The Petronas Towers

One of the main attractions and definitely a must-see when one visits Kuala Lumpur are the Petronas Towers. The towers are a landmark in the city center and a testament to the modernization and industrialization of Malaysia. These stood as the tallest buildings in the world for many years (1998-2004) until they were topped by the Taipei 101 (which in turn was topped by the Burj Khalifa in 2010). Here are a few photos at the Petronas Towers.

A shot of the towers from along the driveway. I caught an image of the Malaysian flag at the foreground.

Here is a photo with the towers just behind me.

There's a park behind the Petronas Towers and the city scape reminded me a lot of Singapore and the city scape across from the Marina Bay.

The Petronas Towers with other modern high rises around it

There are many foreign and local tourists going around and taking photos with the towers (of course). Unfortunately, we could only visit during the day. The towers and surrounding areas are more photogenic at nighttime with the lighting giving more life to the scenes. Inside is a posh shopping mall and a performing arts theater. The mall is host to many luxury brands stores though there are many other shops and also a food court where you can get affordable meals.

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Back in Carmen, Bohol for the Chocolate Hills

The first time I saw the Chocolate Hills in person was back in February 1996. I was with one of the Visiting Professors at my university at the time, Dr. Nemoto of Hitotsubashi University. We were in Bohol to promote the graduate studies scholarships supported by the Institute of Behavioral Studies (IBS) of Japan. It was a quick trip and I remembered that we stayed at the then relatively undeveloped Bohol Beach Club. We had a quick visit to Bohol University as it seemed they were not prepared to accommodate us and we ended up just leaving our promotion materials (mostly pamphlets about our center and scholarships). It was early so we decided to go visit the Chocolate Hills despite it being a rainy day. Though we were able to get a few good photos, we almost regretted our trip as our car got stuck in the muddy roads (the roads were really bad in early 1996). Fortunately for us, a farmer and his carabao happened to be nearby and our driver was able to talk him into pulling us out of our misery.

The wife and I had been to Chocolate Hills again in better conditions and situation. But this time around it was again raining and we had our daughter with us. Still, we persisted as we weren't sure when we could do this again given that we're still in a pandemic. Here are a few photos of our trip last month.

Looking back at the road leading to the tourist facilities on the largest of the hills.

A look at the viewpoint, which we didn't climb anymore because of the rains.

The Chocolate Hills in the rain. My phone was in a water resistant case so I could still take photos. Here I purposely didn't wipe the area in front of the lens to get this 'wet' effect.

The rains weakened just long enough for us to take a few clear photos including a family pic. This hill was all surrounded by trees. There are many other hills of their kind around Bohol Island but the ones in Carmen are the best preserved. Other towns have allowed houses to be built on the hills or trees or plants grown. These have effectively obscured the hills in those towns.

More on Bohol in future posts!

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Landscapes: Distant Mt. Arayat

I love taking snapshots of the landscape or cityscape from our place in Antipolo. There are at least 3 places where you can still get a free view of the surrounding areas including cityscapes of Metro Manila. On a clear day, you can see Laguna de Bai and all the way to Tagaytay. Beyond Metro Manila would be the mountains of Bataan including Mt. Natib and Mt. Samat. A somewhat rare siting for us these days is Mt. Arayat. So one afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to catch this extinct volcano in Pampanga province.

Distant Mt. Arayat during the sunset - the white obelisk-shaped object in the middle of the photo is actually a bell-tower of a nearby convent.

Mt. Arayat is somewhat a lonely mountain. I have been to Arayat town and there are many cultivated lands on the slopes of the volcano itself. It is probably due to the rich soils that people here have benefited from their crops that include many vegetable and fruit varieties.

There used to be another, even nicer view of Mt. Arayat but then a house was built that had something like an observation deck that now blocks the view. I will try to find an old photo of that view and share it here.

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First long drive in a while - an excursion to Quezon

A couple of weekends ago, I found myself doing my first long drive in months. I wasn’t a passenger but the driver when the wife and I went on an excursion with neighbors-friends, one of whom arranged for our lunch at Ugu Bigyan’s Potter’s Garden in Tiaong, Quezon. We had two options to get there – one via the scenic route through Rizal’s backdoor that takes one to Teresa, Tanay, Baras and Pililla in Rizal, Pakil, Pangil, Paete, Lumban, Pagsanjan, Sta. Cruz and San Pablo in Laguna, the other via C-6, SLEX and STAR Tollways taking us through southern Metro Manila, Laguna, and Batangas. We took the latter route as it was faster (shorter travel time by an hour) and it allowed us to test our newly installed Autosweep RFID’s for the two tollways we used along the way.

 

The photo below was taken by my wife upon my prodding. I had not seen an arch as we traversed Sto. Tomas, Batangas and Alaminios and San Pablo, Laguna. These were all along Asian Highway 26 (AH 26) or the Pan Philippine Highway System. The arch marks entry/exit to/from the Provinces of Quezon and Laguna. This one, however, looks like it is Quezon's.

