Category: Travel, travels


Mystical Makiling: A Dose of Tranquility, Serenity and Friendship

Filed under: Philippine Travels, Travel, travels — 5 Comments
May 5, 2011

From “lola” mode during a long weekend in Baguio City with the grandchildren,  and sensing every rise in the summery temperature of Metro Manila, it was a no brainer to decide to join my old friends for a night in Makiling.

 

Fishpens @Laguna de Bay

 

As our van climbed its way towards our accommodations for the night on a promontory overlooking Laguna de Bay,  we couldn’t help but appreciate the tranquility  offered by this mystical place in Laguna.   No wonder they chose this place as an Arts Center.  In the middle of a lush forest , we find ourselves in this one-storey structure with all of 9 spacious rooms, each with a balcony with a view.  Laid out like a square with a swimming pool  in the middle,  the old sala sets can be found at almost every corner of this bungalow.   We chatted nearly every step of the way, from one end to the next, till we all ended up in the huge living and dining room attached to a similarly-sized kitchen.   We had the place all to ourselves.  Just 5 of us.  And all of 9 rooms.   While 2 of my friends busied themselves in the kitchen for our dinner of mache and arugula salad with cherry tomatoes, paired with a huge slab of t-bone steak for the carnivores (4 of us) and a fish dish for the lone meatless diner,   I took off to claim a space in the balcony overlooking the bay.   This is where I waited for sunset , and stayed on till twilight.    Lights flickered from the distance.  Fishpens grew in obscurity as the sun set,  with dear old me growing frustrated over my lack of photography skills.   A better camera and an expert photographer would have loved the display of colors bursting from the skies.   No DLSR for me.  No tripod.  Just my dependable Point & Shoot kept me company all that time.  Shaky hands.  More so, after a couple of glasses of wine.  Can you blame me?  It was my favorite Pinot Noir. 😉

 

 

The book I brought with me remained unread.   Sleep came easy.  What with the breeze, the peace and quiet.  The wind makes some sounds as it blows through the screened windows and lets the curtains rise and fall in rhythm with the resident “tuko”  making its presence felt.   The lone moth trapped in the dining area brushes the ceiling light every now and then, just as the crickets organize themselves into a choir.   What bliss.

 

 

In the morning, we woke up to a simple breakfast of pandesal and kesong puti.   The leftover arugula and mache were not wasted as they made good beddings for the local mozarrella and feta cheese.  The Deliz ricotta and goat cheese we bought on our way to Makiling have such a subtle taste that in no time,  we were eating the day-old turnovers and oven-burnt croissant with the local cheese.  C’est la vie.  Life is good.  Especially when your taste buds remind you that.

 

Pook ni Maria Makiling Park

 

Pretty soon, we were making our way to Maria Makiling Park.  The Olympic-size swimming pool is still there, but the cage housings are unoccupied.  No birds, no parrots, or whatever was there before.   There was a pair of lonesome ducks too eager to follow us around.  They probably don’t get too many visitors these days.   The cottages have had their heyday, but now look quite dilapidated that  I chose to take photos from a distance , if only to make them look good.   Up close, the eaves, roofing, window frames, etc. have all seen better days.

 

The van weaved around bends till we found ourselves inside the U.P. Los Banos Campus.    It is still a lovely, lively campus. We were tempted to take our lunch here with the students but the summer heat was quite unbearable even in those open-air eateries.   At the Dairy,  we made our purchases of kesong puti, pastillas from carabao milk, yogurt (yum!).   There were no cara-beef  cervelat and schublig ( the restos must have cornered them!) available for sale.  I should remember to do my shopping earlier next time.

 

UP Los Banos' Animal Husbandry Dept

I'm no big fan of Imelda, but I thank her for this Center. 😉

 

And so we bid adieu to Makiling.  Bags packed, shopping done, minds emptied, muscles relaxed,  we brace ourselves for the chaos of Manila.  No big fans of Imelda here,  but she had it right building the Arts Center here.

 

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

BenCab Museum: A Feast for the Senses

Filed under: Philippine Travels, Travel, travels — 5 Comments
May 1, 2011

BenCab Museum is more than just a museum.  

 

We came , knowing we won’t get disappointed with this National Artist’s works and art collections.   Learning more about the indigenous art in this neck of the woods comes as a bonus . Appreciating how BenCab’s art evolved through the years since he dropped out of college to emerge as a Master of Contemporary Art is  a natural consequence. Beyond all these, we were still surprised to find that behind the Museum is a farm and garden where one can arrange an eco-trail tour to meander around duck ponds, a forest, a layered garden imitating the famous rice terraces,  typical indigenous architecture of the Ifugao, Kalinga and Bontoc.  We wandered around the pond, crossed a charming wooden bridge leading to a small kiosk overlooking a mini forest and a river meandering through the property along with a cascading waterfalls on one end of the property.

