Thoughts: Travel (Late) Updates

     I do not refer myself as the queen of procrastination for nothing.  I try to live up to my self-title every single day.  And so, true to my nature, I just realized that I have a lot of travel adventures that I still have not shared with you...because I am just plain lazy.

     Anyway, here are the places I visited this year (as far as I can remember) that remain to be discussed in this blog:

1.  Subic and Baguio - May 2011;

2.  Tagaytay - June 2011;

3.  Singapore and Malaysia - June/July 2011;

4.  Bataan - August 2011 (long weekend).

     I will try my best to wrap up my Taiwan travel adventures so I could starting posting about my Singapore and Malaysia travel adventures ASAP.  And every so often, I'll try to post about my local travels.

     So, please bear with me.  Until then!

Hong Kong Travel Next Week - Why Not?

     I am going to Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, next week via Cebu Pacific.  I bought the tickets last July during one of the seat sales offered by the said airline.  But with all the repercussions brought about by the Manila hostage debacle, including the backlash and disdain against Filipinos in general, I have been asked one too many times whether we'd still continue with our travel to Hong Kong.  And I always answer in the affirmative.  Yes, of course, and why not?

     I know security could be an issue.  Imagine, a guest from a country where its Hong Kong guests met a gruesome fate visits Hong Kong just a few days after the incident.  Tensions are still high; emotions, still raw.  I've even read that some Chinese visas issued to Filipinos were canceled, and  that a Hong Kong immigration officer threw a Philippine Senator's passport to him.  I don't know the circumstances how and why it happened; for all we know, it may have been for an entirely different reason.  Personally, however, I have always believed in the goodness and fairness of humans.  I may get some steely gaze, some rude comments, some rash behavior directed against me, but I could get it anywhere in the world, even in my own country.   Heck, I even went to Hong Kong during the height of the AH1N1 scare last year; to Thailand this year when the faction between the red shirts and government was escalating; I even traveled to Taiwan, alone. 

     I am not, however, a moth trying to get near the flame.  Of course, I have some apprehensions; I'm but human.  It's just that I am no more safe in my country than in any other place.  Unless and until the government issues an advisory against traveling to Hong Kong, I'd go there. After all, love for Mickey Mouse transcends all bounds; it heals.

     As a fellow traveler, I condemn the hostage incident and the way the government [mis]handled it.  Innocent guests who only wanted to experience the beauty of our country met a tragic fate.  It could have happened to me; it could have happened to anyone else.

     Perhaps, people's feelings have not been placated yet, and for good reasons.  We've been witnesses to how it all happened, glued to our televisions watching a real-life "prime time"drama unfold before our very eyes.  We've all felt a sense of helplessness and loss when an escaped hostage shouted everyone's dead; and we've all felt a gush of relief and hope when one by one, the survivors were led out of the bus.  It was an intense, long-drawn-out incident, and never had I felt so much empathy for strangers, those hapless victims of the hostage-taking.  No wonder, the feelings of those who share the same nationality as the victims, mostly Chinese from Hong Kong, are slighted, enraged, baffled as to how it ended in a bloodbath.  They feel doubtful of our government's capabilities, and some, turn rage into hate.  We understand that; we're humans, too, and we also feel the same way.  We're affected by it, we're likewise enraged by it.  Lives were lost, and now, the Philippines is paying for it, and it's taking its toll on ordinary citizens like us.  The crime of one, and the folly and ineptitude of a few mark the downfall of the entire nation and shape how the world sees us.  We carry the burden, too, and bear the brunt of the multitude.  I don't have an explanation to offer in defense of my country.  I could only say, I'm sorry.

Taiwan Adventure Day 2 - Beitou

     

     For my second day in Taiwan, which happened to be my birthday, I went to Beitou.  It was already past 9 in the morning when I rode the MRT going there.  It was a long ride, and I had to change trains four times: first, from Nanjing Station to Zhongxiao Fuxing Station; second, from Zhongxiao Fuxing to Taipei Main Station; third; from Taipei Main Station to Beitou Station; and fourth, from Beitou Station to Xinbeitou Station.  Travel was about an hour. 

