No Pain. No Gain.

No Pain. No Gain., a photo by lucas78 (Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!) on Flickr.

Mt. Tarak Ridge Mariveles Bataan

The Big Picture

The Big Picture, a photo by lucas78 (Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!) on Flickr.

Today, I went to Binondo where the Philippine version of the 'China town' is located. I went there to take photos and witness the Chinese new year for the first time. People were everywhere eating, dancing, and snapping. The atmosphere was festive...and It was a lot of fun!

On the sidelines, however, are poor street children...I thought to my self how could I have fun while these children suffer. My heart sank and went home. Often times, I am guilty of cropping insignificant things out of my photos only to make images pleasing to the eye. Sometimes I neglect the real story....the big picture. I will make an effort to change this new year.

The image above is a crop of "The Big Picture" on the comment area. The poor boy peacefully rests ignoring the chaos around.

Kung Hei Fat Choi everyone!

The Crop

It’s more fun in the Philippines

It’s more fun in the Philippines, a photo by lucas78 (Happy New Year!!!) on Flickr.

Recently our tourism department came up with the new slogan, "It’s more fun in the Philippines." The slogan is generating a lot of buzz on all social media fronts. Some people like it and a lot don't. As I see it, it is a marketing strategy that is working either way. But for whatever reason, I believe that our tourism department means well. So I will support this. I have to... People are starving and this slogan may just translate to jobs badly needed.

There is no doubt the Philippines is an awesome place...just like any other country, we have beautiful places which we call tourist spots... but, in my opinion, what separates us from the rest is our hospitality. Outsiders won't understand this until they experience it first hand.

Aside: My friend asked me why I have not uploaded this picture....He asked me if this shot was worthy of being posted on my Flickr account?! haha! Of course it is... I am just saving this for a rainy day. A rainy day such as today...I wish all days could be as colorful as this day.

So here it is Mr. Flabio...