The last of the bohemians

Since the 1980s, the tiny Penguin Café Gallery in Malate, Manila has played host to many of Manila's artists, whether as performers, exhibitors or customers. The more boho ex-pats—Asians, Americans and Europeans—seem to have discovered it too. No carefully made-up, perfectly coiffed women and men here, with their designer bags and shoes. All you'll see are jeans, t-shirts, leather bracelets and lots of wooden beads. On nights when several bands perform, people spill over onto Remedios Street where hawkers sell cigarettes and a variety of street food. Penguin Café Gallery is the one with brown posts with hanging plants, under and to the right of the two large signs (neither of which is theirs).

Shared habitat

The Penguin Café Gallery in Malate, Manila (just several blocks away from the Malate Church) derived its name from the owner's large collection of penguins. Here is one decorating a lamp in a corner, with a couple of penguins painted on the window. I don't know if geckos have the same type of habitat, but this twisted one looks happy enough sharing the same space as the penguins.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Used, used and used

At the Penguin Café Gallery in Malate, Manila while the next band was setting up their equipment, a DJ would be spinning some vinyl records. Aside from a shiny new player, he also had one old beat up player. And take a closer look at his lamp. It's made out of an empty can of mushrooms.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Poverty gap

A cousin who has lived in Chicago since he was four years old recently came to the Philippines to visit and he told me that one of the things he noticed about Metro Manila was the great disparity between the rich and the poor here. Which reminded me of this photo I took last year and meant to use for the October 2009 CDP theme day, Contrast. I ended up not using it because I thought it was too depressing to use for theme day and also because we had just been devastated by typhoon Ketsana, known locally as Ondoy, and I wanted to post something about it. But my cousin is right. All big cities everywhere have to struggle with the problems of homelessness, but nowhere is the poverty gap more evident than in the megalopolises of third world countries, where luxurious modern skyscrapers stand side by side with sprawling slums and shanty towns. I did not see which Filipino fashion designer owns this atelier, but it is in front of Penguin Café Gallery in the City of Manila.