     From the Xinbeitou Station, I crossed the street and walked towards the Beitou Park.  A couple of minutes later, I saw a very beautiful library.  Apparently, it's Taiwan's first green library, and indeed, it looked eco-friendly.  Made of dark wood with large french windows, it looked so serene surrounded by an outdoor garden with two lily ponds.  It's a sight to behold, and I wanted to go inside, pick a spot near the window, read a book, and just be lost in my own little world.  Ahh...I so wanted to do that, but I didn't have the time and the liberty to do so.  It made me want to go and live in Taiwan if only for the library.

     After taking loads of pictures of the library and of the water lilies under the mid-morning sun, and feeling the heat intensify, I walked to the library's next door neighbor, the Beitou Museum.  But unlike most guests, I took the path from the library's garden to the trail at the back of the museum.  The little stream was so pretty, and there was a rustic looking wooden gazebo.  From there, I walked at the side of the museum's garden and then to main road to reach the entrance.  I took the long way but it was worth it.

      Upon entering the museum, the guests were asked to take off their shoes and to wear the slippers provided.  Most importantly, the staff gave away a fan to each visitor which I was so grateful for.  It was almost 11 a.m. and it was so hot.  Anyway, the museum is a huge house, reminiscent of those English houses with lovely gardens; it also has a lily pond outside.  It has two floors; the main floor features a huge tatami room, like the long dining halls in a ryokan, with a mini-stage.  It comes complete with shoji windows.  Too bad it's off limits to go inside.  There's also a fake cherry blossom tree in full bloom just outside the Japanese room which was well-lighted thanks to a glass-paneled ceiling.  Downstairs, are the various hot springs baths; the roman bath and the Japanese bath among others.

     Afterwards, I headed to the Beitou Thermal Valley, some five minutes away on foot from the museum.  And as I came nearer the entrance, the smell of rotten eggs became more pervasive.  Ah...the stench and the mid-day heat.  Perfect combination, lol!  Good thing that I had my pale yellow umbrella with me; it shielded not only the sun but also the fumes every time the wind billows.  Well, the stench was all worth the dream-like experience I had at the Thermal Valley.  The hot springs produces mist which is both lovely and smelly, but  it evokes that fantasy-like atmosphere.  So dreamy...and so hot under the mid-day sun. 

     And, speaking of mid-day, I had to rush to the MRT station because I needed to return to the hotel in time for my Jiufen guided tour in the afternoon.  I had a hard time hailing a cab so I jogged the whole way down to the Station.  Good thing that I was able to return to the hotel with some 30 minutes to spare.  I even had the time to take a quick shower before the tour guide fetched me around 1:20 p.m.  I was not able to eat lunch, though.  It was lunch or shower, so I chose shower.  I just sipped a free cup of coffee at the hotel's business center, and tossed some water, a face towel, a wrap, and some moisturizer in my shopping bag, and I was good to go.  I was able to rest, and cool down, on the tour van going to Jiufen.  Thank God for airconditioning!

Beitou Library

 

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011 - Day 4: Gundam and Super Dollfies Save the Day?!

     After spending the whole morning at the Longshan Temple vicinity, I headed to the Taipei Main Station in search for the Taiwan Storyland. I had complete directions for that; after all, it's in the Taipei travel brochure I got from the Taipei Main Station MRT information counter.  It says there that the address is at B2, No.50, Chung Hsiao W. Rd., Sec., Zhongzheng District, Taipei, just a minute from one of the Main Station exits. But for the love of everything cute, I could not find the damn place!  I was at the correct location; I was so sure of it. But it was nowhere to be found.  

