Don’t need much to have fun. With only a trike and their companionship, Keisha and Jaer played outside my apartment in the Philippines with the exuberance and imagination that little kids innately possess, and only few adults hold onto.

Song is “We’re Going to be Friends” by Jack Johnson

Who needs an iphone and fancy shoes?

More Photos.

When I was in India, especially when purchasing something, I could never tell if I was getting a “yes” or “no” response, because of the way they tilted their head for “yes” instead of nodding. Seconds would go by where I would repeat, yes? And they would respond in the same fashion, and I would repeat…yes?

I noticed similar differences in the Philippines, so I put them all together in this schnazzy little video!

Thanks to Kumar, Krishna, Brinda, Maz, Janis and some randoms on the street for sharing.

Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) gives one of the most surreal performances I have ever seen the last Saturday of every month. If you ever intend on being in Cebu, Philippines, I’d say skip this video and watch it live!

However, if for some reason (like you’re halfway around the world) you can’t make it out to this tropical island, I hope you enjoy my addition to the whole Michael Jackson/Inmates/Dancing/Thriller/Ladyboys/Youtube canon at least a tenth as much as I did seeing it live.

Shot it all with one Sony HX1 Cybershot camera.
Music by Caravan Palace.

Without a doubt one of the standout performances — rocking it out to oldschool Pachelbel’s Canon.

CPDRC and me!

Whenever I ate Calamare, I never considered how they made rings out of the squid. It’s from the head. So simple. And tasty!

I ordered this from Outpost, a funky raggae bar in Cebu.

The calm water is deceptive, or perhaps the waves were just too big to even see. As the boat rocked back and forth I saw something hanging from the ceiling dispensing plastic bags rolling with the boat. Plastic bags? Why do you need plastic bags on a boat?

By the end I found out — my friend John said he never used to get sea sick, but now he needed to barf and he definitely was glad to have a barf bag.

I’ll save you the images of such an episode. We were inside in the Aircon section, and turning the other way, looking out the window gave a much different view than expected.

It’s still always strange sight to see; this old-white-man-young-filipina puppy love. Yet more common than expected.

I go shopping once or twice a year. But when I go shopping, I inevitably end up holding up multiple shirts or pants or jock straps or whatever deciding between several that I like too much.

Well, that’s what happened when I went to Bleach Catastrophe, a clothing store in Cebu and Manila.

Even the changing room filled me with designlust.

And the shirts? I liked them all for very specific reason. This one reminded me of some of my own dabbles.

This bicycle shirt reminded me of something my brother would wear. Probably because he has a shirt with a similar looking bike on it!

From far away this one looks like it’s just a dotted/lined design. But up close it turns into…penguins! Actually it’s not supposed to be penguins — apparently their designer has a pseudo-logo of an insect. But it looks like a snowfiled full of penguins, which struck a cord with me because a couple years ago I made a print of exactly that!

And that’s definitely enough talk about clothes for at least six months.

This is a string of mini Southeast Asian temples along the way, and I keep wondering what’s up with that one made out of white wire?

And by underwater housing I mean two plastic bags. Let’s just say it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.

So I went home and drew what I saw!

There were purple ones. There were blue ones. There were ones shaped like stars and ones shaped jelly clouds and ones shaped like a much larger fish had taken a large bite out of it leaving it to swim in circles as its white entrails dragged behind!

Really though, the colors are so much more vibrant down under the film of water. It’s amazing to see the school of fish move and then ZIP away…all five million (an exaggeration!) of them in unison leaving you a cloud of fish poop. Yep, they poop. It looks like what would happen if sprinkled some dirt into the ocean.

Then there are the ones that look like they have no body. Just a scrunched head. Possibly the strangest were the slug like things. Really long, slowly squirming. Not quite snakes; more ugly. And make sure to avoid the aen-enemies.

But hey. I found Nemo!

Now, as a newly formed avocado connoisseur, they are a little more watery than the hass I’m used to. But funny shape and slightly different color, they mix in with other foods just as well. The one plus with the wateryness? They’re better for shakes than the ones in the states. I always thought avocado shakes were far too dense, but now I understand how they can work.

Oh, and it’s really freaking obvious when they’re ripe. I think it takes about ten seconds for them to turn pretty much neon green to dark seaweed green. Can’t miss it!

And the most amusing part: several of my new friends here, one native from Cebu and one Indian have never had guacamole! So I’ve made it my mission to spread it.