Category Archives: Structure

Tourism Shack

Leave a comment Posted by on July 1, 2014
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Registration shack for Batad visitors

Ifugao, Structure , , ,

Village Snapshots: Cambulo

Leave a comment Posted by on June 24, 2014
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After about 1.5 hours of trekking from Batad village, the destination village of Cambulo is now visible from this spot. See those white specks in the slopes? That's the destination on foot.

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Traditional Ifugao shelters in Cambulo village

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Another Ifugao wooden house with thatched roof

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Foot bridge within the village

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A closer look of the foot bridge

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Ifugao child sitting on the doorstep of his traditional house

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Galvanized iron roof instead of thatched roof. Most houses have evolved

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Modern shelters made from hollow blocks with galvanized iron roof

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A Philippine playground is never complete without a basketball court, even in a mountain school

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Students trooping back inside the classrooms after recess

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Christian assimilation of the village

Ifugao, Structure , , , , , , ,

Japanese Graveyard

Leave a comment Posted by on April 28, 2014

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A couple of times from the inside of a moving train, I’ve seen what looks like a cemetery from afar and I thought it seems different from what I’m used to.

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Several slabs instead of a single slab of stone per grave. Studying each grave, I was thinking that each one must belong to a family instead of an individual. I've confirmed that indeed it is

Intrigued on what really a Japanese cemetery looks like from the inside, that one day I went into one via streetcar and alighted at Toden Zoshigaya station to visit the graves inside the Zoshigaya Cemetery.

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I intentionally didn't take a snapshot of a specific grave as I'm not sure if its residents will like it. I don't how can I ask their permission

A bit of a chilly stroll it was inside (because of the rain) while I picked and blew a few of the scattered dandelions, study a few graves and took four snapshots of this place.

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Some graves have well tended micro garden but the presence of dandelions between graves gave some pretty detail to the graveyard

Japan, Structure , , , ,

Tokyo Station

Leave a comment Posted by on April 27, 2014

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Such a beautiful railway station structure , a terminal hub for several lines from the Tokyo Metro to regional lines (JR including shinkansen).

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Tokyo prefecture itself is vast already but I’ve noticed that there are quite a number of employees who work in Tokyo but live outside the metropolis, in Chiba Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, among others.

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Travel time is more or less an hour for nearby prefectures in the Kanto region and everyday, every train arrive and depart as scheduled.

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Even though train fare (or transportation fare in general) is expensive as compared to food in Japan, however its efficiency and predictable arrival time to one’s destination (including multiple transfers between subway and JR) is all worth it. Only a fool (or stupidly rich as what one Japan article refer to) would ride the terribly expensive taxi (even from Narita airport). Unless maybe you’d want to pay for the experience of taxi doors opening and closing by itself (yes I’ve seen it myself without riding one).

Japan, Public Transportation, Structure , , , , , ,

Kijo

Leave a comment Posted by on April 19, 2014
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A castle ruins in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture. More than an hour away from Tokyo

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The gate

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The moat and what's left of the castle

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Carp streamers

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My kind of place. I'd rather spend time here than in one of those busy Tokyo districts

Japan, Structure , , , , ,

Hoteru Colorful

Leave a comment Posted by on April 17, 2014
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As seen in Shinjuku district

Japan, Structure , , ,

Facade Garden

Leave a comment Posted by on April 15, 2014
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Vertical garden

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Garden, Japan, Structure ,

Tokyo Snapshots: Necessities

Leave a comment Posted by on April 13, 2014
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Train to metropolis from Narita airport

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Still plenty of telephone booths such as this

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Barber's poles. Haircut cost ¥2,500

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Vendo everywhere dispensing hot and cold drinks. Strolling in a cold night made me buy a ¥100 hot arabica coffee in can from one of these

Japan, Structure, Transport , , , , , ,

Cock Village

Leave a comment Posted by on April 9, 2014
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Cock shelters from repurposed tyres

Repurposing, Structure , , , , ,

Magat Reservoir

Leave a comment Posted by on March 26, 2014
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Magat dam’s reservoir

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Magat dam’s power plant and the river

Isabela, Structure , , , , ,

Kampong Ayer Colors

Leave a comment Posted by on March 16, 2014

The motley of house colors in this water village is quite pretty.
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Colorful alley

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A house with container garden

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Even the water taxi waiting shed is colorful

Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , ,

Religiously Clean

Leave a comment Posted by on March 4, 2014

As a visitor, it is but natural to see, and acknowledge the structures a particular place is quite proud of because these have also become the collective identity of the place itself. In Brunei Darussalam, most of the visitors’ destinations (no matter what one’s religious affiliation is) are these two great mosques – Omar Ali Saifuddien and Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah.