 

 

We found BenCab Museum on our way to Baguio City.  From Marcos Highway, we turned left at Kilometer 6 Asin Road, Tadiangan, Tuba, Benguet.  It would be another 4.5 kilometers till we reached the Museum. Admission is 100 pesos.  The place is only a 15 minute ride from Baguio City Center, passing the Woodcarvers’ Village along Asin Street.  There are jeeps to Asin from the jeepney terminal found near Baguio market. Just be sure you don’t go on a Monday when the Museum is closed.

 

 

Since we arrived noontime,  we were pleased to find that the Museum has a charming dining place called Cafe Sabel right on the Farm and Garden Level.   There is a good menu selection ranging from the very local “Longsilog”  consisting of the Baguio Longganiza or local sausages, served with an egg and fried mountain rice,   to the more continental soup, salad and sandwich combination,  to chicken cacciatore, pork schnitzel and a number of pasta selections.   We ate our lunch here on a table with an open wide window overlooking the farm and garden.

 

 

Interestingly,  Cafe Sabel was named after a somewhat mad, bag lady  whom the artist observed and sketched from a window of a house somewhere in Bambang, Tondo where he lived for a time. In his mind, this mad scavenger must have been a symbol of dislocation, poverty, hopelessness  and isolation.  

In the lovely words penned by Rene Guatlo:

“This vagrant woman is one of the best known muses of the artist’s storied career. In her plainness, he saw beauty.

In her anonymity, he saw an individual person who chose to live as she saw fit.

In her weakness, he saw her native wit and strength. It is a tribute to BenCab that what he saw, what he painted, are what endure.”

 

 

The painting of rooftops was when the artist was still relatively young.  Easily one of my favorites along with the Sabel pieces and the painting of 3 masked men.   Taking off from the rooftop painting, one can observe how his art has evolved through the years.  There is even a special gallery in the Museum called Erotica.  From sensual paintings to erotic woodcarvings and sculptures, this room may overwhelm your senses.  😉

 

 

And then there is the collection of indigenous art from the Cordillera region.  Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Apayao and Baguio City make up the Cordillera Region.  It happens to be the ONLY landlocked region in the country encompassing most of the areas within the Cordillera Central mountain range of Luzon, the largest range in the country.

 

The Museum showcases the skills of Igorots in weaving and basketry,  and the woodcarving skills of the Ifugaos.   Notably,  it was the Ifugaos who carved the Banaue rice terraces in the Cordillera mountainside 3,000 years ago. 

 

 

In the middle of the Cordillera Gallery is this very long wooden bench called “hagabi”. Carved from a single piece of wood,  the “hagabi” is a symbol of wealth and social prestige among the Ifugaos.  The “ritual” involves the hosting of a public feast where priests (called “Mumbaki”) perform a ceremony called “mamaldang” to determine if the omens for the creation of the hagabi bench are favorable.  If so,  the ritual begins with the search for the right tree (usually a narra) , the journey of the woodcarvers to the forest to select, cut and carve the tree,  and the villagers taking turns in transporting the carved hagabi bench out of the forest through mountain trails . This activity takes several days and ends with more days of eating, drinking of rice wine and dancing.  Quite an elaborate feast, if you ask me.  And I am reminded of the ceremonies attendant to the creation and carving of totem poles in Alaska to mark a “special event or milestone” .  Interesting.

 

 

The last room we visited was the Maestro Gallery.  Here one finds a selection of works by Joya, Edades, Aguinaldo, Chabet, Legazpi, Luz, Magsaysay-Ho, Sanso, Zobel and other masters.   The Museum definitely does justice to this art collection.  All of 3 levels plus the Farm and Garden Level,  the BenCab Museum makes for an afternoon well-spent.   For sure,  I will come visiting again in my next Baguio trip. Perhaps spend more time in the Farm and Garden, or just sit it out in one of the kiosks in the middle of the duck pond.  Who knows?  The Cafe Sabel may even have a resident Chef by then.  Or am I expecting too much?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Street Vendors of Manila

Filed under: Don't Skip Manila!, Food Trip, Philippine Travels, Travel, travels
April 22, 2011

