August 6, 1945

On my last trip, one emotional moment is seeing the A-bomb dome and going around the peace park in Hiroshima. While walking around, we met the son of a Hiroshima survivor. He shared his blog to me which features his mom's memoirs. As a reminder to us all, we should be thankful we live in generally peaceful times.

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/mitokosei/26522134.html

Back to the Future

First and foremost, I thank the Lord for this wonderful blessing of being able to travel again. I was able to go back to a place I have come to love, the land of the rising sun...a land of friendly trendy fashionable people, a land of uber- expensive train rides (220 yen for 15 min 6 station away ride and 2400 yen for a one hour bus ride), a land of a lot of elderly citizens, a land of the shinkansens, a land of the most vending machines, a land of sushi and ramen, Nippon.

man walking his dogs in Mino Park, Osaka

It is also a land recently struck by a horrifying catastrophe that only affirmed the tenacity and dignity of its people.

Landing in KIX again almost brought tears to my eyes. Maybe it is disbelief that I am able to step foot again on this place combined with a feeling of gratefulness for this blessing of being able to go back to Japan again.

Nippon for the second time around is sweeter like a wonderful melody to my heart, with koyo colors to highlight an already beautiful landscape.

This trip has so many highlights but I have to pick the top 10.

1. Staying in a minsyuku in Shirakawa-go, Gifu Prefecture

2. Onsen in Fuji-kawaguchiko and Shirakawa-go

3. Seeing the A-dome in Hiroshima almost made me cry

4. Seeing Fuji-san for the first time in Shizouka while riding the shinkansen

5. Hitch-hiking in Lake Kawaguchiko

6. Experiencing couchsurfing hospitality Nagoya and Kanazawa

7. Walking through the streets of traditional merchant houses in the old geisha district of Kanazawa (for me these streets are better than touristy ones in Kyoto and Takayama)

8. Most scenic train ride from Nagoya to Takayama (rivers amid wonderful koyo colors)

9. Walking on the sand dunes of Tottori

10. Enjoying the autumn colors from the top of the main tower of Osaka Castle

Oh, and one additional highlight is our attempt to capture Geishas and Maikos in action. However they walk so fast and try to avoid people as they transfer from one restaurant to another. So, all Anne and I, got were blurred pictures plus a pocket full of stories to tell of the experience.

Baler: Worth the Wait

My first trip to a local destination other than home, for this year reacquainted me with how crazy our bus terminals are. It made me realize how hopeless we are as a country in promoting tourism when we can't even follow a simple bus schedule and most of our bus terminals don't have decent queue systems.


Shing, Aileen and I got reserved tickets for 12mn bound for Aurora. We were at the bus terminal at 1045pm.

The queue system was chaotic to say the least. The passengers don't know where to wait since there is no designated waiting lounge. The system works like this, find a vacant space and wait there. The terminal was just one big parking space with buses coming from all directions. After numerous close brushes with huge buses and witnessing several outbursts from irate passengers, finally we got on the "Joy Bus" at 1am.

Well, as they say it is the journey not the destination. And this journey didn't start at a convenient note. So again, I invoked this adage, an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. And Baler, Aurora is worth all those little inconveniences.

Looking back, despite how we as a nation manage to mangle our sorry excuse for a system, we manage to fall through. For me, the beauty of our countryside is the saving grace each time. As if telling each visitor, hey it doesn't matter how inconvenienced you were going here but aint I worth the hassle?

Though our dear country may be a pain in the butt to navigate through, but it is worth all that once you get to know it better and see it beyond its inefficiencies. After all, who is going to promote it other than us and in order to promote it, we need to explore it first.

Circle of Life

We watched Lion King back in high school. My dormmates and I trooped to the Allegro Theater along J. M. Basa St. (those were the days when theaters were not in malls). I remember we all teared up when Mufasa died. We all sang with Simba, Timon and Pumbaa in Hakuna Matata. We fell in love with "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" During our junior year, we (the Vanguards) sang Circle of Life in one contest. It was one of our more respectable finishes (3 of 4 I think).

So yes, Simba was a part of our high school. Lion King, along with Beauty and the Beast and Mulan are my top hand-drawn Disney movies. So when I learned that they were staging Lion King in Singapura. I've been wanting to go. But going there just to see it was impractical. So when an opportunity from my company, of a connecting flight presented itself via SG, I immediately took it.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to watch Lion King before its last roar on October 30. It is a wonderful blessing.  