Welcome arch of the Province of Quezon

Arches like the one in the photo used to be the landmarks between towns and provinces. They usually featured history, products and/or attributes of the city/town. I personally liked the big bat in the middle of the arch of Paniqui town in Tarlac and the castle features of Castillejos, Zambales. There are fewer archs nowadays partly because the highways department embarked on a nationwide road widening program that resulted in many arches being demolished. This was simply because the openings under the arches were narrow compared to the widened roads.

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When will we be traveling again?

One thing we truly missed this year is traveling. Both the Clairvoyant and I love traveling and we've had more than our fair share of travels, official or otherwise, each year before the pandemic. I read somewhere that one should try to go to a new place each year, whether its local or abroad. I have done so the past so many years as I try to go somewhere where I have never been since I started working in 1995. Last year had so much potential as we had projects in Cebu, Bacolod, Davao and Zamboanga as well as a conference in Baguio City. I wasn't sure about an overseas trip but the wife and I could easily go to Singapore or Bangkok (two of our favorite destinations) or other places in ASEAN where we didn't need a visa to travel. In fact, we were thinking about heading to Hanoi together. But that was not to be. Instead my only technically new place I visited was Lipa City. Surprising as it seems, I have only passed through Lipa many, many years ago. In late February 2020, I was able to go there care of an invitation from the city government for us to take a look at the traffic situation there. As such, I was able to go around the city mostly on foot in the city center where we inspected intersections, overpasses and traffic schemes. I guess that would have to count as a new place for 2020.

We miss going to the beach. Every year, we had at least one trip to the beaches. The most recent one was Mactan, Cebu but I wish we could go back to Bohol again. The photo above is over a decade old from our first trip to Panglao Island.

I miss traveling around the country. Perhaps one of the perks of doing projects is the opportunity to go to parts of the Philippines where I haven't gone to. I guess among the more memorable trips are to landmarks like certain waterfalls or beaches. Photo above is of the Maria Cristina Falls in Iligan City. What is not seen here is that we had the chance to take a photo of the falls in full flow as the plant manager opened it for a few minutes during the summer when they regulated the flow of the falls to conserve water.

Of course, we miss our overseas trips. We loved our travels in the US, Europe and Asia. The photo above was taken in Napa Valley where we had a wine tasting excursion with friends back in 2011.

 

Our last foreign travel was to watch U2 live in concert at Singapore's National Stadium in late November 2019. That's one thing out of the bucket list. We also celebrated (in advance) our 17th anniversary in a city that we called home for a couple of years after we celebrated our 10th.

With the pandemic still here. I wonder when we will be able to travel like we did before. Perhaps we won't be able to go back to some places. Or maybe we just have to follow protocols just to be safe. Nevertheless, we hope and look forwards to traveling again.

[Note: We actually went on our first long road trip yesterday. I will write about the trip to Tiaong, Quezon soon.]

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Quiapo Church and some thoughts for Good Friday

Today is Good Friday and I just wanted to post this photo I took recently of Quiapo Church, which is dedicated to the Black Nazarene. It is always said that Fridays are the worst time to be traveling in the area of the church because Friday is the day of devotion to the Black Nazarene. This is similar to the notion that Wednesdays is usually a bad day for traffic around Baclaran.

Quiapo Church with Plaza Miranda

I haven't been to Quiapo on a Good Friday but I can imagine that a lot of people flocked to the church this week and particularly between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as part of their Visita Iglesia route. Of course, there are many who are "namamanata" or have "panata" (vow or promise to pray or hear Mass at the church) as thanksgiving or perhaps asking for a specific blessing. Pilgrim or tourist, the church probably attracts more people during Good Fridays compared to the average it attracts on normal Fridays and Sundays. Of course, we cannot compare this to the number of people (estimated to be in the millions if not hundreds of thousands) during its feast day in January.

I hope we all have a prayerful Holy Week. I pray that we are able to reflect these days on what is happening around us and that we will do our part to make this world a better place for everyone.

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On Visita Iglesia and overlooked churches

It is now the Holy Week and many people are likely to go on a Visita Iglesia this Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Visita Iglesia literally translates into 'church visit' and is an annual tradition for many and entails going to seven (usually) churches where people pray; often a novena on the stations of the cross (remembering the passion of Jesus Christ).

In recent years, this has become somewhat a touristy thing and many people from Metro Manila now roam around nearby provinces targeting the old churches in these area. The result can be traffic congestion in places where there usually is less traffic due to the sudden increase in the number of private vehicles generated by churches.

