Ballard Locks

We visited the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks locally known as Ballard locks. The locks were made to maintain the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union above sea level. Also to prevent the mixing of salt water of Puget Sound with the two lakes or prevent salt water intrusion and to move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget sound.

My uncle who is usually on a hurry was eagerly waiting for the movement of boats and the whole ceremony of closing and opening the locks. I was wondering if he dreams of owning one of those yatch. Later we went to the fish ladder which I will share in the next post.

Requiem for Rex

Banahaw circa 1994. This photo taken at the summit of Mt. Banahaw was my first ever climb to a mountain. This climb literally and figuratively made an indelible mark in my life that made me take the path where I am today.

Rex C. Perez was one great great best friend that I ever had in my life. He is the one holding the flag in the photo. I could write a whole novel of the many adventures that we had. He was the one who taught me how to dance the swing! He helped transform this barrio lass from Laguna. Introduced to me to various genres of music. We hiked the summit of Mt. Halcon of Mindoro and Mt. Kanlaon of Negros. We rode the banana boat in Boracay, explored the Mag-aso falls in Bohol. We worked together at MFI for the urban poor and explored the communities of Payatas. We would jog and train and then binge at Tia Maria's with margarita and fajitas. We would eat Lapid's and say eat and die a happy man. He loved eating ice cream with beer. We explored the dunes of Ilocos Norte and can make a documentary from all the pictures of the old churches that we visited. He met all the loves of my life. Amats and I spent a week visiting him when he retired back to Iloilo. We explored Guimaras and Miag-ao. The last time I saw him was Oct 2007 a bit on the heavy side and last time I talked to him was June 2008 just after typhoon Frank flooded Iloilo. Over the phone I knew that he was at the hospital but his voice never hinted that it was his last weeks. I love his laugh. He passed away while I was in the US. Sad that I didn't get to see him. But I will always remember that laugh. We love you Rex.

on a tailwind

I found an old book of mine. Actually it was Amats who found it and asked "sa yo ba ito?" . One look and I remember this little treasure of a book that I own that I haven't opened in years. Its The Woman's Book of Soul" by Sue Patton Thoele. I guess I need to read it as it found its way to me again.

Last night and this morning I was indeed searching for some empowerment and encouraging words. I feel a bit wasted the past days. I wanted to recharge myself and I realized that I find comfort and happiness reading my old entries in this blog as well as reading my books of affirmations one of which is this book that I will share a verse with you. This morning I read a most timely message that I knew was meant for me to read today. I want to share this with you.

I quote:

Flying on a Tailwind

Abundance could be described as the knack of living in an attitude of gratitude. If we constantly run on fast forward, frantically trying to keep up with what should and must be done, without taking a break to restore ourselves and count our blessings, we'll soon run out of gas. Stopping for a rest, pausing to see the real wonder in our world, and making room for interludes of thankfulness helps give us the energy to keep going.

Gratitude is the tailwind that enables us to travel farther and faster.

Give yourself the priceless gift of extricating yourself from the whirlwind for a few minutes and write down all the things, just within sight, for which you feel grateful. expand your list to include people and circumstances out of sight. As a bonus, add to your list some intangibles--attitudes, experiences, philosophies, etc. Looking at your list, allow your heart to open in a flow of gratitude and appreciation.

Flying with a tailwind of gratitude helps us savor the effortless times and move more quickly through the turbulent times.

I am grateful for my life
I appreciate life both the chaff and the grain

Pike Place Market

One of the nicest public markets that I've ever visited. Seattle's Pike Place Market . The fruits on offer are screaming at me to taste them. I love berries! It also tells you that it is summer time there when I visited last month. Like all markets, this one is full of vibrant colors and people. The are also lots of flowers and art works on offer that I will show you in the coming post.

A week or two ago, I was walking in Trinoma and passed by Seattle's Best Coffee Shop. Something caught my eye, the huge wall paper shows a very familiar sign and I remembered it was the part of the top photo above. :)

Simple Joys

While I was in Seattle, I was happy to get a taste of the food and music festival called Bite of Seattle. Here in this photo above, I got a freebie starbuko-frap-wat-hav-u hehehe because I cannot remember the flavor so I made that up. Simple joys indeed as I took my time sipping this cup. I just had one at the Needle.

