i adore square photos. i would really love to put up some great, gallery-wrapped canvas photos on our bare walls sometime. i've been researching for a store that does that, and i may have found one here. someday soon....

There is something about sitting on a bus on a long haul, 

bound for somewhere, just gazing outside the window, 

while images of life zoom and blur past your vision---

grasslands, trees , endless power lines, small sleepy towns, 

nameless people transacting the day's keep, 

the sun burning down over vast cornfields. 

This time, my kids and I were travelling up north to Bataan 

and had a couple of stopovers in two other towns. 

This was around August, the dead of the rainy months. 

It was a real foggy morning and early yet 

as we left home from the south at 4am. 

We reached Pampanga by six and heard mass 

at that famous church half-buried in lahar.

1991.
Mt. Pinatubo Eruption. 

That was memorable for me as it was the year
I had my first real job in Manila,

 and a few weeks into starting work,
I got to the office 

and find my desk covered in white ashes.
You would have thought it was snowflakes,
but obviously

were remnants of the volcanic disaster. 

Remember that Pampanga is about three hours
away from Manila,
so go figure 

how epic, or cataclysmic, 

it was back then. 

Anyway, as there was nothing better to do inside the bus

 but listen to the children chatter, I decided 

to take some shots while we sped away on the road. 

It happens each time.A sense of disconnect washes over you, 

much like viewing a silent film for hours. 

You know there is something taking place, 

but going through a different motion and not hearing any sound

 compels you to philosophize about what you are seeing. 

You may either put imaginary words into the scene, 

or create a sort of musical score to it 

with a nocturne, a serenade, or something 

retrospective of those movies from a bygone era. 

Real, but dreamy. 

Fleeting, but unforgettable. 

There, but not quite. 

Serene and silent, 

yet overly tempting to the senses.

I've always loved silence 

if you care to ask me, 

because  of the advantages it affords people--

being able to compose one's thoughts, 

to daydream, to ruminate, to observe, to relish, 

without having to explain one's self to the world--

while the world herself 

is bustling with sounds,

 with action, with a feast of flavors and aroma!

I love that when I sit on a bus 

going somewhere 

on a long haul, 

I instantly become

 a spectator,

 remotely sharing in the happenings, as I 

silently fish out my camera, 

and freely take into account

 what I would call 

life in motion, 

if only 

quite

 in a haze.

 

Intramuros

Last March, we hopped on a bus from the south, to the heart of Manila, where some historic landmarks can be found. Intramuros is a name for a walled city built and fortified to protect the Spanish conquistadores from invaders, and the remnants of it can still be enjoyed and accessed by the public easily. My children, being their usual curious and wanderlusting selves, really took in all the new old things that were visually introduced to them along the way. I wish however that something can be done with the way these important places are presented to the public, and especially to the visiting tourists, that one can leave with absolute appreciation and can say to himself "wow, I've been there!". How so, I'm sure we have plenty enough creative local juices and resources to do the job just right. Here are some of the images I took of the place, and the tourist-y poses of me, my husband and kids.