Metro Manila doesn't lack for old churches and among those that will probably be included in a Visita Iglesia list would be the following:

- Malate Church

- Manila Cathedral

- San Agustin Church

- Baclaran (Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help)

- Quiapo Church (Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene)

- Sto. Domingo Church

- Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine

And there are many more including those in Marikina, Las Pinas and Malabon that are often not considered; overlooked by those who go for the "major" churches for their Visita Iglesia. Taguig actually has an old church located in the old part of the town that's probably unknown to many outside of Taguig. We usually pass by the church as its along one of the alternative routes to get from C-6 to BGC. I personally have not been in this church but based on the information you can get about it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taguig_Church), it is definitely one to consider for Visita Iglesia.

The Church of St. Anne in the old center of Taguig is actually an Archdiocesan Shrine and founded in 1587.

There are many more around Metro Manila that should be in one's list for this Holy Week but I believe that people should be more focused on prayer even at a single church rather than go around like a tourist (taking selfies or posting about the experience). Perhaps among the sacrifices to be made here are minimizing taking photos and refraining from uploading 'at the moment/ atm' posts. Many people take it for granted that Visita Iglesia is supposed to be a pilgrimage where you renew your faith, and not a tourist experience where you indulge in food and drink.

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Another look at the San Juanico Bridge

I was back in Tacloban last week and was able to try out a new restaurant but in the nearby island of Samar. I will post about this dining experience in a future post. Meanwhile, here is a photo of the San Juanico Bridge from the restaurant, which is located at the top of a hill with a great view of the San Juanico Strait dividing Leyte and Samar.

View of the San Juanico Bridge from Pasqualino's, which is in the island of Samar

I was fortunate to be able to take a clear shot of the bridge as the weather was not cooperating last Friday when it was mostly raining and the bridge was usually shrouded by rain or mist.

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Ho Chi Minh City landmarks

I am currently in Ho Chi Minh City, attending an international conference. The city that was formerly but still popularly named Saigon is a vibrant one with a city center that's practically walkable. There are lots of motorbikes, which are still the main mode of transport. Even Uber and Grab have motorbike features in their apps and it is surprising that you don't see road crashes involving motorcycles quite frequently given their riders' behavior and maneuvers in traffic. Following are a few photos of landmarks that I took during our free time from the conference.

Panoramic photo of the replica of Notre Dame cathedral and surrounding areas.

Replica of Notre Dame

City hall and a statue of Ho Chi Minh

Opera House

More on Saigon soon!
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Saturday Bazaar at The Rocks, Sydney

It's Saturday and a month ago, I had a great one going around Sydney with a good friend. One of the highlights of that trip to Australia was the opportunity to walk around a great city. It helped that the weather was also quite splendid that July 29 and it wasn't difficult to go around to enjoy the outdoors. After our trip to Cockatoo Island, we walked around The Rocks and chanced upon the outdoor bazaar in the area. We decided to check out the shops at the bazaar and I ended up getting a few items here and there including some artwork from a local artist, which I will post about soon. Here are a few photos I took of the bazaar.

People were enjoying the good weather

These sausages were really good!

There were also buskers around and their music was a welcome background to our walk around

We had our lunch under the bridge near some of the tents selling really good food. We had sausages and some soda though we were tempted to also try out the pasta offered by another tent.

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ANZAC Memorial, Sydney

One of my uncles from my father's side of the family was a Korean War veteran. He used to tell us a lot of stories about his stint in Korea from 1950-51. Among those were his experiences fighting with and against soldiers from other countries. Among those he fought with were Australians and New Zealanders (Kiwis?). They were collectively called ANZAC, short for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. I recall his tales about their fighting together to hold the line against wave upon wave of North Koreans and Chinese and their success in doing so despite the high price they paid for their gallantry.

The ANZAC memorial is devoted to the memories of fighting men from Australia and New Zealand who sacrificed themselves in many theaters of war including those in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific.

The ANZAC memorial across a reflection pool

A sculpture that represented the sacrifices made by the men and women of ANZAC

View of the reflection pool and Hyde Park from the memorial building

I wanted to take more photos inside the memorial but I thought and to me it would have been disrespectful to the people to whom this landmark was built for. Inside the building are several memorials to ANZAC troops for the major engagements they fought in. For details, one can check out their website here. War is never a good thing but then these have to be fought in order for good to confront and ultimately triumph against evil. And this requires much sacrifice. Memorials such as this reminds us of how much sacrifices fighting men have had to make so we could live in peace.

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The Sydney Opera House at night

I just could not travel to Australia and not have the chance to see one of the architectural wonders of the world. I am referring to the Sydney Opera House. I think this is The Highlight of my travels this year despite 5 months remaining in 2017. And this is right there beside the Clairvoyant's highlights from her trip to Barcelona (Sagrada Familia) and Rome (Colloseum, Sistine Chapel, etc.). Following are 'up close and personal' photos I took of the Sydney Opera House the Friday night I was in Sydney.

More photos of my trip to Melbourne and Sydney soon.
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