The play's production design was astounding but the singing and dancing was not that impressive for me. Overall, it was a nice experience to relive a movie that reminds us of a problem-free philosophy. Hakuna Matata.

Bus Rides Gone Bad

Every time I go home I take a bus to my hometown of Ajuy, 87 kms from the city, a two-hour journey amidst verdant fields and stretches of hilly terrain overlooking the azure sea separating Panay from Negros island.


Steel and men.

I took my usual bus line home, Ceres. Yes, the goddess of agriculture. We were cruising along the national highway when the bus screeched. Our driver stepped on the brakes but not before the steel rods protruding from the truck in front us pierced our bus' windshield. Our bus windshield had cracks like the sun's rays. The conductor told the driver to chase after the truck driver. But I knew that our bus driver knew he was at fault. The truck with steel rods we was stationary when we hit it. The truck managed to get away.

But what ensued was three police stations visit in three different towns. What was usually a 1 hour and 45 min ride took 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Well, finally I made it home and once I am in the comforts of my home, I just managed a "nakabunggo ang ceres nga nasakyan ko, dugay dugay ang byahe"


Of drunk and unruly busmates

Going back to the city,fresh from my eventful ride two days before, I found myself on a packed bus with no conductor. The driver was also the conductor.

And for a seatmate, I got a drunk, rowdy guy who was talking #@a%$ the whole time saying if he was the conductor, things won't turn out this way. Add to that more passengers are getting on the already cramped bus. It was getting dark and the drunk guy's ramblings and endless taunts of the driver were getting on my nerves.

But a wake-upper in this story is when people started complaining about the bus' numerous stops to pick up passengers, the driver/conductor asked the complainants how would you feel if you were the one on the road trying to hail this "last trip" bus and it doesn't stop? At the point I had to agree with manong conductor, the best way to look at an incovenient situation is to see it from the perspective of the other party. So rather than bitch about it, I might as well just sit back and experience this misadventure.

As G. K. Chesterton said, an adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. And an inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.

Tradition...Tradition....Tradition (of winning that is)

The team launched into full-on assault mode beginning at the 3:26 mark with six scorpions (3:31) to arabesque (3:37) with full-down dismount. Four fliers performed a double back handspring to cradle position (3:44) and then from an extended level, they were tossed to a single-base extension (3:47), dismounting with a bird-front. The craziness continued as they did four rewinds (3:57) finishing with a double full-down dismount. At 4:23, two fliers did a double full twist, the team’s most complicated tosses for this piece.-Jason Doplito (http://www.interaksyon.com/)

Ansabe?

http://youtu.be/efKkIpd0df8

Tea

9/10/11

I've talked about a lot of mundane things here. But this should be the at the top of the most mundane things in my small flat world.


I can't sleep when I drink coffee or tea or even iced tea after 6pm. It's almost 2am now, and I have an 8am flight later. I should've been snoozing at 11pm, 12 midnight tops. But instead here I am, wide awake with sleep evading me because I drank Thai Tea at 9pm.

Aaargh, I thought my body can already tolerate milk tea that late. But I guess I was wrong. Oh well, so rather than forcing myself to sleep, I'm writing this entry, hoping that this will lull me to sleep like a senseless mundane lullaby.

500 bucks

In the commemoration of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.'s death  last August 21, several documentaries/films have been broadcasted. Growing up, I've seen countless retelling of this story. Yet, each time I see images of this portion of Philippine history, I can't help the tears from falling. Maybe it's my acknowledged shame that this generation may have easily forgotten. Or my recognition what the past generation was able to do in four days somehow proved we have hope as a nation. We just have to find it in our hearts to unite and believe in our ability as a nation to rise up against adversity and hopefully sustain that fervor. Time and again, we need to prove that we are a people worth dying for. I hope Ninoy's memory will be more than just a face on the P500 bill. If it would take an image of his lifeless body sprawled on that tarmac to jolt us to our senses, so be it.  

