Vista Pinas

World Light Expo

2009-07-06T12:38:30Z

In a first for Vista Pinas, I will be featuring something that can only be seen right now in Google Earth (the 3-D desktop application) and not in Google Maps (the Web application). This is the World Light Expo that ran during the early part of 2007 in Parañaque City. This Expo featured thousands upon thousands of light bulbs in artistic displays (as well as other light-inspired shows). Why only in Google Earth? Well, that’s because the World Light Expo is visible only through the historical satellite imagery feature in Google Earth 5.

By default, Google only show the latest available satellite photos (or slightly older if the quality is better) for both Google Earth and Google Maps. When Google Earth 5 was released last February 2009, Google added the feature to view old satellite imagery. Now instead of just plain “roof-surfing” in Google Earth, you can now also “time-travel” and see how things looked like in previous years. The wealth of imagery is pretty amazing and it now makes before-and-after comparisons much, much easier, unlike the crazy comparison I did for the San Roque Dam here in Vista Pinas three years ago.

Photo by Dennis Rito. (CC)

Going back to the World Light Expo, you can view this sight by opening the KML file (linked at the end of this post) in Google Earth 5, then turning on the historical satellite imagery feature (it’s the clock button on the toolbar), then going to the March 26, 2007 date. Having a satellite imagery for this ephemeral event is a pretty nice catch. :-)

Despite the Expo being on my way to and from work, I’ve actually never been inside and it was simply because I was too lazy and didn’t think it was very exciting. I thought that it was just an ostentatious display of electrical power-guzzling madness. (I guess I lost that kid appeal a long time ago.) Well, this Expo was apparently just a one-time event and who knows whether there will be another like it? I guess I’m pretty contented looking at the tons of pretty pictures of the Expo" on the Web.

The Ruins (Talisay)

2009-06-28T15:11:40Z

I’ve heard about the famed The Ruins in Talisay City, Negros Occidental (just north of Bacolod) from various travel and photo blogs (such as this blog post by Byahilo). Well, I got even more interested when Jayvee disclosed that the first owner of the house, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson, a famous sugar tycoon, was his great-great-grandfather. Jayvee’s blog post puts a nice personal touch to an otherwise run-of-the-mill travelogue entry: parts of his family’s history—as it relates to the ancestral home—provides a nice background to this relatively new tourist attraction.

Photo by Shale Albao. (CC)

Anyway, I tried to see if I could find this ancestral home in Google Maps. The biggest lead I got was this Wikimapia entry. But since the general level of quality in Wikimapia is a bit low, I opened up Google Earth, browsed through the available historical satellite imagery in the area, and confirmed that the house’s shape in the satellite imagery indeed matches the tons of pictures of the house in Flickr and elsewhere. (I’m willing to bet that The Ruins is the most-photographed site in the Bacolod-Talisay-Silay area.)

Well, it can’t be helped that The Ruins is a photographer’s delight. The skeletal structure is quite picturesque and it’s surrounded by lush rural greenery. (One of the best times to photograph the house is during dusk—the so-called “golden hour”.) It’s no wonder then that it’s a popular event venue for shows, weddings, and receptions.

Paseo de Sta. Rosa

2009-06-22T15:00:59Z

I’ve featured the Plaza Luisita Commercial Complex last year and it is a popular (and maybe even mandatory) stopover for travelers going to the north from Manila. One popular near-counterpart in the south is Paseo de Sta. Rosa in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna. Launched way back in 1997, This strip mall (which is the flagship retail complex of Greenfield City) is located along the Sta. Rosa–Tagaytay Road and I think it is a very good choice for a stopover when you’re going to Tagaytay or the western parts of Batangas like Nasugbu and Calatagan. But between the two—Luisita or Paseo—I prefer Luisita’s ambiance more because of its numerous acacia trees. Then again, Paseo beats Luisita hands down in terms of restaurant choices.

Arguably the best-known restaurant of Paseo de Sta. Rosa is Kanin Club. Its fame is the stuff of food blogs and people go to Santa Rosa just to eat at Kanin Club even if they’re not going to Tagaytay or beyond. It’s a good thing that Kanin Club opened its second branch in Alabang (at Westgate Filinvest) (and this is the one I ate at) and so Metro Manila foodies need not go all the way to Laguna. The problem is, the branch in Alabang is quite small.

Photo from the Greenfield Development Corp. website.

Going back to Santa Rosa, other notable restaurants in Paseo are Brothers Burger, Café Breton, Yellow Cab Pizza, Shakey’s, Razon’s, and Pancake House. Of course Jollibee Foods Corporation can’t resist putting up branches there of its flagship fast-food chain Jollibee, as well as Chowking and Greenwich. In addition, Paseo has Starbucks Coffee (no surprise there), National Bookstore, and sports stores like Nike, Speedo, and Adidas. Interestingly, the Ateneo Graduate School of Business has a branch right in Paseo itself (I can imagine the Starbucks there packed with Ateneans doing coursework over frappes).

