the beach is beckoning me...

Marinduque, Philippines

This picture was taken from a fieldwork back in 2005. So long ago but I can still remember the heat of the sun on my skin, the lovely cool water, the small boat vibrating, jumping as it cuts through the waves, white sands across the water, green coconut trees swaying with the cool wind. And of course, laughter with my classmates, feeling excited of what we would see just around the island, getting ready to jump on the water to reach our beloved outcrops. Yeah, missing those days.

after fieldwork

A slow walk on the beach after a very long, tiring fieldwork day when I was still in school. Missing those days.

in my mind

Two things at the back of mind all the time --

1. Middle East trip itinerary

2. US trip itinerary

I wonder when I can make this happen....

hometown island beach

Obviously not a really good picture (can't seem to find the whole album) but this beach is a small heaven - quiet, less people, and pink sand... :)

Sta. Cruz Island, Zamboanga City
Philippines
 

let's travel

A belated gift to my friend -- hope she likes it and gets to travel to her dream places... :) Hope this will inspire her :)

schokoladen

Missing Cologne and the Schokoladen Museum with its chocolate serving cacao tree in the Lindt factory and the many assorted chocolates at the shop. Yummy. Hope I can come back and spend more time here and try all the chocolates they have. :)

A Stork or a Stroke?

This entry was posted in my old blog and I decided to move it here to log all my travel adventures in one site. This entry was looking back at a trip that I made years ago, the second time I traveled to Cambridge, England for a Visiting Student Program. 

A friend of mine who's studying in Japan told me of her Japanese lessons and her two other classmates, a Russian and Bulgarian. She was telling me that this Bulgarian was lambasting (her words, not mine) the Russian and their communist dream. I wondered whether she understood what they were saying because I remembered one funny dinner conversation we had with a Bulgarian...

We were having dinner one night at one of the restaurants in town. The table was like a United Nations, a gathering of people of different nationalities and one of them was this nice Bulgarian who looks like Santa Claus. At one point during the dinner, he was really excited talking about his son being in the rowing team. He said:

"It was really exciting. The boats just bum-ped each other most of the time! They have to take the best route down the river so they just bum-ped the other boats!"

Unfortunately, I wasn't used to his English yet so it took me a long time to understand what bum-ped means! Actually, it only means BUMPED. The second was this:

"Really, my time in the Philippines, it was really different. In the province, you can see there are jeeps running around, like kinks of the road! Really, kinks of the road. They even just run through the rice they are drying!"

Hmmm.. kinks of the road? Oh well, he just meant that the jeeps acted like they were the KINGS of the road. The last funny thing I remembered was this:

English girl: "So tell us about your tradition that's happening tomorrow!"

"Oh yes! We wear blue ribbon (I think that was blue, or was it red?) and then we send it off to the stroke for ... (I forgot what for...)..."

"What's a stroke?"

"Oh it's a kind of a bird! With long beaks (at this point he was demonstrating the length of the beak with his hands from his mouth)... You don't have it here in your country!"

"Oh, is it white? Long beak? (In the background: Yes, you don't have it here!")
Oooh, you mean STORK (in the best British accent I heard)?"

"Yes, yes, yes! A STROKE!"

Wow, all I can say is, Amazing! That dinner was really great! I miss that guy!

Looking Back, part 2

This entry was posted in my old blog and I decided to move it here to log all my travel adventures in one site. This entry was looking back at a trip that I made years ago, the second time I traveled to Cambridge, England for a Visiting Student Program. 

London, England

What’s a trip to the UK if you don’t visit London, right? Right! So when we were there, E and I set a weekend to visit this beautiful city. This was also the best time to see our friends and for me to deliver B’s contact lens and gifts from the family. See, killing two birds with one stone! But before I could deliver the stuff I’m carrying, we sort of got lost first because apparently, there are two platform 9s in the Paddington station from the Tube. It’s just good that B knows her way around and was able to find us (same goes with E’s friend).

Pictures(cc): Statue of Queen Bordecis along the River Thames; the top of Big Ben (look how similar it is with the clock found in the entrance of Trinity College; a direction marker (what is this really called?) near the Big Ben; statue in front of Buckingham Palace.

Hmm… I’ve read somewhere that when a statue has horse with its two front legs up, that means the rider was victorious and if one leg is down, it means that the rider either injured or had fallen in the battle.

 

This is inside the London Aquarium. I was glad E insisted of going here because I wouldn’t have bothered to before. Now, I can say that I saw Bruce and Nemo up close with other interesting creatures (look at the green creature in the next picture). I just could not remember its name but for sure, it’s something from the eel family.

