~~ YEE GRAND OL TANDUAY ~~
TOUR

Howdee,
Sadly I don't have my tour report on me today, so I am going to skip ahead to the photos I had planned to show when we got to the Tanduay part of the trip.
We stopped in at the Tanduay factory while enroute to Lucena and had a great time checking out where our holy water comes from.

Thanks to the management and staff of Tanduay for allowing me a look through the plant of my favourite drop, it was the logical step after so many years collecting Tanduay souveniers.

Its enough to arouse a Tanduay collector.
In the main reception of the factory is tis display of all products made by Tanduay, including some superceeded labels which were all duly photographed (since I wasn't allowed to buy them) :-)

One had to excercise amazing personal restraint on entering the factory.

Final packing before sending off to a grateful nation!

Good little soldiers all in formation!
Today they were making the lovely Tanduay Dark.

It was about now I enquired how much it would cost to buy this machine :-)
I WANT ONE MUMMY - I WANT ONE MUMMY

Filling up the magic bottles!

This was he second, and more modern, production line. It uses a fraction of the employees to operate, so is vastly more eficient than the one above.
From memory today they were making ESQ.
Down the bottom the red crates mark the start of it all with thousands of empty bottles. It goes from here to the end of the factory and back to where the guys are standing, this being where it is finally packed.

Part of the big history display there.

No amount of bribing was going to secure me one of these babies.
The former Tanduay White labels.
I WANT - I WANT
Surprisingly, while I havecollected the newer White bottles,
I have not yet tried it :-)

Yep, they have their own fire truck (awesome little thing huh) and again, I wasn't allowed to bring it home with me.
NOT FAIR - NOT FAIR

Edward my tour guide and one of the nicest, most friendly guys you will ever meet.
This guy is an absolute credit to the company and make a tour I have long wanted to do, even more fantastic.

The Messiah - Lucio C. Tan.
Owner of Tanduay, and Philippine Airlines (another favourite) for that matter.
Thank you Mr Tan for supplying the planet with the worlds best tasting rum.

Of course another 60+ photos were taken during the visit but I only have so much space to put them on here.
Needless to say they will join my ever growing collection of Tanduay posters, bottles, banners, signs and other promotional items.

Again, the managers, staff and especially Edward, THANK YOU so much.
Makes me, and many other Aussie Tanduay fans, VERY proud to support your product.

The Colonel's Blogsite!

Howdee,
Many of you lucky enough to attend our karaoki nights at the 'G-Spot Karaoke Bar' will know the beloved Colonel.
Whether he be in the

VERTICAL


or

HORIZONTAL

position, he always proves to be the life of any party.

Now you can have more of the Colonel than ever before. I mean, why wait till the next karaoke party to experience that special Colonelness that we have all grown to love.
Yes thats right, the Colonal has a brand new BLOG covering his daily misadventures.

http://dribblyfoamertype.blogspot.com

Guaranteed to make you laugh, or at the very least, cry.

If any other family or friends have a blog they wish me to mention, feel free to give me a hollar.

Brad

John's Birthday Bash! The Good - The Bad - The Cuddly (Part 1)

Welcome to another 4 part series - this one covering John's recent birthday!

Howdee,
It comes as much of a surprise to many of the Philos I hang out with that I am not really a people person. In the OOOOLLLLD days I could never stand parties, avoided contact with new people and really did very little on the weekend if I wasn't away photographing.
Turning up at a party full of new people certainly ain't my preferred situation to this day, however this was the situation I found myself in when I turned up at John's place for his party and only knew one or two out of many attendees, at least until the regulars showed up.
Thankfully many there were friendly, plus one can't deny the helpfulness of our beloved Tanduay, and in the end it turned out to be an awesome night. Even made friends with some completely new maganda Pinays, all of who will appear here (be warned :-) ).

The birthday boy himself, John with his wife Cecile!

I won't begin to name them all as there would be many gaps!
Just look and admire the combined beauty!

Hmmmmm what what was that about no more Tanduay Gina? :-)
My little mate caught in the act :-)

SECRET FILIPINO TRIBAL SACRIFICE CEREMONY!

APOLOGIES!
Most of posting removed thanks to Rommel!

Readers, today I envy you! You are to be among the very few who are able to witness photos taken during a very secret Filipino tribal sacrifice ceremony.

Yearly select Filipinos from the 'Sacred Tent Of Calamari' must sacrifice virginal calamari in celebration of all the good things the 'Lord Of Calamari' has given them through the years.
To fail to do so would mean the great 'Lord of Calamari' would be frightfully displeased and deliver you the most horrible year of suffering you will ever endure (usually consists of having to listen to WS FM).

Its not an easy event, taking many minutes of preparation before one finally gets to stuff themselves with the luscious seafood. The going down to the store, the delicate enveloping in yummy sauces before sacrifice time, the 20 minute pre-devouring time tribal dance - it all makes for a very busy and colourful event.

Please join me as we make our way through this most sacred of events.
I do ask you to be quite, contempt for this event can result in vegetables being stuck in the most unfortunate of orifaces!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sacred fire, often lit by the hands of the most stunning of Filipina, it burns long and brightly. Well at least until the 'Heat Beads' are fully used up anyway.


Prior to the start of the sacred calamari dance all participants are asked to squat down. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation over hundreds of days and is believed to loosen up the bowel and stretch the intestine in preparation for the calamari onslaught to come.

Boredom, oooooooh The Boredom!

Today I am doing standby work thus allowing me time to cruise the internet and actually be paid for it.

HECK, for 9 years I have tried to find a way to be paid for answering my emails and working on web and blog sites. Finally I am successful, although sadly only for one day :-(

So what to do? Have spent the whole morning updating most of my blogsites and catching up on the latest mail. While trawling through the various files in the computer I have found quite a few shots of very little use other than here. So in an effort to waste another few minutes of the work day I shall put some here for you to be bored over.

Hmmmmm a rather delicious Pinay at last years Philippine Fiesta at Rosehill. Wish they all dressed like this.

A Phil/Aus singer entertaining the crowd. While not has beautiful as the genuine Philippine product, you make what you can of all situations when it comes to photography.

As many of you know, one of my many hobbies is bringing back souveniers from my beloved Philippines.

Over the years I have collected many things, bus number plates, car number plates, train items, photos, Jeepney destination signs, flag, posters, coins, adult videos/magazines, Tanduay posters, Tanduay bottles and my WIFE! I am always on the lookout for new items of interest.

Recently my good mate Bill purchased the pride of y Tanduay collection, while his mate Cisa brought it over to Australia with him.

A small cask model on a Tanduay barrell, which, thankfully, is also chock full of quality Tanduay product, 18 years old at that.

Drooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

Brad