Monday, November 03, 2008

Mermaid in Boracay

Two years back, I was poring through two decades worth of newspapers for research at work. There were a couple of interesting news items, some that seemed more appropriate for tabloids such as a woman giving birth to a frog-looking child (a photo was included in the news item) or a four-year-old kid giving birth.

One of the sensational news items in 1989 was the discovery of a mermaid in Boracay. Back then, the island wasn't the saturated tourist destination it is now. Basically, a visiting tourist from New Zealand was alone at sea, unsupervised, when the currents took her off course. The said tourist got lost and was fortunately saved four days later by local fishermen. Of course since she was Caucasian, had blonde hair, and was paddling in the water, the fishermen initially mistook her for a mermaid.

5 comments:

Pipe said...

Two decades worth of newspapers? *whistles* Gotta admire your dedication there.

I wish there was a site/blog that aggregated weird R.P. news items. Sort of like a local boing boing :)

Unknown said...

On our last night in Boracay last summer, we decided to go videoke with the kids. Assuming the Philippines does not change too much in the coming years, having the skill (and the guts!) to sing at a videoke will be an important social tool for the kids so they might as well practice while young. We also discovered as a family how hard it was to sing Ariel's or the Little Mermaid's Part of Your World. The veins
in our necks almost burst.
-------------------
Bobwilliams
white hat

Charles said...

Have no fear John, Karaoke singing in the Philippines will never fade...

Anonymous said...

oh, how I wish you were wrong about vid/karaoke not going away in the Phils. Especially here on Boracay, they belt out the nasally intoned [insert 10 year old love song here] at top volume and tell each other they sound great.

For a solid year, it was horrible for me, thats a sound you cant exactly escape unless you remove yourself physically. To make it worse, most videoke programs have wrong words spread in every song so poor engrish speakers (most of the country) get it all wrong.

The funny part is that I've started singing along with the woman next door when it cranks through the window of the washroom; wrong lyrics to Celine Dion and all, lol!

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