     I entered the mall, I think it was called K-Mall if I'm not mistaken, or something. I wandered in the upper levels, since I couldn't find the Taiwan Storyland the entrance of which was supposed to be at street level.  I went to all the floors but I couldn't find it until I reached the toy section.  There was a store clerk who speaks very good English.  I asked him about the Taiwan Storyland, showed him my brochure and I got the shock of my life when I got my answer.  He told me it's already closed and the place where it's supposed to be is now occupied by a gym!  Whoa!  I was not expecting that.  

     I was really, really dejected.  I was like looking all over it for 30 minutes.  I was about to go down again when I saw a very familiar figure...it was Gundam!  Apparently, there's a Gundam exhibition of some sorts.  And even if I have not watched a single Gundam episode, Gundam is so popular and so, it lifted up my spirits!  Yay!  My time was not wasted at all.

     Funny thing about the Gundam exhibit:  I've seen a couple of families taking photos with Gundam, and believe it or not, the fathers were the excited ones, not the kids!  Hahaha!  Fan boys!  Well, thanks to those fathers, one of them obliged to take a couple of shots of me and Gundam.

   Aside from Gundam, I saw some very appealing life-like dolls of superior qualitiy.  I think they're called Super Dollfies.  God, I wanted to buy those but they look very, very expensive.  I love everything cute, including dolls.  The dolls look like anime characters.  So, so kawaii!  The shopkeeper was so kind and she let me take a couple of photos of the shop and of the dolls.  Apparently, you can dress up and put accessories on your dolls and arrange them like telling a story.  Hay, so cute! Kyaa!

The shop's window display

The dolls on the window display.

So, so beautiful in traditional Japanese clothing.

I want these dolls!

I want these dolls so bad...Megami boy with pampered princesses.

Opposites attract!  Cute loli-type girl with a rocker-like boy, holding hands!

Goths!

Are they emos or just plain rocker dude and chick?

Thoughts: Why the Heck is Google Asking Me to Register with AdSense?!

     When I checked my blog today, I noticed a sort of pop-up  message on my dashboard telling me that my blog's becoming more popular and that perhaps I should try out Adsense.  The message goes like this:  "It looks like your blog is popular and many popular blogs make money with AdSense. Try it now!"  And it happens every single time I open my dashboard.  

     Really.  My blog is getting popular?  I hardly get a 100 hits a day, how can it be popular?  That's just crazy.

     So, because I'm a curious cat, I tried signing up for Adsense.  I didn't try to understand it's rules; what I know is that ads are sometimes pesky, but with Adblocker and Noscript, I hardly see any ads on webpages I visit.  But I still tried signing up.  I thought it will make the pop-up message go away but it did not.  The successful sign up page told me that my application's awaiting approval and I think it'll take 48 hours.  And if there is something weird appearing on my page, that might be Adsense's doings. 

     And who clicks on the ads anyway?  I know I don't.  And Adsense says I could make money by placing ads.  Really?  Like a dollar a month?  Honestly, I have couple of readers, most are the people from PinoyExchange's Taiwan travel forum, but I don't think I get a lot of page views that could generate serious bucks.  But at the end of the day, I tried signing up.  Just so I'd know how ad placements work.   

     I know, I know, curiosity killed the cat. So, let's see.

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011 - Day 4: Monga Film Locations

     I found a Taipei travel guide at the Taoyuan International Airport about places I should visit in Taipei.  Apparently, the filming locations of the hit Taiwanese movie, Monga, around the Longshan Temple MRT station is quite popular.  And why not?  The movie stars Ethan Ruan and Mark Zhao as teenage gangsters in the oldest district in Taipei, Wanhua.  The place is also known as Bangka or Monga to the locals, hence the title of the movie.  The film is set somewhere in the 80s, when cheesy Air Supply songs like Making Love Out of Nothing At All ruled.

The lead stars of Monga.

Mark Zhao and Ethan Ruan are second from the left and second from the right, respectively.

