from the desk of stinkpot

i spent a lot of time puttering around my grandparents’ house in the philippines, poking into corners and rummaging through bookshelves (i lived there for about 3 weeks in february, earlier this year). one interesting book that turned up was a wacky self-help tome written by a german psychoanalyst around the turn of last century. in spite of its tattered cover, the book was remarkably timeless in that it’s vague self-realization guidelines read exactly like those little handbooks you find above supermarket checkout lines. “never anticipate failure” “a clean desk is critical to clear thinking.” “achieving great things is only a matter of determination.”

still, since i had already finished my daily word jumble and, the plots of filipino soap operas – even when spoken in english – are impossible to make heads or tails of, i read the self-help book from cover to cover. and, lo and behold, i did find one passage that i thought worthy enough to commit to memory (hey, even broken clocks are right twice a day, eh?) that section was on travel: basically, the author was saying that you should see new places so that you can enjoy the satisfaction of having what you take for granted be turned upside down.

i’ve decided that i completely agree with that statement; the reason why i love to visit different countries is that i can find events or scenes that are perfectly commonplace to locals, but astound me. [if both the natives and me are surprised - well, those events are lacking in a certain je ne sais quois in terms of contrast, and i don't think are as memorable.]

i’ve tried keeping those ideas in mind while taking photos during my trip. how to capture both the local “everyday” qualities and my incredulity in the same image. sadly, i’m not sure i did a very good job of telling those kinds of stories in my pictures. most of the photos, i’ll admit, i took just because they looked nice. nevertheless, i hope at least a couple of these pictures will convey how much some of the things i saw in the philippines etched themselves into my mind.

[school children in a jeepney on the island of bohol, which neighbors the ancestoral isle of my mother's family, the calibos.]

[on bohol, the motorcycle is like the family station-wagon.]

[sunrises on bohol are the definition of ethereal]

[boatman]

[noel, my mother's brother.  i think i inherited a lot of his personality.]

[woman selling seashells on the seashore]

[a typical house in the bohol countryside: walls are constructed from thatched leaves and thick paper; roofs may also be thatched or tiled with corrugated steel.]

[much more effort goes into decorating vehicles, instead of homes.]

[a jeepney - a common form of semi-public transportation. not a juvenile detention bus.]

[bohol is home to one of the smallest primates on the planet; this tarsier is about the size of my hand.]

[rope bridge across a river]

[a boy beneath the rope bridge.]

[a swimming hole; perhaps upstream?]

[local markets]

[bohols natural wonder: the chocolate hills]

wow, those photos from the island of bohol are drawn from probably less than half of the albums i uploaded. since it’s late and this is already a gargantuan post, i’ll hold off on the remaining photos until tomorrow.

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