By the way, I would like to thank E for sharing these pictures since my analog camera was not working in very dim conditions.

Of course, the Museum of Natural Museum wasn’t to be missed, especially since B’s school is just nearby. The museum was wonderful -which reminds me, I should visit our own National Museum soon-, with bays going to pre-historic creatures such as dinosaurs with its skeleton reconstructions, dioramas, and discussion of mass extinction that removed them from the face of the Earth, There was also a wing dedicated only to minerals and ores. I was really amazed to see some minerals whose crystals are bigger than the half a fist size samples we have at our own laboratory classes. Too bad, I just couldn’t touch them. Ore samples that I only see in books came alive for me that day. Imagine, cubic gold nuggets, dendritic silver and gold deposits, copper, and even asteroids, in one big room! Now that I’ve written this, I remember that there are fossils and mineral samples lying along the hallways of the Earth Sciences in Cambridge.

Another experience E and I wouldn’t miss was a West End musical so on another night, we went to London to watch Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. When we arrived at West End, we almost did not make it to the show because we got lost. There were a lot of theatres showing different plays and musicals. Since we were so desperate and running so late (we didn’t have tickets yet), I took up my courage and asked the first person I saw, who looked like a Londoner, where the theater was, only to be told, ‘Sorry, I don’t know. I’m actually from New York.’ What the heck! Nagtanong nga, sa maling tao pa talaga! The next people we asked were of no help either. As we kept on walking (thank God, it was in the right direction this time), the map copied began making sense and in the end, we finally found the theater with time to spare for a couple of pictures. I’d actually like to talk about the play but this is getting too long and might bore you already. Suffice it to say that the production was beautiful (there was even a cute guy playing in the orchestra hehehe). If you want to see pictures inside the theater, sorry, we don’t have any because it’s not allowed. But you can ask yung mga makukulit na Intsik na kasama naming nanood. Sinisita na sila, wala pa ring pakialam!Trigger happy sa camera Hehehe

On our way home to Cambridge after this weekend trip, we walked along the River Thames first to say 'good night and hope to see you again, London'. Below is the view of the Tower Bridge along the riverbank, Tower of London side. Again, thank you for the picture, E.

Looking Back, part 1

Cambridge, England

This entry was posted in my old blog and I decided to move it here to log all my travel adventures in one site. This entry was looking back at a trip that I made years ago, the second time I traveled to Cambridge, England for a Visiting Student Program. 

The picture above is of a college along the Queens Road (if I remember it right). I’ve always passed by this building everytime I go to the department but now, I couldn’t remember what it is called. As you can see, it has a great architecture, which I bet would date back since the 14th-15th century. Imagine, this place was founded around the 12th century, while our forefathers were still in their bahags and living a peaceful life until the Spanish discovered the Philippines in 1521. I love old buildings and this place is full of them. When I walked around the town, I just have to touch the walls and think at the same time, ‘wow! People who lived centuries before me also touched this wall, must have also slipped in the icy, wet road…’ I am very glad that I had the chance to visit and experience this place.

 

This is another entrance that I love in Cambridge because of its history. This is the Trinity College entrance. The story is that the statue of King Henry before was holding a scepter in his left hand and the globe with a cross on top on his right hand. But as the story goes, there came a time when ‘drunk’ students played a prank on this statue by the entrance and replaced the scepter with a leg of a stool. Hehehe… Anyway, this is also obviously an old building and you could even see the three coats of arms that is the symbol (or so) of the college. The clock design must also be standard before because this one looks almost the same with other clocks I’ve seen there, including that of the Big Ben.

The next picture is inside one of the two Catholic churches in town, and the nearest to where we were staying (meaning: probably a 20 minute walk). The design again, is very medieval with arches and ‘domal’ structure at the altar, heavy doors, simple wooden pews, exquisite wall carvings, and stained glass windows. How romantic but the one and only time Eden and I were able to get the schedule right and attend the mass, I was reminded that religion is really a big business enterprise. We went to mass to pray and listen to the word of God but what do we get during the Homily? Mostly a discussion of the church’s finances! We were pretty much disappointed so we consoled ourselves by drinking hot choco and checking our emails after the mass.

This next picture is a punting scene near the Bridge of Sighs. It is a big thing to learn how to punt or just to sit back in the punts during the summer although I think it is all year round, weather permitting. Lucky enough for me, I got to experience punting and even tried to go for one of their traditions where you reach up and go over a bridge and then jump back to the punt when it had finished crossing beneath the bridge. For the avid Amazing Race viewer, this scene might be familiar to you. This was one of the detours in one of the legs of the third season.



