My first night in Manila, Cholo took me to his sister-in-law's "house"(I know the period is always supposed to go inside the quotation mark with some exceptions, but I just think it looks awkward, so I'm going to try to distract you with a long parenthetical that really has nothing to do with anything).

So yes, by house, I mean extraordinarily beautiful and rather large piece of architecture set atop a hillside in Manila.

As a filmmaker, he's quite fortunate to have such locations at his disposal and as a photographer, I'm glad to be his friend haha, and not only because he is one of the most genuinely kind people I have ever met.

Anyway, the above is a shot of the ceiling/chandelier in the two-story, balcony-rimmed party house.

A separate structure for entertaining? And I thought my gift-wrapping room was borderline ... well, necessary.