Paseo de Sta. Rosa reminds me most of the Blue Wave strip mall in Pasay City. The ambiance and architecture is the same and like Blue Wave, Paseo has a central activity center for concerts, job fairs, and other events. But unlike Blue Wave, Paseo is much more extensive, currently occupying 16 hectares and with expansion room for 4 more hectares. The Paseo 4 building is currently under construction and is expected to be launched this July 2009.

If you wish to learn more, I guess the best place to start is the official webpage of Paseo de Sta. Rosa over at the Greenfield Development Corporation website.

José-Rizal-Straße in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany

2009-06-19T13:13:35Z

To celebrate the 148th birthday of our national hero José Rizal (he was born on June 19, 1861), let me point you to the first street outside the Philippines that was named in his honor. This is the José-Rizal-Straße (José Rizal Street) in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany (see this photo of the street sign, plaque, and a tourist kid), formerly named Pfarrgasse and was renamed in June 1964. Wilhelmsfeld, which is near Heidelberg, is where Rizal wrote the some of the last chapters of his celebrated work, the Noli Me Tangere.

The street named after Rizal is the address of the house (#7) of Reverend Karl Ullmer, with whom Rizal stayed with in Wilhelmsfeld. To celebrate this friendship, a fountain at Ullmer’s residence was brought to Manila and can now be found at Rizal Park in Manila. In addition, Karl Ullmer himself has a way dedicated to him called Karl-Ullmer-Weg (see this tourist’s photo), and this is located near the Catholic Church and the José-Rizal-Park which, when I find out where it is exactly, I will feature in a future post. ;-)

To see the street more clearly, go to the location in Google Maps then switch to Map view or enable Labels under the Satellite view tab. To learn more about Rizal and Wilhelmsfeld, check out this web page (in German though) at the Wilhelmsfeld website.

Kawit Point (formerly Kawit Island)

2009-06-18T14:28:04Z

Kawit Point used to be an island called Kawit Island that was located about a kilometer off the coast of Cebu City. The reclamation of this area of the Mactan channel that the city undertook connected this island to Cebu’s mainland and it is now part of the South Road Properties (SRP). See the photo below to see how this island looked back in 1989.

Photo by Fred Umabong.

On October 25, 1904, an Executive Order of the American colonial government handed this 3.9 hectare island under the jurisdiction of the government’s health ministry (which is now the Department of Health) for quarantine purposes. In this respect, Kawit Island functioned in a somewhat similar position to New York City’s Ellis Island. It was only in May 2008 that Pres. Arroyo issued Proclamation 1505 which amended the 1904 order and declared Kawit Island as “alienable and disposable” land. This reverted the management of the island (well a point now, after it was reclaimed in 1999) back to Cebu City.

Currently, the city government is planning to use the area as a public space with some administrative buildings and maybe some tourist facilities. I personally wish that Kawit remained an island and that it be developed as a tourist area (a lá New York’s Coney Island) instead of as a quarantine facility. Don’t you think that would’ve been nice? :-)

Manila Cathedral

2009-06-03T14:28:27Z

Our next featured sight is the magnificent Manila Cathedral, which is officially known as the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and is located inside the walls of Intramuros. The cathedral is the seat of the powerful and wealthy Archdiocese of Manila, which is the primary see of the Philippines. This is quite fitting since Saint Mary, in her title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, is one of the patron saints of the Philippines (another is St. Lorenzo Ruiz). Since it is the seat of an (arch)bishop, the church has the status of a cathedral. It is also a metropolitan cathedral since it has suffragan dioceses/cathedrals like the previously featured Antipolo Cathedral of the Diocese of Antipolo.

The first incarnation of this basilica was as a simple church made of nipa and bamboo constructed several years after Manila was founded in 1571. This Church of Manila, which from the start was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, became a parish church then the seat of the Diocese of Manila and so on until the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese. The current cathedral is the sixth incarnation and was completed in 1958. All the previous structures were destroyed, either by earthquakes, fires, or by war (the fifth incarnation was destroyed during the 1945 Battle of Manila). In 1981, the cathedral was elevated to the status of minor basilica by Pope John Paul II (I’m not sure if this elevation of status was done during the Pope’s 1981 visit to the Philippines). The status of a minor basilica means that this church is granted special obscure ecclesiastical rights that the lay people need not obsess over except that a basilica is spiritually more important than normal churches. :-D

Photo by ric_k. (CC-BY-SA-2.0)

The Manila Cathedral is also where the remains of many of its (arch)bishops are interred. Among them are Gabriel Reyes, the first Filipino Archbishop of Manila; Rufino Jiao Cardinal Santos, the first Filipino Cardinal; and Jaime Cardinal Sin, the popular prelate who was a key figure during the 1986 People Power Revolution.

If you want to learn more, the Wikipedia article might be of help as is the official website of the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral.

Subic International Raceway

2009-05-26T12:27:02Z

Eleven months ago, I featured here in Vista Pinas the Carmona Circuit. That racing circuit is primarily for karting and motorbike races and can’t support Formula Three type races. Well, the Subic International Raceway (SIR) is one that does and in fact, it is one of the courses regularly visited by the Asian F3 Series.