All the while, I was hoping to go to Seattle's Best Coffee Shop somewhere in this city. I was asking my Tita if we can visit a shop. But to my surprise she said there is none. I can't imagine Seattle not having Seattle's Best Coffee. She did mention that they have them as concessionaire in the canteen but she never visit a shop. I kept my eyes peeled but lo and behold there was none. I did see several Starbucks cafe.

Anyway, thanks to them for the free drink! It gave me enough energy to walk all the way to Pike's Market coming up in the next post!

P.S. I didn't realize that Bill Gates live in this city until someone at the top of the Needle mentioned it.

Dream Journal

I just learned that Charice will be fulfilling one of her dreams in her dream journal. She will be having a duet with Celine Dion this weekend. I saw some clips of her Oprah guesting. I was indeed moved.

Amats and I were talking and I shared: "Yes, how can dreams come true? You have to have a dream first". I added that it is really good to have a dream journal when people see it they might just help you fulfill it.

Naiisip ko din si Bugoy (my favorite in the now ending season 2 of Pinoy Dream Academy) sabi ni Bugoy, hindi nya akalain matupad ang mga pangarap nya at dagdag pa nya mangangarap na rin lang lubuslubusin mo na libre naman. (When you dream, dream big, anyway, its free.)

kakatuwa lang!

Sa Pilipinas muna: Eraserheads Reunion Concert

It was indeed a most anticipated event: The Eraserheads Reunion Concert. Thank you Earnest and Buddy for the VIP pass to the Eheads Reunion Concert last night. It was really worth it to see you guys back together on stage even for a while. We hope that everything will be OK. More info about the concert at GMAnews.TV. My comment to this article is that he did not mention that the audience were shouting "group hug" and chanting "group hug, group hug, group hug!!!"

While they were singing at some point I told Amats, parang hinuhukay sa baul ang mga lyrics bamabalik na lang ng kusa sa labi ko at nagugulat din ako na naaalala ko pa ang mga ito habang nag flash ang mga alaala mga 10 years ago! Mula sa gasgas ko na tape noon na ultraelectromagnetic! Wagi!!! Sobra!!!

Sobra din ang respeto ng mga fans sa Eraserheads. Kakaiba ang nangyari sa pagtatapos basahin nyo po ang sulat ni Ted.

*********

On our way to The Fort, we first dropped baby at my sister's house then we took the MRT up to Ayala Station. I was sending sms to Dindin while at the train and said they are already there in front of the stage.

Going down at Mckinley St. there were very very long lines of people waiting in line for the bus and the jeep. There were groups of people flagging down taxis which are all full. There was a heavy downpour earlier that afternoon too. Good thing the rain stopped. It was also a Saturday on a pay-day weekend. Time check it was 15 minutes before show time and we were still in EDSA-McKinley the entrace to Forbes Park. Then, we saw this line of motorcyles for hire and groups of boys already taking the ride. The one of motorcyle drivers said "ma'am sakay na kayo?" Without batting an eyelash we took on the offer. Its P30 pesos each person. One person per motorcyle. They also have the required extra helmet of the passenger. Then I realized I took this kind of ride before in the coastal town of Coron years ago and flashbacks of our Camiguin backpacker trip riding the "habal-habal" around the island. But I only knew them to be used in remote islands and locations when transport is not accessible. But wait this is Forbes Park and we are going to the Global City of Fort Bonifacio!

Yahoo! as we sped off, I gave a shout of glee wooohoo! Authentic "habal-habal" at the heart of Forbes Park. I was really excited. We were going to make it on time. (well, until we saw the lines at the SVIP, VIP). Amats and I were really excited as we convoyed the two motorbikes to the open field at the Fort. I was talking to the driver and he said they've been there for a few years now and I later learned from Tatay A. that they were retired soldiers. We dubbed them "soldiers of fortune". Wagi!

Seattle

I was really lucky because at the time that I was at Seattle, it was the same week when they were celebrating Bite of Seattle. Its the annual food festival complete with concerts in various parts of the city and the fair at the Needle. I got a lot of freebies!

I took the photo above because I was really interested at the lift the men-at-work is using! High tech.

