Places and Spaces, A Preface and First Stop--Manila.
This summer I traveled around the world on a three-month trip that took me to the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Qatar, Uganda, Egypt, a sliver of Israel, and Petra in Jordan, with enough stops at the Istanbul airport to make it a familiar "place" on my travels. Although my focus in recent years has been on urban paces, this sight-seeing adventure was a feast for viewing both the built environment--not only current cities but ancient civilizations as well--and God's amazing outdoor landscapes. In the past four months I've often been asked what was your "favorite" place. And my response has almost always been, well, each stop had its special places, or spaces.
Many years ago I decided that life was presenting me with some memorable images that often appeared so vivid that they registered for all time, many of their referents disappearing, never to be seen again. Some have been in my daily life, especially on morning walks. On a winter day much like today, maybe a decade ago, I was walking along an abandoned road in the Flats, at Irish bend, enjoying the snow-covered trees, when I came around a corner and looked up to see a vivid red Cardinal sitting on a branch next to an equally colorful Blue Jay. The contrast against the white snow was amazing. It was Sunday so there was not a sound even though we were in the middle of a metropolitan area. And it only lasted a moment as I stood still, waiting for the Blue Jay to fly away. Every time I come to that spot, I look up and remember, so this is one of my top 10 images stored away for as long as I can recall.
Another such moment came when I was jogging in the Metroparks in Rocky River one fall day. The colors were at their peak and I ventured off the path along the river to see the perfect "painted" tree leaning over the Rocky River and gleaming in the sunlight. This was before cell phones so I enjoyed the moment, standing to appreciate my perfect timing but with only my memory to capture the image. In subsequent weekends, I again stopped at that spot, but it never again matched my memory. And over the years the tree leaned further and further until it fell into the river. I no longer jog but each year I make it out to the Metroparks for a walk and I always stop at the same location to remember.
A third memorable moment was photographed, but the picture never captured the grandeur I experienced. When I visited Tibet some 15 years ago, I traveled from Lhasa to three other cities in the early spring, late winter period when blizzards and snowfall were common. Leaving our hotel one morning, all the travelers, each in his own four-wheeler with guide and driver, waited to see if we would brave the mountain roads to our next stop. Eventually, one vehicle left and then another and eventually mine as well. Snow would start and stop, then was so heavy that my driver rolled down the window to help see a narrow gravel road we negotiated on a steep mountain. On my side, when the wind would momentarily stop, I could see a drop of several thousand feet straight down to a valley that crawled up the other side and was littered by herds of yaks. I did not capture this moment because I was holding on for dear life and more than a little scared we'd go down the mountain side. No one was talking and only the wind and show created sound. But we made it through this tense period to emerge around a corner where all was clear I looked up to see a huge yak against a glacier backdrop that was spectacular. We got out and looked up to enjoy the panorama view. I took a photo, of course, including me on the yak, but it never captured that amazing image that I still remember to this day. And, while I'm sure the glacier we were enjoying at more than 17,000 feet still exists, I suspect I'll not see it again except in my memories.
These images are from the past. But I continue to collect such images as I continue to travel to new places. And my trip around the world offered many such images for consideration, including a couple candidates for my top 10 images list. I'll proceed chronologically.
First stop, the Philippines. And here I visited four places, each with a particular significance in my life. My arrival was at Manila, where I lived part time while teaching on a Fulbright at the University of the Philippines, Los Banos, in 1983-1984; the town named after the "baths," or warm springs on the slope of a dormant volcano was the second stop. A third stop was Iloilo in the Visayas, where I lived briefly during Peace Corps training and visited often as a volunteer when I was assigned to San Jose, Antique, the fourth stop. Each of these challenged my memory while offering new images for my enjoyment.
Manila when I first visited had a central park called Luneta, with a decaying fort called Intramuros from the Spanish era. Luneta was not well kept but still frequented, and the fort bordered on the putrid Pasig River. But times have changed and over the years the Luneta, also called Rizal Park, has been restored and is now a lovely public space, with things to do, spots for getting out of the sun and relaxing. And Intramuros now is well maintained so I could walk the walls and redoubts for blocks and blocks, getting my exercise and imagining what it must have been like 400 years go. But, while I enjoyed the vistas while walking, the pedestrian traffic was much greater in local malls, which, in Manila range from the huge Mall of Asia to enclosed malls downtown that offer air conditioning to swarms of people. But the images I will remember most are the American Cemetery with its perfectly manicured graves rolling over hills and surrounded completely by the towering buildings of the urban area, and Manila Bay from the H2O Hotel built over the water---peaceful and calm morning and night. Here are a couple images of these "spaces" and "places" in Manila.
