Addendum: Trip Videos
One of the main reasons I got a new camera shortly before leaving was that my old camera couldn't take videos with sound, and if I was going to be taking videos in the Philippines I certainly wanted to be able to record audio. I didn't take a ton of videos, as it happened, and the camera's ability to record them in 720p high definition is lost a bit when I didn't really have any better way of showing them than putting them on YouTube. But here are the videos I took that I didn't have a problem putting in a place where anybody in the world could stumble upon them (others, such as ones in which Alma is pictured, did not qualify under this rule), organized by date.
This was a shot taken from the car window as we cruised along Roxas Boulevard in Manila near sunset, shortly after leaving Luneta/Rizal Park and while on our way to the Mall of Asia. Manila Bay is the water in the background.
The dolphin tanks at Ocean Adventure, with Subic Bay in the background. I took this video shortly before the dolphins appeared in a show; the following four videos feature snippets of that show.
Unfortunately I didn't get some of the most interesting stuff, like the false killer whale or the dolphins propelling the trainers out of the water while swimming. Taking videos really munched my camera batteries, so I couldn't really leave it rolling to wait for the best stuff to happen.
These videos also could have been better, though it's not really my fault - it's hard to see some of the sea lion's tricks because of the backlighting. Look at the size of that sea lion, though! Following are some more sea lion show clips.
You can see how they got named "sea lions."
A small clip of our drive back from Anvaya Cove later that night. Pitch black with people walking on either side of a narrow, winding road. Yikes.
Why was I so fascinated by livestock on this trip?
The town parade that took over one side of the road in Pangasinan (because traffic wasn't bad enough already). This video reminds me of the Mitch Hedberg joke about how if you don't like a parade, you can run in the opposite direction to fast-forward it. With the car moving in the other direction, we cleared the entire parade in about a minute total.
As mentioned, Pangulong Gloria's motorcade drove past us twice in Baguio, once at the PMA and once on the road to the Mansion. This is a video of that second occasion.
People in the Philippines love fireworks, to the extent that there were all these newspaper stories the week before New Year's about the Department of Health basically begging people either not to use them or at least to be more careful than usual in the hope of reducing firework-related deaths and injuries around the holiday. As I recall, reported injuries were down this year, but you can see in this clip why the DoH was concerned. It wasn't just New Year's either - for several days before and after, you could hear firecrackers being set off everywhere. Both in Baguio and Romblon we saw kids who seemed to be setting them off simply because they liked seeing other people react to the loud bang.
Though the fog cleared well enough for pictures of Taal Lake from the Taal Vista hotel, it got pretty windy by the time I decided a video was in order, so you'll note that my audio is drowned out in a lot of places. Rest assured I'm not saying anything terribly meaningful.
The monkey who inspired the "Beware of Monkey" sign. Not pictured: the monkey leaping at Alma's cousins.
A pan of the beach at the Diwata resort. I didn't quite have Bangog's name down yet.
The dog who ran off with the bag of crackers put down by the youngest member of our sizable party. Sadly, I was unable to get a shot of the hilarious moment when he got his whole face stuck in the bag.
Some more chickens (young-looking ones here) near Apunan Point Lighthouse on Romblon.
The culmination of my semi-obsessive pursuit of a good shot of a carabao. In retrospect I probably should have gotten out of the jeepney, but I've already explained why I didn't.
Finally, some piglets from near Fort San Andres in Romblon. Aren't they cute?