November « 2009 « Victor Villanueva

Posts published during November, 2009

November 30, 2009

On a nursery field trip

A few weeks ago, I went on a nursery field trip as chaperone for my younger sister Tisay. Looking after a four year-old girl the entire day all by oneself can both be tiring and enjoyable. Most of the attractions are geared towards the amusement of toddlers, so it can be a bore sometimes.

The first destination was a puppet theater. That was quite boring. The second destination was a Pizza Hut branch in SM Mall of Asia where the kids were made to “make their own pizza”. They were actually just herded inside, while parents and guardians waited outside the mall, and were made to place ham and pineapple pieces on ready-made dough with tomato sauce. After lunch, we were taken to a large warehouse in Paranaque owned by a pet shop company. The huge compound was transformed into a cramped-up zoo environment with fishes, dogs, cats, and different birds and reptiles in cages and tanks. It looked like cruelty to animals for me. All the kids were given goldfishes in plastic bags, after the tour, regardless if their families owned aquariums or not. It was a death sentence for most of those fishes. I asked Tisay if we could give out our two goldfishes instead, since we don’t have an aquarium at home.

The last destination, surprisingly, was where I quite enjoyed. It was a big three-storey maze-like indoor playground in Alabang where the kids are let loose to play. They let in the parents and guardians too, and I felt amazed going around the play-structure myself, with about a hundred kinds running about screaming with joy.

Aside from Tisay’s vomiting incident in the bus and a few bouts of tantrums, the chaperoning went well.

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November 28, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Myeongdong, Seoul

November 07, 2009. Our first night in Seoul was spent walking around Namdaemun Market and Myeongdong. I had wanted to look around the rows of camera shops in Namdaemun, hoping to buy new lens for my camera, so I suggested a trip to Namdaemun Market that night. We couldn’t locate the shops, however, and we eventually ended up in Seoul’s Myeongdong district.

Myeongdong is one of Seoul’s shopping districts featuring brand name shops in the mid to high-level prices. As we were looking for bargains, we didn’t go shopping. We just had dinner at a popular pizza restaurant chain in Korea. Myeongdong also seems to be where students and yuppies hang out, as most of the people who swarmed the streets were young people in trendy clothes. It feels like one large high-end open-air mall with a vibrant night life.

Not surprisingly, Myeongdong, Seoul also claims to be the ninth most expensive shopping street in the world in terms of floorspace rents.

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November 26, 2009

Satur Ocampo & Liza Maza to run for the Senate as independents

This is an article I wrote for Philippine Online Chronicle’s Blogwatch project. I attended the press conference myself with other members of Kabataan Partylist last November 24.

The Makabayan political coalition announced last November 24 the independent senatorial candidacies of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza. The two have earlier been reported to be part of the senatorial slate of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar as guest candidates. The decision came days after NP announced its alliance with the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) of the Marcos family.

Ocampo, who himself is a victim of political persecution during the late Pres. Ferdinand Marcos’ implementation of Martial Law, said that it is an insult to all victims of the dictatorship to form an alliance with the KBL, a party that Ocampo claims is a moribund party. Ocampo also reminded Villar that it was KBL which obliterated the NP and and other political formations during Martial Law to become the one-party machinery of the Marcos regime.

Though Ocampo and Maza were aware of talks that Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., son of the former President, may also be part of the broad NP senatorial slate, the two agreed to be part of the same slate as long as the issues of justice and compensation to the families of victims of Martial Law and the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses were not compromised. The earlier decision of Ocampo and Maza to form an alliance with NP was also achieved after Villar allegedly committed to and agreed on several other issues that the Makabayan coalition has been campaigning for. Among these are economic reforms through national industrialization and a review of bilateral, multilateral and regional economic agreements with foreign countries, genuine agrarian reform, and the prosecution of Pres. Gloria Arroyo and her kin for their involvement in many corruption scandals.

Read the rest of this entry »

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November 24, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Onto Seoul

November 07, 2009. After just a day in Busan, we proceeded to Seoul via the Korea Train Express or KTX. The high-speed train, running as fast as 300 kph took us to Seoul, almost 550 kilometers away (more or less the distance between Manila and Cebu or Manila and Ilocos), in less than three hours. The train was apparently only inaugurated in 2004.

Speaking of trains, apparently, all Korean cities and many towns have well developed public transit systems. In fact, the Seoul-Incheon subway system is one of the largest in the world, with over 300 stations. It’s something that we weren’t able to try out, riding the subway. Nonetheless, such an extensive subway system must make commuting to any point of destination in the metropolis a convenience. It’s something I wish we could have in Manila, but with the billions of dollars that it might cost, it may just be wishful thinking. For now, we have to make do with streets congested with public and private vehicles.

