the eye

where are we goin?

duck 2: to see this beautiful girl...
duck 3: mate, cant see any beautiful girl here


duck 4: look she's the one holding the camera
duck 5: where? cant see one!

Photo: ducks playing in the pond inside Rizal Park's Chinese Garden.

chinese garden

The main pagoda inside the Chinese Garden, Luneta.

of life

“What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, 'This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!' Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, 'Never have I heard anything more divine'?” -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Photo: fallen leaves on a bench inside the Japanese Garden

rizal park chess plaza

This Rizal Park Chess Plaza is right behind the Planetarium and across the Japanese Garden. I think most people who visit the park doesnt know that this place exist but it is quite popular to chess aficionados, and you can always see players here at any time of the day competing. Tables are set up with pre-designed chessboard and you can rent chess pieces and a timer if you want to play a game. This chess plaza was inaugurated on 18 October 1979, a year after the 1978 World Chess Championship was held in the Philippines (title match between Karpov and Korchnoi).

barenaked

Look! Oh Look! They are renovating the big fountain at the center of Luneta! I was so giddy with excitement when i saw men working on this area because i really missed seeing the playful water (i'm really fond of fountains). Seeing all these pipes, I didn't realized how complicated the fixtures that composed a fountain, now you see it here barenaked! By the way, click on the image to enlarge, further at the back you'll see Jose Rizal's monument which i featured here, and the dome like stage your seeing is the Quirino Grandstand... and the equipment behind (dunno what you call those instruments in construction) is where the Ocean Park is being built.

Seeing the rusts in the pipes, you prolly figured out that this fountain is already old! Well it is. I'm being nostalgic about this place so i'm posting photos of me and my siblings in this area way way back in January 1980.


this is me, just turned 2 when this photo was taken :)


my siblings, noticed how me and my sister wear the same dress? we're not twins but our mother loved dressing us up as if we're twins which was fun.

Do you have fond memories of this place too?

planetarium

The Planetarium is located on P. Burgos St. Manila, still within the Rizal Park (Luneta) compound.

Eight thousand five hundred spectacular array of stars (including the tiniest ones at 6.5th magnitude) are projected onto a 16 meter inner dome by the Time and Space Machine located at the center of the planetarium chamber. The projector is capable of projecting the night sky as it was or as it will appear at any time whether thousands of years in the past or similarly into the future.

I was able to watch the show of projection/simulation of stars and constellations here when i was in grade school and i can still remember how awestruck i was and painfully remember how stiff my neck was after gazing up for 30 minutes. (yeah it was included in our field trip - this is a "must" place or always in the list of places to visit in any field trip of any school i think).

This structure is old already but is still worthy of a visit, especially for kids. I think the Mall of Asia is planning to open a new Planetarium, last time i went there it's still under construction.

berso sa metro

Photo taken inside the LRT using my camera phone. Read about Berso sa Metro a week ago and actually saw the posters last Tuesday inside the new trains. It was actually good to read verses of beautiful poem in Spanish and Tagalog versions... the corresponding images are beautiful as well.

Berso sa Metro (Verse in the metro) is a campaign from the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) management, Instituto Cervantes Manila, and the Filipino-Spanish Friendship Day committee. It aims to encourage reading for the thousands of daily passengers of the LRT.

Here's a sample of a verse from Pablo Neruda (though its not the one in the photo)

Spanish version

cuando mis pasos van
cuando vuelven mis pasos
niegame el pan, el aire,
la luz, la primavera,
pero tu risa nunca
porque me morira

Tagalog version

kapag ako ay umalis
kapag ako ay bumalik
ipagkait mo na sa akin ang tinapay,
ang hangin, ang liwanag at ang tagsibol
huwag lamang ang iyong ngiti
dahil ito'y aking ikasasawi

so cheesy eh? =) if you're one of LRT's regular commuter, try to look up and read these verses... enjoy the ride!

feed the future 2

feed the future

This is one of the mural paintings in the walls of Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center... volunteer artists supported the Department of Health (DOH) campaign in promoting breastfeeding. And as what they say... breastfeeding is best for your baby, the most healthy and cheapest food that you can give to your child. =)

and this, our life

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." -- William Shakespeare

Photo - pathway inside the Japanese Garden at Rizal Park (Luneta)

senseless

I offer these flowers to those who were killed and injured in the explosion at Glorietta mall yesterday (read the story here). It is just so sad why we keep on doing this to our fellowmen, a senseless act!

“Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.”

life is like a rainbow

“Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.”

This is along recto, decided to take photo of what seems to be a "bike parking" in the middle of the street and then this lady came walking in with her disney umbrella which add color to the photo.

bulak

Meet Bulak (means cotton in english), my cousin's beautiful dog. I dont really like dogs because i'm afraid of them... but Bulak changed my opinion of dogs and somewhat lessen my fear of dogs. He's big and really scary when i met him... he pounces and is very eager to show his affection to anyone who arrives, but since i'm afraid of his kind, i shriek and hide away from him. But my little nephew wasnt afraid of him and bravely patted the dog who seems to liked it, and he also wants to be scratch in the tummy, i got curious and tried to get a little closer to him to take his photo and he readily smiled for me. How about you? Are you afraid of dogs as well?

taal volcano

This is the mouth of Taal Volcano (to know more about this beautiful volcano click here), yeah it's at Batangas, a province south of Manila but i wanted to share this with you, since it was in local news that the Philippines wanted to sell deadly volcanoes as tourist attraction. And with this photo, i guess you all had to agree that volcanoes, dangerous they may be are a beauty.

This photo was taken last year when me and my cousins decided to go inside the volcano (been inside the volcano twice!), from their place we rode a small banca (a 30 minute ride)then another 30min or so to hike up the volcano, and that photo is taken at the top, then another 30min to go down inside the volcano. The hike downhill is harder not because the slope is steep but the sand we're walking on are hot to the feet. They say that the lake in the volcano have healing stuff so we decided to try the water, it's luke warm but you can smell the sulfur... the 2nd time i went inside the volcano the alert level was up and you can see smoke coming up.

yipeee

A break from manila... went to Batangas last saturday to celebrate my cousins birthday, this is my nephew enjoying the serene life in the province. The mountain behind him is Mt. Makulot.

fishing

These two gentleman are fishing at the Manila Bay, dunno if the fish they can catch here are edible... personally i don't have the patience to sit still and wait to catch fish, i guess i'm not cut to be a fisher... i'll prefer to buy fish in the market anytime. :)

I'd been tagged by PaB to list down 8 random facts about me. I've done this before in my personal blog, check it out for the complete info, i'm just going to list it here.

1. i love hello kitty
2. i hate vegetables
3. i can eat anything and never gain weight
4. i dont believe in relationships
5. i really have trouble distinguishing left and right
6. i'm not into sports
7. i love to read
8. i love the philippines


These are the rules:
1. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
2. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
3. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs

...and i am now tagging

reyna elena the queen of OFWs
Señor Enrique of wish you were here
Sidney of my sari-sari store
olivier of every daily photo
purnell of travel philippines
ely of beyond the horizon
edong of inverse tu tuldok
kristine of all in my head

look

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

looking back

Still inside the Sto. Niño de Tondo church, and the church is already empty as i take one last look before leaving. After uploading the photo from my computer, i realized that priests do have a nice view from the altar and i thought they are missing the beauty and grandeur of the altar, but looking at this photo again i guess not. Anyways, from here i bet they can see those who are yawning and sleeping during mass... are you one of those guilty person who feel sleepy while attending the mass?

the altar

This is what the altar of the Sto. Niño de Tondo look. Isn't it impressive? I can't really remember if they have this intricate design before or this was just newly added. You would notice that there's a lot of people in front, they are having their picture taken (this is just right after the baptismal rights)... I've told you from yesterday post that we just got in time, right after we walk in the caretaker closed the main door and were just waiting for these people to finish the photo session. i am the last one who left and right after i get out i heard the loud thud of the side door closing behind me.

Maybe they are just closing the door for lunch break or whatever and have opened it again for an afternoon mass, didnt stay long enough to check.


Anyways, here's the closer look at the altar.

sto. niño de tondo

This is my first time to visit this church again (can't remember the last time, could be a decade ago) but I can still remember when my mother used to bring us here on it's feast day which is every third sunday of january. We would wait in the long line of devotees of Sto. Nino to climb the stairs and have our turn to touch the antique image of the Sto. Nino. Though, this time when i visited the stairs to the image is close and we just got in time before the caretakers closed the church. I wonder why churches are always closed...