Snoqualmie Falls

My tita and tito drove me to visit Snoqualmie Falls Park. It is also a national historic civil engineering landmark in Puget Sound. It was a chilly summer morning. Seattle's weather even if it is Summer is much colder than all the places I visited during this trip. These photos of the falls reminds me about Buntot Palos. Thankful to my host for knowing where to bring me for our road trip.

M and I was planning to go to Mt. Rainer and camp out but we reserved that for another time. I will be posting what we did in the coming post. The Pacific Northwest is so different from the East Coast.

at the border

There were only some rare moments that I was at the border of two countries. This one was interesting as these two countries share a very long border. I was not able to go to Canada as it would take a few days to get a visa and expensive too for a short visit. Maybe next time.

My Pacific Northwest

My Pacific Northwest adventure begins here at the Peace Arch Park in British Columbia actually its in the border between Canada and the US.

JFK international

This merits a special post. Going to JFK International airport from Florida and leaving JFK going to Seattle, I went through security and twice been "randomly" selected to go through special security check. I've been through many many security checks during my travels but it was only this time that my eyebrows almost hit the ceiling. But all is well. I will stop here.

A book found me (again)

Since it is a holiday yesterday, we spent some family time. We were looking at the books on sale. A book found me. I read it, then left. But then, I realized it was indeed a beautiful book so, I came back and bought it for only 2 US$ or 100 pesos (nagisip pa ako nyan).

The title: BRILLIANCE Uncommon Voices from Uncommon Women. I love it. One of the quotes in the book that was shouting at me.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
--Eleanor Roosvelt

the subway

I was thrilled to take the subway. The NYC subway system is the most complicated train system I've been to. I cannot say bar none because I've never been to Europe yet. But I love it!!! Among all the train systems I've tried from HK to Sydney, hands down NYC is by far my most challenging experience to date. It is also one of the oldest subway system I've been to. Tama ba over 100 years na ito?

It was a Sunday when I arrived in NYC and got on the subway from Flatbush armed with M's unlimited pass, I explored the City. They actually warned me that during weekends, the trains sometimes change their routes because of some maintenance work. This is the particular reason why I took the second photo above. It took me a while to learn to go around. I always take pride to learn the cheapest form of transportation of the place I visit. I do like to be pampered and just be on the passenger seat. But I am really happy to be able to go around not just on a cab but really learn to go about like how the locals do it. I love people watching on the train but I've been warned not to make eyeball on the NY subway if I want to stay out of trouble. I can feel the adrenalin rush and all that energy of people coming and going.

I love exploring the Big Apple.

crepes

This is the crepe that I ate. Well almost in front of Tiffany's on 5th Ave. Reminds me to update my food blog that I've been neglecting.

RENT

Top photo: in front of tkts where we got the ticket

"No day but today" sigh did not get any of these souvenirs

this photo just before the show started. photos are not allowed during the show.
the seats are really small even for Asian size ha! ang sikip ng upuan!

Early afternoon we went to tkts and got a 40% off ticket to watch RENT. Our friend G said did you know that at around 4pm you can go to the lobby of the musical you want to watch and they raffle off about 10 seats! That was how he and his brothers when they visited was able to watch the broadway show. Nagtatalsikan pa daw ang laway sa kanila for a complete true blue experience. Haaay naku and I learned about this on my last night at NYC. I could have lined up the past few days!

But nonetheless, I was able to do one of the bucket list! If ever I am in NY I will definitely watch and so I did!

Masaya na rin kasi sinundo ako ni G and D when I went out after the show. Later nalaman ko kay M na nanganak na pala si E. Nalaman ko lang kinabukasan na. Ang saya!

times square

I saw the classic Times Square. Nice lights almost the same as the ones I saw in HK. The novelty of the experience made it a very interesting visit. I noted that "trash" is not just exclusive in Manila Streest but right there in the corner of Broadway and Times St.

Kaloka dami nila basura! Ayan hindi na picture perfect ang Amerika ha!

Broadway!!!

more to come!

AMNH part II

This is the modern part of the American Museum of Natural History. An area where you can explore about the planets and how the universe came to be. I was so excited! It reminded me when I was young and my dream to become an astronaut!

kainan sa central market este park

dito daw nahulog si Carrie (Sex and the City) habang kumakain dahil nakita si Mr B?hehehe. Kakatuwa!

lunch at Central Park

After my visit to AMNH, I met up with a friend and we had lunch on a bench in Central Park and this was our view.

