Philippine Adventure # 6 - Tops, Punta Engano, and more..

---

It’s more then half way through my internship here at Bigfoot and things seem to be slowly getting underway. Well, I have to admit as of this point into this week; I can’t really recall much of last week in chronological order as my previous blog. So as I write my story which seems to be an endless supply of impulsive and random moments that have accumulated over the years, I continue to document them all and laugh about it along the way. So to start off from my music video shoot dating back nearly two weeks ago already, I start off by saying I’m terrible at remembering what I did last week but seem to master long term memory as if I’m a scholastically inclined prototype that can recite the entire dictionary from A-Z in story telling format. Ask me what I did three years ago and I can tell you, ask me what I did last week and I really have to think.


To start off, my week wasn’t too exciting prior to Wednesday as Monday I caught up on some sleep from shooting all Sunday afternoon and going to the gym as usual. I went and did my weekly shopping with a $20 budget to stock up my room with food to nibble on. Wednesday evening, Sunny, Sujay, Chetan, TJ, and myself decided to go into the city to head up to Tops overlooking the city. It takes roughly an hour from where we are to get through the city up a windy, two-lane road up into the mountains. I’ve been to Tops before with John earlier during my trip, but this time it was at night and there was a whole other section you have to pay to use that I wasn’t aware of. Tops is built circular around the top of a mountain with lights that lace the side and a ledge feels like an infinity pool of rock and cement viewing all the way passed Mactan and Olango Island drowning in a city of lights. Quite a bit of people seem to go there, as it’s probably a well-known tourist attraction somewhat similar to the Peak in Hong Kong, minus the Starbucks, cable ride, and shopping mall. Sunny wanted to do some scouting for his film there that evening and figure which time would be best to shoot during the upcoming weekend. We stayed for a couple hours, which I found quite tranquil starring up into the sky watching the stars and listening to people’s voices floating in the air.


The guys who I became friends with are nothing less then amazing. Since being here, I’ve had no sense of time which is unusual for me to cope with, it seems like you have to move mountains to get even the most miniscule job done. Not to mention half the time people are working on so many projects, working for someone, doing something that it almost feels like you’re constantly out of the loop. Yet, despite my complaining of no time ethics, I still can honestly say I’m having a great time here and I’m so glad I got meet the people that I have. So going back to the guys and myself at Tops, after a couple hours lingering around we went to I.T Park after for a meal, followed by a coffee and back to Mactan for the night.

Thursday morning I went to meet up with John in the editing room to talk about a potential shoot in the city with the other intern models and photographers. Then, Sujay, Sunny, and I all went to Punta Engano to shoot with some saris flowing in the wind, and it being another location Sunny was to use for his thesis. I absolutely love this place alongside the ocean, there’s something so mystic about it that is capturing both times I have been. The light was perfect and the breeze was subtle, the goats were out on the prowl grazing in the field, and then all of the sudden a group of kids come running down from a house that is situated quite a ways back from the ocean cliff. The curiosity was running deep in the kids to see us shooting, they were adorable, but I’m not exactly sure if it was a school, day care of what, there was just a large amount of kids starring. We only shot there for about an hour and half or so before heading back to Bigfoot to chill for the night. Sunny, Sujay and I walked over to La Luna for a meal, and that’s another great joint that is a minute down the road and outrageously cheap for a full meal. Rice and chicken is simple, great to eat and even better when it’s as cheap as it is. No complaints every time at the Luna. Friday we were start shooting a couple scenes for the Thesis so after dinner, we went our separate ways.

