I remember finding this mountain of metal barrels along the train tracks in Georgetown...Nov 2017. Graffiti, different taggers?, nice colors, and the surprise of "Cebu" on one of them. And here I sit, in Cebu, Philippines...

I have yet to start my morning walking routines and photo walks. Soon, I hope. These are some shots I took with my cell phone, during recent taxi rides...

18 Nov 2021 - Thursday

Some clouds were passing over when I took this photo. I love how the colors and shadows of the mountains are constantly changing. My good Canon is coming out soon! We're located just off of Fuente Osmena, a traffic circle around a park that's a major landmark of Cebu. There's a huge xmas tree in there now. I took the second photo from my desk vantage point in the loft. The traffic circle curls down to the right and the left right where the window frame is dark. There's a bunch of construction going on now, but since the tree lined Osmena Ave goes straight up to Cebu Province's Capitol Bldg, there won't be any big buildings going up to take away our view.

I'm sitting here in our Loft, my perch/office...photos to follow soon. I was thinking I need to update my special people here, but then I realized it hasn't even been one week since we were released from jail (Quarantine). My morning walks and photo taking are getting closer. This will be a longer update but I will continue it in my blog...

There are So many thoughts and images I want to share. I need to take notes or use my phone's voice recorder.

Looking out from my loft, to the West and out through the main windows, I can see the Bayfront Hotel where we spent our first 5 nights. One of my first photo posts will show both views.

Most of our days so far have been one main shopping/exploring excursion, and one or two mini trips. We have a Robinsons Dept Store only a 10 minute walk away.

Hooking up our phone(s), Wifi and Internet was one of our first goals. Score! I can hear Inday's YouTube downstairs, and I'm using my laptop up here. We got a cute little "Pocket Wifi" router through Smart Cell, and with our niece Leslie's help, we got it up and running during the family visit the night before last. p995 (995 Phil pesos), $20, discounted 50% with a promo, so only $10. Not bad. We got a bunch of additional promos for "Load", the term they use for buying data for cell phones, internet...here. So far, the costs look good, especially when you look at what were spending in the US. 

My next goal tech wise, is my photos and editing... My Samsung phone takes some nice photos I think, but I have to do some homework for transferring photos, etc. I might try to share one I was playing with during our party, a window reflection one where you see some people inside and some of the city lights below.

More later...   

One of the things we've enjoyed from our 14th floor perch here is watching the construction going on across the street. It's a new tower going up next to the Citadines Hotel where we almost booked. You can see their swimming pool area in the third photo. I was using my telephoto lens when I noticed the guy checking out his cell phone during a break...he has more guts than me

 Home away from home...

 from yesterday -

We just returned from our second Covid test. If this one is Negative, we get to go to our Condo tomorrow. It reminded me of the intro to “Get Smart”. A guy in protective gear knocked on our door, and asked us to follow him. We followed him down some hallways and through a room with an elevator at the other end. A sign in the elevator said “Quarantine People Only”. We went down to the 8th Floor from our 14th Floor, where we were led down another hallway and into a room with the swabbing nurse guy. Swabbed and recorded, we were then led back to our room. Fingers crossed 😃

8 Nov 2021 Cebu

 

Chuck and Inday in Cebu, #1:

Our long flight over the Pacific was made easier because the two seats to our left were empty. And the row of 4 seats behind us was also empty. We both got to lie down when we slept.

It was around 8:30pm when we arrived at our Quarantine hotel. We're on the 14th floor, and we can see our home from here, the big building back left in the next to last photo.

The Christmas trees were in the hotel lobby. They start decorating early here.

There's a lot of construction going on, and it's fun watching them work on the complex across the street.

The night lights are nice, and there was a nice sunrise on our first morning here.

 outdoor restaurant seating during pandemic, looking through plastic...

15Oct2018 - Saturday morning was a walk in W Seattle. Yesterday I was in Georgetown. There's nothing quite like the low angle of an early morning sun, some cool, crisp weather and blue sunny skies...

3 years ago, 3Oct2018 - I went on an early Fall morning walk in the Arboretum near UW yesterday. I like the colors, and I like looking Through the "layers" of trees and branches. This being the "Evergreen State", we don't have the colors like in the NE, but the areas of color poking through the green of our evergreens is nice. No Evergreens in these photos though.