We get this all the time.  Foreigners in the workplace telling us that Filipinos tend to eat every so often.  Lunch is no sandwich and a fruit.  Neither is it a half hour break.  Naaaah.  That one hour lunch break can easily stretch to a couple of hours, often blaming the traffic for not getting back soon enough. These days,  there are many joints a walking distance from the offices. But lunch is lunch, and every Filipino observes it not just as a break from work but also as a chance to chat away the blues and break the monotony of working behind a desk. As for snacks or mid-day “mini-meals”?   That’s when it is more likely to find Filipinos eating that sandwich or fruit.  But the hardcore ones would still crave for their carbo fix:  a noodle dish, rice porridge or rice cakes.  In between lunch and that midday mini-meal, don’t be surprised to find them munching peanuts, pork cracklings, chips, or splitting pumpkin seeds.

 

Taho. Best for breakfast!

Sago at Gulaman

 

Luckily for us,  there is no shortage of food to be found and bought.  Stuck in a traffic jam?  No worries.   The street vendors plying the main roads sell anything from peanuts to pork cracklings to boiled eggs to mint candies to fruits to bottled water to “fish balls, squid balls and shrimp balls”. Boiled bananas, boiled peanuts, even corn on the cob! Walking the streets of Manila is an adventure.  Every tourist should try this.  Buying street food is very much a part of every Filipino’s way of life.  And there’s more to be found in urban centers like Manila, where folks are supposed to be “busier” than their counterparts in the provinces who may have the time and energy to cook their own meals and snacks.


Halo Halo!

 

As it is summer, try going to San Andres Market, a stone’s throw from Malate Church.   You can get your freshest fruits here to eat, or to be made into a fruit shake.   You can’t go wrong with a 10 peso fruit shake (less than US $0.25) or the local “halo-halo” (literally means “mix-mix”) for 20 pesos (less than US$0.50). I strongly suggest you try the halo-halo which is a mixture of  sweetened fruits, ice shavings and milk, topped with a local sweetened ube yam. You can’t be more Filipino than that!

 


 

Or you may want to head all the way to Chinatown for your dimsum fix and other foodstuff.  The street vendors here range from those selling fruits, vegetables and cooked food to those selling almost anything you need to get from an honest-to-goodness hardware and supermarket.  Around Quiapo Church,  you can buy your religious icons,  candles,  fans (strongly suggested on hot, humid days) , flower garlands, brooms (yes, brooms),  fruits, vegetables , squash flowers, and fish (live, dead, smoked or dried!).  From Quiapo Church through Santa Cruz Church to Binondo Church,  you will find street stalls selling footwear, garments and again,  more foodstuff.  There is an alley near the Binondo Church called Carvajal where I wanted to buy almost everything I laid my eyes on!  Forget the diet.  There is so much to buy here to take home as TV dinners.  Sushi?  Taho? Meat loaf?  Rice cakes?  

 

Barbequed Pork and Innards. Guess what!

Puto Bumbong

You may also want to check out more photos from my TravelBlog site. 

 

Tags: , , , ,
Permalink

Me, Travel Solo?

Filed under: Travel, travels — 19 Comments
April 20, 2011

You must be joking.  I may have done it before, way before.  Till my knees ached. Till my shoulders drooped. Till my back screamed ouch.  Till my mind never stopped wondering where I put my stuff.  Oh, how I wish I still have the energy and fearless wanderlust of the young.  But I certainly try.  At my age, you just have to give me A for effort.

 

 

The lust for adventure began with my first solo trip to another Asian city.   I was 18, and had to meet up with my parents in Hongkong.  It was not a lovely experience.  My nerves got in the way and that little paper bag behind the seat was put to good use as my hour-old meals decided to exit unceremoniously. The next chance I got was when I took a short course in England at a time when the EDSA revolution was unraveling.  Talk about perfect timing. I would have loved to be home then.  But as luck would have it, I was thousands of miles away.  I didn’t just study then,  I scrimped like crazy.  I stashed away half of my allowances into a kitty for my weekend travels , as well as for a 3 month long solo travel around Europe after I completed the short course.   Talk about “fearless wanderlust”,  I was young and carefree then and couldn’t be bothered that I crossed oceans from London to Washington DC with my last US$20 in my pocket.  I tempted fate then,  all too confident that my friends in US of A were just a phone call away to bail me out of whatever trouble I got into.  As things turned out,  my friend had to ask another friend (whom I met then for the first time) to fetch me at the train station where I ended up with my bottom $20.  Mind you, I had no credit card, ATM card nor cell phones then   =)

 

 

Since then,  I knew that traveling with or without a group,  the whole way or part of the way,  is a little luxury I just need to indulge in.  To visit and revisit the same sites etched in memory, and draw the same intensity of cheer and joy.   So I worked hard.  And saved good.   Good enough for an early retirement. There are far more things I can do without, and that supported my idea to quit and have a life .   Rather, to celebrate life!

