No Shoes Inside

Ornamental / light-seepin' holes in the wall doubles as shoe slots.

Last week, we visited a few farmers outside of Kuala Lumpur. I like when people are leaning in to enter a house and they look like they are doing the cha-cha, but they are actually trying to remove one shoe using the other foot. I like that primarily because it is an indicator of the lovely "no-shoes" rule. It makes a house so low-maintenance, and you can sit on the floor more.

Car seat retires as porch seat, probably one where you can sit to take shoes off.

In Philippine provinces, they do this. What about going inside the famous Southeast Asian wet bathrooms, you ask? There is usually an extra pair of wet-slippers in the shower (which is also where the toilet is, without division). In other places like Sweden, where the model of cleanliness is definitely dry, there is nothing of this sort.

Everyone is gathered round to tell us to take our shoes off.

Davao, Protection / Ornamentation

Taking off from the photos of ornamental protection in Manila, here are some from Davao.

Iron patterns.

Some of the most "contemporary" grilling I've ever seen.

Wrought iron, curvy shit topped with sharksfin climbing deterrent and vertical brick-like pattern.

Like rays of a sun.

Bamboo wallage to protect private space, with cross-section accent.

My favorite wrought-iron gate in the world.

Ilocano Canvas Reuse

An old house has an old pillow covered by an old cotton banner.

And another.

Perdido Funeral Homes' garage features coffins covered by old flour sacks sewn together.

Tokak

Dressed frogs.

The weekly market in Paoay features a few things that would make the Manileño throw up a little in his mouth. I am a slightly morbid non-meat eater who is often faced with things that make me shudder, but my cultural curiosity often outweighs any initial horror.

I can imagine siblings fighting over the frog segment that has the eggs hanging from them.

But also, the presence of frogs, ant eggs, and whatnot in the Ilocano menu is an encouraging diet that is "hedged"-- i.e. still includes a variety of species, in particular some that haven't quite made it into the industrial realm. Frogs or tokak from the rice fields are eaten just like chicken-- battered and fried, stewed in coconut milk or adobo-style.

There was a lady from Paoay, bla bla selling frogs, bla bla pink flower on slippers bla bla.

Manila, Ornamentation / Protection

In Chinatown, the fire brigade's container office bears that spiderweb thing.

The world is a marginally nicer place because of patterns in protective wrought iron or concrete (or even wooden) grills. Less fancy urban areas employ more geometric, simple (cheaper) designs, but gated communities are not immune to this modern-day necessity. In fact, probably the only areas devoid of grillwork are located in the super rural, wooden-tungkod-window realm. These are some examples from the city of Manila.

Diamond patterns on a wrought iron grill protecting a wearhouse.

Concrete grills as a vertical accent for a fire escape?

Diagonal patterns on wrought iron grills protecting a personal storage extension.

Pretty scalloping on wrought iron window grills (with a provision for fire escape?).

(Pause)

The silence is due to finding myself running three small companies, with some consultations as well. I look at this blog and think fondly back on the days wherein I was able to share photos and thoughts (and the accompanying research), and know that soon I will be back and a-posting again.

Fashionable Nylon Hair

Double oxymoron.

Mantra Notebook

Pages upon pages.

If you spent your formative years in Catholic school (I was in one since kindergarten), and were a bit on the defiant side, chances are, you've had "Mary time" (or some variation of it). "Mary time" is when your teacher makes you sit in a dark corner facing an image of Mother Mary. You prayed to her until your soul was cleansed (or, until the next period, after a short nap).

Om Namma Shivaya.

With my "time out" experiences, I guffawed when I saw this notebook in a Penang laundry shop (a social enterprise of sorts for unemployed people). It had some kind of mantra scrawled down page after page. My first, quite embarrassing assumption was that the writer was under some form of Hindu school punishment (for maybe screwing the laundry up?). As it turns out, I had rudely snapped photos of someone's mantra notebook (as explained in more detail here):

You can also write down in a fine notebook Om Namah Shivaya for half an hour or more, keeping silence, repeating it in the mind also and not looking hither and thither. You will have more concentration. When the mantra notebook is completed, keep it in a box in your meditation room.

Cars and Cloth

Sometimes pieces of cloth protect cars. Other times, cars provide cloth-drying surfaces.

Curtain as windshield cover.

Rags drying on sideview mirror and handle.

More rags drying on wiper and antenna.

Another rag on another sideview mirror.

Woven Gigantic Saddlebag

Custom saddlebag for produce and whatnot.

Spacious and makes the vehicle much more useful.