Travel Photography # 34 – A big bowl of Purple Flowers, Seoul, South Korea
Category: travel
Travel – Biggest Catholic Church Bell in Asia
by : Bacardi Gold
22/Oct/2020
Pan-ay, Capiz :
Old churches in the Philippines have grand and impressive structures made of stones built by the Spaniards. Many has been rebuilt numerous times over the centuries because of wars and natural disasters. They stand as the muted witnesses of the places’ culture and history. Majority of them have been declared as national treasures as they represent the Philippines as the only Catholic nation in Asia.
Along with these old churches, bells have been instruments for spiritual purposes. They were rang to call the faithful to worship, to highlight the climax of a particular stage of a church service, to remind them of God’s presence in their daily lives. Church bells were also used for practical purposes of alerting the faithful of important events and emergencies, such as, fire, end of war, disseminating information over far distances.
During the People Power Revolution of 1986, church bells were rang when President Marcos escaped and departed from the Palace.
The biggest bell in the Philippines measures 7 feet in diameter, 5 feet in height and weighs 10,400 kilos… It is housed at the belfry of Sta. Monica Parish church in Pan-ay, Roxas, Capiz together with the other olden church bells. It is considered as the “Biggest Catholic Church Bell in Asia”.
Through its powerful sound and simplicity in communication, they have become one of the most important influential percussion instruments in the world.
Photography # 30 – Municipality of Banay-banay, Davao Oriental, Philippines
by : Bacardi Gold
12/Oct/2020
Travel, Photography – Osaka, Japan
by : Bacardi Gold
07/Oct/2020
Travel – Kiyomizudera Temple and Fushimi Inari Shrine – Kyoto, Japan
by: Bacardi Gold
06/Oct/2020
a) Kiyomizudera Temple
Kiyomizudera Temple or Kiyomizu-dera Temple , both spellings are right. We alighted from the train and walked up to the middle portion of Mt. Otowa. It was an easy walk up the mount by flight of concrete stairs. This temple stands on one of Kyoto’s Higashiyama mountain range.
Kiyomizu-dera Temple is also known as the “Kannon Reijo” or Holy Place of Kannon. Being a worshipper of Kannon is understood that you have already examined yourself as a true self – believer, which means that you are thankful that you have come into this world having a safe life as well as the lives of your loved ones and friends and other acquaintances.
We offered lighted candles to Kannon as what other visitors were doing. We silently counted and thanked ourselves as Kannon’s believers.
b) Fushimi Inari Shrine
The Shinto god of rice and sake, Fushimi Inari, is one of the favored shrines to visit by the locals and foreigners visiting Japan. It was built in his honor by the Hata clan in the 8th century.
Being the lead shrine, the area consists of five smaller shrines that spread on the slopes of Inari-San woods. With its four-kilometer ascending pathways, be ready with your legs as you stroll up the mountain without seeing the end of the route, if you decide to go back instead. There are signages which directs visitors to the exit.
As you wander along the pathways, you’ll notice stone figures of foxes scattered onward as you go. Graveyards of foxes are noticeable which exudes creepy moods. It is best to go along with the crowd.
The Survivor…
by : bacardi gold
29/09/2020
suffer the daily cries of stress
reactions to praise and hurting pressures
applauds and criticisms for my courage to grow
even on a near – death body
my parent mother craved for the mud below
managed to leaf on my mother’s node
despite her being unkindly strangled
together with other members of my kind
afloat all of our lives on the lake’s water
raft for humans, not knowing to evolve after
but what can leaves of an offspring can do
no soil to give rise of my maturing roots
dripping on the water which i hungered for a land
to see my future nodal buds of my own
giving life to another bamboo, humans have known …
strip us of the strings that bind us without mercy
bring us to the forest where we can thrive freely
or to a soil where a caretaker can keep us trimmed
control our growth, to be small in a pot, we could be decorative
in the forest we could be giants, in a home we could be petite…
-o0o-
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Photography #19 – Aboard a ship at sunset…
Travel – There are no witches in Capiz…
When we were on the road for a tour of nearby province of Capiz, in Panay Island, Philippines, after a seemingly fruitful plan of buying pineapples on the roadside, we decided to proceed to a beach resort where we could rest for a while after the long drive. We were not familiar with the place so we asked people from the street to direct us to a beach resort nearby. We drove and drove until we got to spot a resort. This was unplanned so, whatever it was, so be it. And these are what we got.
CAPIZ, is a province in the central section of Western Visayas. Its location at the northeastern portion of Panay island made it a top producer of seafood products such as, prawns, milkfish, blue marlin, squids, oysters, seaweeds, and angel wings. The wide expanse of swampy lands that were converted into fishponds plus its 80 kilometers of coastline are the sources of the aquamarine products making the province the “Seafood Capital of the Philippines”.
Capiz is always on the top list when people talk about witches, spirits, and ghosts of the local folklore. We don’t believe the stories about “aswangs” I guess our elders told stories about them just to scare the children, so they would be home earlier. It’s my opinion though, I was also scared driving in the middle of the night. So, in the afternoon of 2PM we made our exit from the scene. We would still drive in 5 to 6 hours home.
We ate our dinner at the Iloilo-Capiz border at a roadside restaurant. Home was still 2 hours drive.
Photography – Plants #03
Photography – Plants #02
