Getting high. It’s more fun in the Philippines!
The Department of Tourism in the Philippines has just launched a new campaign slogan and logo via itsmorefuninthephilippines.com. At the center of this tourism campaign are the Filipino people who makes the visit of any tourist in these islands. The tagline is simple and pretty straightforward. But when it is paired an action + an image of sights in the country, it does it’s magic!
Consider these images found it the tourism website . . .
Inspired by the new campaign, I did this layout to drive across the point that a fun way to see the beauty of the country is by riding a Vespa. 
Our very own Vietnam Vespa Adventure!
I’ve been wanting to ride a Vespa in another country.
Maybe in Rome or in Tuscany where Vespa Tours are readily available. I’d also like to ride in Pontedera, Italy to visit The Piaggio Museum and see the birthplace of the very first Vespa. But traveling to Europe isn’t in the immediate plans.
But in January 2009, I got to see Top Gear – Vietnam Special where Jeremy Clarkson rode a vintage Vespa from Saigon to Halong Bay. I said to myself, “I could do that too!”
By June 2009, a Vespa buddy (Aries Guinto) posted an FB link to Vietnam Vespa Adventures (VVA), and my wife & I got interested immediately. I also learned from Aries that there’s an existing Vietnam Vespa Tour thread in Vespinoy where interested riders could sign up. So I did. But my wife Benz & I agreed that if the Vespinoy initiative doesn’t push through within the year, she’d join me on the pillion just so I’d have company. She already sent our queries and got the rates. Until she got pregnant with our second daughter. All our travel plans for that year and the next (2010) went on hold. 
But my dream to ride in Vietnam lingered. This picture/ad of riders scooting by the Red Dunes of Mui Ne made me want to go there all the more!
Fast forward to 2011.
I brought the idea of doing the Vietnam Ride as an official ride of Vespa Club of the Philippines. Good thing our current president (Uriel) was also one who’s eager to ride abroad. Initially, a good number of our members were also interested to join. But taking a week-long leave from work isn’t that easy to sort out. Plus the tour rates aren’t exactly peanuts. But Uriel & I agreed that we’ll still push through with the ride even if it’s just the two of us representing the club.
So we set the date: November 07-14, 2011. The very first International Ride for Vespa Club Pilipinas. We booked the tour and our flights. I even designed legshield banners to put around our rented Vespas in Saigon.
VVA even posted a countdown in it’s blog of our club’s arrival. Another club member (Tim) had also booked and was suppose to join us, but had to cancel a month into our flight due to changes in his work schedule as a airline pilot.
But Uriel & I still got to Saigon alright. Aside for the paid tour with VVA, we also got to rent a couple of vintage Vespas for a self-guided city tour of HCMC. (Special thanks to Hil – a Filipino expat in Saigon who’s also into Vespa –who hooked us up with the right people.)
Uriel at HCMC Town Hall
xin chào!
Thru Hil, we also got to meet-up with local Vespa riders in Saigon to join them for a night ride of fun & food!
by the Saigon Opera House
See more of our nice pictures as posted by Đá Nguyễn aka The Scootereist (checkout Meet Filipino vespa riders in Sai Gon) as shot be his girlfriend, Quynh Skulls.
There are tons of pictures documenting our seven-day, fun & exciting Vietnam riding adventure, but only 200 images can be posted in an album in Facebook. I posted them chronologically with captions so you could virtually take this adventure with us.
Xin chào!
VA VII – Vespa Attack 7!
DEC 10, 2011
MORNING CITY RIDE
8:00 am to 9:00 am
Meet up at HOTROCKS LIBIS
(Route will be posted later)
Leg shield banners and Button Pins will be distributed to all participants
11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Lunch at MOA area by the Bay
EVENING ACTIVITY
5:30 pm on wards
Salo-salo at HOTROCKS LIBIS
As suggested, lets make this as OUR Vespinoy “Ves-Mas” Party
Everyone is encourage to bring their Exchange Gifts worth 300 pesos.
Drinks and Food KKB
KITAKITS!!
checkout updates about VA7 in live threads posted at Vespinoy and Vespa Club forum.
Yesterday, while celebrating my wife’s birthday in a Chinese restaurant, an idea of a Chinese pin up girl on a Vespa came to mind. I have seen vintage ads from China before so I knew what keywords to search for in Google images.
I was hoping I’d finish the deconstructed artwork before her birthday ended, but it wasn’t meant to be. I finished around 2AM the next day and pleased how it looked like:
The writing below is “Happy Birthday” in Chinese (sheng ri kuai le). Traditionally Chinese use red in texts to denote a celebration. To use black is a no-no as it denotes death.
