For this *instalment, I will take you back even earlier--Welcome to 2016 and the time I was avidly shooting in film! I just turned one year in Singapore then and already had a good set of colleagues-turned-friends. This post is a lot less dramatic and is pretty chill on the word count. I will go ahead and let you enjoy the photos. And yes, even the film photos are already all uploaded here in the Draft. I just never clicked on the Publish button. Admittedly, I think I was supposed to caption the photos but didn't get to it. Now I don't know what I wanted to write there so I will keep it as is.

*I say instalment but I dropped all three posts on the same day because my EQ is asking not to be worked out today. I don't care about optimal posting time anymore, especially since the stats say my readership is more global than ever. Also, I need to do these now so this series can see the light of day! 

Let this be the time to learn riding a bike (*coughs* Jopaw) and time to see things through.


............................................
Note: All photos taken using my Pentax Spotmatic and expired Kodak Gold 200 film

Pulau Ubin, when translated from Malay, means 'Granite Island.' It is an island off the Northeast coast of Singapore. Unlike the glitzy and glamorous Singapore portrayed in the book Crazy Rich Asians, this island is home to conserved wildlife and is largely free from urban development. Read more about it here.

Hong Kong... One of the cities I can see myself living in. I found it so charming, I visited it twice last year. Looking at the photos now makes me want to go back again.

No wordy post today. As the title suggests, this is just a dump of some of the photos I captured on black and white film during my second visit.

As of today, I have been working in Singapore for a year, six months and ten days now. It went by so fast. I still think I'm new here.

I haven't really made a lot of footprints in the community, figuratively. And just in the past two months, two of my close Filipino friends who used to work here moved to Europe. Now it feels being back to square one, in terms of SG-based friendships. It was quite a big change for me, a sometimes-outgoing introvert. (Our kind exists!)

The colored statues of Orchard Rd. If you don't have a photo with these, you haven't really been to Singapore.

Another thing that changed for me was going to Orchard on weekends.

I used to put my foot down in going to Orchard Road, especially on Sundays. No matter how urgent the errand I needed to do, I'll find another day to do it, just not on a Sunday. That strip of road is just too crowded for me and I would usually need another day to recuperate from the anxiety.

It started around June, this year. It's been six months of me just shooting using my film camera for photowalks here in Singapore and at that time, I was running out of places to take snapshots of.

For my first photowalk along Orchard, I tried walking from the Orchard MRT to the Somerset MRT station.

Crossword puzzles on a Sunday afternoon. I was in front of him the entire time, and he never looked up.

It's common knowledge that there is a wide Filipino presence in Orchard during Sundays. One time, a non-Pinoy friend said "Going to Orchard on a Sunday is like being back in Manila." and it's really how it is there. I, for one, like it because of the sense of belongingness.

Side note: Back when I first drafted this post, I made a side note (lol sidenoteception) that became too long for a side note, so I posted it separately here. I still uphold what I said in that post.

Ate, smile po kayo! Picnics are popular here.

Art is _____. Art is, uhm... I forgot what I wrote here. But pretty cool to see a non-profit youth org doing this event.

Visit Very Special Arts Singapore for more info on this non-profit.

Trivia: What didn't change over the years, even after Orchard became a sprawling 2.2-km prime shopping district, are the flocks of birds that fly through the trees. *Apparently, there are birds that migrate through the East Asian-Australasian flyway that uses Singapore as a vital stopover to refuel themselves. And if you're lucky, you might find all four species--the Asian Glossy Starling, the Javan Myna, the house crow and the rock pigeon--flying above you peacefully. (Read: They poo everywhere so it's really a matter of luck and probability trying not to get pooped on)

*I googled this one to get my facts straight. Check out this short video for more details

I stopped for a while to chat with an old man named Salleh. He has a Filipina wife and he goes to Orchard Road every Sunday with a loaf of bread to feed the birds. When I asked him why he does it, he just said, "It only costs S$2 per loaf and I'm able to feed all these birds. It's relaxing and makes the children happy."

"This is my favorite bird. He knows me."

I walked some more and found a talented busker, Ralph. I listened in front of him, danced a little, and forked over some cash after two songs. There's a video of him singing a song somewhere in my phone or external hard disk. If I chance upon it, I'll link it here. He's really good, and I sometimes still see him at the same street corner. (Tempted to put a troubadour joke from Gilmore Girls, but no one might get it.)



There are a lot of talented performers along this road. Very hard to miss.


The interaction with the man below is probably one of my favorites.

