On our last day in Yangon, we hired a private charter with the agenda of seeing the spectacle that is Yangon city. On a personal note, I wanted to see only one thing: the Shwedagon Pagoda! Remember the bright golden monument I was describing on an earlier post when we finally entered the city center…
Tag: UNESCO Tentative List World Heritage Site
Come on and Ghent/Gent me, Gent me; Baby I’m Yours! (The Castle of the Counts/Gravensteen)
Belgium is my favorite European country. I have several reasons and Ghent/Gent is one of them. Why Ghent/Gent? I thought the city was really charming in a sense that its surroundings reminded me so much of the fairy tales I read in my elementary years and I watched on television and the big screen via…
Siquijor: A Hidden Paradizzze in the Philippines (Part 1)
“We are going to Siquijor,” informing one of my closest friends. She asked me to bring asin (salt) to shoo evil spirits. She also pleaded me not to take anything from the locals. More so, not to drink anything that the locals offer. Then, she asked me to remember Manilyn Reynes and Ana Roces, two…
Heritage appreciation tour, or adventures and misadventures in Vietnam and Myanmar (Part 3)
After an amazing lunch at a local restaurant recommended by Mr. Tam (he used to work there and his wife still works there as a manager), we headed to the Hanoi International Airport for Yangoon. Incidentally, I no longer remember the name of the restaurant but it was really good! It was full house when…
San Sebastian Minor Basilica in the Philippines: Politics of Space and Heritage (Part 1 of 2)
In my almost two decades of being a resident of Metropolitan Manila, I confess I have not yet fully explored the city. One of the places that I have always wanted to explore was Quiapo and the University Belt where the majestic San Sebastian Minor Basilica (or most popularly known as San Sebastian Church) is…
Traditional Fiesta in The Archipelagic Province of Batanes: Pistang Chavayan (Part 2 of 2)
In the morning, everyone is awakened by loud music of drums and violins. Musicians locally known as musikos roam around the street to signal the start of the festivity. The loud music also signals the arrival of the parish priest whose kumbento (residential parish) is 45-minute ride away from the Chavayan. By 7:30 am, the…
Traditional Fiesta in The Archipelagic Province of Batanes: Pistang Chavayan (Part 1 of 2)
The Batanes Group of Islands (or the Archipelagic Province of Batanes) is the northernmost region of the Philippine archipelago. Composed of three major islands: Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat; these islands have been inhabited for 4,000 years and are believed to be homes of the ancestors of the Austronesian-speaking peoples in the Pacific and Indian Oceans….
Tanghal Kultura 