Family Terms

1. Maalaala mo kaya- dramatic/weepy/emotional moments

2. Mapiyong piyong-when you want to take a nap

3. Once there was a love-mushy moments

4. Milliones Transaciones-important transactions usually conducted in Iloilo city

5. Feeling astig-pretentious

6. Cowsurfer-couchsurfer (mom's version of that organization)

7. Wovocela-vuvuzela (mom's version of Bob's imported torotot)
8. Anline-mom's version of being online

9. Baaaaad-Yohan's quick retort when he doesn't like what you did became the common term for discontent

10. Work vista-My sister works in Vista Inn, now when we all say we  work in Vista

30 Seconds to Mars

I heard of this band from a friend last summer. They replaced Motion City Soundtrack in my frequently played playlist. So when I heard Jared and the gang were coming to town, I got excited but when I saw the ticket prices, I was set on not being to see them play. It is a pricey concert for a band with the cheapest ticket at P2000.

So when I found out I was going to be out of town on the night of the concert. I concluded it wasn't meant to be. On the afternoon of the concert, I got a message from my friend, Nadine. She got an extra free ticket. But I was too far away that day. Oh well, some things are not just meant to be.

And the nice thing about it, is you get to practice the gift of acceptance of things that are beyond your control. Hmmm..All that from a concert.........and a myriad of experiences.

Basketball Junkie

I am a basketball junkie. I devour every available sports page during the NBA playoffs from ESPN to the LA Times. And I live in a country where every plaza has a basketball court. Ask Rafe Boggs, he knows this is a place which loves this game with a passion.

When my fave Laker comes to town, KB24, I don't get to see him in person. It's usually on a weekday and sometimes tickets are hard to come by. You either have to line up for 'em or you have to be one of those kids who ends up at the right team at the right time and gets to be in one of his basketball clinics.

So when I heard a number of NBA players are coming to town, I tried calling Ticketnet as soon as possible.

But the call on that Saturday morning was in vain. I need to go to the mall to buy the ticket. No reservations. So I did.



can't hide my glee



The Smart All Star Weekend felt like a dream. Seeing Kobe and Derek Fisher play on the court live was so surreal.  I can't believe it really did happen. I wished there were more than four quarters in a game. I wished I bought the other ticket for the next game.

I am very grateful for the wonderful opportunity to see NBA in action live. I don't need to go to Staples. Not yet anyway.

Strange Small World

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a line of a dozen people trying to get tickets to the NBA vs PBA game just before the clock strikes nine. (Ticketnet closes at 9pm). I noticed a lean girl with the built of a triathlete. What caught my attention was that her hubby was also fit and fab. I thought this couple can be both models for Men's and Women's Health.

Last Saturday, I was queueing for the security check in Mactan's Airport pre-departure area. And lo and behold, the same fit and fab couple were in front of me in the line. Strange small world.

And the guy ended up sitting beside us on the plane. I wanted to tell him about this strange coincidence but I chickened out. So I thought I won't have the opportunity to talk to them. But when I went to the washroom, there was only one other occupant and it was the girl! So I told her and she remembered me in the NBA line. These small world encounters are getting stranger and stranger.

   

Seoul

Before I went to Korea, I was not a fan of the country. With thousands (maybe millions) of them flocking here in the Philippines, going there to see more of them didn’t appeal that much. But a brief visit to Seoul changed that. What was that quote? To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries (Aldous Huxley)

Seoul has no particular landmark that will tell you right away that yes that is Seoul. Not a skyscraper or a mountain or a bridge. But this city has little charms which will surprise especially an unprepared visitor like me.

Incheon airport was impressive, it looked and felt new (to think it’s already 10 years old). My friend quipped it smelled of Germany. I wonder how Germany smelled like. The airport’s information system is as high-tech as one can get. Printed on the carts is this line “Incheon- World’s Best Air Hub”. I haven’t been to that many airports but I think this statement is not far from the truth. (After the trip, I checked some airport stats and indeed Incheon airport ICA has been on the top for the past three years beating its neighbors Changi, HKIA, Nagoya and KLIA in one survey by Geneva-based Airports Council International.) The top airports are all in Asia. Go Asia!

It was supposed to be the start of summer but we were greeted outside the Incheon airport by 12 degrees Celsius temperature. After having my best (and most expensive) Dunkin Donuts meal to date (at 5,200 won=P226 pesos), we took bus 6011 to our hostel in Seoul. The journey took about an hour and a half as we got stuck in morning traffic jam.

