Last stop of our one-day city tour in Cebu is one of the oldest houses in the Philippines, and possibly the oldest Chinese house outside of China: the Yap-Sandiego Ancestral Home.
I was so eager to shoot everything about this 2-storey structure because I like wood and the little details in general. A bit let down for me though was it had very minimal lighting inside. I was forced to dial down my shutter speed to 1/15, 1/30 at most. I can only imagine how everything looked and felt like if they were shot in daylight, but I guess the yellow light bulbs accompanied by the night time gave a different perspective to it. Yes, the creepy-goosebump-y side, perfect for a textbook horror film :)
There were statues of saints in almost every corner of the house, which tells you how religion, specifically Catholicism, was a real big deal back then, a great influence from the Spanish colony.
Love these tea pot sets and embroidery.
The second floor holds the dining area and kitchen. At this point, my light meter is already blinking at 1, but I casually ignored it and still fired away consecutively :)
Details, details, details.
95 percent of the roof and walls are original. The house was constructed sometime in 1700 using coral stones glued together by egg whites. 1700! EGG WHITES!
The backyard was beautiful. It was surrounded by jars of clay, bonsai plants and a 14-foot wishing well. Sadly, it was too dark in the area to photograph them all :(
See the roof of the house inside? It's made up of stacks of clay supported by molave wood, and a piece of clay weighs a kilogram. I'm guessing there were a thousand pieces in here (what a heavyweight!).
So much history in one house. It's very interesting to see the past, how things worked back then, how these materials were built to last, and how it is still being nurtured and taken care of in the present. Jose Rizal would be proud, I guess? :)
P.S.
Would love to hear how you guys handle taking photos in places with very limited lighting :)
