The places I’ve been
Compilation of photos taken at the Marco Polo Plaza in Cebu City, Philippines, all taken in February 2015. Just going through my hard drive and I’m trying to organise my photos. As you can see, I’m still working on my 2015 photos – 3 more years of photos to go!
More random snippets / collages to follow.
Happy New Year!
It’s been a while since I wrote about anything so tonight, I decided to stop playing Candy Crush (I ran out of levels on my phone anyway) and actually sit down and update my blog. I thought I should write about the place I spent most of my teenage / young adult years (at the University of the Philippines) so I trawled through my massive photo-file (which needs a good cull and proper labels / keywords / tags) to look for photos to share. One photo that caught my eye was that of the sundial.
Naturally, I needed to find some text that would go with it so I did a google search for “UP Sundial” and one of the links that came up was this: http://iskwiki.upd.edu.ph/index.php/Sundial.
When I clicked on the link I thought that the banner photo looked oddly familiar.
I looked closely and thought – “Hey … that looks like the photo I took of the sundial.” What gave it away is that glare spot in the middle of the image. So, I went through my digital files again and … yep, it’s exactly my photo.
Since I don’t recall giving my digital file to anyone or posting it anywhere else but Flickr (I also need to sort out that site – I uploaded too much junk), I decided to check all the uploads I have made to find that particular image.
True enough, I did upload that photo and – all the metadata was intact (date taken, camera used, settings, etc). I felt vindicated …
and slightly miffed because, there weren’t any credits on the iskWiki page. 😦 I would have let them use it anyway, after all, UP is my alma mater, but it would have been nice if they had acknowledged the source.
Oh well … I suppose I should take this as a sign that I have “arrived as a photographer” because my work is now being used in various websites. If only I could get paid …
… continued from “Excerpts from my Travel Diary”
Not bad considering we went through a lot of turbulence. Was out of the airport at 9:00 am because the airport is – in a word – massive. It’s really really big – you need to take a train to get to the baggage claim area. The airport is very sleek as well.
Took the shuttle then the bus to the backpackers lodge. It wasn’t that hard to find though I think I got off one (or two) stops too early, and I also walked the wrong way (hihihi). Pero di bale, I found it in the end.
After I checked in, I walked down the hutong’s alleys and took pictures of almost everything. I say almost kasi I had to stop myself. There were so many interesting buildings or carvings that if I took pictures of them all, I’d die.
So, I went off to look for a sim card and a supermarket. I found the shop where they sell simcards and goodluck na lang! Kahirap to communicate! No one spoke English so I think I spent about an hour there just trying to buy a sim card and top-up. Afterwards, I went to the supermarket to stock up on food. I wanted to buy bread and perhaps, peanut butter and some de-lata – pero naman! I’m in the land of Ma-Ling yet I could not find one single ma-ling can around, plus they didn’t have sliced bread! I bought shampoo and soap and a big jug of water na lang.
When I got to the counter, they didn’t have plastic bags! So Sige, may-i-siksik sa camera bag kaya lumala ang scolio ko. I planned to go back to the lodge to put down my things pero … medyo malayo so I opted to go ahead and check out the drum and bell towers. Buti na lang I did that kasi nakakita ako ng convenient store and they had bread and strawberry jam! Lunch and Dinner forever! I bought a bag as well so that I can distribute the weight evenly (camera on the left side of the body, groceries on the left). I then went to see the Drum Tower but before that … lunch.
Kelangan ata kasing tangkad mo si Yao Ming para di ka mahirapan pumanik ng stairs. I was taught in school that risers should be 0.15 to 0.20mm max and treads are at least 0.30. Dito, both riser and tread are at least 0.30mm. Mid leg (sa shin) ang taas ng step and super duper steep! PLUS MADULAS! Good luck na lang kay lola with the camera and the bag of groceries (me).
After exploring the two towers (and being lucky enough not to fall), sabi ko uwi na ako – but I was side tracked by a nice street (don’t know the name). Lots of shops around and very quaint. Took photos but I gave up after that. I went back to the lodge to rest and plan the rest of my week … and to BATHE! I am so nanlilimahid.
to be continued …
My Sore Feet 