№ 761. Happy Feet 2

Quezon City, February 2024

“At some point, all the horizontal trips in the world stop compensating for the need to go deep, into somewhere challenging and unexpected; movement makes most sense when grounded in stillness.In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing could feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.” --- Pico Iyer

Uluru / Ayers Rock, Norther Territory, Australia, July 2023

№ 684. Mont Saint Michel

Flickr.com

 

№ 603. The Hippie Trail

majalahka.com

№ 453. Paris 2012

№ 452. Venice 2012

 

№ 359. South Korea Through Square Lenses 2

№ 323. Hokkaido Through Square Lenses 2

More pictures, field trips and food finds....

№ 322. Hokkaido Through Square Lenses

Summer in Hokkaido. Food tripping for food lovers and a rather sleepy companion, friendly folks and fun excursions to factories and farms. Our letter today is f*x&%$# "F".

№ 200. Penrose Tiles

What is that which are called "Penrose Tiles"?

That which are called "Penrose Tiles" are patterns named after Roger Penrose, an English mathematician and a physicist.

Deviant Art

These tiles exhibit repeating patterns that display at every scale and can be thought of fractals. This remarkable property is called self-similarity where the same patterns occur at larger and larger scales. Thus, the tiling can be obtained through "inflation" (or "deflation") and any finite patch from the tiling occurs infinitely many times. (Wikipedia)

№ 180. Venice Through Square Lenses

St. Mark's Square at 7 AM, May 2014. Pre-wedding photo deals are,
I think, trending among Chinese. I saw a few of these
during the three-day stay.  

It's been three months since the late spring visit. I finally have the time to post these itinerant snap shots.

Venice, after my first visit more than ten years ago, has lost none of its magic. It's still littered with tourists and their trash. This time there are more Chinese than Japanese and Americans combined. I was one of them.

St. Mark's appears half-emptied after the tourists dispersed,
mostly back to Mestre. Venice, May 2014.

№ 110. Binondo Rising: Part 1

Say "Ahh" for Tikoy, kid.

Binondo is still a study in controlled chaos.

Many Filipinos already know that Binondo is home to Manila's Chinatown. Many Chinese-Filipinos call it their spiritual home, I think, mainly because it's a transplant of their roots in China. I had lived in Binondo for almost two decades before college beckoned me to the hills of Valencia.

Binondo is so different now and yet oddly familiar in equal parts.

For one, it has become gentrified: cleaner, although the esteros still stink; littered less with horse manure and other organic refuse; and, freshened up with new high rises and coats of paint. Another reason for the ambivalence is while I can still eat at the staple restaurants like The President's, Eng Bee Tin, Ha Yuan and Country Chicken, et cetera, there are many that have already upgraded while a few have not done so well.

Fried garlicky peanuts, chicha-corn
(dried and  fried crisp with coconut oil) and other street delights.