B is for Bicycle

On an otherwise barren country road in the beautiful province of Palawan, I spotted this human being on an amusing bicycle.

Palawan, 2010

I've been biding my time for a befitting occasion to post this bicyclist, and now seems as good as any, when B is the letter at Alphabe-Thursday. I can bare that the bike I rode back a few weeks ago through villages of Kaiping looked nothing like this one!

 

What came to mind was a silly 1971 pop song by Melanie [click name to hear it] called: Brand New Key. Do you remember it? The stanza that got burned onto my brain cells all those many years ago goes like this:

I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car
Don't go too fast, but I go pretty far
For somebody who don't drive
I been all around the world
Some people say, I done all right for a girl 

The bother with a ditty like this is that once it bubbles into my mind, it takes hours to brush it out! I bet I'm not the only one...

And while we babble about bicycles, watch this boy Danny MacAskill [click to view] bike from Edinburgh to Skye. It will bowl you over! Simply brilliant!

Boardwalk through Mangrove Trees

This was a pretty rickety old boardwalk. She didn't seem none too steady. Yet we had no choice but to walk across it to get through the mangroves and on to the dock where we'd find our banca to go on our Honda Bay adventure cruise in Palawan.

Palawan, 2009

So my question now is, does a boardwalk qualify as a bridge? The definition of boardwalk is simple enough: A walkway made of wooden planks. Doesn't say anything about "bridging water". And a bridge is defined (for our purposes here): a structure spanning and providing passage over a river, chasm, road, or the like.

Well, as a "...the like"... I am posting this to Louis' Sunday Bridges. Eh ben, Louis, qu'est-ce que t'en penses, toi? You'll certainly find many more links to traditional, and amazing, bridges around the globe there.

I thought this was an interesting scene for Scenic Sunday hosted by Aisha. too. Check out the links there so you can see how beautiful our world is.

Red Bananas

While staying in the charming bed and breakfast in Puerto Princesa a couple of months ago I mentioned in an earlier post, I noticed a fruit basket on the table containing something I had never seen before: red bananas! Twenty years in the Philippines and this was truly the first time I laid my eyes on red bananas. I really shrieked with delight.

The genial B&B hostess made it her personal mission to get me to the market to photograph this fruit before leaving the island. 

Palawan, 2010

I have since then learned that these are locally called Morado bananas, from the Spanish "purple" and they are a distinctly different variety from other yellow and green bananas. What you see here are Morado chico (small size). I had the good fortune last week of seeing a Morado grande (the largest banana ever!), but the bad fortune of not having my camera on me.

The small red banana is shorter, plumper, creamier and sweeter than the usual Cavendish banana most people are familiar with. Here is the fruit basket I first saw the red bananas in. Do you know these other tropical fruits in this basket?

Today's post plays along with Ruby Tuesday, hosted by Mary. As usual, the link takes you to links of other people playing with RED today.

[SkyWatch] Unnerving Gray Skies

On a beautiful summer day last July we left the main coast of Palawan just north of its capital Puerto Princesa on a small banca (wood and bamboo outrigger) to go island hopping in Honda Bay. Within about 20 minutes we saw ominous gray clouds fast rolling in towards us. By then we were in the middle of the water, far from any shore, and not long after the rains bursting out of the clouds ahead of us were plain to see:

Honda Bay, Philippines, 2009

As we glided on, we got closer to the rain...

...and my friends - who are neither as adventurous nor as strong swimmers as my honey and me - were getting visibly unnerved as the water got more turbulent and the banca swayed with the waves.

So we stopped at the first island to wait out any danger in these nipa beach huts. Even with this gray sky and the intermittent downpours, the sun did occasionally peak through and I relished being in this tropical paradise:

 Starfish Island, Honda Bay, 2009

Our Pinoy friends were incredulous that we went snorkeling in the rain:

Fortunately, it did not take long before the darkest clouds moved on and before leaving the island I still walked to the end of the beach and the mangrove, with my camera, of course:

Despite a few raindrops, the ride back to the main shore was much calmer, and so were my friends.

This blog joins the meme SkyWatch Friday and by clicking on the link you'll find links to many more amazing skies from all over the planet. Clicking on my photos will give you a larger view of them.

Sisters Framed

Sisters in Puerto Princesa, 2010

At the end of last month I spent a few days in and around the city of Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan, a long narrow island flanking the west side of the Philippine archipelago.  No doubt in large part because of the strong marketing effort exerted for the Underground River, this province has in very recent years become more of a tourist destination for Pinoys and foreigners alike.

What attracts me to the place, however, besides its natural beauty, is a lively community of people working in organic farming, the healing arts and other new age endeavors.

These pretty sisters living at the B&B we stayed in were very curious about my big camera so they were not shy when I turned it on them. I was standing on the other side of the red metal staircase that took us to our rooms on the second floor.