Grace and I with a an old friend Egay from UP and a new friend Simone from Italy

We stayed in Inside Backpackers, a hostel rated by Trip Advisor as the top specialty lodging house in Seoul. It was located in a university neighborhood with lots of restaurants, bakeshops and charming shops. If there’s one word I can describe Seoul with, it is charming. The city has little alleys with most shops looking as if they’re from a movie set interspersed with traditional Hanoks.

one of the side streets near Sam Cheong Dong

with Ian, a couchsurfer I met in Nagsasa Cove, Zambales

So aside from the friends I reconnected with, here are some of my experiences in a city sometimes referred to as the Soul of Asia.

• Foggy and very bumpy landing in Incheon (landing and take-off was bumpy)
• 12 degrees Celsius (supposed to be summer already) when we stepped out of the airport
• Uber high-tech Incheon airport
• Ultra modern airport information system (that's why it's the world's best air hub)
• Big new restrooms (uber clean)-smelled like germany according to gracie
• Required seatbelt on the bus
• Excellent Dunkin Donuts variety with misleading prices (discounts reflected on board rather than prices; when everything is in Korean aside from the numbers, how can one figure that out?)
• Singapore-like landscape on the road leading to the airport
• Kia and Hyundai rule in the road
• Tour van driver has been to Singapore (said it as if it's the most normal thing to do)
• Border with guard houses with guards everywhere
• Really young soldiers (20-ish)
• Entered the civilian contoured line
• Took forever to cross the unification bridge because of too many checkpoints
• No pictures allowed on the bus after the first checkpoint
• Watching the border like watching a war movie with no gunfire
• Really cold tunnel (North Koreans dug several tunnels going to the South, we went in the third tunnel)
• Seoul is a city with most number of train university stations I’ve ever seen
• Really young generation who knows how to party
• Cushioned train seats
• More complex train system than Beijing
• Noryangjin wet market has nice lights which made me think it was a furniture store
• Blind beggars walking around train with music
• Train platforms reminded me of Tokyo platforms (already tested by time yet extremely efficient)
• Seoul is less crowded than Tokyo and Beijing
• Seoul has better English than Chinese and Japanese combined
• Naver (play on the word Neighbor)-their version Google with its own street view
• Policeman in a small station used Naver to show us directions
• Changing of guards in Gyongbokgeung palace was made a spectacle for tourists
• I commented on a lady’s nice attire in Filipino thinking she was Korean “ang ganda naman ng suto ni Ate” and she quipped “Ay ako bay un, salamat”

Small World

What started this are my collection of small world encounters. So almost three years later, here I am paying homage.... In my last trip, I had two experiences which reminded me how small the world really is.




1. My friend Grace was the one who booked our hostel online, Inside Backpackers. When I told my Korean friend, Dong-ic-lee, where we are staying, he was delighted since the hostel turned out to be owned by his college friend, Jeong.


2. A couple of weeks after the trip, I got a message from a CS friend which says “OMG, you stayed in Inside Backpackers?” It turned out she stayed in the same hostel two days after we left Seoul.


Ok, it could be that Inside backpackers is that popular but I’d rather think the world is really small despite its apparent vastness.

3. A college friend Egay, asked me if I want to meet Jessica Z while she’s covering a rugby game between the Phils and SK (I think). Egay who is based in Busan was in Seoul for the weekend to help Jessica in documenting the game. Too bad I wasn’t able to make it to the game. Meeting her would’ve given an interesting “twist” to the small world adage.         

Beijing Day 2

We woke up early to go to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and explore a hutong near our hostel. The previous night, we ended up eating in a place near Happy Dragon which didn’t have a menu in English or doesn’t even have pictures. So I just ordered what the people in the next table are eating. Since it was already 11pm, only guys drinking beer were left in the place. So I just pointed at the guys’ pulutan or sumsuman. I told my companions to just point at anything. So they randomly pointed on an item on the menu. The randomly pointed dishes turned out good ones, representative of Beijing local food, spicy and oily. I liked the extra spicy vegetables served with beef. If only the guy on the other table stopped spitting on the floor, it would’ve been a really nice meal.

In the second morning, we had breakfast at the place near Happy Dragon. It’s a small eatery where old Chinese folks have their breakfast. They were only serving porridge and an assorted array of fried dough plus hardboiled egg. Each of us had porridge, a hardboiled egg and the fried dough and total cost was just P60. A P20 breakfast!

We then took a train in Line 1 and got off Tiananmen West station, one of the two stations (Tiananmen East) adjacent to the famous square. Since this is one of Beijing’s top attractions, I was expecting throngs of tourists and I wasn’t disappointed. Aside from tourists, the place was also sprawling of soldiers doing drills. It was one of the many grand production numbers Beijing has prepared for its visitors.