     I re-watched Monga before coming to Taiwan because I wanted to familiarize myself with the must-see places.  If I remember correctly, Bopilao, whose architecture dates back to the Qing Dynasty, was restored, and a lot of memorable scenes from Monga were shot there, including the scene at the restaurant.  It's sort of a museum right now.  And it was thanks to Perladipace's blog that I found about the filming locations of Monga.

     So, with enthusiasm, I made my journey to Longshan Temple in search of Monga's filming locatioon.

     I first went to Bopilao. If you're facing the main entrance of the Longshan Temple, it is just on the right side past the shops that litter the streets.  Up ahead you'll find a red brick building with arched passageways at the corner of an intersection.  It's going to be at the left side of the road.  Walk along the building straight ahead until you reach the entrance.  It's free admission, but I was not able to go inside because I went there on a Monday.  And on Mondays, Bopilao is closed.  Dang it.

It may seem familiar to you because it's the Longshan Temple!

Movie screen cap of the huge gang fight scene.

The restored Bopilao area.

     At least I saw some people filming on site; the second one I've witnessed in Taipei.  I guess it's an era-piece because the actors were wearing costumes popular some decades back.  And I have a short video here:

Photos from Bopilao:

     It is a good thing that some of the Monga film locations were shot outside Bopilao.  I found a poster on  Bopilao, a map of Monga's filming locations.   I took a photo of it and I used it as map to find the places mentioned there.  Also, before going to Wanhua, I asked the hostel staff to write down the names, in Chinese, of the temples featured in the movie and gave me directions going there.  Yes, they know the names of the temple as they all have seen Monga.  It's that popular in Taiwan.  After all, Monga was submitted as a nominee for the Oscar's Best Foreign Picture.

The poster I found at Bopilao which I used as my map for

location hunting.  Click on the photo for full resolution.

     So, I tracked down on foot the two other temples, aside from the Longshan Temple, in Monga.  The first one was quite easy to find because Eric from the Hostel gave me directions.  However, if what I found was not the same temple, well, then, I am very unfortunate.  Moreover, I could not remember how I got there; every now and then I'd ask someone to tell me if I'm headed the right direction.  Eric from the Hostel told me that I should only ask directions from store clerks, like in 7-11, the police...you get the drift, but not from passersby because they might be tourists like me who also do not know where to go.  Tee hee.

     This is the first temple.  I think it's called Qingshui Temple, or something.  It was about 15 to 20 minutes on foot from Bopilao.  I was walking really slow because I was afraid I might miss my landmarks.  If I remember correctly, my landmarks were a grade school, a pedestrian overpass, and a gas station.  And yes, the temple was almost deserted, and I felt really weird taking the temple's pictures; like a voyeur.  Hehe.

Compare the photos above with these screen caps from Monga.  It's the same temple, so yay!

     Anyway, the first temple was the one more prominently used throughout the film.  It was present from start to finish.  After all, this is the home turf of the gang.

     The second temple was quite a challenge.  I had to return to Longshan Temple because my directions start from there but I could not find the second temple. I think I was walking farther and farther away from the second temple my first time trying to find it.  I was able to reach a place where there are flyovers on a really big road.  But hey, after 30 minutes or so, I found the second temple. And guess what?  It was really near the Longshan Temple!  I was just stupid.  I was like, OMG!  I wasted energy, walked under the sun and looked like a complete mess.

I got lost here.  Good thing there's a sign pointing to Qingshan Temple.

     Good grief!  But here it is, the second temple and it's called Mengjia Qingshan Temple.  I think this is the more popular temple of the two because, first, they were more people in the Qingshan Temple.  Second, there are a lot of signs pointing to the temple (but I couldn't follow them properly that is why I got a little lost). Third, it was more grandiose from the outside.

     While looking for the Qingshan Temple, I was able to find the Herb Alley.  Lucky me!  It was just behind the Longshan Temple if I am not mistaken.

Drying the herbs on the sidewalk.