When Friday morning came around, I had to wake up Sunny so he wouldn’t over sleep. Sunny is from Calcutta, India and described to me what people from Calcutta are known for, laziness. He doesn’t like to move much, and he will avoid working at all costs, yet, he still manages to get his work done. It astonishes to me how someone can be so lazy, is proud of it, manages to produce, direct, and act in his own film, and has a now famous motto, “don’t worry about, it will be taken care of.” Since being here, I’ve slowed down my daily routine so much and as much as I think I’d probably enjoy being lazy as Sunny, I’m too finicky and hyper to be that lazy. Sunny, I don’t know he does it or why he thinks the way he does, but being 19 years old it’s expected from that age. Sunny on the other hand, is so intricate and has an artistic visionary ability that is obvious on one hand but on the other, difficult to pin point. I love that guy though, he’s been a great friend and to cast me in his short for his thesis, I’m extremely appreciative of the fact he decided to go with me to be apart of this project. Sunny’s thesis is called “Some Salt,” a short film of only 12 minutes long, shot in black and white, and the story consists of two people falling in love by an unusual reasoning that has to do with salt, hence “Some Salt.” We shot it in three days with various locations in and around Cebu City and Mac tan that had minimal dialogue and mainly focusing on expressions in the camera. It’s my first short film I’ve performed in, apart from one other I have done awhile back in LA so I am highly critical of myself in regards to conviction. It’s already in post editing and the trailer is out for people to view. What I particularly like about the film is the complexity of the story line and the small yet vital connection that has been made between the two. What I find far more fascinating as well is the speculation between Sunny and I, so I’m keen to see the reaction from the viewers during screening, this will be interesting.


Sunny scouted out several locations aside from Punta Engano on Mactan for the shoot and the first place we shot at was a place in the city called Leonardo’s. Its in Cebu city located off the beaten path of the twisted roads and muddled routines of the local Cebuans. I really like Leonardo’s because of the isolation of the restaurant and where it’s nestled, in a small canyon decorated with small houses on stilts situated just along side of the quiet sanctuary of peace. We booked it for several hours to shoot a few scenes before heading back to Mactan after 6 hours of shooting. My scene was relatively simple and luckily we only had to do a couple shots before packing up and heading back to Mactan. It was long day and when you’re shooting, there is quite a bit of down time so I sat there listening to music and writing in my journal, studying my very simple dialogue before I was up for the quick takes. Once we drove back to Mactan, I changed into some clothes to go out in consisting of a wife beater like always, a jean skirt, a pony tail, and my pastry shoes ready to tear up the dance floor. I grabbed a cab and headed over to TJ’s to pick him for the night since he is my partner in crime when it comes to dancing. Speaking like a true so cal girl, I’m ‘stoked’ I met a guy who loves to dance as much as I do because it just makes it that much more entertaining.

When we got to the city, we made our way back to Leonardo’s to meet up with Kiss who is one of TJ’s best friends here, along with her friends from Canada, Xavier and his girlfriend Amorn. They’ve been here on holiday, she’s originally from here in Cebu and Xavier hails from Paris but now calls Vancouver home. This was their last week so we were to go out and have some fun with them. However, as the night progressed, everyone seemed to have gone separate ways with TJ and I going to Vudu to dance, Kiss going to her sisters’ house, Xavier and Amorn going to sing Karaoke next door to Vudu. TJ and I had an early morning call time for the film, so we wanted to let out some energy and go back relatively early from the club but it didn’t work out that way. Around 2:30 am when we were heading out to go back to Mactan, there was a huge confrontation with Xavier and Amorn at the KTV so TJ went to see what the deal was. Apparently, a few of the staff grabbed Amorn and sexually assaulted her in the back of the building, so her along with Xavier went running into the KTV rooms looking for whoever was involved. To make a long story short, it was a huge drama scene, and also misunderstanding amongst other patrons of the bar, police came, people were screaming and TJ was there to kind of regulate since he has the ability to get along with everyone. I stayed outside watching it all go down with one of the owners of Vudu and more friends that I made while being here. I don’t know them well only, chatting with them at Vudu and becoming facebook friends. Needless to say, after an hour of calming nerves and adrenaline, TJ and I finally left around 3:30 am to go back to Mactan.

---

Photos

Saree inspired
Photographed by: Sujay Dahake
Location: Punta Engano, Philippines