The circuit, highlighted in yellow in the satellite image thumbnail, is located right next to the Subic Bay International Airport. Its length is approximately 3 kilometers, runs counterclockwise, surfaced with bitumen (i.e., tarmac), and has a width of 12 to 15 meters. There are around 12 turns in the course and is designated as a Grade 4 circuit by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, which is the governing body of many racing series.

Photo by Jeffrey Avellanosa. (CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Subic International Raceway is operated by Sports Values Inc. and was completed in 1994 through the efforts of local racing legend, the late Pocholo Ramirez, who died of cancer on March 18 of this year.

If you want to see a diagram of the circuit, check out the SIR page at the Asian F3 website. The Wikipedia article and the Visit Subic article on SIR would also be good reads if you want to learn more.

People’s Park in the Sky

2009-05-23T14:55:43Z

Last Saturday, May 16, I, together with other OpenStreetMap contributors, went to Tagaytay City for a mapping party (check out my fellow mapper’s blog post about it to learn more). The area assigned for my team to map was the eastern portion which includes the People’s Park in the Sky. On a whim, I checked Google Maps and was pleasantly surprised to find that there’s a high-resolution satellite imagery for the park. Sadly, the rest of the touristy Tagaytay City isn’t covered.

People’s Park used to be called “Palace in the Sky” and was the ostentatious architectural project of former President Marcos. Just like Coconut Palace built for Pope John Paul II and the Golden Mosque built for Libyan strongman Muammar al-Gaddafi, the Palace was (based on various web sources) built in the 1980s for U.S. President’s Reagan’s state visit that never materialized (due to Marcos’ political problems).

Photo by yours truly.

Anyway, the palace is now in ruins (although there is an ongoing renovation there, starting with the roof, when I went there) and as a park, there’s not much in the park itself save for several souvenir stores at the ground floor of the palace, various picnic tables, and a Marian shrine. Well, people don’t go here for the park, they go here for the view. And what a magnificent view it is! People’s Park is built on top of Mt. Sungay and it is the highest point on the Tagaytay Ridge. On a clear day, you can see Taal Lake, Laguna de Bay, and Manila Bay as well as Mount Makiling, Mount Banahaw, the mountains of Lipa, and the Maragondon Mountains. The park is very near the border of Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas, and you can see those three provinces as well as spot Metro Manila, Rizal, and parts of Quezon.

You can fault Marcos and Imelda’s extravagance but you can’t fault their good taste in location. :-)

Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa

2009-05-18T15:10:20Z

You know what? I realized that I haven’t featured a sight from the beautiful province of Bohol yet! So let’s rectify this deplorable situation by featuring Panglao Island, specifically the Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa. Panglao Island is said to be the next Boracay and already there are plenty of resorts stationed there. Aside from Panglao Island Resort, there’s Alona Palm Beach and Bohol Beach Club. But unlike those two which are found on the southeast coast of the island, Panglao Island Nature Resort is on the northwestern side and thus has views of the sunset, which I like very much.

Photo from the resort website.

I could write about the amenities of Panglao Island Resort but their official website would be better at it. Besides, in terms of amenities, you can expect pretty much the standard fare found in many other beach resorts, including an infinity pool. Although, come to think of it, Panglao Island Resort does have this nifty man-made island which provides a nice base for snorkeling. You can see this island as a small white patch of land about 100 meters directly north of the pool in the satellite imagery. The imagery is also a bit outdated since I could not find the rectangular second pool that can be seen on the resort’s website’s gallery section.

Baguio Convention Center

2009-05-11T14:31:55Z

I’ve always gone to Baguio for vacation and not to attend an event or a conference so I’ve never had a reason to step inside the Baguio Convention Center although I’ve seen its edifice often enough. Anyway, the Center, is (or was?) arguably the best convention center of its kind in northern Luzon. It is the choice venue for conferences, conventions, graduations, concerts, and many other big events. The site also houses a museum containing various items on Baguio and Cordilleran culture.

Possibly the most famous event that occurred within its walls was the 1978 World Chess Championship between Russians Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. After 32 games spanning from July 18 to October 17, Karpov won the race-to-six championship with a score of 6-5 and 21 draws. This high-profile chess event is said to have been the “most bizarre” match that the world has seen due to the off-board antics employed by the two chess players. The World Chess Championship Index website has two articles about this event if you’re curious. The first is about the selection of Baguio as the venue and a summary of the 32 chess games themselves, while the second recounts those bizarre incidents ranging from a hypnotist delegate to purple yogurt secret codes. (!!!)

Photo from the City of Pines website.

The Baguio Convention Center was constructed in 1974 by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on property it owned in the city. GSIS managed the Center for almost 30 years until a 2003 tripartite agreement (with a memorandum of agreement in 2004) between GSIS, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (which is the government agency in charge of converting old military bases to civilian purposes), and the Baguio City Government resulted to GSIS selling the Convention Center to Baguio City for 250 million pesos using the City’s share of the tax from Camp John Hay as part of the payment. Unfortunately, there had been some problem with the yearly payments and so the Convention Center is now in a state of limbo regarding its ownership, with GSIS threatening to take back the Center.