I was trying to take a photo of the Orchard Rd street sign when he started posing in front of my camera. Of course, I took his photo. But he didn't stop there. He introduced himself as a soccer player from Thailand who's in Singapore for a match. He asked his friends to quickly open their bag and throw him an unused jersey shirt. (They opened a sealed plastic.) He posed again for the camera, and this time with the jersey, and then insisted I take the jersey shirt with me. He looked determined to make me keep the shirt.


I walked over to Somerset 313 mall, still smiling-laughing while clutching the shirt. Yes, I agreed to take it home. Because why not.

If I had a thought bubble, it would read, "Hoy Jen! Sa kaartehan mo noon, ang dami mong na-miss! Ang saya pala!" It was a genuinely enjoyable experience for me. Maybe because I wasn't doing errands, too, and just being "like a tourist" with a camera, just how I usually am when I travel alone.

Another realization is that there is peace within the chaos. It was a solo photowalk, but not really because I interacted with a lot of people, had so much fun and got to take home beautiful street portraits in the process.

When I finally reached Somerset MRT, I took the last photo of that day. I called this little girl "my princess" because of her tulle dress. After I asked her sister (or mother, I'm not sure) if I can take her photo, she striked this pose.





Orchard Road - Getting There
Nearest MRT: Orchard and Somerset (Red Line)
Or you can take the bus (Download app Citymapper/gothere.sg for instructions on which bus to take
Or you can Uber/Grab
But really, the MRT is the most convenient, fool-proof way to get there

Below are some film photos shot using my Pentax Spotmatic and Fujifilm Superia 400 from my recent (second) trip to Hong Kong.

Tram along Hennessy Road

The tram system of Hong Kong has been in existence for 110 years now. Undeniably, this is still the cheapest way to move around in the city for only HKD 2.30 per ride, regardless of how far you go. Check out the routes and discounted fares here.

Kriz and I had a couple of hours to spare before meeting up with our friends for indie film night so we opted to see the city from a different angle. It was our first time and we both didn't know how to read the routes so we just decided to try to get to Central first. (Operative word: try) We literally hopped on the first tram we saw that had a stop close to the Central area based on Google Maps.

Of course, we messed that up. We rode the tram going to the opposite direction and instead of commercial buildings and a lot of people on the streets, it was suddenly replaced by trees and warehouse-looking structures.

View from double-decker tram

We still had enough time so we decided to just hop off and ride one again back to Causeway Bay area. Based from the tram routes, we were supposed to switch trams somewhere near where we initially started.

Eventually, we reached the area where we can switch trams. We switched. Then after a few stops, lo and behold, the tram took a sharp left turn. Haha! Yup. We rode the wrong tram. Again.

Still brimming with hope, I thought maybe it would circle around and bring us closer to where we wanted to go, but no we were not that lucky. I could see on the GPS that we were slowly going further inland and it was getting late. We decided to get down and because we didn't want to keep our friends waiting, we made a decision to just take a cab to Sheung Wan MTR station.

If we were on the Amazing Race, we would have monumentally lost that leg. It was funny for me while it was happening, but it is a lot funnier now that I'm looking back into it. And instead of saving on the commute, we ended up spending a lot more with the cab. The good news is, we got to the meeting place earlier than Chel and Greg.

Okay, story time is over! Now, I'll just casually end this post with more photos from our tram adventure.

First foodpanda sighting

Kriz | krizplata.com | instagram.com/krizplata

Commuter Chic Kunwari. In case you didn't find about my blog thru Instagram, you can follow me at instagram.com/jenndpelaez

Fake Versailles. Because our other friend, Kev was at the real Versailles just a while back.

Captured on film while capturing on film. View the Instagram counterpart of this photo here.

Another tram POV

Honest captions. There's nothing to see outside but I wanted to show the back part of my dress.

The lovebirds Chel (heyitschel.com) and Greg. These two were kind enough to invite us for indie film night.

Second foodpanda sighting. It's THE foodpanda.

One of my favorite things about newly shooting with film is seeing the scans of a certain brand of film for the first time. It's always surprising, and it always gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling. 

I had mostly been shooting using Kodak Ultramax's and Fujifilm Superias when I decided to pick up a roll of Agfa Vista 400 from my go-to film lab. Although I heard from friends that these rolls had already stopped in production for years now, I didn't read up on it beforehand. I just blindly wanted to give it a try. It was also one of the lower priced rolls of film so I said, "What the heck! What will I lose if I try this one?"