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View of Manila Bay from H2O Hotel Suite
This summer I traveled around the world on a three-month trip that took me to the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Qatar, Uganda, Egypt, a sliver of Israel, and Petra in Jordan, with enough stops at the Istanbul airport to make it a familiar "place" on my travels. Although my focus in recent years has been on urban paces, this sight-seeing adventure was a feast for viewing both the built environment--not only current cities but ancient civilizations as well--and God's amazing outdoor landscapes. In the past four months I've often been asked what was your "favorite" place. And my response has almost always been, well, each stop had its special places, or spaces.
Many years ago I decided that life was presenting me with some memorable images that often appeared so vivid that they registered for all time, many of their referents disappearing, never to be seen again. Some have been in my daily life, especially on morning walks. On a winter day much like today, maybe a decade ago, I was walking along an abandoned road in the Flats, at Irish bend, enjoying the snow-covered trees, when I came around a corner and looked up to see a vivid red Cardinal sitting on a branch next to an equally colorful Blue Jay. The contrast against the white snow was amazing. It was Sunday so there was not a sound even though we were in the middle of a metropolitan area. And it only lasted a moment as I stood still, waiting for the Blue Jay to fly away. Every time I come to that spot, I look up and remember, so this is one of my top 10 images stored away for as long as I can recall.
Another such moment came when I was jogging in the Metroparks in Rocky River one fall day. The colors were at their peak and I ventured off the path along the river to see the perfect "painted" tree leaning over the Rocky River and gleaming in the sunlight. This was before cell phones so I enjoyed the moment, standing to appreciate my perfect timing but with only my memory to capture the image. In subsequent weekends, I again stopped at that spot, but it never again matched my memory. And over the years the tree leaned further and further until it fell into the river. I no longer jog but each year I make it out to the Metroparks for a walk and I always stop at the same location to remember.
A third memorable moment was photographed, but the picture never captured the grandeur I experienced. When I visited Tibet some 15 years ago, I traveled from Lhasa to three other cities in the early spring, late winter period when blizzards and snowfall were common. Leaving our hotel one morning, all the travelers, each in his own four-wheeler with guide and driver, waited to see if we would brave the mountain roads to our next stop. Eventually, one vehicle left and then another and eventually mine as well. Snow would start and stop, then was so heavy that my driver rolled down the window to help see a narrow gravel road we negotiated on a steep mountain. On my side, when the wind would momentarily stop, I could see a drop of several thousand feet straight down to a valley that crawled up the other side and was littered by herds of yaks. I did not capture this moment because I was holding on for dear life and more than a little scared we'd go down the mountain side. No one was talking and only the wind and show created sound. But we made it through this tense period to emerge around a corner where all was clear I looked up to see a huge yak against a glacier backdrop that was spectacular. We got out and looked up to enjoy the panorama view. I took a photo, of course, including me on the yak, but it never captured that amazing image that I still remember to this day. And, while I'm sure the glacier we were enjoying at more than 17,000 feet still exists, I suspect I'll not see it again except in my memories.
These images are from the past. But I continue to collect such images as I continue to travel to new places. And my trip around the world offered many such images for consideration, including a couple candidates for my top 10 images list. I'll proceed chronologically.
First stop, the Philippines. And here I visited four places, each with a particular significance in my life. My arrival was at Manila, where I lived part time while teaching on a Fulbright at the University of the Philippines, Los Banos, in 1983-1984; the town named after the "baths," or warm springs on the slope of a dormant volcano was the second stop. A third stop was Iloilo in the Visayas, where I lived briefly during Peace Corps training and visited often as a volunteer when I was assigned to San Jose, Antique, the fourth stop. Each of these challenged my memory while offering new images for my enjoyment.
Manila when I first visited had a central park called Luneta, with a decaying fort called Intramuros from the Spanish era. Luneta was not well kept but still frequented, and the fort bordered on the putrid Pasig River. But times have changed and over the years the Luneta, also called Rizal Park, has been restored and is now a lovely public space, with things to do, spots for getting out of the sun and relaxing. And Intramuros now is well maintained so I could walk the walls and redoubts for blocks and blocks, getting my exercise and imagining what it must have been like 400 years go. But, while I enjoyed the vistas while walking, the pedestrian traffic was much greater in local malls, which, in Manila range from the huge Mall of Asia to enclosed malls downtown that offer air conditioning to swarms of people. But the images I will remember most are the American Cemetery with its perfectly manicured graves rolling over hills and surrounded completely by the towering buildings of the urban area, and Manila Bay from the H2O Hotel built over the water---peaceful and calm morning and night. Here are a couple images of these "spaces" and "places" in Manila.
Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
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American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines
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View of Manila Bay from H2O Hotel Suite
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Manila Bay and Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines
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Traditional street markets
Lastly, the Mall of Asia
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