what happened last year - thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is primarily a very American holiday, but having been raised in a city in the Philippines where American Baptist missionaries took good roots, we have been celebrating it all our lives. And besides, thanksgiving is such a universal celebration these days...


So it's only natural that we prepped up our Cambodian home for this holiday. I had an event organized for Guerlain Paris the month before so, I ended up with tons of scrap metal that I turned into two outdoor lounges.



We made and screen printed special throw pillows for the dinner with the names of our guests and guests-to-be (Obama and Hillary were too busy that evening)


We set our table with sculptures from Bill Bensley's Fantastical Creatures Exhibit and some bounty from the harvest (harvest at the supermarket, that is). We also made special placemats and coasters which stated things we were thankful for...



By dusk, the al fresco corner of the house was ready and so was dinner!


Me, my wife Faith, Don, Sheree (fresh from Newcastle, flown in especially for the Wanderlust fashion shoot) American authors Shannon and Jason and of course, Liz!

Our menu included stuffed chicken (turkey was too darn hard to find in Cambodia!), roast potatoes, buttered peas and veggies, battered fish, prawn cakes, pasta, stuffed pumpkin dessert, cream cheese cake, etc... Jason and Shannon brought a super cool drink that they concocted themselves!


Inside, we had our tree set up too for the holidays...


Guests got to bring their pillows as souvenirs!


A few days later, we had dinner with some new friends... Max, who's Vietnamese-French, Rachel, from the US, who's opening a boutique next door to us at the Alley West and Ruben from Mexico.


We definitely love welcoming friends to our home!

what happened last year - halloween

2009 was such a whack and it passed like a breeze. So many things and projects here and there kept me up for so long that the blog world seemed like a distant universe away from me. So what I'll do is try to catch up with the past year's missed posts... so here goes Halloween!


We started the evening at Linga Bar...


Snow White


Martin came out as a mummy with disastrous results. He had a lot of wardrobe malfunction and was half naked before the clock struck 12.


Stuart came as Michael Jackson


Georgie was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She followed the yellow brick road with a motorcycle...


Quite a drunk Ariel from the Little Mermaid


Ali G in da house!


Half of them came out as Greeks...


And this one's a Ghost Rider


Bonnie from Bonnie&Clyde, a ghostbuster and a UHC (Unidentified Halloween Costume)


Fairies and what-nots at Angkor What Bar


I came as an 18th century explorer!


Wild party at Angkor What. We can barely move!


I was with my Auntie Mida's friends from the US: Allan, Marlowe and Mark from Chicago and Seattle. They were on a holiday here and they definitely came at the right time!

becoming boracay

It's been more than 7 years since I last set foot in an island I almost called home. There was a point in my life when I savored trampling on its powdery white shores almost every weekend, and the best parties I've have had until now still screams the name Boracay.


I'm glad I finally made it back again on its arms, this time as a photographer for Fuego Hotels which has just opened a new property here called 7 Stones Boracay Suites. I came at the right time too as they were throwing a party for Channel V during my last night.


It was sort of like an after-party for the music channel as they were shooting their 2010 swimsuit calendar in the property.


Channel V jockey Alfie interviewing a Boracay local


I had to do some Tatler-esque shots as these photos are to be used for the Fuego Hotels Magazine... here's 7 Stones General Manager Dani (straight from Barcelona to Boracay!) with a guest and the Italian developer of the resort.


VJ Alfie with one of the models of the shoot


Dani with more models, stylists and Channel V people




Host of The Duke and Amazing Race runner up Rovilson Fernandez with another model


Guests from Spain, Australia and Taiwan...


'Twas a great night of party, booze and pool fun... I got myself a wealth of photos worthy enough for blackmail but I promised everybody not to post it here... or else... it's still unbelievable how such small island can cull that much euphoria in parties... must be the air... must be that amazing shot I can't recall (a shot of Sambucca, Cuervo gold and a dash of Tabasco), or maybe just because people forget the world exists once they set foot here. Whatever it is, wish every weekend is like this in Cambodia!

go team freedom!

My son Freedom is turning 3 this August 6, but we are throwing a party for him on the 8th to coincide with the opening of the Beijing Olympiad (where I am going in a few weeks!). This means the overall theme will be Olympics of sorts. There will be great fun games for kids like triathlon, archery, 15 kilometer marathon, synchronized swimming, 10 meter platform diving (okay, okay, I'm exaggerating) and of course, there will be gold medals for the early bird.

Chinese food, anyone? Or Peking duck perhaps?

There will also be the lighting of the cauldron, a humongous and scandalous fireworks display, a performance from the Beijing Opera and a showdown of Shaolin monks. It doesn't hurt to dream, right? Well, as they say in the olympiad... dream higher, stronger, further...

See you guys at the Ramos Family Nest (no pun intended for Beijing's Bird's Nest) on 08.08.08!

And oh, no boycotts please!