By the way, did you know that the Philippines is the only Christian country in Asia (about 94% of Filipinos are Catholic) and that we have lots of old churches which can be considered as a museum of sort, and one of them is this church. To know more about the history of the Sto. Niño de Tondo church click here.

central market

I visited the Central Market last Sunday and i was surprised to find it rehabilitated... and was a bit disappointed at how it looks now, it somehow lost its appeal to me (or i am just too fond of anything old). I know that there were some talks about rehabilitating it since the building is ready to collapse and all but seeing the new market is a shock for me, it now just look dull. Though i appreciate them putting up this stained glass.

I dunno, it's just that when i went there i was so eager to take photos of how lively is that place, selling everything and anything you can think of (just like Divisoria). I still just cant believe how very different it is now from what i remembered it as a young child. My mother used to bring me here when she wants to buy potted plants (well the closest thing you can be with nature in this urban jungle is a potted plant) or when we'll need decor for the house and stuff, this is where we go. Sigh!

deserted

Your eyes don't deceive you, this usually busy street is unusually deserted yesterday... all because Manny Pacquiao had a televised untitled match over Marco Antonio Barrera dubbed "Pacquiao Barrera II: Will to Win". Most Filipinos were glued to their television sets watching and waiting for Pacman to beat Barrera, which he did!

Boxing is really loved by Filipinos especially if the match involves Pacquiao, and whenever there is a Pacquiao game, it becomes a national event.. where people from all walks of life unite and watch with anticipation, and you can credit Pacman for a zero rate crime for the whole duration of his fight.

I wish Pacman will have a match this December, then i can do my Christmas shopping on that event to be sure i'll have all the stores by myself :)

palacio del gobernador

Palacio del Gobernador is the official residence of the Spanish Governors-General until the 1863 earthquake, when it was destroyed. The site lay in ruins for almost a century until the Land Bank of the Philippines built the current building in 1978 and is now home to the Intramuros Administration, Comelec Office, and other government offices.


This particular photo was taken last May 2007 election, hence you see a military man guarding (though he was busy texting when i took the shot)the place. The office of the Comelec was transfered here after their main office was razed by fire on March 2007.

faceless

cannons

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein

shhh i need more sleep

These cats were so cute sleeping side by side and attracted my attention but the guy in the photo below ruined the moment because he started calling the cats attention seeing that i was so intent in taking their photos, maybe he was envious that i didnt asked him to posed for me instead. Anyways this is one of the galleries inside the fort santiago selling native products and paintings.

two towers

Still lurking in the park, from here you could see the two towers of the Manila Cathedral. I've shown one of the towers up close in this post.

bench

If only this bench could speak it would say unto me: "I'd ask you to sit down, but, you're not going to anyway... in case you get tired, I'm just here. "

This is one of the benches lining up the mini-park at fort santiago's entrance, normally people just walk on by and proceed on seeing the ruins first, then eventually go back to the park and sit on the waiting bench.

in memoriam

First day of October and theme day again for the Daily Photo community which is cemetery or tombstone. Though my photo is not exactly taken from the cemetery it can be considered as a tombstone.

On this site lie the mortal remains of approximately 600 Filipinos. Their bodies were found inside a nearby dungeon which had inner doors of massive iron bars and outer doors of iron plate on wood, where victims of the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial Forces were imprisoned during the last days of February 1945. The appearance of their bodies suggested starvation and possible suffocation.

From the photo you'd notice people going down in the said dungeon, the place have this eerie feeling knowing what monstrosity took place here. Really appreciate Abraham for giving me this link of a sad history which will make you cry.

Check out the following blogs to see cemeteries around the world
St. Louis (MO), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - New York City (NY), USABoston (MA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Hyde, UK - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Toulouse, France - Arradon, France - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Joplin (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Seattle (WA), USA - Baziège, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Anderson (SC), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Nashville (TN), USA - Tenerife, Spain - Manila, Philippines - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jacksonville (FL), USA - River Falls (WI), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Lubbock (TX), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Moscow, Russia - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Minneapolis (MN), USA - New Orleans (LA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - London, England - Paderborn, Germany - The Hague, Netherlands - Selma (AL), USA - Sunderland, UK - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Stavanger, Norway - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Forks (WA), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Wellington, New Zealand - Montpellier, France - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Evry, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - New York City (NY), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cypress (TX), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Zurich, Switzerland - Budapest, Hungary - Paris, France - Saigon, Vietnam - Grenoble, France - Zurich, Switzerland - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Toronto (ON), Canada -