Tag Archives: adventure

Funky Watermelon House

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Seeing and taking photos of the White House is a tourist’s travel destination and activity when in Washington D.C.  It is the must-see house when visiting the state capital of the United States.  I did just that as I posted in my previous post.

Also, while being in Washington D.C. I can’t help but marvel over the beautiful residential houses lined on the streets of this state.  Its design and architecture seem to represent an all-American type of living.

 

But there is one funky house that really struck me the most while visiting D.C.  It is not painted white like the official resident of the US President but instead drawn into the colors and design of a watermelon.

Though boxed-type of a structure and not the typical house seen along the streets of Washington D.C., the Watermelon House was indeed something unique.  Kudos to the artist who planned and made this because he was able to successfully capture on drawing attention of passersby and onlookers on such a funky art.

 

I could not contain myself from not taking photos of the Watermelon House when I saw it!  I nevertheless did not dare knock on the door so as to enter and check how the interior looks like.  I left the residents alone of course.  But I definitely wondered if living inside is as refreshing as that of the refreshing watermelon.

Mukha namang Hown Swit Hown infernes…

The Electrifying Time Square NYC

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Stepping on Time Square every time a person tours and visits New York is always one of the main highlights.  I know that locals, unless they work there, would as much as possible avoid this pandemonium of a place.  But since I am a tourist, I have all the right to visit and feel the energy and vibe of Time Square.

New Yorkers should be proud and be pleased by the sense and feel that Time Square offers to its visitors.  Time Square for me seem to be the modern-day center of the planet.  There is no official language on this spot of earth.  Everybody seem to speak of their own.  And Time Square is one big animal that seem to celebrate a non-stop party, 24/7!

I don’t know but every time I step on Time Square, there seem to be some weird electricity that seem flow in me.  Maybe, this is the physical manifestation of a place being so electrifying!

Here’s a couple of photos I shot during my recent stepping on Time Square…

Basta! Ay lab dis pleys…

 

Dear Evan Hansen: My New Musical Favorite

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I don’t remember how I got to know Dear Evan Hansen, the musical.  Maybe it is because I so love songs from various musicals and I adore Broadway musicals that is why my algorithm just simply popped Dear Evan Hansen on my internet searches in the past.

And since I live half-way around the world away from New York City, I just have to satisfy myself from listening to the beautiful soundtrack of this musical and watch snippets on YouTube of Ben Platt singing the musical’s songs on American TV shows.

where majority of the letters were written…

stole a shot at the end of the show

the cast…

One of my workmates can attest that I am a fan of this musical because when he (Chef Juan Carlos Lima) travelled New York for a short holiday 2 years ago, I actually asked him to buy me a souvenir shirt of Dear Evan Hansen. Chef Juan Carlos when I was showing him the photo of the Dear Evan Hansen shirt looked so puzzled and so funny because he does not have any idea on what I was talking about.

But now that I am in New York, I promised myself that no matter what, I will have to watch this award-winning musical.  And I did not fail myself because last Wednesday I got to actually see it at the Music Box Theatre!

Its an Experience!  Only the stone-hearted will not be moved by this musical.

where it’s running…

Dear Evan Hansen though profoundly contemporary will definitely struck everyone’s inner chord.  Everyone can actually relate to the story and there seem to be like an Evan Hansen in all of us!  And I agree to the popular reviews in past that it will instantly pierce the viewers’ heart and will burrow it through to their consciousness.  I for one was crying.  As in like C.R.Y.I.N.G!  I was like having waterfalls on my freaking face! And I was not the only one who was crying because I can actually see and hear people in the audience sniveling, sobbing and clearing their snot!

May you be a young or an old person, a parent, a person with or without a parent, a student, a worker, a friend, a person with insecurities (which everybody got), a person who feels being like an outsider (who hasn’t?), Dear Evan Hansen definitely is one of the most relatable musicals I have ever seen! Even on the first song, you will already be so hooked because it is way too relatable!  It is as if the musical knows us so much and was written about each and every one of us.

I thought I already saw my favorite musical when I was here in New York four years ago.  Well, I guess that has changed.  And I think it would take a very beautiful masterpiece of a musical to topple Dear Evan Hansen as my favorite.  Dear Evan Hansen is clearly an EXPERIENCE!

my playbill… love it!

#youwillbefound

I only have one wish now that I have seen Dear Evan Hansen.  And that is someday, this great musical arrive the shores of Manila because like what the musical says…‘no one deserves to be forgotten’.  And when it arrives in Manila, I will be one of the first persons to watch it again.

Ang galing! Peyborit!