But what did we really do there? We did research. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the department where we’ve done our respective researches. (Why didn’t we take a picture of it, anyway?!) But let me tell you, I was happy staying at their library with their almost complete set of journals that runs from floor to ceiling (since I am petite, I always get a kick going up and down their footstools and ladders just to get to the journals I need!), very big tables or small tables set against a window or a heater, extra fluorescent lamps, automatic lighting system, free internet, do-it-yourself photocopy system, borrow-it-yourself system, and most of all, the enter- whenever -you- like- with- your- own- key system. I wish we have something like that here in our own department. It would truly make research more enjoyable.

prambanan - a story

a rainy day in prambanan, central java

there was once a beautiful princess who turned down all her suitors. she didn't find any of them to her liking. one day, a prince saw her and immediately fell in love with her but the princess was cold and turned him down, too. she knew the prince was bad and didn't want for her husband. yet the prince was insistent. he asked her again and again and again to marry him until one day, just to stop him from asking her again, and because she was bored, she agreed to marry him in one condition. the condition was that he must build a thousand statues/temples before the sun rises.

with this challenge, the prince agreed and started to meditate. he was a powerful prince and soon after, he conjured the demons and asked them to help him build the thousand temples for his future bride, just until the sun rises. the demons agreed and they started working on it, carrying stones from far across the land, carving it and building it from ground.

the princess saw this and feared that the prince will finish the thousand temples in one night so she too, meditated. when the gods appeared, she asked that the prince be stopped from finishing the job. when asked why she didn't want to marry the prince, she said that he was bad and she didn't like him. the princess was persistent and the gods gave in, in one condition. she must, during the night, take all the hay from her village and before the sunrise, she must burn it all. so then, while the prince was working hard to create the temples, the princess started collecting hay and before the sunrise, set it to flame.

the flame grew big that at once, the demons saw this. they thought it was the sunrise and started going back to where they came from. the prince tried to stop them because he saw that it was only a fire but the demons cannot be stopped. they went and he was left alone. the sun rose and the prince had created nine hundred ninety nine statues.

the prince asked the princess why she did it and she told him because she didn't want to marry him. but the prince was so in love with the princess and didn't care for anyone to claim her. for him, she was his forever and to make that come true, he turned her to stone, his last, his thousandth statue. now then, princess, he said. you are truly mine. no one will own you except for me. and then he thought, but still, she is beautiful. one can come in the night and steal her from me. so the prince decided to cut her nose to make her ugly. that way, no one would want to claim her, either in flesh or in stone.

yet that was not the end of the story....

the prince told his father what he did. the king became angry and turned him into a water buffalo. his son wanted to be with the princess forever so he placed the princess' statue over the prince/animal's back and put them in one room. that way, they were together forever but forever they are alone for they were never married...

the stuppa

buddha once said to his student, when i die, you place me in a stuppa. what's a stuppa, the student replied. buddha then proceeded to explain in a graphical way what a stuppa is. first, you put my body seated on a lotus, you cover me in something like a rice bowl and you pin it to the ground with my cane. this story was told by my guide.

now there is a more spiritual explanation for a stuppa. for buddhists, it represents buddha's body, his speech and his mind but most especially his mind and every part that shows the path to enlightenment.

the giant

on my tour to central java, this image was a familiar sight. the tour guide then told me a story about him and how he came about to guard the gates of the gods...

this one was once a giant who wanted to become immortal. one day, in a party of gods and goddesses, the giant came dressed as a monk. he wanted to be immortal, you see, and in that gathering, the gods and goddesses would partake from the cup of immortal waters. the giant went and took the cup but someone recognized him for what he really was - a giant. someone recognized him and told a powerful god. as the giant was about to drink from the cup, the god came and cut him from the jaw down. until this day, the giant's head was placed in the gates without his jaws and his tongue going down to the side and steps of the entrance.

remembering a train ride (part 2)

So there I was, at the back of the last coach of the last train for the day leaving for Jogjakarta. I was seated along the aisle and seated beside me was a guy. It was a bit scary though because I noticed that there were only a few girls in the coach and the nearest to me was five rows ahead of me. Well, never mind, right? It was an adventure.

We left Jakarta about an hour (or two) hours late from the published time of departure. Only less than an hour and the city lights of Jakarta faded away little by little. And then something scary happened.

The first thing that came to my mind was -- Why didn't I read the papers lately? Is there trouble in the provinces along the way?