I was having a large chocolate banana crepe and later we both had some ice cream. It was really warm and sunny day. We had a long talk and later took an afternoon walk. She is really an old friend. Sigh. We realized that we have come a long way since our mountaineering days. We both agreed that there is so much more to be thankful for in this world.

AMNH

The American Museum of Natural History is in my "must see" list. It is indeed the most interesting museum that I've ever ever visited. I went straight to the 4th floor where the dinosaur collection is and worked my way down to the other exhibits. Amazing collection from pre-historic to modern. I will be posting more about the space exhibit and the discover the ocean.

Basic entrance to AMNH starts at 18US$ and if you want to watch the special shows like the planetarium and other exhibits, you have to pay more. I got info from a good friend that these prices are really suggested entrance admission fees. What you can do, if you are really on a shoe string budget in NY, you can just say that you can only pay xx amount that you can afford. And that is exactly what I did. In the photo above you would see how much I paid. One day is not enough to really experience the whole museum. You just need to come back.

I loved the experience so much I wished that baby and Tatay was with me. I bought my usual ref magnet and a dark green triceratops stuff toy for baby.

I'll be back.

Olympics na!

Title above: One Dream

August 8, 2008 was the opening of the Beijing Olympics at 8:08:08 in the evening! A date and time that can only occur how many times in a lifetime.

These are my old photos from Hongkong in July 2007. There were many sculptures with the 2008 Olympic theme. I was not able to post this last year when I took it. This week I guess is the best since the Games are officially going on now.

Union Square

One of the most colorful places I've visited in NY. It felt like UP in some kind of way because there were artist, musicians, and people of every color going about spending a lazy early evening. This was almost 7pm summer sun still way up looking like 3pm. We were waiting for S and G to meet us for our dinner in one of the Vietnamese restaurants in the area. All these happening with Jamaican beat on the background. We were just sitting there on the steps at Union Square watching people pass by.

be who you are!

borrowed this from M's blog

I am a fan of Dr Suess, that is why when I was in New York, I went to Strand Bookstore and bought baby a huge Dr. Suess book on sale 6 books in 1 for only 5$. Will post more about Strand in future post.

Lady Liberty

One of my most memorable visit is my time with Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. She is immense and awe inspiring to say the least. I had a very contemplative early afternoon with her. I ate pandesal the sandwich that E prepared for me that morning while staring and straining my neck looking up to her. The wind was blowing and the sun shining. The island is filled of people from all over the world. I've seen her so many times in the movies and tv but it is indeed quiet a different solemn experience spending a summer afternoon with her. What she represents and what freedom means to each one of us.

NYC

My first day in New York.

My first at New York City!

This is my first view and photo of New York City after emerging from the subway at Penn Station. It is just an ordinary photo but for me this is my first ever photo of NYC. Like I mentioned in my previous post, NY has been in bucket list of places to visit for as long as I can remember.

Many more photos and post to come! NY is such a photogenic city!

The Olive Garden, NYC

Straight from JFK International airport we headed to the Olive Garden restaurant. M and E picked me up in their silver sedan with a small Philippine flag at that back and we arrived just a few minutes before the Italian restaurant opened that morning.

It was one of the best salad, pizza and pasta I've tasted. I guess it is more evident because I was eating airline food the past weeks hehehe.

M and E are pregant and expecting a baby that week. I am so grateful to them for welcoming me into their home in New York. During lunch they told me that they are transferring houses that week as well so many things going on. Then they provided me with a map of mid-town Manhattan where I can spend the rest of the afternoon. Maan lent me his unlimited train pass and oriented me with the map. E gave me a box of Stride along with the tips of what to doin the subway. I said no problem as I've been on the trains in Sydney and HKG so I think I will have no problem. (but wait, the train stories merit a special post all its own. Will do that in the coming days).

So there, we had our delicious Italian lunch and off we went to see the new place their renting near Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn. Then they dropped me off at Flatbush subway station.

I was soooooo excited to say the least to finally see NY. It has been in my bucket list for years!!!