Expensive Preparation For His Coming?

If Paris is the City of Lights ... Ilonggos hope they don't mind if Iloilo City borrows this sobriquet only this Christmas - for how else could you describe a city whose ostentatious display of lights exceeded one's expectations.  A friend who has a penchant for hyperbole and exaggeration fired back to him the preparation had reached a blasphemous degree ... (or was it sacrilegious?)  To him, it was almost disrespectful and obscene because it was not in synch with humbleness ... the very first teaching Jesus wants us to imbibe this Christmas.

I don't blame his rhetorics ... because of his viewpoint and mindset that Jesus was teaching humanity humility and modesty... why Jesus Christ had to be born in a manger ... why his first visitors were shepherds ... why he was surrounded by lambs and animals, etc.

We just let him ... but the lights and sounds were just so breathless ... it is plain idiocy to ignore what was going around ... whether the NOW generation chooses extravagance over being economical ... wasteful and indulgent over frugality ... is beside the point.

Here are the photos:

Christmas Time In Iloilo City

The sights and sounds of Iloilo City at night during Christmas. Everywhere you go is a tapestry of kaleidoscopic lights of different hues hanging in buildings and houses ... as if trying to say we are hospitable and trying our best to welcome the coming of the Messiah - lavish ... elaborate ... and showy - a far-cry and poles apart from olden days when all the inns were occupied and unfortunately Jesus was born in a manger in the stable. What a lowly accommodation for the man who would be king. Maybe Jesus wants it that way ... but who knows?

Pototan - The Christmas Capital In Western Visayas

Pototan is starting to create a Christmas buzz this holiday when it celebrates the annual Iwag Festival from December 16 to January 1, 2025.

If you have not visited Pototan yet ... it is a must that you have to do it now. And don't forget to bring your family with you. You will be mesmerized by whatever happens next .... anything goes.

You will feast your eyes on the sights and sounds, and it is no wonder Pototan is getting the moniker - the Christmas capital of Western Visayas.

Your family will also enjoy gastronomic and culinary treats as the food stalls around carry high-quality food and dishes.

If you are doubting Thomas - the pictures will convince you.

More Photos

Rome In The Pgilippines?

Balcony of Coliseum

Leptis Arauna

Coliseum or Dambana ni Yahweh

AOD Building

Resort Area

Goshen Resort and Hotel give us the ambiance, the atmosphere, and the mood of a timeless and expensive Rome. Located in Sitio Gumain Bamban Tarlac - nobody could imagine that this idyllic and bucolic piece of wasteland... would rise from a quaint but promising jewel of the north ... ill-famed recently by POGO infestations and investigations.

If you need to unwind and relax ... this staycation offers a combination of water fun and sightseeing ... I am sure all members of the family love it. The amenities such as cabanas, gazebos, and patios are a perfect backdrop for a wonderful shoot.

Igorot Stone Kingdom

Structure: Igorot Stone Kingdom

Location: Long long Benguet Road, Baguio Benguet

Year Opened: The attraction was opened to the public in May 2021. It was shut down temporarily on November 7, 2022, due to safety and permit violations.

Description: The Igorot Stone Kingdom is a stone-formed castle structure that gives the tourist a deja vu feeling he is strolling Bangkok's Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The humongous structure was built by Pio Velasco ... his inspiration being the first to use Igorot's stone-laying acumen ... this side of Philippines. It is rooted in the legend of Sab-angan, an ancient Igorot Kingdom.

The castle is proud to showcase its Stone walls which is known locally as riprap. It is a local and native engineering technique of supporting mountainsides from landslides using rocks and mud.  What is surprising to note is that Pio and his men had painstakingly and meticulously piled up the boulders just like stacking wood blocks just like in the Jenga game (Jenga comes from the word kujenga which means to build) to form stone walls. 

This building artistry is still being employed in modern times, but cement comes in handy to take the place of clay and mud as a binding element.

Why People Travel?

Traveling as a tourist used to be traditionally something to broaden one's horizon ... and exploring the world around them. It is a way of gaining new experience firsthand. They took pictures here and there ... and collected souvenirs. Some people travel as part of their education like on field trips ... and some travel because they want to relax, enjoy, and rest from the humdrum of their almost routine life.

Nowadays the relationship between tourists and traveling is metamorphosing. The netizen's access to social media made it so. 