After walking around the square, we went to the Forbidden City or the Palace Museum which is just at the back of the square. The palace museum is composed of several palace-like (!) structures, which were used by the Emperor and his family. It is called Forbidden City because before only the emperor, his family and his close minions can live in the city.

The entrance to the city was intimidating. I felt like an intruder. The movie “Last Emperor” was filmed in this city. The entire complex is huge and it took almost two hours for us to get to the other side of the city without even lingering too much. After getting our fill of palaces (after a while everything looked the same), we decided to look for the Hutong where we’re going to stay for our third night. The place is called “Sitting on the City Walls”, a courtyard house in the middle of a hutong. It was adjudged as one of the best hostels in Beijing in 2008 and 2009.

But there was one complication; I forgot the map with directions to “City Walls”. Good thing, I was able to study the map before and somehow I had an idea of the general direction of the place coming from the Forbidden City. So we decided to explore the small streets behind the gugong, and fortunately we saw a tourist information center. We asked for directions from the friendly girls in the counter and fortunately they know where it is. The entrance to the hutong is a small alleyway beside a sports center where people play ping pong and some play some sort of checkers (probably Chinese!). The hutong is a maze of traditional Chinese houses. We ended up walking into a dead end with no signs of the City Walls. Then my companion found an arrow with a sign that says City Walls. The sign was so high up (probably two stories high) that you probably cant see it unless you were watching out for something to fall from the sky. I guess part of the place’s charm is getting lost in a hutong and exploring one of Beijing’s fast disappearing gems, the hutong.

It was Rick the owner of City Walls who gave us an orientation of the place and nearby sites. He gave us helpful tips where to go and eat. Since it was already our second day on the city, I was half-listening.

We decided to walk in the direction of Happy Dragon to get our bags. And all around, we saw parts of hutongs being demolished to give way to high-rise buildings. We had our linner (lunch and dinner) of mostly Cantonese cuisine in Nanluoguxiang, a quaint little street (over a kilometer long) is packed with bars, cafes, restaurants. What stood out are the very dusty tables in the restaurant, which turned out to be my first encounter with the dust from Gobi desert. Beijing suffers periodically from dust from the nearby Gobi desert. (And I thought the ladies were just too lazy to wipe the tables)

Upon leaving Nanluoguxiang, the weather turned nasty cold. So it was an afternoon of Gobi dust and Siberian breeze. We rushed to the nearest bus stop to take a bus to Happy Dragon. But alas, the signs were all in Chinese. Even the bus numbers were in Chinese. But a group of friendly non-English locals helped us. At first it was just the elderly traffic aide then a bunch of elderly folks and finally a young couple whose English vocabulary was limited to “Follow” and then several minutes after “Take Bus”. In the span of twenty minutes, only three words were uttered but those were enough.

They even accompanied us to our bus stop even if they were going towards a different direction. Thank God for friendly people randomly scattered in the streets. The couple's small act of kindness was the highlight is this day.  

At night, we explored The Egg (National Center for the Performing Arts)  and Qianmen St. The walk towards Qianmen also allowed us a night view of Tiananmen Square without the throng of tourists and soldiers.

Day Two was again an affirmation, every place you visit might have the best sights but at the end of the day, it's the people you meet along the way that makes a place more special. Random strangers with their acts of kindness.

 

Mike and the Mechanics

Lyrics from the band's song "All I Need is a Miracle"

I said "go if you wanna go,
Stay if you wanna stay"
I didn't care if you hung around me
I didn't care if you went away
And I know you were never right
I'll admit I was never wrong
I could never make up my mind
I made it up as I went along
And though I treated you like a child
I'm gonna miss you for the rest of my life

Bei Jing

Beijing is about 17,000 sq km (Manila is only about 636 sq km) with 13.9 million people. A couple of travel friends invited me to go with them to one of asia's megacities. I would've wanted to go to China longer but beggars can't be choosers. (We got really cheap tickets!) So three of us, off we went to conquer Beijing for four days.

This is my detailed account of Day One.

