Xie-xie

Been a while since I last posted here. Somewhere along the way, real life (moved house, got married, et cetera, et cetera) caught up with me. Am just happy that things are slowly returning to its old way.

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Alrighty then, last Saturday my T and I decided to take advantage of the calm before the storm (Typhoon Ramil expecting to hit the northern part of country this midweek) and headed off to the Manila Chinese Cemetery. One bus ride and two train transfers after we finally reached our destination. We used the south gate as the one in the north is almost always close. We were greeted by two guards who, in a way, insisted that we use the services of a tour guide which was not really a bad thing considering the cemetery is about 60 hectares and the chances of missing the really interesting places was pretty high should we decide to wander on our own. Our guide was also a caretaker of the mausoleums inside. He's 62 years old and he (claims that he) was born in the cemetery (that totally freaked me out!)

Now for a little background: The Manila Chinese Cemetery is the second oldest in Manila and was the resting place of the Chinese citizens who were denied burial by the Catholic church during the Spanish occupation. It is considered the City of the Dead. Its mausoleums are lavish and come with almost all creature comforts that we know of (home furnishings, A/C, etc.).



One thing I found weird was the altar of Buddha, the Virgin Mary, Confucius and other famous religious leaders. Some practitioners may find that juxtaposition a little strange but I think the subliminal message there was that there is no need for religious wars. (My apologies for the blurred image below. It was almost sunset and we were losing good light.)



Admission fee: Free
Tour guide fee: Negotiable

High Art

Named Specific Gravity, this huge suspended boulder is sure to make you stop on your track and ponder for a while, circle around it or play with the dripping water from the big rock supported by three metal posts.

Sculptor Reg Yuson (shown in photo: pony-tailed, long hair/white shirt) believes that art is supposed to initiate thought. So when you look at that big rock, it is really more about you (the viewer) than it is the about the boulder (the subject). Its goal is to make the looker think how he is connected to his surroundings through his relation with gravity.

October Theme Day: Lines

This photo was taken from the inside of University of the Philippines Ang Bahay ng Alumni. I just like the way the colors of the stained glass provide an attractive and dramatic contrast to the bell tower outside (on the lower left). These colorful windows at the front provide lighting at the assembly hall and main corridors at daytime. At night, they are backlighted by several metal halide lamps making it a beautiful directional sign especially during social affairs.



By the way, its the monthly theme day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Holy!

Here's another Quezon Memorial entry. This one is aptly called the "House of Worship". Its one of the bas reliefs that one can see from the outside of the shrine. It was installed in the 1980's, but with the looks of it, needs some overhauling real soon. When I took this photo, there were several men fixing some of the other broken parts of the monument. I hope they don't forget this one, too.

Anyway, I am posting this to show that the city is composed of people with different religions. Although the majority of the population is Roman Catholic, the Protestant, Iglesia ni Cristo, Islamic, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses faith are well represented here among other religious denominations.

Its a Wednesday and from where I sit, it looks like the rain will not stop. Stay dry :)

Under

Sixty seven years after the cornerstone of the Quezon Memorial Circle was first laid, the first underpath was constructed from the park to the city hall. It was named after the current mayor, Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.



When I took this photo, there were very few people down there. Maybe its the lack of sufficient lighting that scares them off. Or maybe, they'd still prefer the thrill that is brought to them when they run for their lives when crossing the main highway. Admit it or not, Pinoys are not exactly popular on following traffic and pedestrian rules. Its a Monday and I hope you all stay safe on the road.

Quezon Memorial

Back from Paris. Its been a while since I last posted here. Allow me to kickstart my photoblog again with a photo of a water reflection of the Quezon Memorial.



The late President Sergio Osmeña created the Quezon Memorial Committee after the second world war. Its first task was to hold a nationwide contest for architects and artists to submit for a design of monument and resting place for Quezon - the first Commonwealth president and Osmena's predecessor. Federico Ilustre won the competition. The monument- 66 metres high- is located right smack in the center of the park. Its height was chosen to represent the age of late president at the time of his death (of tuberculosis while in exile in the US during the World War II). Looking closely, you can see three mourning angels each holding a sampaguita garland, sitting on top of the big pylons with their parallel wings pointing up. The angels stand for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao - the country's three major group of islands - while the three-sided base was said to represent birth, life, and death. The three angels were made by the Italian sculptor Francesco Ricardo Monti.

Have a good weekend to all. Cheers!

Frontera Verde

“Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other.”
-Victor Hugo



Tiendesitas (little stores) is popular for offering the best of Philippine products. They have these little villages named according to what they sell (e.g. art, antiques, furniture). And since I would really like to give a little something to my lovely hosts in France next week, I opted to brave the traffic never mind that the commute will be mostly idling my car and not really driving.

Anyway, Tiendesitas did not disappoint me and this landmark outside of the main entrance was an add-on.

For whom the bell tolls

Today marks the 100th year of the University of the Philippines. As such, allow me to honor my alma mater (please don't ask me for my student number) by posting a photo of one of its beautiful landmarks - the UP Carillon.

I never really got the chance to hear it play like it used to, but they said that these bells were played in the morning to signal the start of the academic day as well as in the late afternoon to end it. They, unfortunately, stopped ringing on the 80's due to lack of funds for its maintenance. Good thing that a lot of people were charitable enough to help in bringing back the legacy of the UP Carillon. Thanks to them and to Josef Haaxen, a Belgian national and Dean of Carillon Music at the Jef Denyn Royal Carillon School, we can now hear the bells play again.

Zoom in

Concave ceiling found in Cubao! (I bet you know where this is. Hah.)