Where Will the Filipino Jeepneys Go

Inspired from the war jeepney model, the Philippine jeepney has indeed made a part of history.  In the Philippines, phasing out of old jeepneys and replacing them with advanced model endangers the old model of jeepney.  While the new model is more expensive than the the old one, not everybody who was able to afford the old jeepney might be able to afford the new model. 

Gerry's Jeepney restaurant

Green groups and notable local governments campaign for electric cars to reduce carbon dioxide emission. With the recent development in the automobile industry, the old jeepney may end up somewhere else. I have seen jeepneys in Gerry's Jeepney, a restaurant in Maginhawa, Quezon City, where the jeepneys serve as shelter for fine dining. Though space is limited, customers can still eat inside a jeepney and have an experience being inside it without actually using it for public transport. Lantaw, a floating restaurant in Cordova, Cebu also has a jeepney inside a restaurant. Literally, it is a piece of floating jeepney. It is a half of the real jeepney that serves as part of an interior design. 

When the modern car has become cheaper to acquire and the electric cars coming our way, the jeepneys that made history in the Filipinos' lives may end up as collectors items and decorative mementos like what Gerry's Jeepney and Lantaw restaurants did. Other uses of old Filipino jeepney are yet to come.

Bird's Nest Fern Farming

We've been planting bird's nest fern in our yard since I was a kid. The fern grows on barks of trees around the house and in plant hangers made by my mother. My father loves plants as well that he is the one responsible for the full grown bird's nest fern in the yard. 

Plants become passion at home when we transformed the old house with barren yard into green lawn. Now, my father holds about a hundred of bird's nest ferns in the yard which he transformed into a small farm for ferns.

We are planting more in available lots around and transfer full-grown ferns in easy-to-transport pots. It takes years to have a full grown and huge bird's nest fern. We will market the ferns as these become big. Meanwhile, we can already dispatch few full grown ferns. For orders, text +63919665-9212; Email ferrari.carms@gmail.com

Recycling as an Art

Sprite soda empty plastic bottles made into a tree in Baker's Hill, Puerto Princesa City.

Nowadays when it seems there is too much trash, we do not know perhaps what is the best way to reduce them. While buying soda in bottle is irresistible, what do we usually do is collect them and wait for the garbage collectors, who separate the recyclables to be sold to junk shops. Well, one can do more than just waiting for garbage collectors to come and letting them do the rest. I like the idea of having a vintage interior design for restaurants because it makes me feel homey. Aside from being minimalist, some old stuff like disks are hung thereby having a place for itself. The odder stuff I have seen is having an old bicycle and an old typewriter hung inside Bigg's Diner in Legazpi City.

In some cases, there are towns that sponsor Christmas decoration contests in their respective barangays using indigenous materials or using recycled materials. I have seen parols made of shells, those taken from paluto in Boracay's famous Talipapa. Without throwing the shells, those were made into Christmas lanterns and hung in the restaurant's premises. In the nature-themed Baker's Hills in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan province, I have seen how the 1.5 liter bottles of Sprite soda were made into a recycled tree, greeting visitors coming in the area. Indeed, when wastes cannot be stopped because of too much consumption, we really have to think of other ways of using those trash instead of putting them in garbage bins awaiting for others to collect. We can make them into something still worthwhile like what we do in our garden at home. We use the plastic bags as seedling banks and we reuse the plastic containers as pots and hang them in the garden imitating the way plants are hung in Good Sheperd Convent in Baguio City.