Philippine Travel Notes

Not as long and wide as that one at Ayala Avenue in Makati, there's also a mesmerizing spectacle that await young & young-at-heart visitors to Bonifacio High Street's park in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. A crystal-inspired light and sound show captivates your senses. At the center of this park is a gigantic magnificent "gift box" constructed from little crystal balls. These enchanting spheres change in color, synchronized with Christmas tunes and machine-produced smoke/fog and bubbles, plus laser lights. A symphony of lights adorn the real palm trees that gracefully line the park. They're wound around the trunks like luminescent ribbons, harmoniously pulsating and shifting colors in perfect rhythm with the accompanying music. Aliw factor to the max! A lovely and lively way to cheer shopping customers. Not just trees are adorned with lights, but all establishments that surround the park! Each building has an array of blinking lights, suspended in...

I already said this before, I don't like arriving in Manila during afternoons. And you of course know why that is so, very heavy afternoon-to-evening rush-hour traffic, AS IN, right? But there are just times when and where we don't have a choice. Today was one of those dreaded days for me - ETA MNL at 1515H. Somewhere in me was actually saying "that may still be fine", so cheer up! Add to that, I was riding on my most disliked airline for domestic flights, the red plane. Though usually the cheapest, in my experience, they're usually the dirtiest among the three. But what else can I do, eh I only learned last night, that I am needed in Manila tomorrow morning. So theirs, was the best flight I could grab! Available flights on the other two were either already too expensive or very early like 6AM! Yet somewhere in me also said "this is fine, e sumasakay ka naman dyan pag international flights eh"! True, and in fairness, planes of Philippines' Air...

This has reference to the last sentence I said in the previous blog story where I was supposed to have been done with my day's worth of roaming Bandar Seri Begawan. But, my driver/guide offered that we peep at this museum as it is just across Radisson Hotel where I was billeted. Of course I said let's go! My guide knew that I was supposed to see this museum tomorrow morning, but he said we could just have 'a quick look-around' for him to tell me 'this-and-that', so I would know what to look for tomorrow, when I come back alone. There's no entrance fee anyway - but better if still annotated by a local guide. So we entered the museum. Here's my guide registering (required) at the information counter for me! Note that all visitors are supposed to do the registering for themselves by writing on that logbook. But as you can see, guide did that for me. Maybe because I was a VIP (very ignorant person)! What is next? You'll be given a key to a locker...

Don't be confused, what many Bruneians refer to as Kiarong Mosque or Masjid Kiarong is actually the Jame' Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque - the biggest and most important mosque in their whole country. And why are we talking about it? Alams na.., Pinoy Made! Pero mamya na yan, yung tour ko muna! Just about 15min leisurely drive from Istana Nurul Iman, I could already see it from the road. Exciting! Why was I excited? Eh, this was that thing I saw on arrival day , and I said this was on my bucket list. In my bucket list? Yes, because, while I see it everytime I pass from/to the airport, I haven't been to it yet! Here's an interesting part of BSB (short for BS Begawan, short for Bandar Seri Begawan).., a rotunda! Clean and beautifully simple as it looks, it is not that 'ordinary' (kaya ko nga pinektyuran eh)! Under the roundabout with flowers and greens is actually the wide highway, Lebuhraya Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. It's not a tunnel. It's like an...

After passing by Masjid SOAS , we went on following the main road. Left and right of this thoroughfare are beautiful big buildings of national offices and/or landmarks. It then turns left to a historical bridge. Edinburgh Bridge - named and inaugurated as such, in February 1959, during the visit of Prince Phillip Mountbatten, The Duke of Edinburgh , The husband of Queen Elizabeth II, The father of Prince Charles. Note that the bridge has pedestrian walkways, and the views form there are wonderfully memorable. At lower-left-corner (with a boat) is part of the Balai Bomba Pelancaran or Fire Station Launch Area. In fact, that boat is one of their emergency/rescue fleet. Parang patrol boat, and they have a lot of those. Still on the left side, at the bank of the river (the little platform with golden dome) is Darussalam Jetty . Further to its left (not seen in picture) is Istana Darussalam - what locals now call as the Old Palace . It was the original home of SOAS III, and the very...

Masjid S ultan O mar A li S aifuddien III or Masjid SOAS . That's how most locals refer to it, while visitors and tourists like you and me would know it like I wrote in the title of this blog entry. Quite a long name! Hmm, maybe SOAS Mosque would be a shorter way to refer to it, at least for us non-Malay-speakers. I do know though, that "masjid" is "mosque". Now that you know it too, let's just stick with Masjid SOAS! I kept saying Omar Ali Saifuddien " Ai Ai Ai " Mosque, instead of the usual " the third " that had my guide laughing. At least, I made him laugh! Ah, I don't remember, but I guess I picked that from some private joke at home, school or office. Like we'd say Queen Elizabeth 'Ai Ai' instead of 'the second' or "QE two" ! Mr. Guide thought I was saying "ayayay"! But, still giggly (ewan ko nga ba ba't tuwang-tuwa sya) he did suggest I stop saying that in front of the Brunei...

This article's title should have been " The Perpuspaan Main Gate 1968 And The Lost Kampung Sultan Lama ". But it is too long, so I settled with what you see above! The first I saw on my land-side joyride. "Joyride" was the appropriate thing to call this 'remainder of my afternoon tour'. I told the driver/guide that there was no worry if we were unable to visit all sites listed in his itinerary (that I paid for), since I ruined it in the first place, by overstaying at Kampong Ayer, childishly watching boats "fly on the river"! He knew, since I also told him, that I was already contented with what I have seen and experienced at Kampong Ayer. He further knew, as I also made it clear, that I've already seen (2 decades ago) almost everything in the itinerary. I just wanted a glimpse at them, even from a moving car (nostalgia tour ba)! Actually, my aim was just to see, if I may spot 'significant changes' from what I've seen two...