Just a few more emails about our trip to the Philippines. This one covers the Float Parade of the Flower Festival. The next one will cover Corregidor and our experience of World War II's impact on the Philippines.
The float parade is a big thing. Lots of people show up to see it, so it helps to get there early. Heide, Marilyn and the kids suggested they take a taxi to city center at 1 AM, hang out at Chowking fast food eatery all night and see the parade from Chowking's window in the morning. I would have none of it. Here I was, on the other side of the earth, with a time difference of twelve hours, and I was going back to Rochester time by staying up all night to see a parade!!!! No way! They did this one without me.
So, I gave Heide our Samsung L210 digital camera and showed her how to take videos with it. By the way, all the photos and videos in this blog are taken with this little point-and-shoot camera. It was convenient to just carry about in my front pocket and inconspicuous enough to shoot interior shots in a crowded jeepney. And it only cost me $138 when I purchased it. (I notice it's $99 today.) I bought it because it was recommended by Consumers Reports.
Although the videos from this camera come out pretty good, they are recorded at 20 frames per second instead of 30. I still haven't got the knack of processing them so they don't come out jerky, but I'm working on it. The biggest limitation was that the battery ran out before the parade did, so Heide only recorded the first part of the parade. Nevertheless, she did manage to catch the "Dancing Policemen", the "Dancing Policewomen", the "Policemen with Loin Cloths", the "Sex Bomb Girls", the "Tiger Float", the "Twirling Butterfly Women", etc. Not only that, but she shot all these things through the glass window of Chowking. Pretty good, eh? One of the problems is the sound is mostly the sound of the people in the room and not of the parade.
Here's Marilyn, Bong Bong, Bren and Mutya on their all-night vigil. Of course, if Heide, Marilyn and the kids are sitting up all night at Chowking, you know they will consume a bunch of food. I know because I have all the receipts in front of me now. Everything they bought has its own receipt. They managed to consume "macapuno", "Salo Pancit" and lots of "Halo Halo"s. I'm glad I didn't go. I really don't like "Halo Halo" that much. According to Wikipedia, "The dessert exemplifies the "east-meets-west" culture in the Philippines, with the ingredients used coming from a wide variety of influences (to cite some examples: red mung beans which are from the Chinese, garbanzos from the Indians, leche flan from the Spaniards, and shaved ice itself, which was introduced to the islands by the Americans)." You can get it with ice cream on top. I just like the ice cream-- ice cream minus the mung beans, garbanzos and even the flan.
These next three pictures capture the flavor of the parade for those who, for whatever reason, can't view the videos on their computers.
All these pictures were extracted from the videos-- except the first one of Marilyn and the kids in Chowking, By the way, there are some Chowking restaurants in the US. The one in Sacramento is listed as $$$ ($20+). They were actually pretty cheap in the Philippines.
The Baguio version of the "Rose Parade".Here's something you may call the "Twirling Butterfly Women". This dancing period piece shows a lot of Spanish influence. They're probably twirling to try to throw off some of that Spanish influence. They didn't like being invaded by the Spanish for 250 years.
When the kids came back from the parade, they talked about the Tiger Float. Bren thought it was pretty realistic.Here's a video of the tiger float. Notice that the tiger float was sponsored by SM, our favorite shopping mall in Baguio City Center. The guys and girls on the end of the float have a "Tarzan and Jane" look-- like they captured this beast.
This is the first of "Dancing Police". There were several groups of funky police dancing and walking in the parade.
Here's one of the dancing policemen who wanted to show off how he could break-dance. It's amazing the American influences here. That rag dangling out of his pocket was probably so he could wipe his hands when he went to the "comfort room". They never have paper towels in the "comfort rooms" in the Philippines.
Then there's the sexy dancing policewomen. It starts out with the flower-headed musicians who never play their instruments-- that's why I didn't include much of them. It's funny that they have a picture of a "stop" sign on their float. You hardly ever see them in the Philippines. The ones you see are run right through. Maybe if one of these sexy policewomen was dancing next to one of them, people would stop-- at least the guys would. Then again I've never seen a woman drive in the Philippines with all their crazy rules.
Heide likes this "Moving Butterfly Float" because of the moving butterfly. I think it reminds her of the flapping butterfly hair clip she used to have. I think the policemen in loin cloths are interesting. Don't see many of them around the United States. I think if they showed up to work dressed like that, they'd be given a desk job real fast. Notice how slowly and carefully the loin cloth policemen walk. If they walked faster, they might cause a "flap". Just let the butterfly flap instead.
I like these dancers holding flowers doing the "wave". It's like what you see at baseball games or football games in the US-- without the flowers, of course.
Here's a float of the "Igorot Muscle Men" with loin cloths. Remember the Igorots from the opening parade? I wanted to show the Gay Men's Float, but it didn't turn out well. The batteries were dying at that point.
Here's the "Sex Bomb Girls" float. The "Sex Bomb Girls" are a popular singing and dancing group in the Philippines. You can see them on YouTube if you like. Personally, I think they're bombing here in this parade, but that may be what they're supposed to do.
After the parade, Heide, Marilyn and the kids came home exhausted and immediately crashed. I was actually feeling pretty good. I had a good night's sleep.
Duane and Heide.
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