Yes, something scary - the lights in the train were suddenly gone! Not just switched off or just dimmed but totally gone. Like a blackout. And there were no lights outside. We were in the fields with no lights. We can't see anything. I felt my seatmate stiffen and I got more worried. But that was nothing with how I felt when suddenly, security guards in brown uniforms came in and flashed their lights. The only thing I could do was tap my seatmate and ask in a low voice, "Is this normal?"

"What do you mean, normal," he said. (I'm so glad to know that the guy seated beside me was a student at the university at Jogjakarta and speaks better English than most).

"Normal, like lights going out in the middle of the trip?"

"No, it's not normal."

Now, That statement scared me. You know what I did? Since I can't do anything, and instead of panicking (but berating myself all this time why I didn't read the papers for any sign of trouble), I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep. When I opened my eyes a few hours later, we were moving again.

Thank you, Lord! :)

That was a memorable experience, right? Also, because I was a female traveling alone, some people asked me why I'm traveling to Jogjakarta and to be on the safe side (though I know that the people were just curious and mean no harm), I told them I'm visiting a friend and that friend is picking me up at the train station. Just so happy that when we arrived, I saw the tour guide, with my name written on a paper he's holding up. I introduced myself and off I went to this one day adventure.

remembering a train ride (part 1)

I realized, while recalling a trip I took in 2009, that I am used to traveling alone. The experience was memorable that I think I should write it down (the back-up of the previous blog from multiply was lost when my external hard drive got damaged) so I can share it with you.

A few years back, I had a two-week training in Jakarta and even before we arrived there, I was already thinking of making the most out of my one and only weekend to go to Borobodur, one of UNESCO's World Heritage site. When I arrived in Jakarta and talked to my colleagues there, many were discouraging me to take a day trip because either it was far, or just because it would only be a day trip. Nevertheless, a friend of a friend, Dewi, found me a travel agency who arranged to have a guide meet me and show me around when I arrived the following Saturday. I decided to take an eight to ten-hour train ride (I love train rides and overnighters) to go to Borobodur and take a plane back to Jakarta in the afternoon.

On Friday evening, I left my officemate at the hotel and took a taxi to the train station in Jakarta. I didn't realize that their station was huge, nice building. However, there were so many people around that I didn't take time to enjoy it. Also, I did not have a ticket yet so that was my first priority -- look for the ticket booth. I asked the security going around the area but when I spoke in English, they weren't able to help as they do not speak the language. Luckily, some people pointed where it was and when I got there, there was already a long queue and it seems that the train was fully-booked. I was really shocked, disappointed and worried because I've already paid for my tour and plane fare back to the city. It didn't help too that the train was about to leave in an hour and there was no chance that there would be another train.

I was feeling down with what's happening but I still fell in line in the queue. I tried asking the person behind me if there's a chance I could still get to Jogjakarta but they told me they don't speak English. I asked someone else, but no help there. Later, I think that people were aware of my plight because even those in front of the line were turning their head back to look at me. It was also probably disconcerting for them because not only was I a foreigner who look like them but also, I was a female traveling alone. I noticed that in the very long queue, there were only about five females and all of them were accompanied by either male family or friends. Anyway, I was fortunate enough that the guy in front of me (whom I also asked before) turned to look at me again and told me in slow English, "I speak little English." Thank you, Lord! :)

So when I told him what my problem was, he told me that it's okay, they are going to add three more trains! "What, you mean, three more? What time would those three leave since I need to be in Jogjakarta by 7 o'clock?," I asked. He shook his head, no. Three trains, he said. So I said, yes, three trains. The number three kept going back and forth between us until I realized that he did not mean new trains but three coaches which will be added to the back of the train! Funny!

So I told you already that even the people in front of the queue noticed me and when the ticket booth opened again, they apparently were told that there will only be twenty seats available. I noticed them counting from one until they reached me at Twenty! - yes, twenty - and they were giving me smiles and signs of reassurance. So thankful to all these people. So the queue moved and I got my Eksekutif ticket. So happy! And yes, if you realize it by now, the train is leaving later than the published time.

I went up to the platform only to realize that I didn't know which platform to be on since there were a lot of numbers in the ticket and nowhere does it say there, "platform." I asked around again and the guy who looked at my ticket told me that we have the same coach number and if I'd like, I can join his group. I did and was so grateful for their help. Later, I saw the guy who was in front of me in the queue and when the train arrived he gestured to me to follow. The first guy then said to me, "You at the back, seat. I seat here (near the front)." Okay, so I went on and realized that I was seated at the very back of the train. My goodness!