How often have you looked at a photo and immediately rejected it? Too bland, too flat, out of focus, poor composition… It may have looked good at the time you took it, but for one reason or another it didn't turn out as you'd hoped and planned.
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Isn’t it part of human nature to grasp anything we perceive as a last chance? This week the Lens Artists team offer us a last chance, namely the opportunity to share some photos taken this year but not (yet) used.
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If you love travelling as much as I do, I’m sure there are times when you read a post about somewhere interesting, maybe somewhere you’re already planning to go, and you think, ‘That will be useful’. Maybe you even bookmark it, or copy and saved some of the useful information. And just maybe, you remember, when the time comes to visit that place, that you read and saved that interesting post … somewhere!
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The short but beautiful Loboc River winds its way through lush scenery in the heart of Bohol Island. Its banks are lined with dense forest, broken here and by clearings with simple houses. Its waters are crystal-clear and emerald green. Unsurprising then that it has spawned a significant amount of tourist activity.
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In planning any trip most of us will have a list of must-sees, the sights that drove us to want to visit in the first place. For us, in the case of the Philippines, those sights included the rice terraces, hanging coffins and the tarsiers of Bohol. Our trip was built around these, but that left plenty of room to see much more.
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Why fly for the best part of a day or more and spend good money just to sit and see nothing of the country you’re visiting? Yes, the weather may be better than if you were sitting around at home, and a dip in the sea is fun, but to me it is a waste not to get to know the culture, the people, the history, the food.
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As in so many other places around the world, Catholicism was introduced to the Philippines by Spanish missionaries and colonisers in the 16th century. It played a crucial role in shaping the country's culture, values, and social structures during the colonial period and beyond. But it wasn’t all one-way traffic.
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The colonial city of Vigan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for good reason. It is one of the few Spanish colonial towns in the Philippines to remain relatively intact. Its unique architecture fuses native Filipino and Oriental building styles with more typical colonial Spanish features.
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It must be museums week at Travel with Me, because after taking you to Manila’s Ayala Museum a few days ago, today I want to introduce you to a couple of museums we visited in Vigan. Although my usual preference when travelling is to be out and about absorbing local colour, time spent in a smaller museum in particular can be a very rewarding complement to this.
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It has to be said that Manila is not the most appealing of cities. While the largely reconstructed old city of Intramuros has its charms, much of the rest of the city is a sprawl of modern skyscrapers, older housing, near-slums, and very congested traffic. It is the world’s fourth largest city and one of its most densely populated. However, there are gems to be found half-hidden in the sprawl.
