The news of the recent ferry accident in the Philippines reminded me of the many ferries I've taken in my travels. The journey across the wide mouth of the Gambia River between Banjul, the capital, and Barra, on the side of The Gambia where I lived, comes to mind the most.

Sometimes I made the trip in a large open wooden boat called a pirogue that would have given my mother a heart attack if she had known what I was up to.

When traveling in countries where bridges are scarce, ferry crossings are necessary. If you want to get from here to there, you step on. Generally, thoughts of accidents and the lack of life preservers are fleeting. Instead, one enjoys the thrill of watching one shore grow further away as another comes closer.

In the Gambia, a ferry is filled with people, cars, trucks, animals, motorcycles--basically whatever can be crammed on. It's a mish mash of no order in particular. I always headed to the top deck to escape the crush.

Of all the crossings I've made in my life--and I'm not sure I could count them all, there's only one that I should have never tried. Once, in a hurry to get to Banjul and not willing to wait for calmer waters, I climbed into one of the large wooden boats as it rocked furiously on the churning river.

Over at ProTraveler, there is a read worth noting about eight abandoned hotels in various parts of the world. They once had glory days, but didn't hold onto it for financial woes or pestilence.

These are the places that chronicle shifts of time. Hot destinations that don't stay hot or where the owners made bad decisions. You've probably come across examples of these types of places in your own travels.

"What was this place?" you might say to your traveling companions. You wonder if anyone important stayed here or what the building looked like when it was brand spanking new.

One example is this picture of the Palace Hotel in Jerusalem. I love this shot. The hotel reminds me of John Everett Millais's painting of Ophelia still clutching flowers, dead, floating face-up in a pond.

The photos are haunting, I think. Chairs with no one sitting in them, debris scattered across the floor, and an old sign that once flashed its neon. These are reminders that nothing gold can stay, but if lucky, can be resurrected into a new life.

For example, the Palace Hotel is to be reopened as a Waldorf-Astoria luxury hotel in a few years. The Diplomat Hotel in the Philippines may be turned into a museum. The folks who are going to do the project better hurry while there is still a building worth saving. It's thought to be haunted, so hopefully, the ghosts will be happy with the change.

You have to hand it to the Filipino inventor Virgilio "Billy" L. Malang for creating an invention that has a widespread appeal. He has created a type of beer, which is Vitamin B complex-fortified and makes a promise to "take some of the guilt out of drinking" by replacing the essential Vitamin B which is lost when excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed. Mind you, this is the same guy who has published a book, called "Sex Every Minute." I don't think he's got a patent on that, though.

Malang says that he believes the invention will be popular because beer is the national weakness of the Philippines. A Kirin Research Institute study ranked the Philippines as the 5th highest beer consumer in Asia, after China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, with an average of nearly 20 liters (45 pints) of beer per person per year.

It has not been marketed yet, but Vitamin Beer already won a gold medal at the European Union-sponsored Genius-Europe competition at the Budapest Fair Center in Hungary in May 2004 and bagged the Romanian Ministry Education and Research Cup among 1,000 inventions by 540 inventors from 46 countries, Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

This is interesting because I have lived under the impression that there is a lot of Vitamin B in every beer, that is why beer is supposed to be good for you. Or it could just be something my dad tells my my mom to make her feel better.

Looks like something straight out of The Flintstones, eh? My question is, well, aren't they going to be kinda screwed going uphills?

The shot was taken in the village of Banaue, the Philippines, during a festival (here's more information). What's more, the setting is absolutely gorgeous: the Banaue Rice Terraces, which are sometimes referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

For more pictures from this photographer, see here.

I didn't realize the FAA officially rates airlines based on their security standards. Well, they do.

Just this week, Philippine Airlines got downgraded to a Category 2 airline requiring "heightened FAA surveillance." They join countries likes Ghana, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Ivory Coast, all of which apparently have inadequate air safety standards.

Philippine Airlines will continue flying to the United States, but US citizens are advised to use carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international standards.

The only thing worse than dying while traveling abroad is getting thrown into some third-world jail--unless, that is, you happen to be in the Philippines.

If you break the law in this tropical paradise, you might find yourself incarcerated at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. And, if you behave well while doing your time here, you may end up the star of the CPDRC talent show.