 

Then and Now

 

I love traveling because I always come back with less cobwebs in my mind. It is as if I empty my mind of all clutter upon departure, and fill it with many happy memories upon arrival. I also like the idea that life is so focused on the present, and my senses are all playing to listen, feel , see, smell and taste everything novel or not so new. The fact that I only have to choose from a limited wardrobe, or use the same pair of shoes throughout my holiday , or work and survive on a single budget make life so much simpler. Sure, you sometimes get a raw deal in a few trips, or feel hassled by flight delays and cancellations, but the joys and simplicity of the present far outweigh the negatives. Oh, btw, I always end up gaining more friends after each trip. Many I kept……

 

Manhattan Skyline (Before 9-11)

 

Solo travelling allows you to discover places, but more so to discover one’s self.  It puts you in touch with your inner self and allows you to trust yourself (and others too) more and more.  In a way,  it boosts your self-confidence as you discover new boundaries.   Once you unravel yourself in this fashion,  you then find out how much you can celebrate life in a way only you can understand.  Who cares if others don’t?  The capacity for joy is a gift.  To find joy in your heart, even in solitude,  is a blessing.

 

 

I envy the young bloggers for their youth, energy and enthusiasm.  I still share the same sense of adventure, but I am now constrained to make solo trips only around the city.   After an unnerving misadventure in Nanjing, China where I took a nasty slip, hit my head on the pavement, broke my eyeglasses and ended up with the stem (that part which rides the ears) stuck near my eyebrow,  this old hag is not allowed to go solo beyond city limits.  A pity.  But the restriction does not in any way dampen the joy I have wandering around.    After all, there are so many places to visit and revisit.  I may not be your typical DSLR-toting blogger (too heavy for my bones to carry) ,  but my P&S cam serves the purpose to document the sites I enjoyed.

 

Nanjing Misadventure

 

So, while you young ‘uns are spelunking , scaling mountains, camping, diving into unknown waters , sailing,  or whatever else, this grandma travels — solo most often—  around the city checking out new food finds or revisiting churches and museums,  or simply enjoying the breeze along the Bay.   You see, there are more history lessons to be learned visiting these areas and I simply love “going back in time” to reminisce the good ol’ days.  More importantly,  I always find myself thanking Him that I find myself in these situations that bring so much cheer.  Truly, gratitude is the memory of the heart!

 

This is my entry to Pinoy Travel Bloggers’ Blog Carnival on the theme “Solo Travel” hosted by Nina Fuentes aka Just Wandering. 

Tags: ,
Comment

Summer Camp 2011

Filed under: Travel, travels — Leave a comment
April 11, 2011

Martin chose to take badminton lessons.  No way he’d play soccer again.  I’m a bit surprised he wasn’t interested in taekwando.  But badminton is fine.  As for Patricia,  I knew even before I asked that she’d want to do the pool once more.  She almost divorced herself from the school’s swimming team during the exam weeks and all those graduation rehearsals, and I can tell her muscles are aching to flex in the pool.


And I thought school’s over.  Not a single break.  From Friday graduation, to Summer Camp the following Monday.  No mercy.  Summer camp starts at 8 am sharp.  And my little ones hate being late for their sessions with Coach Akiko Thomson and Coaches Weena and EG.  While Martin sweats in the badminton court and Patricia slices the pool,  dear Mamu does her rounds at the oval. No, not jogging. That’s bad for my knees.  Just brisk walking, passing the badminton court, the swimming pool area, the tennis court, and the Taekwondo gym where I can’t help smiling watching them little ones flex their muscles, while their doting parents watch and take snapshots.


And so…….I do my share of exercise while chaperoning the kids to Summer Camp. Plus I do get a fair amount of amusement too.   I love watching these young ones ; and I so adore their coaches.   Coach Akiko Thomson and her husband Coach Chips are such a lovely couple and they are so wonderful with the kids.   One can tell they sooo love what they do.  I have seen them pick up kids, personally train them and more than that,  I am amazed how these kids give them 100% attention.  Now, I never got that!   😉


Tags: , , , ,
Comment

More Musings and Ramblings…………

Filed under: Travel, travels — 5 Comments
April 2, 2011

 

Yesterday, we celebrated Patricia’s graduation.  Personally,  I celebrated the  10th anniversary of my best-ever decision:  EARLY RETIREMENT.

