park life

Manila, PH -- there’s a fantasy of mine where i’m at work and during lunch break I go out of the office. outside, I don’t see a sidewalk painted in a dizzying mix of red, blue and yellow. the pavement isn’t tiled like jigsaw puzzles. pedestrians don’t need to bump each other while walking through the narrow street filled with vendors and beggars competing for their attention. puddles don’t make portions of the sidewalk impassable. instead, there’s an expanse of trees before me, and a park in the middle of it. i pick a bench to sit on and watch kids running by while eating my sandwich. the grass in the field is so inviting that people take off their footwear and just wander about barefoot.

i’m sharing this because I chanced upon this local TV show last night and they were talking about urban planning. the guest was my friend’s dad, a well-known architect and urban planning advocate. he talked about new york, paris, london, and other places where people value open spaces. parks aren’t considered a cost penalty but an asset to the community as these serve as the lungs of the city. they also talked about public transport, which is really not one of our country’s strengths. the average person spends 300 hours in traffic annually. i, on the other hand, spend at least 180 more than that here in manila. in places like singapore, mass transit systems are thoughtfully built next to high-density residential buildings so more people can get to work in just a few minutes. wasted time and carbon footprints (plus incidents of road rage) are reduced.

getting to work in 15 minutes. leisurely lunches at the park.

one can still dream.

photo from here

bohol part trois

Bohol, PH -- island life 101. when it's a weekday and you're stuck at work, it's not a lot of fun to be in the middle of summer. the heat is oppressive, you feel like taking a shower 3x a day (or more), and you wish there was life beyond staring at your computer screen.

thankfully though, today is different. instead of heading to the office before 6 a.m. i joined the family on a flight to tagbilaran. we took zest air ("asia's most refreshing airline"), the dad's employer, to the land of tarsiers and chocolate hills. by 11 a.m. we were on the road to a yet-unspecified location. we ended up at amarela, a resort that's not very close to the famed alona beach. it's all good though, this place is fantastic. it's a relaxed confluence of asian and spanish touches (nuks). the place reminds me of this quiet and secluded villa we stayed at in bali (it's not as cheap though). you can see clearly see what the owner is passionate about: even before we met him, we concluded he was an art lover, a voracious reader and a music aficionado.  his resort had shelves filled with books (including a couple on bali), its own art gallery, and carefully selected songs were softly playing in the dining room. when my dad introduced him to me i was surprised to hear him call me compañera (i was not in lawyer mode). turns out he retired from the world's most-maligned profession 4 years ago and was now engrossed in running amarela full-time. 

so now it's still hot but the sun seems to be gentler. the bogged-down office airconditioning has been replaced with the endless crashing of waves. and instead of refilling my water at the office pantry, i'm enjoying my citrusy welcome drink. is citrusy a word? 

midweek!

Osmeña Highway, PH -- photo above: view from my windshield. some manila schoolgirls on their way home (or to the nearest sari-sari store, perhaps).

we've almost completely moved into our new office and have fixed a trifling detail: we now have air. and water. now i have no excuse for sitting idly and doing as little as possible to conserve my share of oxygen and potable agua.

where is everyone? i want to hear about your october (or the last 4 months if you're justine & jan).

it's wednesday, it's business time, it's mid-week... funerals, global financial crises & other stuff aside, we made it!


soundtrack while writing this: love shack, b-52s