Will Facebook Miss Me

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New York City is considered the modern mecca of a modern urban traveler.  It is known that if you are a connoisseur in the scene of world travel, you have actually not traveled at all in case you have not been to the city that never sleeps. 

one popular photo i posted in my FB during my 1st NY visit

I will be in New York City next week and this is going to be my second time in that juggle city.  During my first stay, I, like any other millennial and pretend-millennial (like me) bombarded my Facebook account with multitudes of photos of various spots, points and sites of New York.  And like any other travels I had in other parts of the world, these Facebook-posted photos earned me swarms of likes, wows and hearts which of course brought to my foolish pleasant feelings of happiness.

I however will post some tough challenge upon myself.  This time around, I will not post anything about my NY travel on Facebook page.  I would nevertheless continue on writing on my WordPress blog about it and as an alternative to such deprivation the only social media that I am gonna use will be my unpopular and often ignored Instagram account. 

Unlike Facebook, in which I got more than a thousand friends and followers I only got less than 300 followers in IG.  Most of them are IG users whose intention is to increase their number of followers, i.e.,  they would follow you just for the sake that they be followed back and later in the week will unfollow you after they noticed that you have followed them already.  And my other IG followers are either inactive or my close relatives.

One deviation though to this challenge is that I will allow friends I caught-up with or new friends I will meet during this travel to tag me in their own FB page.  And second, I will not totally stop viewing and liking FB posts of my dear FB friends.  To be clear, I will just not post anything about this NY travel on FB.

With this challenge in mind, will my FB friends try to seek my blog posts and increase my WordPress viewership?  Will there be an increase in my Instagram followers who are sincere and authentic? Will my Facebook followers who hates my posts gets happier?  Would it end up to the signs of the Second Coming of Jesus?  Will it kick me out of ketosis? Would it make me anything less of the person I am now after this challenge?  Can I survive it? Will Facebook Miss Me?

Kayanin ko kaya?

Language of Planet Ketosis

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It’s been exactly 24 days that I have been doing myself a ketogenic diet.  And since this high-fat, adequate protein and very low carb diet is new to my being, I have to do a massive research and study so as to keep myself from being under ketosis and prevent being kicked out from it.

Through the days of my research, I discovered that there are words that exists which I never use or even encountered prior to my being on keto.  It seems that there is a totally different set of language that exists because of this diet.  It was like I was transported to a different planet and was exposed to a totally different language.

with nengkoy and my sister joie (who’s been my patient buddy every time i need to do a keto grocery shopping)

 Where on earth would you encounter the words keto flu, ketosis and medium-chain triglycerides? How on ordinary earth would you bump into words like ketones, hypoglycemia and gluconeogenesis?  A cheese is a cheese is a cheese. But now I have to care about its containing conjugated linoleic acid. 

And since I got the sweetest tooth, I have to come across with aspartame, erythritol, tagatose and monk fruit.  Even my computer’s spelling-check feature could not ascertain if some of these words really exists!

The keto language even have homonyms for sugar!  To the tune of glucose, sucrose and fructose.  Prior to keto diet the only 3-same sounding words I knew that are related to each other were the nephews of Donald Duck! Huey, Dewey and Louie!

Hahaha! The only bulletproof I know is a vest.  Now I have to be familiar with a bulletproof coffee! Macros is short for macronutrients.  May it be shortened nor lengthened, I both never knew it prior to ketosis.  If my two favorite Disney villains were Flotsam and Jetsam of The Little Mermaid, now my two favorites – not villains but fats – are MUFA and PUFA! Go google it!

O sha na.. at baka magka-ketoacidosis pa ako sa inyo!

I Am In Ketosis

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Let me formally announce to the planet that I am in ketosis.  Yes.  It has been since February 26, 2019 that I decided to try ketogenic diet.  And it has been a grueling struggle to keep under ketosis.

Reason behind this is because I live in a country that is infested with sugar and carbohydrates, the two fatal enemies of this zany diet.  Filipinos like me will definitely go insane if their meal does not include rice.  Rice is in every Pinoy meal from breakfast, to lunch to dinner and even up to midnight snack.  Even desserts of Filipinos can be made of the scandalous rice!  For Filipinos, rice is life!

With regards to sugar, the Philippines has the sweetest varieties of tropical fruits on the planet and only a limited number of cooked dishes are not laced with sugar here in my country.  In fact, it is a well-known fact on the entire planet that only in the Philippines can you find a sweet spaghetti.  Hello Jollibee!  And even the world renowned Filipino Adobo, for it to taste even better must be spiked with the notorious sugar.