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Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

As Christian, the idea of cleanliness in a place of worship of other religions such as Islam, is fascinating and admirable. So when I visited the said mosques in Brunei Darussalam, I took few snapshots of shoe racks and ablution facility as concrete Islamic examples of the phrase Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

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Shoes not allowed inside the mosque

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Faucets provided for washing ritual before prayers

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That outdoor corridor leading to the Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque is a space for leaving shoes

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Shoe racks in this outdoor corridor

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A closer look of shoe rack number 25

Belief, Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , , , , , , ,

Holy Geometry

Leave a comment Posted by on March 1, 2014

Behold this grand holy structure in this sulatanate nation of Brunei Darussalam where one can’t get enough of its stunning sight.

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As for me what I saw first were the numerous but finite number of octagrams (eight-point stars) from the grounds up to its minarets in the said grand structure (aka Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque).

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Two squares where one is placed on top of the other makes an eight-point star (octagram)

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Octagram ornamentation in the mosque gate

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Octagram in this garbage receptacle

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Mathematics is truly beautiful

Art, Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , , , , , , , ,

Water Village: Primary School

Leave a comment Posted by on February 27, 2014

A primary school on stilts in Kampong Ayer where students arrive and depart in motorboats. 

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In Brunei education is free

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The school is connected to the water village by this walkway. While walking here I saw a small crocodile swimming away from under where I stood

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Behind those walls students are being taught to embrace the Melayu Islam Beraja ideology

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It's not everyday one can see a school above the water

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Jetty nearest the school where students arrive and depart

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School entrance near the jetty

Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , , , , ,

Water Village: Modern Houses

Leave a comment Posted by on February 22, 2014

If you have read about Kampong Ayer which is a huge network of water villages in Brunei comprising of about 42 villages and home to about 30,000 Bruneians, then you have also read about its existence for a long time already that it’s considered a heritage of this country. So what I have in this particular post is a village in Kampong Ayer where houses have evolved into modern look. In fact I stayed in one of those.

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The modern look of house in the water

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A network of modern houses in the water village. It's raining almost everyday and it's high tide.

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Below each house is a space to park their own boats

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Bridges have evolved into concrete in this village though majority of bridges (outside of this village) are still made of wood. One can also see the sewer and water pipes

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See the modern village behind the old one

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Low tide. Brunei Darussalam flags are everywhere for their upcoming National Day on February 23

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A modern jetty too for the residents

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Inside the modern house where I stayed. When feasible, I'd rather do homestay for a closer observation of the place and locals. Hotel is corny

Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , ,

Brick Beauty

Leave a comment Posted by on February 7, 2014
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Tumauini Church with two passing tricycles

Isabela, Structure , , , , ,

Our Lady of Atocha Church

Leave a comment Posted by on February 4, 2014
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All Spanish period churches I’ve seen (three of them) in Isabela were built from bricks like this one in Alicia town

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A relatively small side door.

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The lady at the courtyard.

Isabela, Structure , , , , ,

Cat Casita

Leave a comment Posted by on January 24, 2014

I always pass by the guard post at the loading dock for trucks of Landmark Department Store/Supermarket building and have noticed a couple of stray cats hanging out in there having some kind of friendship with the security guard.

Recently the cats have already a boardinghouse built from carton complete with roof, loft with bedding and windows and presumably constructed by the security guard who became too attached with these felines.
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“TOM & JERY HOUSE!!” says exactly the writing at the roof truss.
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Creature, Improvisation, Makati, Structure , , , , ,

Buddhist Monument

1 Comment Posted by on January 6, 2014

An ancient Buddhist edifice, a structure more beautiful than any of the tall and grand buildings of 20th century but I’m biased for my affinity for ancient, experience-rich and wabi-sabied objects.

This grand Buddhist monument is the Borobudur Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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And there are thousands of relief panels within, it was like solving jigsaw puzzle during restoration for the stories to be in sequence and where every block of volcanic rock must interlock.
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A closer look of the relief panel.
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I found a duck in one.
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From the temple, one can clearly see the most active Mt Merapi volcano out there.
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Stupas at the top of the edifice, the most iconic structure within the monument but I like the relief panels more.
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There were quite a number of local tourists too and they really seem to enjoy the beauty of their heritage as much as foreign visitors who were in awe. As you can see, the batik wrap-around is required for all visitors except for children maybe.

Indonesia, Structure , , , , , , , , ,

Sagñay Church

Leave a comment Posted by on November 24, 2013

Sight of the facade was forlorn and shadowy on that rainy and cloudy afternoon.

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Camarines Sur, Structure , , , , ,

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