While I was busy taking photos, this gentleman called out to me to let me take his photo, and he posed for me when I did so. He was busy collecting shellfish in the shallow waters on the coast of a Visayan island - presumably to sell, or possibly for his family dinner later that day.
This van is used for public transport. It is full, so people are sitting on the roof - a common practice in this part of Asia. I took this photo in the Visayas region in the Philippines.
A fishing village in the Visayas region. Note the typical Visayan houses and fishing boats. The boats are stored on some kind of standard high above the water, to protect them against extreme high water during storms.
This photo is taken in Samar, in the Visayas region in the Philippines, on a remote beach. Children from a nearby village are playing on the beach. Or maybe they are looking for shellfish, to sell or for the family dinner.
The church in Sulangan that we saw last week is a popular destination for pilgrims. That is mostly for its shrine of St Anthony of Padua (locally known as San Antonio de Padua) - several miracles are attributed to it.
On this photo we see pilgrims in Sulangan eager to touch a statue of Jesus carrying the cross.
When we are in the Philippines, our base is usually in Tacloban City, province Leyte. Just outside the city, in the town Babatngon, is a small park with a restaurant and a few function rooms: Rafael Farm.
There are more photos of Rafael Farm today on my other blog.
A woman selling the catch of the day, probably caught earlier that day by her husband. I took this photo in Samar, in the Visayas region.
A photo of a jeepney, taken in the Visayas region. Originally, jeepneys were converted American army jeeps used for public transport, but nowadays they are built for public transport in the Philippines. They are usually heavily decorated.
Another photo of the Parish Church of St Joseph in Las Piñas City. This time the altar.
An aisle in the parish church of St Joseph, Las Piñas City, Philippines. The church is famous for its organ with bamboo pipes, but for this photo I chose a different part of the church.
A house decorated for a local fiesta. Unfortunately we were a day early for the fiesta itself.
A tricycle is a converted bicycle or scooter with sidecar. They are very popular in the Philippines, and used for public transport (as a cheap taxi), for transportation of almost any kind of goods, as an ambulant shop, or just for family use. I spotted this colorful tricycle in Carigara, a town in the province Leyte in the Visayas region.
I saw this ambulant vendor in the streets of a Visayan town. He had converted his tricycle (bicycle with sidecar) into a bakery store, selling mostly cakes and pastries.
This is the Capitan Vic Domingo golf course, part of the San Juanico Park, Golf & Country Club in Tacloban City.
The first photo from our recent Philippines trip is this platter of freshly sliced mangoes. Yummy! These mangoes taste so much better than what's available here in Europe.