Upon arriving in Seoul and while trying to figure out how we can get to our hotel, I took some pictures around the vicinity of the big train station. There was a small rally being held nearby, calling for the unification of North and South Korea, in favor of the dominance of South Korean democracy, of course. All the other people were going by their own ways, most of them in a rush.

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South Korea Trip ’09: Gyeongju (Part 2)

November 06, 2009. The Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju is a stone temple built and completed more than 1,200 years ago. It has been regarded by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site.

The carved stones that make up the grotto were stacked up into a dome-shaped cave bonded together by soil and clay. The grotto houses the Bonjonbul, a 3.5 meter-high statue of the Buddha, considered one of the most outstanding masterpieces in the history of the world’s religious art. There are other sculptures surrounding the giant Buddha, though I don’t recall what they represent or what story they tell. Photos aren’t allowed to be taken inside the temple, so I can’t show you anything. Some pictures are available over the internet.

A few minutes from the Seokguram Grotto is Bulguksa Temple. Bulguksa is another Buddhist temple complex that houses structures and sculptures dating to more than a thousand years ago. Like Seokguram, it is also considered as a UNESCO world heritage site.

Since it was the beginning of autumn, the trees were in their colorful orange, red and yellow hues which made the landscape look more impressive.

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November 23, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Gyeongju (Part 1)

November 06, 2009. A few hours drive north of Busan is the city of Gyeongju, once the capital of Silla, one of Korea’s ancient three-kingdoms. With a long and rich history spanning over a thousand years and more than a handful of impressive structures dating back hundreds of years, it has been designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage city.

Leaving Busan at past 10 in the morning, we arrived in Gyeongju right in time for lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant. It was my formal introduction to Korean food and eating practices. We had a room in a courtyard style home with warm elevated flooring. We were served the entries in batches, every quarter of an hour or so. I don’t remember everything that was served, as most of them were terribly unfamiliar. It might take a longer stay in Korea for one to truly appreciate the food. Many of them were pickled, spicy vegetables, cold cuts of raw fish and other sea creatures, and some beef soup. The servings aren’t big, but since there were a lot of dishes, it was more than enough to fill us up. Formal lunches like this are meant for long afternoons with conversations among friends and colleagues.

Silla Millenium Park in Gyeongju is a modern theme park that seeks to recreate an ancient Silla city. Since we only had an hour or so to spend in the park, we were not able to go around much. We were only able to see a show in the park’s Jang Bo-Go Performance Stage, depicting a battle between Koreans and Chinese invaders trying to occupy a Silla city. The Koreans win and thwart the invasion, of course.

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November 14, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Rest of Busan

We, unfortunately, just had a day to spend in Busan. I would have really liked to just walk around the streets downtown, around markets and other places in the city, to do what I have just recently re-enjoyed doing, taking pictures. The only sight-seeing we were able to do was sight-seeing through the windows of cars, and through brief stop-overs along the road, or brief walks before and after lunch and dinner.

Our only dinner in Busan was spent at a seafood restaurant in the city’s Gwangalli district, which like Haeundae, has its own seafront lined with restaurants, cafes and bars, all with a great view of the magnificent Gwangan bridge. It was a long dinner of raw sea creatures, from freshly killed and chopped tentacles of octopus, (bits of which which still crawled and sucked on the surface of our plates) to thinly-cut slices of the the dangerously lethal fugu. I will write about our gastronomic feats in Korea in another entry. Needless to say, after all the odd dishes I tried, I gained a new appreciation for Filipino comfort foods and fast food fares.

I was able to take some nice shots of Busan from the top floor of a hotel downtown during our last lunch in the city, before we proceeded to Seoul. I noticed, and this became more apparent as we moved to Seoul, that many Korean cities are surrounded by mountains, and these are not built with concrete structures but rather, they are largely reserved with their natural foliage. These landscapes makes for picturesque views of cities like Busan.

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November 13, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Haeundae Beach, Busan

November 06, 2009. After more than three hours on a flight from Manila, we arrived early in the morning at the Korean city of Busan, South Korea’s second largest city.

Some of us may know Busan as the host of the annual Pusan International Film Festival. It also played host to the 2002 Asian Games and the 2005 meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It is being marketed intensely by the Korean government as an ideal venue for conventions, cultural festivals and sporting events. In fact, it is preparing for a serious bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Busan is also considered one of Manila’s “sister cities” but Busan can, perhaps, be likened more to Cebu City in the Philippines, the country’s own second largest metropolis offering its own beaches and pleasant travel and leisure activities for local and foreign tourists.

We were booked in a hotel at the city’s Haeundae district, right next to its beach, famous among Koreans especially the summer season when tens of thousands flock to this port metropolis for its subtropical climate. Haeundae, however, was just one of the city’s handful of beaches. Haeundae has a boardwalk lined with hotels, cafes, bars and restaurants along the beach.