Hakka Hat. Hakka What?

Streets sweepers are familiar, they can be found anywhere. Street sweepers with distinct headpiece are not, it’s rare. They wear Hakka Hats. It’s complicated. It’s efficient. It’s ingenious.

Street Sweepers of Hongkong wearing Hakka Hat. Taken in Kowloon.

Street sweepers in Hongkong wear an unusual peasant hat tracing back its origin from an Ethnic group in early China called Hakka People. By ethnic origin, Hakka People are referred to as guest people or nomads having been displaced in their original territories by reason of depopulation spanning over several Dynasties that swept China over the years.

Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve

Blue moon is not rare as it appears every after 2.5 years but Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve is, for it appears only after every 19-years. The last New Year Blue Moon appeared in 1990, the next will be on 2028. Hence, the colloquial term “once in a blue moon” referring to a rare event.

Blue Moon on New Year's Eve 2010. Piddig, Ilocos Norte. PHI.

Blue Moon is definitely not blue: It is just a name in the same sense as a ‘hunter’s moon’ or a ‘harvest moon. The popular definition of blue moon came about after a writer for Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 misinterpreted the Maine Farmer’s Almanac and labeled a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the almanac defined a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, not the usual three. Though Sky & Telescope corrected the error decades later, the definition caught on.[Source]

Juxtaposing a Fishing Village

Blessed with long stretch of coastline, Currimao, Ilocos Norte is primarily a fishing town and home to several beaches and coral formations.

"Bayanihan"

Fishermen Boats. On Dock.

Last Christmas, I stayed at Playa Tropical Resort in the same town with my family and one early morning, I strolled along the shores of the resort and immediately next to it is a quaint fishing village, juxtaposing the current and up-to-date modern resort where I came from.

Playa Tropical Resort Hotel in Currimao, Ilocos Norte

Claimed to be the “newest northern paradise,” Playa Tropical Resort Hotel, a beach resort and tropical hotel is yet another destination in Ilocos Norte.

Playa Tropical Resort Hotel

 

Gazebo of the Resort

 

The Bali-inspired resort comes with five (5) two-storey Casa’s with private pools as its architectural centerpiece. The Casa’s are opposite the two-storey Casitas, the hotel rooms with various accommodation and amenities. We stayed in a standard room only and it was good and neat.

Ilocos Christmas & Parol Making Contest

It’s always pleasant to come home during the most important and meaningful Holiday of the year.

Ilocos Norte Provincial Capitol Christmas Decor 2009

After 2-years, I have to spend Christmas and New Year again, in Ilocos. Everytime I come home, there is always something new waiting to be discovered and re-discovered.

Ilocos Norte Provincial Capitol

This Christmas, I spent some time at the Provincial Capitol and its vicinity to take some images of the local Christmas ornamentation. I was impressed with the Parol Making Contest of the Province among the different municipalities using indigenous local materials and products.

Robinson’s Mall opens in Ilocos Norte

Robinson’s Mall [Ilocos Norte], the 25th in the country, opened last 03 December 2009. It is said to be a milestone “as it is the very first full-service mall in Ilocos Norte catering to various national and local food and retail tenants” [Source]

Robinson's Mall, Ilocos Norte

Located along the national road in Brgy, 1, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte,  5-minutes away from Laoag City, the mall seats on a 30,700 square meters realty with all Robinson’s franchises fully operational. The project is part of 8-Billion development project of Robinson’s Land all throughout the country.

Christmas Decor at Robinson's Ilocos Norte

The opening of the mall is part of a larger and bigger urban development of the area. Soon, hotel, residential and office buildings will rise to further boost growth.

Philippines: One of Best New Trips for 2010 by National Geographic Adventure

In November of this year, National Geographic Adventure have named the Philippines as one among 25 Best New Trips for 2010.

Nat Geo Logo: Best New Trips for 2010

The article reads: Now more than ever, travelers want their dollars to do more—for others, for the planet, for themselves. At least that’s what we found while searching for the best trips of 2010. From wolf-tracking in Slovakia to rafting a forbidden river in Bhutan, here are 25 brand-new adventures, all of them just right for right now. [Source]

The other destinations include: Bhutan, Bolivia, Bostwana, Canada [British Columbia & Manitoba], Chile & Argentina, Costa Rica, France, Iceland, Ireland, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Montserrat, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania & Kenya, U.S.A [California, Colorado, Idaho & Montana.

No one is Too Old for Disneyland

“Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.” – Walter Elias “Walt” Disney

Sleeping Beauty Castle. Disneyland.

Disneyland Halloween!

To end the Hongkong holiday, Disneyland was our last and ultimate stop. From Kowloon, we took MRT Line to Tung Chung, got off at Sunny Bay, then took the Disney Resort Line, exclusively servicing Disneyland.

Disneyland Halloween by Day...

Recto Fire near Isetan and Doroteo Jose LRT Station

This afternoon, Recto Avenue have been “paralyzed” due to a massive fire in a residential area in Sta. Cruz, Manila, opposite Isetan Recto and near Doroteo Jose LRT Station. Classes have to be suspended in nearby schools and universities as a precautionary measure, my class included even if my building is 2-blocks away.

Recto Fire: 11 Dec 2009. 5:00 pm

Initial reports indicate that it may have been caused by “faulty electrical wiring” [Read: illegal connection!] which usually prove to post great danger to life and property. By reason of the incident, two children who belong to the same family died.

Bank of China Tower Viewdeck: 43rd Floor

Commuting Hongkong had led us to [some] other places of interests. Places that were not original part of the itinerary for the day. Places that we passed by in going to one destination to another. Places of excitement, recreation and significance. Places deserving of some time to stay and indulge for a while.

-The 43^rd Floor of Bank of China Tower: Viewing Deck-

The 43^rd floor of the Bank of China Tower is open to the public as view deck facing Victoria Harbor. It may not be nothing compared to the Victoria Peak view of the Harbor but the experience of going inside the most controversial landmarks of Hongkong in recent history may become your “personal history” will probably make the difference in your visit.

Bank of China Tower Viewdeck

I made my sister her Billboard in HKG!

See more pictures of Bank of China Tower 43^rd Floor Viewing Deck in MY FLICKR HERE!

Bank of China Tower. Citibank Plaza. Cheung Kong Center. Hongkong's Great Triangle!

The Bank of China Tower , once a tallest in Hongkong, is said to be the building with the worst feng shui in the place. The sharp edges of the triangular prisms symbolize a knife cutting through whatever and wherever it’s aimed, among other observed bad feng shui of its architecture.

Bank of China Tower. No. 1 Garden Road.Hongkong.

The nearby Lippo Center , formerly the Bond Center owned by Australian businessman Allen Bond, was forced to sell the building because of financial troubles attributed to the sharp edges of the triangular prisms of Bank of China Tower facing the [Lippo] Center.