First impression, this city is huge, dusty and cold. I was prepared for tolerable cold weather. I saw the weather forecast, temperatures ranged from 10 to 23 degrees Celsius. I asked a friend who was based there and he told me to bring a light jacket. So I did bring one light jacket. (turned out it was not enough to ward off the cold cold spring in Beijing)

We knew it was going to get cold. But it was already spring so I anticipated Baguio-like temperatures. but I didn't expect the windchill that felt like cold cold winds of Siberia blowing. Seriously, it felt like winds coming from melting ice blowing on my entire body.

We were picked up from the airport by our hostel taxi. I reserved accomodations at Happy Dragon Hostel, which had good reviews in Trip Advisor and Pinoy Exchange. When we got out of the airport, there was a guy holding a placard with my name on it. He was standing just outside Terminal 2 so it was hard to miss him. We managed to get to our hostel solely by using sign language with our driver.

My first night at the hostel didn't go well. Despite having made reservations in Happy Dragon but we were informed that we are "temporarily booked" at their sister hotel.

The sister hotel wasn't at all nice. It was old and there were all sorts of clutter in the corridor. I could've given them an earful but it was at 2am and I was too tired to argue and I just wanted to sleep.

So we slept in their sister hotel and got picked up the following day to transfer to Happy Dragon.

Happy Dragon turned out to be quaint backpackers' place with character. There were writings on the wall. And the rooms were tidy and they have clean bathrooms.

So we just dropped our bags in Happy Dragon and zoomed our way to the nearest train station, Dongsi.

We bought train cards which was quite a challenge to look for.

What I discovered and liked about Beijing trains is no matter where or how far your destination is, you'll just pay 2 yuan or around 14 pesos.

So off to yuyuantan park we go, to see the cherry blossoms. People usually flock to Japan to see these elusive flowers but in this small park in Beijing, they were abundant too. The trees were actually a gift from the people of Nihon.

There were only a few tourists in the park. Most were Chinese walking around and hangin out in the park. Once we felt hungry pangs, we ate at the food booth in the middle of the park. We shared fried crabs, dumplings and chicken or something that resembled chicken.

After getting our fill of the rare blosoms, we proceeded to the Summer Palace. We had a hard time figuring out the summer palace's entrance since it was so huge. Once we got in, I borrowed an audio guide which was gps-controlled. It activates once I go near a landmark.

Summer Palace was huge. Most of the big palace structures are overlooking the huge body of water. We also climbed a hill to one of the huge structures. Afterwhich we walked a very long corridor with ceiling and columns filled with paintings with very intricate details. The corridor was almost a kilometer long. (They say this is the longest corridor in the world)

After leaving Summer Palace, we decided not to take a rickshaw with the word Subway on it just outside the exit. Instead, we walked for a half a kilometer in a street where we were the only ones walking. After asking a chestnuts vendor where the nearest train station is (thanks to BB translate), we figured we were walking in the correct direction. Then we transferred train lines several times to get to the Olympic Village (to see the nest and the cube). Despite transferring train lines countless times, we only paid 6 yuan for a journey that lasted for more than an hour.

While we were marvelling at the bubbles of the water cube, we met a photographer from National Geographic. After chatting with John for a bit, we called it a night.

Meeting John was a nice day to cap day one in Beijing.

Capacitance Factor

"The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering."- Ben Okri

Land of the Rising Sun

After watching dozens of videos, devouring news articles and looking at several pictures, eventually my interest on the devastation of the March 11 quake and tsunami will wane. I’d check out the news every now and then. But for the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes and for the victims’ families, the 9.0 magnitude Tohoku  earthquake altered them, altered the course of a nation already badly battered by the recent recession.

In a July 2010 issue of Time magazine’s titled Japan’s Tough Climb, it tells of a country grappling its way through a recession with national debt almost 200% of its GDP. The article showed the many closed shops in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi prefecture. When I saw the Sendai airport being pummel led by the raging waters, I felt that the name Sendai rang a bell. I had to look for my Time issue to confirm. And it is indeed Sendai, the city pictured to be a city in a pitiful state even before the quake.  

That Friday night, I was glued to the TV. They say that this is the most well-documented earthquake and tsunami, complete with aerial footages and tons of amateur videos of the rampaging waters swallowing huge buildings, houses, cars, fields, and people.

I have never been to Northeast of the Honshu island. They say there are a lot of retirant communities in this area. I could just imagine elderly folks fighting for their lives as nature’s fury assert its mighty power on these helpless individuals.  

This tragedy again is a reality check, it reminds us of our mortality, our vulnerability.  In the end, we are at the mercy of Him who brought us here.