Screenshot of the Herb Alley from the movie.

     And of course, I have photos of the Huaxi Night Market where the huge gang fight culminated in the movie.

Yup, this is the gang fight.  These people passed by the Longshan Temple in the screen cap above.

Huaxi Night Market, without the gang fight.

     I was not able to find the Snake Alley and the narrow alley where some of the smaller fights in the movie occurred.  I was too exasperated by the time I got back to Longshan Temple, and it was midday already, so I wrapped-up my Monga movie location hunting.

     If you want a primer or brochure for the Monga filming locations, use this one I just found over the internet.  I think this is the brochure I was looking for but did not find at the Longshan Temple MRT Station.  It's in PDF but here's the link: http://www.taipeitravel.net/UserFiles/File/MONGA_ENG.pdf

     Probably, I would not have gotten lost if I had that brochure when I went to Monga.

         

   

It's More Fun in the Philippines: Bataan - Day 2 at the Dambana ng Kagitingan

Dambana ng Kagitingan

   

     For our second day in Bataan, my family and I went to see the 00KM marker of the Bataan Death March, which is located nearby the NPC Village, before heading to the Dambana ng Kagitingan.  I wanted my little nephews and nieces to see the marker for their Philippine history studies. 

   

     Then we're off  to Mt. Samat!  Remember, it was a stormy day but there were a lot of local tourists going up to the mountain, like us. We saw a lot of teens and some mid-20s peeps hiking to the Dambana ng Kagitingan but every now and then, heavy rains would disrupt their journey.  Well, there are no public transportation to the Dambana ng Kagitingan so you either hike or drive.  But man, Mt. Samat is little eerie since the mountain is pretty dense. Nonetheless, the roads are in good condition, except for some fallen leaves and branches here and there.

The weather was really wonky.  

See the thick clouds obscuring the top of the cross.

 And this is a colossal marble edifice.  

The stained glass is just divine.

     To get into the cross itself, you may use the stone-paved, ascending zig-zag walkway, or better yet, drive a little further up.  I am semi-afraid of heights and the only way to go down from the cross back to the entrance, if you didn't drive going there, is through the stone-paved, zigzag walkway.  It's slippery when wet, and if you're a klutz like me, you'll probably have a hard time descending.

     Now, to get inside the cross, you have to ride a very small and narrow elevator.  Since it was a holiday, there were a lot of tourists and the storm didn't deter any of us to visit the Dambana ng Kagitingan.  Lots of tourists mean you have to wait for your turn to use the elevator and go up to the viewing area which is the horizontal part of the cross.  It couldn't accommodate much, the elevator and the viewing area both.  In our case, we didn't wait that long.  And we learned the reason why once we got to the viewing area.  The winds were freaking scary!  They were whistling!  And you'll feel the cross swaying!  It was pretty fun, though, to have the winds and drizzle slap on your face.  And the view is amazing, and so is the viewing deck itself!  You're literally in the clouds, too!  Anyway, there's nothing to worry about since there are guides and some will go up and down with the tourists in the elevator in case it halts for whatever reason.

The viewing area has a goth-like, vampire's lair vibe.

The best way to scare yourself, err, I mean, to listen to the howling of the winds?

Open all the windows, of course, and sway with the force!

This is what the earth looks like from up above the clouds. 

I uttered a short thanks to the Lord for this magnificent view.

And I even said to myself that Bataan is so gorgeous that I wouldn't mind living there.

No, this isn't from a horror movie.

I'm just messing up your mind and made it look creepy.

If the elevator bogs down, which happens at times, this is your way up and down.

It'll be your escape route, too. 

Really, the cross is so imposing and amazing.

This is probably the best photo I took of anything, ever.

          If you want to know more about the Dambana ng Kagitingan (Shrine of Valor), you may visit the official website of the Province of Bataan, here:

  http://www.bataan.gov.ph/index.php/DAMBANA-NG-KAGITINGAN.html