Philippines also is so unlike the western countries where keto friendly food and dishes are easily available.  Hello Whole Foods Market!  Aside from being so insanely expensive, It is really a struggle to maintain and retain under ketosis.  In fact, for the last fourteen days that I have been in ketosis, I have survived four social events – including that of Nengkoy’s big birthday party – where cakes, pastas, rice meals and sweet drinks were highlighted.

starting to learn how to cook this expensive keto friendly noodles…

I can actually consider that my reduction in the consumption of sugar and carbs was even harder than when I stopped smoking.  It is because I was born and grew up consuming these that resulted to an autopilot sagacity of my whole persona for rice and sweet treats.  It is unlike smoking, which I started when I was an adult and ceased puffing nicotine also during adulthood.  It is therefore not surprising that I had the worst cold turkey when I was starting ketogenic diet otherwise known as the keto flu for the ketogenic language!

But I guess for every struggle, there is like what Ms. Universe Catriona Gray consider as the “silver lining”.  It has been only fourteen days yet I already lost a whopping 12 pounds!

hope to achieve my ideal weight soon…

Nakaka-aning aning sa hirap!

I Wanna Sing In A Pub Choir!

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I think I am a rare Filipino breed.  Reason behind this is because I cannot sing!

When I was in Jerusalem, I was able to meet a bunch of cool Jews in a coffee shop who were celebrating Purim. My sister Ester who toured with me decided to stay in the hotel to read about the Holy Bible’s Queen Ester, her namesake.

These young Jewish people were surprised to know that I was a Filipino travelling as a tourist in their country.  One guy then uttered to the group that Filipinos seem to have the genes for good singing voice. The whole bunch of these cool happy people then started teasing and entreating that I should sing a song for them.

a stock photo of my trip to jerusalem… it’s not rare meeting cool strangers in that city

I tried doing it but they obviously did not liked what they’re were hearing.  I stopped and did not finish.   I was like Cameron Diaz singing “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” in the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding.  After my singing, they were gracious enough to clap their hands while doubting if I am really is a Filipino and simply moved on and continued on with the Purim revelry with me.

I remembered all these when I happen to bumped into a fascinating YouTube video regarding a joint where hundreds of strangers inside the pub would learn and sing together a popular pop song.  Watch this…

Internet indicates that Pub Choir phenomenon started two years ago in Brisbane, Australia and the fun and fascinating concept/activity has been booming and expanding all throughout the Land Under. 

And if this phenomenon would finally arrive here in Manila, I would be one of the few Filipinos who could not sing would enlist and would definitely sing my heart out in this event. I and my rare kind of Filipino breed would definitely unleash the Cameron Diaz in all of us!

Handa AWIT!

 

 

 

Shimmering Soumaya Museum

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Modern and present earthlings’ visit and holiday to Mexico City would now no longer be complete without visiting the Soumaya Museum.  Hailed as a new landmark, this weird looking building in the city is a private museum owned by the richest living earthling Carlos Slim. 

Named after the wife of the owner who passed away in 1999, Soumaya Museum building is one of the weirdest-looking modern architecture that I have ever seen!  It is so weird that I could not actually ascertain its geometrical shape.  Add to its weirdness is its being windowless and that the whole building glimmers and sparkles when hit by the rays of the sunshine!

And since the owner is filthy rich, admission inside the museum is free. Only the blind would miss the bronze cast of Rodin’s The Thinker upon entering the open airy lobby.  There’s also a colorful mural (considered to be one of the last works) done by Diego Rivera pointing toward the restrooms.

the lobby!

 

la puerta del infierno (the gates of hell) Ang taray ng title!

look at how tiny the people are at the bottom of this photo

Art collections found inside Soumaya Museum are all so grand and ostentatious.  It is dominated by the great works European artists, including El Greco, Van Gogh, Degas, Matisse and Picasso.  There are also a spectacular section of religious art which includes the Mexican portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Spanish painting of the Virgin of Toledo and surprisingly intricate ivory sculptures of Jesus hanged on the Cross done by Filipino artisans.

And like in any other museum, it has been my tradition of choosing a collection that I am most impressed with.  Soumaya Museum had three amazing collections that enticed, engrossed and charmed my wits.

El Pansador (The Thinker by Auguste Rodin). I need to have a photo with this masterpiece

Joven de Bou-saada (Young Girl of Bou-saada). It looks so real, it scares me!

If art feeds the soul, Soumaya Museum would definitely have you so full! This was indeed a very enriching adventure! 

Hugis ano?

