Manila Chronicles: Greenhills Shopping Center's Christmas Display

 
     Last Sunday, my relatives and I went to the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City, NCR, to see their Christmas Display.  It was set-up on top of the roof of the walkway going to the center of the mall, and it was made possible in cooperation with COD.  During the olden times, when I was a kid, COD, a department store in Cubao, had an annual Christmas moving and lighted display on their building and people flock to the mall to watch the display come to life.  Now, they showcase their display at the Greenhills Shopping Center.

     When we went to Greenhills, there were already a lot of people to see the display, especially since it just opened the other day on Friday, and it was its first weekend.  Also, the slew of people was concentrated  at the tiangge area (open-market stalls) in front of the display.  It was hot and humid but the little child in me wanted to see the display so a little patience was in order.

     The display was simple; it runs every 30 minutes from 6:30 pm until closing time, around 11 pm if I recall correctly.  There's a Santa's factory, a house with a chimney, a Christmas village, Frosty the Snowman, and of course, Santa and his reindeers.  While the life-sized mannequins were doing their dancing and prancing, their walking in the winter wonderland, or dancing on the snow, or heralding the birth of Jesus, appropriate Christmas songs to the scenes portrayed by the mannequins were being played.  It's a treat for the kids, and a lovely moment to reminisce those golden days when the show was still played at COD.

     Before I forget, I had been to Makati for a drive to see their Christmas display and lights two weeks ago but it wasn't fully finished yet.  I'll go back to Makati this weekend to view it again, particularly at the Ayala Triangle Park where there's a symphony of lights show from 6 pm to 8 pm, Mondays to Fridays.  I'll post it on Sunday or on Monday.

History Channel's Hidden Cities - Taiwan

     I have been swamped with work that I wasn't able to keep track of everything that I'm supposed to do.  But here it is, the synopsis for the final episode of Hidden Cities, featuring Taiwan:

N.B. From History Asia Channel's Hidden Cities webpage:

      Taiwan is an Asian economic powerhouse and one of the region's most liberal societies.  But beneath its modern facade lies a hidden world of secret fortresses, underground cities and tragic prison camps.


     In this episode, presenter Anthony Morse explores a 7-hectare fortress that served as former leader Chiang Kai-shek's secret military command center during the Chinese Civil War; discovers a forgotten WWII prisoner-of-war camp currently used as an aboriginal refugee center and uncovers an underground city stretching over several kilometers that was dug right beneath an 800-year-old village.


     Programme schedule:


     Premiers 14 November, 10:00 pm (GMT +8)
     Encores: 16 November at 11:00 pm, 21 November at 9:00 pm, and 03 December at 10:00 pm

     I have been to Taiwan several months ago, and I just instantly fell in love with it.  For sure, this episode will bring back the nostalgic memories I have of Taiwan.  I will be live-blogging the show, as well as the Indonesia episode which will be shown back-to-back tomorrow night, Sunday.

     I grabbed the promotional video of the episode from their website and you could watch it HERE:

Engine Troubles: A Plane Makes an Emergency Landing in Singapore

     Travelers' greatest fear might be plane troubles, and honestly, every time I ride an airplane, I always utter a short prayer before take-off.  I never seem to get used to turbulence; not at all.  That is why I always pick seats in front when flying with Cebu Pacific; in fact, I almost always buy those coveted first-row seats.  After all, Cebu Pacific's planes are small and every twist and turn, you'd get to feel it.  But if you're seated at the front, it is not so bad.

     This afternoon, I got twitter updates regarding a Qantas A380 plane bound for Australia from London which made an emergency landing in Singapore.  Apparently, while over Indonesia, the passengers heard an explosion of some sorts, and one of the four engines malfunctioned.  The airplane had to fly back to Singapore where it departed (on a stop-over).  And, debris fell from the skies down to Indonesian land.  Thank God, no one was hurt.  But it is still a very frightening experience for the passengers...

Shenzhen Adventure (Part III) - Splendid China and the Dragon and Phoenix Show (with videos)

     

     After going to two factories, the guide told us that she'll accompany us for some shopping.  We told her that we'd like to avail of their services for Splendid China so we'd see the performances later at night.  Touring with them wouldn't be cheap.  They charged us RMB 280 per person inclusive of the ticket for the show.  I know that the entrance is RMB 120, so, assuming the show is RMB 50 for VIP seats, the tour company raked in around RMB 110 per pax.  We'll I don't know if our tickets were VIP because, if not, general admission tickets should have been free. But we're in the middle section, very near the stage, and it was reserved by our guide beforehand, so what do we know? 

     Anyway, what matters is that we had a tour guide who led us to significant places to visit during our short period of roaming around the park.  And we had a chauffeur-driven van.

     According to our guide, the park is divided into two: the wonders of China (I made that description, I forgot how she said it), and the ethnic tribes of China.  We can only choose one because each part would take two hours to visit, and it was 4:00 p.m. already.  We chose the wonders of China.

     Having a tour guide really helps.  They know where to take you the easiest way possible.  We had an expedited wonders of China tour, and she said it was only a third of it.  We got to see the Potala Palace, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Xian warriors, and many, many more.  The tour guide told us  the names of each sight we visited but I wasn't paying attention, so there. 

