Sifting through photos for my last post on some of the mysteriously random pictures I’ve taken made me realize how many photos and little tidbits I’ve yet to put up on this blog. No, I didn’t find too many more mysterious ones, just ones that don’t have quite enough of a story surrounding them to warrant a full blog post. So today’s their day… well, at least for the ones I have from the Philippines.

So here they are, a few photos from my trip to the Philippines that don’t belong to any blog post but are worth putting on the blog anyway.

Manila

• A fancy shmancy hotel

The Philippines was the first trip Andy took for his new job. Prior to that trip, every other bit of our traveling had been on our own dime. As you might have guessed, the digs get better when someone else is footing the bill. While Andy wrapped up his work, I battled my jet-lag while lounging around in a luxe hotel bathrobe, ordering room service and spitting out the world-famous Philippine mangos.

• Different strokes for different folks

Despite what the media would have us believe, beauty is not an absolute. While, for me, it seems totally normal slather on self-tanner when the mood (or a pair of short shorts) strikes, the whole word does not think like this. In the Philippines, and many other places, people spend time and money to look paler. Sigh… the grass is always greener, am I right?

For example, in Manila, Andy never did find a replacement deodorant that didn’t have a whitening agent. We decided that, in the end, his armpits never did get any whiter despite what the packaging promised. My conclusion is that while beauty may not be universal, false advertising claims may well be.

• A rainy day

This picture reminds me of the tropical storms we saw both in Manila and on the islands – storms that were no where as bad as Typhoon Haiyan. That amount of devastation is heartbreaking and if you’re able, I really recommend donating to reputable charity organization to help in the recovery efforts.

Dumaguete

The next four photos are actually courtesy of the same hotel room in Dumaguete. I was a bit camera-happy for two reasons: first, I was feeling guilty that I’d taken so few photos of our trip so far and secondly, the hotel room provided us with photo-op gold… well, sort of. I guess you can be the judge of that.

• When the Cookie Monster takes a shower

It was in Dumaguete that we discovered a new kind of cookie. I forgot what they were actually called but I believe it was something along the lines of, The Cookie whose Crumbs will Forever Multiply and Expand. Seriously, those crumbs were everywhere; they were in the bed, they were on the pillows, they were on the table, they were in our bags and finally, in an effort to expel them from our lives once and for all, we tried to wash those pesky crumbs down the shower. It wasn’t a perfect plan because once they hit water, they just multiplied and expanded even more.

• A very pretty door

I remember being ridiculously thrilled when I noticed this doorknob in our hotel room. I kept making jokes about it being the most beautiful door I’d ever seen and thinking it was absolutely hilarious.

• House rules

These are the two main rules at the hotel: Close doors slowly and don’t brandish firearms. Those two rules seem to be around the same caliber… right?

• The contents of his bag

I took this photo because it reminded me of this blog post. The post’s intro talks about how years ago I was playing a bridal shower game that involved the contents of one’s purse. As it happened, on that day, I only had keys, my cell phone and a bunch of golf balls in my purse.

Anyway, on this day, I was rummaging around in Andy’s small bag and found little else than these golf balls and golf tees… so I snapped a picture.

• A dirty window with a welcome view

There are a terrifying number of ferries that go down each year in the Philippines. Regardless of the scary statistics, we didn’t hesitate to take a ferry or even choose the ferry company with the cardboard sign and the sketchiest boat – hey, don’t judge… it was like $2 cheaper!

The only particularly memorable moment was when the seas suddenly turned rough and the bare bones crew started scurrying around counting life jackets (of which there were not nearly enough). At the time I thanked my lucky stars that both Andy and I are strong swimmers and I mentally prepared to put my purse with our passports and wallets around my neck and plunge into the warm sea. Thankfully, nothing happened and we didn’t need to flag down any of the other over-crowded ferries on the horizon. Instead, when we pulled up to the dock, I snapped a picture out of the dirty window.

And that concludes my extra snapshots blog post, Philippines edition. I hope everyone has a good weekend and remembers that sometimes photos are worth taking even if they are of nothing more than a pretty door or a dirty window.