The Spectacular Teotihuacan

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One of the beautiful highlights of my recent trip to Mexico was my visit at the magnificent ruins of Teotihuacan.  It is about an hour bus ride from the modern-day Mexico City.  And because there are massive information available online on how to get to these ruins by commute, I decided to do the adventure by following the instructions indicated on various blogs and web write-ups.  I could have simply joined a tour group but as usual, I challenged myself. 

courageously doing a commute at the bus station armed with a lot of things

I learned from my first few days that majority of Mexicans do not really speak English.  Thus, before I left for this ancient city, I armed myself with adequate internet data, the proficient Google Maps and reminded myself the simple steps to communicate, i.e. (i) speak English slowly; (ii) drop the articles as they only cause confusion; (iii) repeat the main concept two or three time; (iv) gesticulate; and, (v) smile a lot.

Teotihuacan was really overwhelming!  And based on various write-ups, no one knows who built this humongous ancient city.  It was so old that it was already in ruins before the ancient Aztecs were able to discover this old puzzling metropolis.  In 1987 this ancient city was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  And since it is so close to the modern-day Mexico City, Teotihuacan has been the most visited archeological site in Mexico. 

on my way to the pyramids via calle de los muertos

pyramid of the sun

strike a pose! it’s one of the largest pyramids!

unbelievable! I had to pinch myself!

cleverly called… the avenue of the dead

mysterious!

i need to have a selfie! on top of the pyramid of the moon!

photo taken from the pyramid of the moon

i love this shot!

What for me is so cool about Teotihuacan is how spots in this ancient city were named and labelled.  Mexicans’ naming of the interesting places of Teotihuacan gave it more appeal and character.  Whoever tagged or named the places inside Teotihuacan are so smart and imaginative.

And since the term “Teotihuacan” meant as “the birth place of the gods” or “the place where men turns into gods”, it is but fitting that this ancient city has the Pyramid of the Sun (the third largest pyramid in the world) and the more gracious-looking Pyramid of the Moon.  There was even a location that is sensationally called the “Temple of the Feathered Serpent”! 

feeling happy & feeling blessed! pyramid of the moon at the background…

will definitely not forget this adventure

The coolest actually was how the main road leading to the pyramids was called.  The central 2.4-kilometer main road is called Calle de los Muertos or “the Avenue of the Dead”.  So when I was walking on this runway, it felt dramatic! I felt like I was being transformed by some creative spirit from being a human being to some sort of a god!  It was really amazing! 

Teotihuacan, built hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, will remain a mystery.  Little is known about its first inhabitants and why this magnificent place was later abandoned.  Whatever is the mystery behind the ruins of Teotihuacan, it remain to be something so pleasing and imaginative.  Its mystery definitely adds up to its awesome charm. 

Ispektakular! Ang galing!

Wowed by Biblioteca Vasconcelos

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If you don’t know me yet, and though I don’t look like one, let me tell you that I absolutely love books and reading.  That is why when I travel, there is always a book that I would bring along with me.

So when I heard that there is a unique mega library in Mexico City and even though it is not included in Tripadvisor’s the top 15 destinations to visit in Mexico City, I know that this would be a place that I have to check out.

It’s Biblioteca Vasconcelos!  I didn’t know really what to expect.  But when I walked in, I literally let go of a massive gasp.  It was so loud,  a bunch of quiet people inside the building knew that there is an elated first timer who has just entered.   

This place is unlike any other places that I have been to.  The architecture is incredibly unique and it is not just like any other library but unlike any other place I have ever seen!  And the more entire I went, the more incredible it becomes.

After the first initial wow impression, the next thing I noticed is just the sheer scale and size of the building.  The uniqueness is that you would see people around: beside you, beneath you and above you.  Some of the floors are actually thick translucent glass.

Biblioteca Vasconcelos opened in 2007 and has over half a million books.  It got its name after Jose Vasconcelos who is a Mexican philosopher, a former presidential candidate and was also the president of the national library of Mexico.   

I noticed that the walls are transparent and that the floors seem mismatched.  It also have very intricate staircases and balconies, it reminds me of the movie Inception in a scene where things were folding on to each other.  I really felt like I was in a sci-fi novel.  It gave me the feeling of being set in the future which not many equally awesome buildings could do.

Biblioteca Vasconcelos is called a mega library because it is actually 5 libraries merged into one.  And each one library is dedicated and pay homage to Mexico’s great thinkers.

One thing that really takes center stage inside this library is the massive white whale skeleton done by an artist named Gabriel Orozco.  The whale’s skeleton, fitted onto a metal armature and inscribed with granite rings and circles, hangs suspended in midair.  It seem visible from almost all sections and every point within the library.

The library is so massive, there are tons of areas where people can sit and work.  Entrance of course is for free and there is free wifi.  And what is best is that Tripadvisor seem to have yet discover this place as one cool tourist destination. 

If you are a book lover like me or an architecture fanatic or just want to see a really unique place within Mexico City, then Biblioteca Vasconcelos is definitely worth a visit.  

Waw as is WAW!