Browsing Facebook entrees exposes the new reality. Tourists are flocking to Boracay for instance ... (or to other dramatic luxurious destinations) ... not only TO SEE ... but also TO BE SEEN. Haven't you noticed how influencers frequent and make Coron Palawan their playground for a luxury backdrop ... but also to flaunt their celebrity-styled fantasies?

Why do they troop to Siargao and be in their skimpiest bathing suits? Why do they have to pretend they know surfing as they painfully carry those heavy surfing boards that are multi-colored ... with eye-damaging hue combinations? Why jetski when they have thalassophia or fear of being in deep waters? It is obvious he just wants to show the whole world ... he did experience something in this Siargao escapade ... ordinary mortals can't have.

Ask yourself ... why do Filipinos flock to the Philippine Arena to watch the Coldplay concert and ignore the exorbitant ticket prices? The obvious reason is that they want to see and be seen ... my gosh ... it is as though they are a nobody ... or they are a lesser mortal if they don't troop the line and rub elbows with no less than the President of the Philippines who also can't contain his penchant to come up and be counted? It is the bling culture for crying out loud ... and high-end shopping to make their presence felt ... an addiction to enhance their fast-deflating self-esteem?.

Indeed, my gut feeling says some tourists nowadays go somewhere to be spotted – to be ogled with envy by others both on Facebook and other platforms and in person at these destinations.

Heaven's Gate On Tianmen Mountain, Big Gate Road | China Vlog_12

If A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

Pictures don't lie.  We have been inundated with lavish words like Stairway To Heaven and Eight Wonders of the World by our elementary school teachers but do the generous and unselfish words commensurate to the hype?

I don't trust words ... I trust pictures ... unless it was photoshopped. I hate extravagant and extensive publicity and promotional stunts (they can be subjective) ... I hate hyperbole and conditioning the students' minds in the classroom as if what the teachers are preaching is the gospel truth,

Truth in advertisement and hyping ... and truth in the teacher's use of words in his lectures. When consumers see or hear an advertisement, whether it's on the internet, radio or television, or anywhere else, the law says that the ad must be truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. We demand the same thing with the teachers' pronouncements. The student's minds are malleable and they always believe what is being fed to them.

Truth in tourism advertising is a valued principle in brand development and management. Good marketing includes authenticity and truth ... and these two factors can always help sell your brand.

Now compare the pictures and see who will win the eighth Wonder of the World (if there is one).

1. Sa Pa Terraces Vietnam

2. Yuanhang Terraces - China

3. Hong He Hani Rice Terraces - China

4, Guang Xi Province China

5. Mu Cang Chai Terraces Vietnam

6. Tegalalang Terrace Ubud Indonesia

7. Rice Terraces in Nepal

8. Hamanoura Terraces Japan

9. Hashitougue Tanada Niigata

10. Banaue Rice Terraces Philippines

Strolling Down The Memory Lane At The Universal Studios

Universal Studios Hollywood is evolving.  For one there were attractions that were there before, unfortunately, some of them were changed or removed.  Whatever the reasons for the termination of these attractions, we don't know but I have the gut feeling, that the studio wants to cater to new movies, to give the studio some semblance that they are going with the times and were not stuck to old movies and thrills where the public has seen or experienced them already. Maybe some of them were scrapped to give room to new exciting attractions. 

The Studio Tour is also known as the Backlot tour is a ride attraction it travels through a working film studio, and various film sets. The guests who queued in sit in multi-car trams for the duration of the ride.

Here is the list of the attractions that were totally scrapped and buried in oblivion.  Kudos to the thrill they have given us, and for what it's worth, the delight and the pleasure will forever be etched in our memory. 

Avalanche Tunnel The tour guide leads the tram into a revolving tunnel, simulating an avalanche, including fake snow spinning around the tram, and damaged signs, along with special sound effects. 

Parting of The Red Sea

This attraction was aimed to recreate the epic biblical moment in the Ten Commandments where Moses parts the waters of the Red Sea. At its best, the effect was impressive. The water cascades past the tram as it sinks below the level of the lake.

Earthquake

The attraction simulates a large earthquake, rated at 8.3 on the Richter scale. As the tram leaves, the entire attraction resets itself in just 15 seconds ready for the next tram. Based on a disaster film Earthquake the impressive effects simulating a strong earthquake with a train crash, an exploding oil tanker, and a flooding subway station is hard to beat.