The image above is a composite of five (5) other artworks that I put together much like the technique I used in the Pinay Vespa Pin Up. I specifically used for Chinese paintings for the background to give the “feel” I wanted. Here they are:
I do hope to make other Asian Vespa pin ups when inspiration strikes me.
In the 50s or 60s, Vespa released pin up calendars with images of women in different parts of the world. I have seen a number of scoots with pinup-girls stuck on the legshield or the glovebox cover.
The thumbnails below are just but a few examples. But the one in the middle (the Filipina farm girl with the Mayon Volcano as backdrop) “my” rendition of a Pinay Vespa Pin-Up. Since I got zero talent in drawing, I relied on a Filipino master (National Artist, Fernando Amorsolo) for inspiration and creativity.
I used bits & pieces from Amorsolo’s four paintings to bring the image together. Here’s how the original arworks look:
With the help of Photoshop, I traced (and flipped when necessary) the body parts or landscape I needed to complete the vision I had. The scooter artwork was lifted from one of the pre-existing Vespa pin-ups. Here’s how the finished product looked (postcard layout) without the clutter.
Now, this Filipina pin-up girl would look good on my scoot. Gotta have my own sticker made soon.
sakay. takbo. lipad. (ride. run. fly.)
Here’s a nice Filipino poem forwarded to me by Uriel. It’s written by Ron Magbuhos, a Vespa rider he met at the 5th Angono Round-Up. I’ve been told that Ron wrote this paean for riding after the ride to Angono. ‘steeg!
- – - – - -
Nag-anyaya ang hangin na ako'y sumabay
Sa kanyang paglipad, atubili akong nagpa-unlak
Nag-aalalang hindi maka-agapay sa kanyang pag-indak;
Hinawakan nya ang aking kamay at kami ay pumailanlang.
Sabay kaming sumayaw sa saliw ng awit ng kalikasan
Sa bandang sinkupado at pagaspas ng dahon at kawayan,
Sumisikad ang binti, tatadyak ang paa at kakalabit ang daliri
ang kamay ay pipiga, sisisid ang mukha at matinis siyang titili;
Nakipag-ulayaw sa ispontayong kalsadang kukurba-aahon
Sinalat ng talampakan ang nagbabaga nitong sementadong daan
At doon ay lumikha ang aming mga puso ng mga palatandaan
Humalo ang amoy ng 2T at petrolyo sa aming hinahabol na hininga
Pinadulas ng tumatagaktak na pawis ang humahalinhing na makina
Lipad, sige pa, lipad, at sabay rumurok ang aming pinag-isang silakbo.
A Rider’s Playlist (a collection of songs for riding)
a compilation of 14 tracks - including two written by me 
Angkas na! (Join me for the ride!)
I’ve been meaning to make a CD compilation of all the songs that I have featured in this blog. A playlist that any rider could simply load in his iPod and listen to while riding. Well that plan has long been in the back-burner until this song, which I blogged just recently, came up.
This week, I’m rushing everything (re-mastering, replication, and packaging) before I switch on my vacation mode with my family by weekend. Special thanks to Mark Laccay for taking care of re-mastering all the tracks. Mark & I even had to rebuild one track from the ground up, just to make it sound good for this album. I plan have only limited copies made to give away to friends, especially those who are into riding. The CD sleeve was designed by me (layouts) and my ever-supportive wife, Benz (packaging), and it’s currently in the press for printing and die-cutting to make it to our deadline.
This collection is dedicated to:
all my buddies whom I had the pleasure of riding with in-and-around the country
the men & woman (hi Kat!) of Vespa Club Pilipinas
all my readers in whoridesavespa.com
our listeners in Pinoy Scooter Podcast (PSP)
If you happen to receive a copy soon, happy listening!
Noah & Laya: Future Vespistis
- Vespa Onsies
Yesterday, my wife Benz bought these two Vespa onesies. I think these were displayed at the boy’s side of the infant section but she bought the while one for our daughter, nevertheless. With the discount she’ll get if she gets two items, she bought the other color (blue) with the intention of giving it to a baby boy named Noah.
- Noah Laccay (born August 2010) w/ daddy-o
Noah is the third and the youngest child of my neighbor and Pinoy Scooter Podcast (PSP) partner, Mark Laccay (No, they didn’t name him after Santino’s character in another teleserye). By virtue of being the unico hijo, it is safe to assume that this lucky boy will be the future heir to his dad’s Vespa.
