I didn't do my homework

It was late evening when I arrived at Changi Airport in Singapore and all I wanted to do was go to the hotel and rest, rest, rest. I found the taxi line and waited for my turn to hail one. A young woman behind me asked me if I wanted to take the waiting black car on the parking lot and I told her I couldn’t because there were two people ahead of me. She argued with me that those people didn’t want the taxi so if I wasn’t interested, she would take it. That got me going to the waving and liveried driver.

Sanctuary area at Changi Airport

I had earlier asked the tourist information office what it would cost to travel by taxi from the airport to my hotel and they told me that it would be around $20 (Singapore dollars). When we got to the hotel, I checked the meter and it was around $21.00. But to my surprise the driver charged me $34 which is $13 over the metered price. I asked him why and he showed me the chart for the surcharge. I was anticipating a surcharge for arrival after midnight but we were at the hotel at around 11 p.m. Anyway, I paid him and checked in at the hotel. At the reception desk I asked a hotel representative if he knew why there was such a surcharge and he had no idea. So I went to sleep thinking I’d been had.

Restored Victorian style buildings (Painted Ladies)

The next day at the airport I approached another tourist information agent and inquired about the surcharge. When I mentioned the color of the taxi, she immediately had an answer for me. It turns out that I had hailed a limo rather than a taxi. I rode in a black Chrysler. She further informed me that next time I could consider a white Mercedes as they charged slightly less than the black Chrysler but the cheapest way without riding the subway would be to hire an ordinary taxi. Like all locals do. Now I know.

To add insult to injury, it costs only $3.00 (SGD) to take the subway to town and there was a subway stop directly below my hotel. Owww!!!

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Images by Charie

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was...

The Philippine Village Life by Vicente Silva Manansala

Pamilya (Family) With the completion of their new headquarters in Manila in 1961, PhilAm Life (a life insurance company) commissioned Vicente Silva Manansala to do a series of paintings for their cafeteria. (Lucky employees!) Before long these seven large-scale paintings about Philippine village life were moved to the front lobby which was deemed a more appropriate setting for the canvases. They remained there until the building was sold in 2012. Mindful of the cultural significance of the paintings and the need for its preservation and conservation, the management of PhilAm Life decided to loan these treasures to the National Museum in 2014. “Pamilya reflects Filipino values of family solidarity and solemnity showing a common scenario of praying before sharing a meal with one’s family.” National Museum of the Philippines Pagkain (Food) One of the Thirteen Moderns and Neo Realists, Vicente Silva Manansala had the good fortune to study art in Canada, the United States, France and Switz...

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called Kasaysayan ng Maynila (History of Manila). The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and...

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