P.S. Despite the darkness enveloping it now, I know and believe it is still the land of the rising sun.

Forest for the Trees

"Can't see the forest for the trees" I remembered this one from school. Was it an engineering subject or a philosophy course? I'm thinking engineering. Anyway, this has taken a new meaning to me.

I have been caught up with work and moving recently  that it has overwhelmed me. I didn't realize that work can take so much of anyone's waking time. But silly me, I seem to savoring this moment in the "storm". Too caught up that I didn't have time to update my corner .

Am I not seeing the forest already? I think I need to start cutting some trees soon.  

318

Whenever it's departure time from a place I'm temporarily occupying, I always fancy myself a captain of a ship who's always the last to leave. I remember back in college I stayed until after the dorm has already closed. As a resident assistant, I requested my dorm parent to grant my request to stay even if the dorm is closed officially for the school year. It was eerie walking through the corridor of about forty empty rooms. I ran whenever I go to the bathroom because I was scared.I felt like several eyes were watching me as I go the bathroom at the end of the hall. So much for being the "captain".

And now I'll be leaving the place I called home for six years. Surreal. Call it melodramatic but somehow leaving makes the words to flow freely.

318 and I had our moments.  This is where I spent the night when I found out my Dad died. This is where I dumped my bag when I was denied boarding on that first trip outside the country with my brother. This is where I spent several nights listening to my sister while she battles the demons within. This is where I also spent nights wandering in my own self-made abyss.On a lighter note, this is where the water turned green while I was taking a shower. This is where also a lot of wonderful memories have been made. 

318 is just a number of a place.  It doesn't have life. As I move away from 318 and move to 332... it is a natural progression of things to advance even numerically.  Too much attachment to anything takes away that opportunity to try something new or to begin anew. 

A captain maybe the last to leave but that doesn't necessarily mean that the ship he's abandoning is sinking. It could be that an island has been sighted.  

Akon Eskuwelahan, Akon Bugal

Rafe Bartholomew on his book Pacific Rims (Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Philippine's Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball) had an interesting description of UP that I believe is worth repeating: 

"UP Diliman is known for being not only the most prestigious, but also the most grueling academic institution in the country, and much of this reputation comes from its professors, who are infamous for writing tests with the expectation that half of their students will fail. UP diliman's approach to higher education sounded like the complete opposite of the way American universities prepared students. Most of my college professors seemed primarily concerned with transferring knowledge to students, and I imagine they felt a sense of achievement when their students aced exams. UP professors appeared to treat their relationship with students in a more adversarial manner. They were like gatekeepers of intellectual achievement, presenting students with ever more difficult academic trials to ensure that whoever passed the class truly earned it."  

morning glory

I am not a morning person but the rush of endorphins provided by running on an early Sunday morning changes that every once in a while. I am already up and about at around 430 am usually on race day.


And the smell, sight and sound of a city that is asleep is worth all this body ache on a Monday morning.

sunrise as seen from Buendia flyover

Reality Check

Everytime I go home I see an old man sleeping on one of the sidewalks. He seems to be living on the streets for quite a long time. Ever since I moved to Makati six years ago, he has been a fixture on the sidewalk beside our building. This has been a reality check for me. 

Most of our countrymen are living on the streets.

The magic of Patricia Evangelista's pen captured the sad plight of our hapless countrymen in this article which brought tears to my eyes.

http://www.patriciaevangelista.com/the-house-on-panay-avenue/

Amazing writer this girl is.

Moving

A friend wants to have coffee, he wanted to talk, he felt like he's not moving anywhere.

Moving.  A common term. It involves the transfer of location or is it a transfer of consciousness.

If there's a moving on, is there a moving off?

What does moving signify to you? Is it a proof of life? Or is it a manifestation of freedom?

Oftentimes, we get stuck whether by choice or circumstance. The ability to move is within our reach but there 

are times when you feel that it's not the right time.

Moving involves uprooting yourself from a comfortable zone to uncharted territories.

We often fail to consider that moving means also disrupting the ecosystem around us. We do not leave in an 

island isolated from the rest of the world. Our every action affects people around us especially people that 

matter. Because those who don't probably moved a long time ago.

Moving without thought of others but for your own self preservation is sometimes the most logical thing to do 

right?

I am comfortable where I am now. Not comfortable easy but comfortable. But it takes an earth-shaking 

stimulus to get me moving.

Maybe that's what I just need.