Philippines – Joan of Art's Ship of Imagination

Pambansang Museo ng Pilipinas: Huling Hirit sa Libreng Tiket

November 1, 2015December 10, 2021 by Joan of Art, posted in amazing, art, Travels

Before Halloween, me and my friends decided to visit the National Museum located at Rizal Park, Manila . Now I’m wondering if “am I really a Filipino?”, because I haven’t been there before, and I didn’t even know why. “Free” is the word that makes us decide to visit the museum soon. So here we are, visiting the ghosts from the past history of our very own country. They are not really ghosts which the exact definition is “immaterial”. It is not a museum made of projectors or holograms for that matter. I just feel like saying it for Halloween feels. Mmmmkay..

I have known the museum to be famous for its painting galleries including the Spoliarium made by Juan Luna. There’s no arguing, one factor that makes the museum worth seeing is the Spoliarium. Want to know the scariest part? We haven’t seen it. Why? Free entrance is equal to a long line of people, and that is why. So in a case like this, it pays to be early at the venue. Well, at least we still have reason to visit the museum again.

National Museum is divided into two: National Art Gallery and Museum of the Filipino People. The latter is the one that we were able to explore. It was located at the back of the National Art Gallery. So no need to go any farther.

Decipher the baybayin code.

Taxidermy.. Poor lad

Footloom. Everybody cut footloom, .. haha don’t try to sing it!

A piece of the Berlin Wall

Kalinga’s Apo Whang Od: The mambabatok. The oldest and the last of the “Mambabatok” or what they called traditional hand-tap tattoo artist.

Ivory Trade (13th Century, I think) – Did you know that some elephants have successfully adapted not to grow their tusks so they won’t get hunted by those poachers? Yep! The natural process of evolution is stepping in, and Elephants are evolving. Tusk-less elephants were being spared by poachers. That’s what I’ve read from an article. 🙂 At the same time, I felt sad because having tusks is such a huge advantage for them, it serves as their weapon and tools to dig. Nonetheless, they seem to understand that the greater threat is “we are” – the humans. 😦

Spectacular View At Mt. Kiltepan, Sagada

May 2, 2015December 10, 2021 by Joan of Art, posted in amazing, Science, travel, Travels

My favorite star exposes its intense white glow while it appears to “rise” from the horizon. But this time, there’s a sea of clouds which makes it more dreamy. Perfect timing 😀

Can hardly blame our ancestors from the distant past who had worshiped you. Actually, it made more sense ‘cos you’re truly amazing! I think you deserve to have this separate post 🙂

Also, If we humans were not too Geocentric to think: The sun doesn’t go down, nor rises as the Earth is spinning around. 🙂

And here’s Carl Sagan’s quote to remind us of this beautiful epoch.

It’s interesting to think about the consequences of living in a double star system. Maybe our whole evolution would have produced different results with a very different day/night pattern than we have now. But to have two suns (plus the size of Jupiter is so freaking massive)?, It is highly probable that there’s no life. No single-celled organisms had evolved. O.o

I watched That Thing Called Tadhana with my sister. Even though I like that film, I didn’t travel here because of that (I will tell you in my next post why I did visit Sagada, so stay tuned). I’m pretty sure that these visitors were also here to see the beauty of Kiltepan because of this film. To my surprise, it is super pretty! Glad we woke up early and caught the transfixing beauty of the sunrise from Mt. Kiltepan. Top of the world where you can day dream of ensconcing this paradise soon. And by the way, humans are everywhere. >.< Don’t say I didn’t warn you. But I guess, there’s still a day where you can experience the view without the overwhelming number of people who also trying to capture the moment, so you need an extra radar when will that be. 😛 If you found one, then congrats! That would be a great escape from the ludicrous hectic world.

Batad-Banaue 2015: Where The Rice Fields Are Greener

April 11, 2015December 10, 2021 by Joan of Art, posted in amazing, travel, Travels

“What titan built this wonder of the world? It was the Ifugao people of the Philippines working with not much more than their hands.”

That’s how Neil introduced Banaue Rice Terraces in his Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey Season1 Episode12. Yep, the ship of imagination has flown over the rice terraces of Banaue in Ifugao.

In this episode, Tyson discussed the effects of global warming. And it was in the last 5 minutes of the series where he tackled how our own ancestors had learned to adapt in a self-sustaining lifestyle by inventing Agriculture.

Batad Rice Terraces

Banaue Rice Terraces

Excerpt from that particular episode I was referring to:

“What titan built this wonder of the world? It was the Ifugao people of the Philippines working with not much more than their hands. About 10,000 years ago, our ancestors all over the world took advantage of another form of climate change. The gentler climate of the intermission of the ice age. They invented agriculture. They gave up the ceaseless wandering, hunting, and gathering that had been their way of life for a million years or so to settle down and produce food. They found a way to harvest ten to a hundred times more solar energy than the environment naturally provided for their ancestors. People all over the world made the difficult transition from nomadic cultures to agricultural ones that used solar energy efficiently. It gave rise to civilization. We stand on the shoulders of those who did the hard work that such a fundamental transformation required. Now it’s our turn.”

After watching, I was like – OHEEMGEEE! I haven’t seen Banaue Rice Terraces yet So I made a promise to visit it soon. Luckily, I got the chance to see it up-close. I re-watched that episode yesterday, and boy it gives me more ahs and awes than the first time I saw it. Haha Perfectly explained the causes of global warming, the effects, and the solution. We Earthlings should be informed about this important issue and greatest challenge facing humanity today, a greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, and probably will ever face.

Watch it guys!! Here’s the link 😀 Cosmos A Spacetime Odyssey