The above video features 1,500 inmates from this fine institution performing a little Michael Jackson dance number.

This, folks, is organize crime at its best. Can you imagine the damage these criminals would inflict on society if they were this organized and disciplined in the outside world?

Wow. Take a moment to check out this video; it almost makes you want to travel to the Philippines, commit some larceny, get locked up, and join the show. Almost.

Bonus points if you can spot the Prison B****!

Okay, in the United States we get shot for honking at someone to let them know the light as turned green. But in Asia, where karaoke is big business, you can get shot for singing out of tune.

Midway through his song, a homeless man in a karaoke bar in San Mateo town, Rizal, Philippines, was warned by a bouncer that his singing was out of tune. "As [he] ignored his comments and continued singing," the AP reports, "[the bouncer] pulled out his revolver and shot him in the chest."

The AP story goes on to mention that violence in karaoke bars is not uncommon, and in the capital of the Philippines, Manila, the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra has been taken off of most karaoke playlists due to it's violence-inciting abilities. The song was "found to be the cause of fights and even deaths when patrons sang out of tune." Seriously.

As the only officially Catholic country in Asia, the Philippines, thanks to Father Pedro de Valderama who arrived with Spanish explorer Magellan in the early 1500s, is gearing up for Easter. And there are few places on Earth where religious fervor is matched in such graphic shows of penitence and resolve to do better. Although there are calmer, more sedate versions of the Good Friday celebratory happenings, the most extreme are the Penitencia where people mirror Jesus' suffering by being nailed to a cross. Others dress up like Roman soldiers. Really. There's a bit more to it than this, and no one actually dies, but it sure isn't pleasant. The government and the Catholic Church both frown on the practice, but those who are involved are determined.

Tourists do show up. If you're interested, here's a link that lists some of these Good Friday events. I also found this interesting read by Larry Kingston in the online travel magazine The Tangent-Ezine. Kingston was an eyewitness to last year's event. Besides providing an account of the happenings and his impressions, his article is filled with photographs. The photo here is of people waiting for the crucifixion to take place. These crosses are part of the scenery.

If you're feeling annoyed when you have to go through airport security checks, particularly in Manila, whatever you do, keep your pants on. One German tourist, Hans Jurgen Oskar von Naguschewski, age 66, took his off when asked to go through an X-ray machine twice and he may find himself in a jail in the Philippines for awhile. Six years is the maximum sentence he could receive. Hans already spent a weekend in the slammer after he was arrested for doing his partial strip tease. If he was in a hurry to get to Frankfurt where he was heading, he was out of luck that the officials weren't in a laughing mood.

From what I read, he became annoyed after being asked to go through the security check again. It must have been a long day and this was the last straw. It doesn't sound like he was particularly violent or anything, just less clothed when he walked through the detector the second time around than the officials would have liked. I can imagine for everyone else waiting in line this must have livened up the day and helped them be a little more patient for a while longer.

If you are going to be traveling through the Manila airport, I came across some tips in the Virtual Tourist on Airport Security checks that might give you an idea of what might try your patience in Manila and reasons why it's so security minded there. It doesn't sound like the airport is much different than many other places in the Philippines and travelers have a variety of opinions about the safety measures.

If you enjoy Filipino/Pinoy food, you'll enjoy reading this food adventure blog by Connie Veneracion. The blog says "let the food pics do the talking," but there is actually a considerable amount of talking done by the blogger as well with include recipes and tips for those who enjoy Asian culinary arts.

Today's word is a Tagalog word used in the Philippines:

salamat po - thank you

Tagalog is one of the major languages in Central Philippines and part of the Austronesian language family. For some reason I was surprised by the number of free GOOD resources available to prospective Tagalog student. Wikipedia has great background info on the lingo as well as related languages, Bikol, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, and Cebuano. Mongabay pretty much covers all the really good, up and running links to sites that help teach Tagalog, after checking out a few I'll do the favor of pointing the best out. The first is an interactive language and Filipino culture resource site tools are provided for both teachers and students. A pretty intense breakdown on local slang and how it is derived can be found here. Travel Lang has word and phrase generator that spits out all the basic words you'd use while visiting.

Past Filipino/Tagalog words: taon, kalye, alak, masarap, sayaw, kapayapaán, bubelya