Earthquake: The Big One

Jaws is an amusement ride attraction based on the Jaws film series. The ride use tour boats to take guests through a harbor of the fictional Amity Island, which begins as a leisurely tour that is abruptly interrupted by an attack of the famous great white shark. 

Rockslide 

The tram stops inside a rock cliff which begins to collapse. The tram gets past the cliff safely, but not before having a collision with the rocks.

Runaway Train 
The tour guide leads the tram across a train track, thinking it is safe to cross. However, a train suddenly rushes from the tracks and stops just in time before colliding with the tram. The guide leads the tram away from the tracks to safety.

Battle of Galactica 
This high-technology attraction features animatronics and live actors in a spectacular laser battle based on the television series Battlestar Galactica with a 200-foot-long spaceship that "swallowed" the passengers. The tour guide said it was the most expensive special effects attraction ever built at the park at the time.

King Kong Encounter 

The tram enters 1976 New York City where King Kong is on the loose and grabs and shakes the tram, which eventually escapes his grasp and gets out of the city safely. The 7-ton, 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) Kong figure was the largest and most complex animatronic figure in existence for many years. The sophistication of the attraction broke new ground and paved the way for today's themed attractions.

Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 
The tram guide tells guests that they are going to take a look at some props from the film The Mummy, but instead, the tram is led into Imhotep's cursed tomb, where he sucks them into a powerful revolving sandstorm. The guide eventually leads the tram out of the sandstorm, and Imhotep is defeated.

The Fast & The Furious: Extreme Close-Up 

As the tram makes its way past Wisteria Lane during Universal's Studio Tour, to the left is a black Dodge Charger next to a beige house. The tour guide, who is apologizing for the "unplanned" event, is interrupted by Luke Hobbs, telling guests that they will be sent to a safe location. Screeching cars in the background alert the team that trouble is ahead. The guest put on their 3D glasses. The team makes way for their vehicles and begins the chase in a parking lot underground, where Owen Shaw appears to seek revenge on Dominic, leading a chase outside on the freeway.

The Collapsing Bridge 

The tour guide tries to take the tram around a bridge rather than going over it, but suddenly the tram driver takes the tram towards the bridge. Just as the tram reaches the midpoint of the bridge, it creaks and massive timbers fall away, causing the bridge to "drop" the tram a short distance. The tram drives on and guests can see the bridge rebuild itself for the next tram.

King Kong Sea 
The guide leads the tram to a body of water around Skull Mountain Island. Suddenly, the waves part, and the tram travels between them, and guests get a view of the mini island. Prior to the promotion of King Kong, guides informed guests that the waterfall effect was originally installed for the "parting of the Red Sea" scene from The Ten Commandments.

Back To The Future: The Ride was a simulator ride based on the popular movie trilogy of the same name. Each ride vehicle had a built-in video screen that acted as a "live" video feed of Dr. Emmet Brown in the institute and Biff Tannen in the stolen DeLorean time machine and of the vehicle's condition. Here, ride patrons sat in a vehicle beneath a huge IMAX Dome screen 

E.T. Adventure Ride was one of the original attractions and despite its age, it is still a ride that receives plenty of acclaim from both young and old alike. The use in the attraction of "passport" cards to E.T's home world, which then allowed ET to say each visitor's name at the end of the ride represented one of the first widespread uses of interactivity in a major theme park attraction.

Backdraft is a fire special effects show, based on the 1991film of the same name. Visitors could learn how the pyrotechnic effects were created and experience some of them firsthand. It was the first attraction based on an R-rated film at the Universal theme park.

Twister the Ride Based on the 1996 movie starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, this indoor, walk-through attraction allows you to experience the creation of a real-life tornado right before your very eyes and ears. The fear factor was 9 out of ten. The end sequence demonstrates what happens when a tornado strikes the small town of Wakita, Oklahoma. Like Terminator 2 3D: Battle across Time, there is a boom at the end! That was scary.

Waterworld is a tidal wave of explosive action and the highlight of the show was aplenty -jumping jet skiers, perilous 

plunges, firefights, massive explosions, and an in-your-face plane crash you need to see to believe. Water World is a classic splash for its impressive scope and scale and its masterful integration of live stunts and special effects. Waterworld was received by so many visitors for such a long duration of time is a testament to the men and women who took on the challenge of creating the stunt spectacular using the film’s storyline as a creative blueprint, delivering arguably the greatest permanent stunt show attraction this industry has yet seen.

There are still other attractions I may have forgotten. You can refresh my memory by including it in the comment section.