Category Archives: pictures

Tracing Vicki Belo’s Wedding Trail

21 January 2020

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We Filipinos are fond of fairy tales. The wedding of celebrity doctors Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho in 2017 was nothing short of a fairy tale. At least in the place and setting where it happened.

(above photo taken from the web)

I was waiting for my invitation to that great event but I think the mailman misplaced it. On second thought, maybe I was not really invited.

So I did the next best thing, I visited the place where the wedding reception was held. It was in the Opera House in Paris, or also known as Palais Garnier.

This 19th century architectual masterpiece was built by Charles Garnier and opened in 1875. Today, it is home to Paris Ballet, and besides being a venue for great art performances, it is also open for visitors to tour. Well, I guess it can be rented for a wedding reception too.

It was almost closing time when we got to the Opera House, and so we did not have much time to roam, but just enough to get a feel of this grandiose place.

Here’s the majestic staircase where Belo and Hayden did their magical wedding dance.

Of course I had to climb up those steps as if I’m in a fairy tale story too. My wife and I did not dance though on those stairs for we might stumble and fall, and end up in a tragic tale instead.

Here’s the grand foyer (photo below) where the wedding banquet and tables were set up. The newly wed couple and their guests dined under these intricate painted ceilings and opulent lights.

As I said, this is an Opera House, so here’s the auditorium that can sit 2000 people and where the real magical performances are happening.

Below is an interesting Christmas tree made up of ballet shoes which was displayed during our visit. I have no idea what the golden tractor tires are for.

There is also a mystery surrounding the construction of this palatial edifice that facts and fictions are blurred. The famous tale of the “Phantom of the Opera,” a classic novel by a Frenchman, Gaston Leroux, a story that was retold in so many ways was inspired from the history of Palais Garnier.

We roamed around the halls perhaps looking for traces of Belo or perhaps searching for the phantom, until a lady with a bell called everyone still inside the opera house announcing that it was time to close. We were among the last ones who exited the place that night.

The Phantom?

I know this place was already enchanting even before Belo rented this place. Maybe someday I’ll have my birthday bash or a wedding anniversary here. Alright, I’ll dream on.

From Belo’s wedding reception place, albeit two years too late,

Pinoytransplant.

(*photos taken with an iPhone at Palais Garnier, Paris)

10 Years of Blogging: Making A Landmark

18 January 2020

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Over the history of mankind, people have built structures that have become landmarks. They are a testament of the people who constructed them. Here’s a few that I have visited.

There are landmarks that are enduring and have lasted the passing of time.

Petra, Jordan

There are landmarks that are flawed, but that only make them more endearing.

Pisa, Italy

There are landmarks that symbolizes what a nation and its people stands for.

Washington DC

And then there are landmarks that are very popular and have become cultural icons.

Paris, France

I am not saying that I have created a monument of such significance as of the structures above, for that will be delusional. However I am proud to say that this blog is now 10 years old which I consider an achievement, for that is way more than the average life span of a blog site. My writing has flaws and is far from perfect, but I am still a work in progress.

This blog represents my personal ideas and nobody else. Moreover, I stayed true to my original purpose to keep this blog for the mere joy of writing – no ads, no commercials. If you should know, I still haven’t made a single cent from blogging.

I have posted more than 900 posts and this site has garnered more than half a million views. I know that is really not considered a very popular or a viral site that can have million of views a day. Yet I hope that like a landmark, I am leaving an impression in this blogging world in my own little way. I owe this though to you my dear readers.

And as long as I am enjoying this journey, I will keep on blogging. Thank you for your continued visit.

Rendezvous With A Famed Lady

5 January 2020

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I’ve got to see her.

She probably has the most recognizable face. I am not her secret lover nor am I looking for an affair. I’m not even a devoted fan, but I just got to meet her to discover for myself what is this madness about her.

It was a cold and cloudy morning with intermittent drizzle, but that did not deter me from meeting her on our appointed date. The subway transit, known as the Metro was not running due to the labor force strike, but that did not stop me either. I could walk, or I could use Uber.

So I went to the palace where she resides. They even have these aesthetic glass pyramids in the inner court (photo above).

When I entered her royal residence, I passed through some naked guard statues. I thought to myself, if our medical mission is here, some of these guards could avail of our “operation tuli.” But I get it, circumcision was not in vogue in that era.

Some of the sculptures were really huge.

And so were the paintings.

The palace was enormous with more than 60,600 square meters to roam around. You could get lost here. I climbed up some majestic stairways and passed through several long hallways in search of my lady.

Finally, I entered the room where she was (photo above). For some reason, there was not much crowd around her that day. I think I was fortunate, I don’t have to navigate through a long line. Or perhaps I was favored, and she set aside a time for me to meet her.

In the end, I was face to face with her, my lady, Mona Lisa.

I was a little disappointed though. Maybe I was expecting more. Maybe I was thinking that it was something more grand, and not a tiny 30 x 21 inches affair. Or maybe I was just hoping that she would break into a full smile when I meet her. Maybe.

