when I got my bill, they've mistakenly charged me with the foods I didn't placed to eat which was way up high from what I have ordered. Although the foods are not expensive and the staffs are friendly, I left the place with disappointment as some of their desserts are no longer available aside from mistakenly charging me of the bill that wasn't mine.

But if your travel destination is at beside the sea, it is best to try sea foods as we know that most of them are likely fresh from the water.



If you happen to visit the place, your travel will not be completed without going to the sea as Marinduque is rich when it comes to beach resorts. And one of them is Poktoy White Beach, located in Torrijos, a two-hour drive from Boac if you are taking a jeepney ride. The beach itself is quite isolated since it's a far depending on your destination and what place you have stayed in the island. Because it happened to be Easter Sunday, the resort was quite populated, but not as crowded as some of the beaches in Marinduque.

There are many good reasons why Marinduque is one of the best place to visit. And one of them is said to have an almost zero crime rate, and no one will ever snatch away your cell phone while using it in the public place. But it is best to visit the place during Holy Week as Moriones Festival where cultural practices or folk history is taking place in the island. So colorful and it is where masked and costumed penitents who march around the town for seven days. During May is the season for Santa Cruzan where parade of beauties in the streets can be seen.

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A Summer Taste of Blueberry Yogurt

If I think about summer, what's usually comes in my thought is to have a taste of sago and gulaman, melon juice, halo-halo or ice cream. It becomes inevitable especially after exposing myself in the heat of the sun to quench my thirst aside from bottled water.

Yesterday I was in Mega Mall and saw this Red Mango and one of delicacy they serve is Blueberry Yogurt. It has an additional toppings like strawberry, cheesecake and walnut. Although I am not really a fan of eating yogurt because I've never liked its taste, the serving gave me a nice impression about yogurt so I ended up ordering a large size, instead of looking for something to eat inside the mall. Yogurt is a dairy product said to be produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. It is nutritionally rich in protein, calcium and vitamins.

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Luk Foo Chinese Restaurant

You can see the culture according to its taste once you step inside a restaurant, whether it's Chinese, Thai, Filipino, American or any sorts.

I can't even remember the name of these foods that I have ordered but all I know was, my spirit is still willing but my stomach is full. However, if there are no rules that I am outrageous, I would eat everything in the world not only once, twice but three times.

Just try these specialties in Luk Foo, it's something that you shouldn't miss, as far as the Chinese foods are concerned.

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Morong Church

Morong, Rizal is an hour drive if you take a jeepney ride from Junction Ortigas extension. I was supposed to go in Tanay but because it was already past two in the afternoon, I shifted gear from what I had originally planned the day ahead. Earlier I was googling the search engine to have a look up on what's unique about the place and saw a photo of a church. So I got curious thinking it was a good idea to visit the church in Morong.

Morong Church is said to be one of the most photographed churches along the Laguna loop area. Its facade is one of the most intricate details and you can feel its serenity once you set foot in this church. According to history, the church was built in 1615 by Chinese craftsmen as evidence by the Fu Dogs at the entrance.

Ahh...it was such a breath-taking experience that I decided to take a rest and relax before leaving the place.

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Lutong Macau (Repost)

Three years ago I wrote in one of my blog sites about Filipino expats in Macau. Here’s a repost of my blog but some parts have already been edited by me:

Macau is considered “The Las Vegas of the East”. As a tourist, it is possible to travel without a visa and stay up to 30 days. The air fare is not expensive once en route via Clark International Airport. But to those Filipinos seeking jobs abroad, Macau is one of the most sought melting pots in Asia. Stories have been heard from Filipinos working in Macau successfully. Just like any countries, among the so-called tourist, some of them have a purpose to find job in Macau.

If a person wants to work legally in Macau, it is important to obtain a blue card from the employers and usually the blue card is renewable every two years. But it is not easy to get a blue card unless a person finds an employer who can volunteer as sponsor that is quite few and hard to find.

There are two sides of the story of Filipinos playing games, but not as a player in the casinos glittering with lights in Macau.The first one belongs to Filipinos who are considered “lucky” and some of them live in a beautiful, clean and decent condo unit and could afford to pay a rent and dine in from a costly restaurant.

The second one belongs to several cases of Filipinos who are trying out to “get lucky” despite of their battle in search of green pastures. Some are looking for work, and some usually have a part time job but it depends on the day when the job is going to be available. These part timers, once they receive the pay from the contractor, they find ways to replicate their income in order to survive.Their income is not stable and is only good enough for paying their food and lodging. Others live in a dirty old condo unit where more than eight people cramping in one small bedroom. They go for a bed space and these are some of the expatriates required to leave after 30 days forced to go either in Hong Kong which takes an hour ferry boat ride or to other places in China used as their exit point. They go back to Macau after several days to reacquire another 30 days pass from the immigration officer.

I travelled Macau for the purpose of attending a trade show held at the Venetian Trade Hall dated April 21-23, 2008. The realm lets me introduce some more insights how the industry works more specifically in the ads specialties.

I didn’t get a hotel reservation prior to my flight to Macau. I bumped with a Filipina who suggested and offered me to stay in their “condo unit” in exchange for a better rate instead of staying in a hotel. Inside the premise was dark and rubbishes are scattered in the hall way. The condo unit was small to accommodate more people and they cramp inside in a hot and stinking room. They have a poor condition inside as some of them are still looking for a job to finance their food and lodging.

The next day, I left the “condo unit” and checked in a hotel while waiting for a friend coming from the Philippines, who rents a decent condo where he stayed by himself.

Filipinos in Macau usually hang out in San Malo. One of them who I met is a missionary who sells palabok and toron in San Malo. She said the proceeds usually go to the charity. She revealed that some Filipinos are “nocturnal workers” selling themselves to earn and a “bugaw” who is also a pinoy gets the deal done. She also disclosed that the fee ranges from $50-100 pataca or 300 to 500 pesos.

One Filipina who I met works as guest relation officer in Hong Kong and she was only allowed to stay there for 14 days the reason why she was compelled to leave. But after a few days, she went back to Hong Kong to re-acquire a 14-day visitor’s pass.

A Filipino expatriate said that he often takes his meal once a day in order to save money and he was having a hard time to prolong his savings aimed for his expenditure in the next couple of days until he finds another part time work. He ascribes that he would rather stay in Macau because he couldn’t find a job and one of his few sentiments is that the government couldn’t give him a job in the Philippines. He also confided that there was a case when he slept in the street for one night because there was no money left on his pocket. He was not ashamed to ask for a help if it is deemed necessary.

These are just only a few heart-breaking stories I heard from Filipinos in Macau, but surely there are still more waiting to be spoken and be heard as they want to unravel themselves from poverty in quest of green pastures.

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