Saturday, April 10, 2010

What are the Chances? Part 1 of 2

Sara is a good friend of ours. I taught with her mother for years and gave the speech at her retirement party. I photographed Sara and Rick’s wedding 12 years ago (as well as both of her bothers and half of her cousins). I helped Sara get started in wedding photography and she and I photographed many weddings together over the last six years.

When we were considering the move to Hong Kong, we found out that Rick’s cousin Rodney Winslow not only taught in Hong Kong ten years ago, he actually taught at ICS. Sara gave me Rodney’s phone number and Rodney and I talked on the phone. That conversation –in part- helped us make the decision to make the move to Hong Kong.

Fast forward fifteen months and 13,000 miles. We are now living in Hong Kong. Actually we are on Spring Break in The Philippines. Specifically we are on the small island of Bohol. Well, actually we are not on Bohol proper, we are on the small island of Panglao just off the coast of Bohol. And on this particular afternoon, we’re not even on the small island of Panglao; we are on some tiny island called I-Don’t-Know-What-It’s-Called. The only way to get to this blip on the map is to ride on a rickety outrigger canoe with a rumbling inboard motor for forty-five minutes, which is exactly what we did earlier on this particular morning.

The main source of income on this dot of an island is for the locals to paddle tourist out to the reef to snorkel and dive. Despite the fact that it is Spring Break, there are few people around. It probably has to do with the fact that it is a rainy, overcast day (great planning VanNoords).

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Filipino Jeepneys

One of the coolest things about the Philippines are the ubiquitous Jeepneys. Inspired by all the jeeps that the Americas brought in during World War II, Filipinos started building their own covered vehicles. Only, they made them longer. And out of stainless steel. And then they decorated them with lots of extra roof-top lights and fringe and custom air-brush paint jobs. They are everywhere in the Philippines; each one cooler and more colorful than the last. In the back, they have two large benches that run from front to back.

The jeepney function like a private-sector bus system. One of my biggest regrets is that I never took the opportunity to ride in a jeepney while in the Philippines. But figuring out which jeepney to take can be very tricky for a local, and virtually impossible for a tourist.














































































Philippines: April, 2010