Now I cannot forget her enigmatic smile. And just like the sentiments in the song “Mona Lisa” by Nat King Cole, I felt the same:

Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa?
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart?
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep.
They just lie there and they die there.

Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa?
Or just a cold and lonely lovely work of art?

(*My wife took these pictures, and this rendezvous had no intention of being disloyal to my real lady. Photos taken at Louvre Museum)

Thoughts From An Old Couch

25 November 2019

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Where do old couch go?

Few days ago, my son and I carried out our old couch to the end of our driveway for waste management to pick-up. Would it be recycled into a new form or would it rest in a land fill? I don’t know. This is not the first time though, that I have dealt with a couch on a curb.

About two and a half decades ago, I came to United States on a training visa to start my medical residency. I had one suitcase in hand which was all my belongings plus a few dollars in my wallet. Leaving our home in the Philippines, I arrived in Morristown, New Jersey and stayed with another Filipino medical resident whom I just met. I crashed at his apartment for I have no place of my own.

One day we saw a couch left at the street curb to be picked up by the garbage collector. Seeing that the couch still has some life left on it, I thought it could be of use to me. My friend and I scooped up the sofa before the garbage truck could pick it up. Of course we inspected it first and it passed our visual and smell test.

A month later after I received my first paycheck, I was able to move to my own apartment. My friend and I transported the couch from his residence to mine which was 1 kilometer away. No, we did not load it on a truck for we had no truck. We carried it through that distance. Even though it was not that big, it seemed that it got heavier and heavier as we went further along. Especially considering that we were two scrawny and muscularly-challenged guys.

Good thing was, midway, somebody saw us struggling with our load. She flagged us down and asked how far we were going. We were actually already sitting (and panting) on the couch taking a break at the side of the road. The lady lent us a furniture dolley so we can roll the sofa instead of lifting it, and she said to just bring it back when we’re done. That was nice of her. That was one of my first impression of that place – that people were nice and trustful of their neighbors.

The lady even asked if it was some kind of a special “oriental” couch that we were transporting. Perhaps she was wondering if it was that valuable that we would go through all that trouble. If only she knew that we just picked it up from the street curb.

Several months later, my wife got her visa and came to America to join me. We used that salvaged couch for a couple of years. When we moved to New York, we did not bring it along anymore. We left it at a street curb for the garbage collector or perhaps somebody else to pick up. Did it find another owner? I don’t know.

We moved several more times since then and in fact, we had 10 different address changes until we finally moved to our current address. It seemed like we were in a witness-protection program that we kept on moving, roughly every year. However, we are living in our present home for 14 years now and counting.

Regarding this couch that my son and I just placed at the curb, we bought it when we were still in Florida after we moved out of California. We got it on a clearance sale. We really did not care about its blue color, but my wife thought she could make a cover for it. Her family’s business when they were growing up in Pampanga was making drapes and seat covers. After she made a phone call to her brother and asked for some tips, she sewed a white fabric cover for our couch. It turned out pretty good actually.

We hauled this sofa along when we eventually moved here in Iowa. We have sat on it, lounged on it, spilled food on it, my kids barfed on it and I spent many lazy days sleeping (and drooling) on it. Over the years of use the covers that my wife made got torn and for a long time now we were just tossing a white blanket over it. It has seen better days and now it is time for it to have another life apart from us.

As we placed our couch at the curb, I sat there for a few moments, reminisced, and watched as the season (and our life’s season) turns. There are so many things to be thankful for. Including old couches.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

(*photos taken with an iPhone)

Sights and Sounds of Nashville

4 November 2019

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I had a short visit and spent two nights in Nashville, Tennessee. I went there for training. No, I am not changing career to be a country singer. My training was about navigational bronchoscopy.

Even though my visit was brief, I still was able to see parts of Nashville.

Here’s Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.

This iconic hotel offers guests all the excitement and energy of a music city like Nashville under one roof.

It has climate-controlled glass atriums with bending river, falls, fountains, rain forest and an extraordinary selection of dining, shopping and recreation options for a perfect getaway. 

I also visited downtown Nashville and explored Lower Broadway, a major entertainment district well renowned for honky tonks and live country music.

Here’s Johnny Cash’s joint.

Below is Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk place.

The one with the tower is the popular Bridgestone Arena, home to famous country music concerts.

What is a Nashville visit without hearing a live country music band? So I did. I skipped the line dancing though.

However, the best part of my visit to Nashville is not even displayed in these above photos. For the best part of my trip was that I was able to see my best friend in college and medical school. He is now practicing near Nashville as a Pediatrician, and we have not seen each other for more than 20 years. We had a lot of catching up to do and two days was merely not enough.

From Nashville y’all,

Pinoytransplant

(*photos taken with an iPhone)

A Landmark Run

14 October 2019

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The 2-hour time barrier to finish a full marathon was broken. A feat that was considered for long as impossible for humans, was conquered two days ago by a Kenyan runner, Eliud Kipchoge. He ran 26.2 miles in a blistering time of 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds. What Kipchoge did was compared to Neal Armstrong walking in the moon and Sir Edmund Hillary reaching the summit of Mount Everest, for indeed it was a significant achievement. He inspired many that “no human is limited.”

