In 2021, the Philippines will commemorate 500 years of Hispanic colonial “legacy” in the archipelago. The most celebrated Hispanic legacy in the islands is Catholicism. Hence, in 2021, the Philippines will also commemorate 500 years of Catholicism in East Asia. Up north in the Ilocos region, Spain’s legacy remained intact through the preservation of…
Category: UNESCO World Heritage Site
Paris, moi aussi, je t’aime, mon amour (Part 1 of 2).
When we think of Paris today, we often think of it as the most romantic city (read here as lovers posing before the Eiffel Tower and smooching as they pose before the camera) and one of the most picture-perfect colossal pieces of architecture (also read here as posing before the Eiffel Tower). Several people I…
Jaipur City, finally a UNESCO World Heritage Site
This week is the 43rd annual convention of UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan is this year’s host city. For over 10 years, I have been following and documenting the proceedings – as if a participant or a delegate representing the Philippines in this important convention about cultural preservation…
The Photogenic City that is Bruges!
Fall 2017, I represented my University at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. The trip was official but I made sure to have time to explore the city plus Cologne, the closest heritage city to Frankfurt. Back then, the only city I wanted to see outside of Germany was Brussels for a very practical reason: lack…
The Great Wall, not of China, but of South Korea: Hwaseong Fortress
It was cold winter. The temperature was dropping to 0 degrees Celsius. The good thing about this kind of weather was the coldness. I would not get sweaty and I would be very comfortable to move around. The bad thing about it was also the coldness: moving was limited and it ironically it was also…
Culture and Nature, the Everyday and the Holy Day, Bali and Tri Hita Karana Philosophy
According to Julia Roberts in the box-office film Eat Pray Love, Bali is the best place to fall in love. I did not get the reason exactly but I believe the film suggested that a serene and calm heart opens up for love. Bali’s serenity and its sort of calmness are viral infections that ironically the…
The Dead Lives Among Us: The Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty
The International Federation for Theatre Research – Asian Theatre Working Group (IFTR-ATWG) 2019 was hosted by the Korea National University of Arts in Seoul through the Department of Theatre Studies’s Prof. Meewon Lee. The colloquium was slightly different in the sense that the opening program and the opening keynote were scheduled at 3:00 pm. We…
A Volcano Paradise that is the Jeju Island
My friends know very well how unaffected I am with nature (A.K.A. I am not a nature lover!). I remember how bored I was when I, together with my colleagues and friends, visited the World Natural Heritage Site Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park (Underground River) in Palawan Island in 2012. It is not that the…
Art Nouveau and Victor Horta
When I was young, my only idea of Belgium was Christelle Roelandts. The year was 1994. And my interest in Belgium began. Christelle Roelandts and 1994? Miss Universe 1994 was held in Manila, Philippines. Christelle Roelandts was Miss Belgium and she was one of my favorites. Unfortunately, she did not make it – not even…
Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Four Days: Day 3 and Day 4 in Beijing (Part 2 of 2)
In the previous post, I talked about the Forbidden City experience and how we wasted time waiting for two other participants of the group tour. As a consequence, we needed to skip the shopping activity at a posh Beijing street, which street-name I forget. At the same time, we needed to adjust the alotted time…
Tanghal Kultura 