En Route to LA - Airport Delay Blues

I'm writing this post at the Taipei airport, mooching off of free Wi-Fi (why isn't this standard in every other airport??) while waiting for my connecting flight to LA to... um... arrive. When shuttling back-and-forth between LA and Manila, as I've done twice a year for the past 2 years, I prefer to take EVA Air, the Taiwanese airline. They're actually a lot cheaper for comparable-class tickets to Manila on Philippine Airlines, and they provide decent enough service. The real clincher for me, though, is the cool on-demand movie system they have in ALL their seats - on a long-haul flight like the one I'll (hopefully) be boarding in an hour, I can watch any of the several dozen movies and TV shows they have anytime I want. They even have relatively recent summer releases like Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda - definitely going to watch those before I fall asleep.

My back's a bit sore from carrying around ~40lbs of camera gear, hard drives, random electronics and my laptop in a hiking backpack as carry-on luggage - more on this in another post. Basically, I can't trust the airlines to take care of my gear, especially when it costs so much, and especially at a time when they're trying to find every possible way to cut back on expenses and charge for things. Fortunately, the ground staff in Manila felt the same way - they weighed the bag (that's how I know how heavy it is, heh) and motioned to check it in, but then they took one look at all the gear inside and waved me through, saying that they really, REALLY didn't want to be responsible for all that stuff.

Hopefully my flight's got a good pilot that can make good on the lost time. I really don't have a lot of time to play around with once I get into LA - my classes start on Monday and I still have to move in, unpack and buy furniture. I also still have to get cable Internet - I may be online only intermittently from this point on.

I'd post a photo of where I'm at now, but I packed my card reader in check-in luggage, silly me. Oh well.

Hong Kong, Summer 2008

The legendary Hong Kong skyline on July 14, 2008

I spent quite a bit of time this summer in Hong Kong - I was there on two separate occasions with family, hanging out, shopping and visiting friends (well, a friend).

I've always been amazed by this glittering techno-hub, a world city barely 2 hours away from Manila by plane. Every time I go, I'm reminded of just how far the Philippines has fallen behind in the global race to prosperity.

Hong Kong residents walk by a lighted billboard outside the Harbour City mall and ferry terminal at Tsim Sha Tsui

Lee Kam Yuk, the first (official) owner of a 3G iPhone in Hong Kong. You can see that this is kind of a big deal.

The Tian Tan Buddha at Po Lin, Lantau Island on August 12, 2008
3 things to know about it:
1. Despite its appearance, it's not terribly old - it was built in 1989
2. It's on the same (big) island as HKIA, the huge international airport
3. It's really, really, REALLY touristy.

A statue at the Tin Hau Temple at Repulse Bay on July 12, 2008. Probably one of my favorite shots from the summer, even though it's a really cheap (as in easy) one.

San Pedro, Laguna

I returned from San Pedro on Friday night, but I haven't had a chance to post about it till now.

Long story short, I got nothing. At least, I didn't get what I'd come for - a decent photo story, or a lead into one. I'd like to say it wasn't for lack of trying, and I'm sure my companions feel the same way, but I know myself better than that.

I decided to focus on Elma (second photo), a 13-year old scavenger with a third-grade education who came from a family of six that lives on something like $2 a day. This sounds almost stereotypically tragic (it is) and like something that would be easy to make a story out of, but somehow things ended up not working out. A photo story is essentially a collection of interesting moments, but between logistical and time issues (I ended up being able to only spend a half-day following her around), weather (overexposed skies, woohoo!) and my sticking out like a sore thumb (Chinese people like me don't often - or ever - hang around garbage dumps in this country), I wasn't able to get enough of those interesting moments for a story.

I was, however, able to make my cameras and pretty much every article of clothing I was wearing stink to high heavens, to see more flies in one place than I'd ever imagined possible, and to see where Manila's fast-food refuse ends up (Quick answer: in their bellies.) It was, as the saying goes, a learning experience. Photo story photos don't come easy, by any means.

This is something I might come back to when I'm more patient and more talented, but for now I'm going to cut my losses and move on to my other story with my remaining time in the country. And I'll keep the time commitment needed for something like this in mind when I return to LA, where I spend most of my time these days.

People's SONA, July 28, 2008

For those of you who aren't too familiar with Philippine politics, our president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), is apparently the most unpopular leader we've had in over 20 years, so unpopular that she makes President Bush look like Gandhi by comparison. Sensing the possibility that some people might, just maybe, come out to boo her during the annual State of the Nation Address (SONA), I headed out to Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, where thousands were expected to come out and protest in what local media and the organizers themselves were dubbing the "People's SONA"




Effigies were burnt, mobs confronted phalanxes of Metro Manila's finest in riot gear and GMA was called all sorts of names (some unprintable), but no heads were bashed. This is either a very good thing or a very bad thing, depending on how much of your livelihood is based off of your event becoming newsworthy on the international wires, and on your expertise in surviving a warzone.

Being there, I got the feeling that the whole thing was just a big opposition show for the press, decent photos and some excitement, but nothing that would change history, or even change the situation in the country. You'd have things that were a little TOO staged, like the classic little kid being picked up by his dad and waving a big anti-establishment banner, or the fact that concert-quality sound systems had been set up along the side of the six-lane road prior to the protest. At the same time, the numbers mobilized, though significant, were nothing compared to the (literally) millions that turned out to singularly important rallies in 1986 and 2001, rallies that kicked presidents out of office. It was a challenge to come home with unique photos (I won't say that I did), but at least i wasn't a challenge to come home in one piece, heh.

More photos from this and other events at my website.