     I know, I know.  I'll be in Beijing in two months' time for a six-day trip.  Yup, I'll get the chance to see the Forbidden Palace, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and of course, the Great Wall of China, among others, for real. But it's still a treat to see these sites' mini-me versions, reminds me of  the former Nayong Pilipino  near the NAIA terminal 1 airport my family used to visit when I was just a little girl.

 

 

     It was nearly nightfall and our much-anticipated activity was about to start.  The highlight of the day: the Dancing of the Dragon and Phoenix performance.  The outdoor theater was packed with Japanese and Indonesian tourists; the stage was huge, and so was the video screen.  We settled in our seats early, and there were security people present to usher guests to their seats.  The video screen was playing snippets of the parks three performances: the Oriental Apparel (or something), the Horse-back Battle, and the Dragon and Phoenix  Show.  I have a video of the Horse-back Battle below (people around us were noisy):

   

     The Dragon and Phoenix Show? It was spectacular!  It had everything: comedy, dancing, folklore, customs and traditions, acrobatics, beautiful people and colorful costumes, fire, water, lanterns, flowers, dragon dance, battle scenes, weddings, feasts, horse-back riding, sheeps, and of course, magnificent fireworks, among others.  For one hour, I was transfixed by the show.  Suddenly, I felt that my RMB 280 was worth it.

    An excerpt from the show:

Just Dance! Cebu Pacific's Dancing Flight Attendants

     Who says the in-flight safety demo is boring? [Raises hand].  I've flown quite extensively internationally  for vacations, and locally, especially in 2008 till the early part of this year, because of my job. I usually take the Cebu Pacific flights; they're cheaper if you buy tickets during their seat sales.  Well, the first time you ride a plane, you watch the demo with a hawk's eye, but as you fly more often, it gets boring, then, so so so boring, to the point that you don’t pay attention to it at all.

     But then again, Cebu Pacific makes the safety demo interesting.  Their flight attendants are keeping with the beat to Lady Gaga's Just Dance and Katy Perry's California Gurls while demonstrating the safety features of the plane and emergency guidelines.  Yup.  They're demonstrating and dancing.  What a fun idea.  However, don't enjoy it too much lest you end up forgetting about what's really important: the safety demo.

   With almost 1.5 million hits, enjoy the video courtesy of wingco1129:

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.

         

   

Taiwan Travel Adventures 2011 - Sun Moon Lake, Part 4: Sun Moon Lake Ropeway

     After much debate with myself (I was alone, remember?), I pushed through with my plan to ride the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway, although I very much wanted to just stay at the Full House Resort and chill.  

     Finding the Ropeway is quite easy, but getting there takes a lot of steps.  650 meters seem near but quite far with the hiking/walking trail.  At least, the view is great.  Along the way, I passed by another lodging similar to the log cabin look of the Full House Resort.  It's called the Rich Forest, mere seconds from the Full House Resort.  Then, there are some food stalls and a couple of very quaint, very charming coffee shops.  Not long thereafter, I reached the start of a trail leading to the Ropeway.  The trail is well-maintained; it would be the perfect place for a great jog or walk.  It is near the water's edge but not too much.  There were not a lot of people around.  Just a couple of passersby, like me.  

 

     Of course, I just took a leisurely walk.  Since I made a detour at the Full House Resort, going to the Ci En Pagoda didn't seem feasible given the time.  I mean, I still have to hike to reach the pagoda.  So, I was just content to take pictures of the surroundings.

     There were some markers along the way explaining the Ita Thao way of life, and also, there's a sort of fishing place at the back of the Ropeway building.  Also, I noticed that you could camp out near the trails.  There was a worker sleeping under the shade and I saw a camping tent set up not far from the sleeping man.

     Finally, I reached the Ropeway!  I queued and then I climbed to the topmost floor to board the cable car.  I was jittery with excitement and fear!

     To my surprise, the cable ride was calm and not-so-scary; but the ascent and descent were steep.  Also, I got a car all to myself.  I think the whole ride lasted for less than 7 minutes.  From the cable car, I could clearly almost the entirety of the lake, and it was so breathtaking.  It was pretty hazy, though, but the haze could not hide the beauty of the lake and of the surrounding mountains.  It was worth the ride, and of course, the hike.

     Since I didn't have a ticket to the FACV, I immediately took a cable car ride back to the Ropeway building (Ita Thao station).  This time around, I was forced to take a cable car with a family of 4 (parents and 2 small kids).  The kids are so cute, and the couple knows how to speak English.  They even took my picture.  

    

      Here's a short video I took during my Ropeway ride:

     After the ride, I went down to the lobby to browse the items on sale.  I think the stuff there are cheap.  I bought Sun Moon Lake playing cards for NTD 30.00 and pencils with animal decor on one end for just about the same price.  I went to Ximending the following day and similar items cost way more than at the Ropeway, almost double the price I paid for each item.

     It was finally time to head back to the Shueishe Visitor's Center.  I still didn't have a ticket going back to Taipei because I was still undecided what time I should leave.  But I made up my mind that I want to just take the bus going back to Taipei instead of the Taiwan High Speed Railway because I want to be able to rest.  If I take the THSR, I'd probably stay awake for fear of missing my destination.

     So, I waited for the round-the-lake bus and I returned to the Shueishe Visitor's Center to buy my Kuo Kuang bus ticket going back to Taipei.