I participate in marathons every year in the fall. I run the half-marathon event and I have already completed 7 of them. Except this year, I did not register to join as I did not have enough time to train. My excuse is that I am busy reviewing for my Sleep Boards which by the way is less than a month from today.

However, I did not stop running totally as I still do my regular 2 to 3 miles run at least twice a week. The longest run I made this year is only 5 miles. Since I have now a gadget that tells me my pace and monitors my heart rate continuously, I can even track if I may be pushing myself too hard.

According to experts, you should keep your heart rate between 70% to 85% of your target maximum heart rate during vigorous excercise. To calculate for your maximum heart rate, you subtract your age from 220. So for me my maximum heart rate should be around 170. Though sometimes my heart rate speeds up to 170-180 when I am running, so I have to slow down. It’s either I am pushing too hard or I am still not conditioned or trained enough.

I even brought my running shoes during my short visit in California. Besides, running gives you a chance to enjoy the sun outside and the view around you. My run may not be a landmark like of Kipchoge, but at least I can take photos of landmarks while I run.

Here’s the scenery when I ran in California where my aunt lives (photos taken 10 days ago):

Here’s the scenery here in my home in Iowa (photos taken yesterday):

I will never run as fast as Kipchoge, not even in my imagination, but I will keep on running. Maybe I should stop taking photos so I could run faster. Nah!

(* photos taken with an iPhone)

Brighter Sunrise After A Storm

30 September 2019

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We are blessed to have a scenic view in front of our home. Many times after a difficult day, all I want to do is sit at home and stare beyond the horizon.

When we were looking for a place to live 15 years ago, I made a decision to get this house after standing outside at the front, before even seeing what it looks like inside. For me, if you don’t like the layout of the house, you can always renovate or change it, but not the location or the view. You cannot just place an ocean or a mountain in front of your house. Or maybe you can, but that will be a great undertaking to create an ocean or move a mountain.

When we moved in, one of the movers complimented our view. He said that it be better still if a lightning would strike the two trees which are actually in my neighbors yard, and that would give us an unobstructed view of the river valley below. Though I told him we were already satisfied with what we have.

One thing that I really enjoy here is watching the sunrise right in front of our porch. It is just so magical (photo below, taken autumn of last year).

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However, there would be times of the year that the sunrise would be blocked by my neighbor’s trees. Because as you know the sunrise (and sunset) is not always in the exact location throughout the year. Remember our earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis, so as it revolves the sun’s path across the horizon changes.

Here’s another beautiful sunrise (photo below, taken spring of this year). I know it is partially obstructed by my neighbor’s trees, yet it is still majestic, isn’t it?

Few weeks ago we had thunderstorms and gusty winds in our area. It broke some branches of out trees and flattened some of our plants. It downed some trees in our neighborhood too, including the one of our neighbors’. Yes, the one right in front of our house. So our neighbor has no recourse but to cut down the whole tree.

As I have said before, storms are part of life. We will go through some that will almost break down our will and flattened our spirits. But if we weather them we could have a brighter outlook, a more glorious sunrise, if you will.

I feel bad for the downed tree and for our neighbor, but not too much. For now that the tree in front of our house is gone, we have a less obstructed view of the valley (photo below). Storms can indeed bring brighter sunrise, literally.

Here is a time-lapse that my wife took of the magnificent sunrise.

Old Stomping Ground

25 September 2019

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In my last post, I already alluded that I went back to New York last weekend. Besides attending a program in honor of a retiring beloved Pastor, this trip also gave me the opportunity to visit my old stomping ground.

When we were in New York about two decades ago, we lived in “the Hamptons.” But before you think of that exclusive and ritzy place in Long Island for the rich and famous, I don’t mean that.

This is the Hampton I meant – Hampton Street in Queens, New York.

We lived in one of these apartment complexes.

My wife and I also visited “Ihawan,” one of the several Filipino restaurants in the neighborhood where we used to frequent before. We had a hearty (as in heart-attack risk?) breakfast here.

After breakfast, we walked to the hospital where I did part of my medical training. I even went inside and check out the place. There was much changes here since the time I left.

Then we hopped on the number 7 train of the New York City Metro. This line of train is on the top of the street instead of being underground, at least in this part of town.

We rode the train and boarded off here, the Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.

People here are always rushing, and time seems to be incessantly fleeting in this place. Except for us now, as we had time to kill and just relax.

We then walked through New York City midtown and end up in Bryant Park. We were also in this place last December where our kids went ice skating. This place looks very different in the summer as instead of an ice skating rink, there is lawn grass.

We just sat down here and did some people watching. There were even some ballet dancers practicing at the park.

Then we headed down to Time Square area as we wanted to see a “new” establishment there. We heard it opened in October of last year. Was it an earth-shaking institution or such an epic landmark that it forever altered the face of Time Square? I don’t know, you tell me.

Perhaps we were just hankering for that certain taste of home. We were greeted inside by this happy guy.

That sums up our short visit to the city. Until next time…….

From New York City,

Pinoytransplant

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(*all photos taken with an iPhone)