- Laya Rana (born March 2010)
Born five month ahead of Noah is my youngest daughter, Laya. Here she is doing her “balancing act” on Pyke. I was actually behind her & the scoot ready to catch her as Benz took this shot, but she didn’t budge from where she was seated.
- Daddy-O Ride (August 2010)
On the same month Noah was born, our friends from Vespa Club organized the “Daddy-O Ride” for me, Mark, and Joseph (another member with a new baby). It was actually my first out-of-town ride after my long hiatus. That was also my first time riding with Mark. Looking back, that ride was sort of the trigger that got me back into riding.
- first meeting: Noah & Laya (with my eldest daughter, Kite) at the Laccay’s Residence
But I digress. As for Pyke’s future caretaker, my eldest daughter Kite agreed to give way to his little sister as the rightful heir of my Vespa as long as we buy her a car. What a caring big sister.
These two babies could be future members of Vespa Club of the Philippines. And who knows, maybe they’ll be a good tandem in continuing what we started in PSP. We’ll see.
I like listening to music during long rides. But don’t worry. My music is not loud enough to drown the ambient noise in my surroundings while riding. Besides, my earphones serve as my headset/mouthpiece so I can freely receive calls from fellow riders, especially when they’re by their lonesome, ahead or trailing the pack. It’s also handy during emergencies like when a fellow rider needs direction or to announce an unplanned emergency stop because of engine trouble.
Here’s my typical riding ritual. Put my iPod on shuffle and any random song comes up from my playlist. But the song below urged me to make a specific playlist that I can tune into during rides. It’s currently on repeat mode in my iTunes. And now I’m even blogging about it.
It’s a a single by the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers, released in 1992. It reached #17 in the UK Singles Chart, but it’s the first time I’ve heard of it today. I blame my limited exposure to American Top 40s. 
It’s not a happy-happy kind of song, but I feel it’s a good song to listen to while riding.
MOTORCYCLE EMPTINESS
by Manic Street Preachers
Culture sucks down words
Itemize loathing and feed yourself smiles
Organize your safe tribal war
Hurt, maim, kill, and enslave the ghetto
Each day living out a lie
Life sold cheaply forever, ever, ever
Under neon loneliness, motorcycle emptiness
Under neon loneliness, motorcycle emptiness
Life lies a slow suicide
Orthodox dreams and symbolic myths
From feudal serf to spender
This wonderful world of purchase power
Just like lungs sucking on air
Survivals natural as sorrow, sorrow, sorrow
Under neon loneliness, motorcycle emptiness
Under neon loneliness, motorcycle emptiness
All we want from you are the kicks you've given us
All we want from you are the kicks you've given us
All we want from you are the kicks you've given us
All we want from you are the kicks you've given us
Under neon loneliness motorcycle emptiness
Under neon loneliness motorcycle emptiness
Drive away and it's the same
Everywhere death row, everyone's a victim
Your joys are counterfeit
This happiness corrupt political shit
Living life like a comatose
Ego loaded and swallow, swallow, swallow
Under neon loneliness motorcycle emptiness
Under neon loneliness motorcycle emptiness
Under neon loneliness motorcycle emptiness
Under neon loneliness everlasting nothingness
Dear Laya Rana,
A very happy, happy birthday to you, Siobe!
You don’t know how your arrival in the family made me, Mimma & Achi so much happier.
It’s your birthday today although you didn’t get to have a big birthday party like Achi’s. But that doesn’t mean our celebration with you was less special. Mimma & I decided to forgo the party so we could save up for our family holiday to visit your cousins’ family (Achi collectively calls them “The Sudarios”) in Australia for summer 2011. It’s gonna be their first time to see you since you were born and they are all excited!
Anyway, what we had was a birthday shoot to celebrate your 1st Birthday. Here’s a souvenir sot of both us looking great together.
father & daughter
I actually have planned on bringing my scooter for your birthday photos. I think Pyke would’ve been perfect with the vintage feel of the shoot. But Mimma needed me to drive the car to bring the family and some props to the set-up. I know you would agree that a Vespa would’ve been perfect somewhere in this picnic shot:
birthday picnic
Oh well, maybe some other time.
Anyway here’s a special music video for your birthday. I specifically requested for this song which I especially dedicate to you (and Achi too!). I love you, babe!
.
Forever,
~Didda
P.S. I hope you get to stumble upon this post in the future while searching for your name in Google (or whatever popular search engine the time you find this).
[My heartfelt gratitude to all the people who helped in this photoshoot. Full credits listed here. ~Abet]