 

You heard that , guys.  Here is one (cool) grandma.  And here is one (early, self-imposed) retiree.  Does that make me feel old and jaded?  Naaaah.  Judging by what and how I did things the past 10 years,  I know I made the wisest decision to call it quits and have a life.  Don’t get me wrong. Early retirement is a well-thought out decision.  And it was made with tons of preparation and serious planning!

 

Having grandchildren sort of “rushed” the decision.   You see, dear Patricia was 2 1/2 years old then and ready for Nursery School.  The idea of driving a grandchild to school and spending more time with her appealed to me.  It also helped that I was beginning to feel unhappy with my job.  Now that may sound like “news” to those who knew how I worked my a** off and how seriously I charted my career.  But for sure, I did not agonize over the decision to retire.  It was like “one morning, I woke up and decided it was best to quit.” Honestly.  And then of course, Martin came along.  And that completes my “lola duties”.

 

 

Now, Patricia has completed 10 years of pre- and grade school.  Ten years of fetching her (and dear Martin, her younger brother) from school with many unplanned happy afternoons to spend together.  Precious moments.  I even learned new skills.  Teaching kids how to paint.  Supervising kids’ cooking lessons.   Blogging.  Playing internet games.  I rediscovered the joys of traveling too.  In the last 10 years, I did 20 foreign trips across Europe, Middle East, USA, Australia and Asia. There were also a number of  domestic trips in between.  As a traveler, I also found time to moderate in TravelBlog where I found new friends. Back home and quite recently, I found myself belonging to a group of Pinoy Travel Bloggers whose parents must be my age! Well, we sure share many things in common:  the passion for traveling and the gift of joy and gratitude for all things new, old, familiar and strange.

 

 

From my first few trips in US of A visiting old friends to nostalgic trips to Europe where I never fail to have a marvelous time, to new discoveries in the ancient cities and towns around Asia , to must-tick-off-the-bucket-list trips around the country……………. I have yet to experience South America and Africa (outside of Egypt) and perhaps more of the Middle East (other than Doha, Qatar).    Oh, the list is long.  As they say,  yesterday is a memory, so better savor every minute, every second of today.   To make sure the “memory” of yesteryears does not fade,  I have started to chronicle all my travels via blogging.  My photography still sucks, but they serve the purpose of documenting what I have seen and enjoyed in my trips.   When I last reviewed my finances (while realizing I have lost a steady source of income from rentals and a directorship which sustained me in the past),  I realized  I may have to cut down on my foreign trips.  But then there is so much of the Philippines I have not seen. Sure, I have done the rounds before while visiting our provincial offices, but that was work.  No pleasure in that.  As I revisit these local destinations now,  I find how much I have missed.  Just the same,  I take comfort in the fact that I worked like a horse before so I can save enough for the trips I make now.  I do not feel compelled to go back to work these days,  but a short-term project and a part-time consultancy would always be welcome to shore up my travel funds.   Doing what I love doing,  traveling allows me to meet new friends, savor new cuisine, breathe fresh mountain air,  walk with sand between my toes in some faraway beach,  touch base with history and simply enjoying the motion, the journey, the experience.

 

La dolce vita.   Nothing luxurious.  Nothing fancy.  I am not your backpacking kid. Too old to go camping. Nor am I your luxury traveler. The heart is willing, but the pocket won’t cooperate.  This one’s simply a grandma whose passion for travel and new discoveries is nurtured through the years.   Loving it. Life is a celebration!

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/liliram/

Tags: , , ,
Comment

It’s 3 O’Clock In The Morning

Filed under: Travel, travels — 2 Comments
February 24, 2011

It’s 3 o’clock in the morning and I stare brain dead
How that form now spans nearly the length of the bed
Have I missed any of those precious years …….or
Simply ignored how these “babies” grew inches more?


Memories flood my mind like a tsunami
Years nearly forgotten, joy overflowing
Yesterday’s past morphing into my present
Those little ones have grown !


They ask more pointed questions now
My bedtime stories no longer hits
I’ve long stopped humming lullabies
IPods plugged in their tiny ears.


I fetch them from school but wait in the car
I hear their laughter before I see them come
Bags too heavy, hands too dirty
And more than ready to be home in a jiffy.


These are my little travel buddies
And my prayer warriors too
Over scoops of yoghurt and mallows
We live each day with no sorrows.

We thank God for this blessing
Hugs and kisses never ending
For it’s a gift not just to have them
But to have the heart to enjoy them.


More photos here.

Tags: , ,
Comment