Firefly360's Blog
A Collection of Published 360VR Articles and Personal JournalsPahiyas Festival
Celebrated every May 15 at the town of Lucban, Quezon and in honor of San Isidro Labrador, the pahiyas festival is a colorful occasion for a bounty harvest.
The houses are decorated with produce, from ginger to whole banana trees and thin rice wafers called kiping dyed in multiple colors that can be eaten after the celebration.
Tourists both local and foreign flock to town not only to see the decorated houses and join the festivities, but also to taste two of Lucban’s famous food: pancit habhab and longanisa.
The fiesta centers at the church and the patron saint St. Isidro is paraded around the town, taking different routes each year so that every house can be blessed.
A contest is also held with a large pot of money going to the best decorated house in town.
VRs taken on May 15, 2012. The author can be reached at: fung@firefly.ph
Romblon’s Heritage
The roosters here have no sense of time.
Jotted awake at 4am by one cockcrow, it quickly became a chain reaction as the rest of the birds followed, seemingly taunting you to go back to sleep, but my mind had already become active with the day’s thoughts and foremost of which was to murder some fowls.
Located some 260km south of Manila, the province of Romblon comprises 3 main islands – Tablas, Romblon and Sibuyan plus four other small island municipalities of Banton, Simara, Maestro de Campo and Carabao Island (touted as the next Boracay).
Contrary to popular perceptions, getting to Romblon is relatively easy. Zestair has a thrice a week flight that lands in Tablas Island from the domestic airport in Manila; while the more adventurous can take the cheaper overnight Montenegro ferries that ply the Batangas-Sibuyan route. Once in the provincial capital, smaller ships and numerous bancas are available to other island destinations.
Hotel accommodations in the town are currently limited to a few four story buildings, but numerous seaside resorts abound. Apart from boats, principal means of transportation around the island is via motorcycles, mostly 2-wheels for families and 3-wheels for public conveyance.
Known as the marble capital of the Philippines, the province is source from simple marble tiles to the finest hand-crafted marble pieces. Craftsmen started as young as 12 years old and hone their skills by making small figurines of dolphin, elephant, birds and the likes. Marble art can come as life-size statutes, spread eagle, mermaids, Buddhas, and coiled dragons that required several months of work and could fetch tens of thousands of pesos.
Seemingly trapped in a time-warp, here you will find not a single familiar fast food chain, no shopping malls, no well-known drugstore, only a single bank and I don’t recall ever seen a telephone set either. If you want to get away from the stress of modernity, Romblon is definitely one place to be.
Chosen by the NCCA (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) as Heritage Province for 2012, rustic Romblon was host during the opening celebration of heritage month that falls on May each year.
Supported by the local government, the celebration opened with an exhibit of historical artifacts at the provincial capitol building; it then lead to a culinary journey of the province’s unique seafood dishes of mostly crabs and shrimps; a colorful cultural presentation follows and finally capped with a dinner sonata at St. Joseph Cathedral, Romblon’s oldest Catholic Church declared as a National Cultural Treasure.
The next day started early with a guided tour of the church and its belltower, the old municipality building which is now the police station, two 18th century Spanish stone bridges, Fuente de Belen (a water fountain), ruins of Fort San Andres and its 205 steps, marbles sites, and a lecture plus a sumptuous buffet lunch at a nearby resort of Punta Corazon.
I would have gone with the group to Banton Island scheduled on the last day if not for some prior commitments in Manila. The island is said to be a treasure trove of heritage sites which included burial caves, wooden coffins that yielded the oldest burial cloth, a limestone fort and a church.
This was my second trip to Romblon, the previous being the climb to Mt. Guiting-Guiting in Sibuyan Island (being referred as the Galapagos of Asia with its rich flora and fauna), yet the reasons to come back never seems to end? Apart from the heritage structures, the province boasts of many pristine beaches and dive sites, including the recently featured blue hole in Tablas; in both trips I have yet to swim in its waters and had developed an appetite for sarsang uyang.
Romblon beckons and I have a feeling it won’t be long till I set foot again in its shores.
VRs taken on May 2-3, 2012. The author can be reached at: fung@firefly.ph
Mt. Apo: Highest Peak in the Philippines
The Hike for Light (H4L) project was undertaken by the Philippine Solar Foundation to provide solar lamps to those communities living near the mountains that has no access to electricity. In cooperation with Kaya ng Pinoy Foundation and the 1st Philippine Mt. Everest Team, the project summited 6 of the country’s highest peaks with 200 climbers and distributed 500 solar lamps to change the lives of those communities.
Barely a week after Mt. Guiting-Guiting and with knees still in recovery, I found myself on the slopes of yet another mountain, majestic Mt. Apo, the country’s highest and the last in the list of the H4L project.
Rising 2954 MASL, it straddles between the cities of Davao, Digos and Kidapawan, Mt. Apo is a potentially active volcano and a favorite among mountaineers. Declared as a National Park by Proclamation No. 59 in May 9, 1936 by President Manuel L. Quezon, it was submitted by DENR for inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mt. Apo is host to a wide variety of flora and fauna, including many species of birds, foremost of which is the mystical Philippine Eagle. The mountain is also a source of geothermal power, supplying no less than 106MW to the island of Mindanao.
Compare to the previous hike, we had a large team of participants for Mt. Apo that filled a full bus. The official kick-off was in Digos City, about an hour away from the City of Davao; wherein the team made a courtesy call to the mayor and the required medical check-up for each member. From Digos, chartered vans took us to Brgy. Kapatagan for the first turnover of solar lamps, after which a dump truck took us across rugged roads up to Sitio Mainit.
The ride along this uneven terrain was already an adventure itself. For about an hour, we swayed like grass being blown by the wind, it was all funnies during the start, but after a while, laughter gave way to silence as everyone hold on to dear life for fear of being thrown overboard.
The trek to Sitio Sabwag took a little over two hours in mostly farm lands laden with cabbage, pepper and carrots. Prior to the trek, we were told that there is a covered court in the village where we can spend the night so most of us left our tents and carry only sleeping bags and some clothing. So imagine our surprises upon arrival at the site to be greeted with a makeshift court with the only cover above are clouds!
The community was kind enough to offer their homes to us and we slept side to side on whatever empty space on the floor. It was full moon that night and the light cast the landscape in an eerie soft glow.
By morning the following day, the team headed back to Brgy. Kapatagan for breakfast then proceeded to Digos City to a waiting bus that toke us to Kidapawan City.
We arrived at EDC’s geothermal plant at about 3PM and after a short briefing, their vans dropped us at the trek site.
The two-hour trek to the campsite via the executive trail was almost a walk-in-the-park. We spent the first night at the tree nursery of Energy Development Corporation’s reforestation project with makeshift cushion beds, a roof on our heads, working toilets and a fireplace – a 5-star accommodation for a mountain setting.
The trail to the summit was equally pleasant with good footholds. Upon reaching the summit however, fog shrouded most of the surrounding views with only pocket openings here and there, a disappointment for the four hour hike it took to reach the peak. Nevertheless, as the team returns the next day, we were invited to the 70th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Army’s Artillery Regiment and got to experience up close the firing of a 105mm howitzer.
Our last day in Davao was spent at the Malagos Philippine Eagle Sanctuary, one of the beneficiaries of the solar lanterns.
With the H4L project finally up for a close, for sure our new found love for mountaineering will continue, even now, climbs are being planned and we shall soon be sleeping again under a blanket of stars.
All VRs taken from February 11-13, 2012. The author can be reached at: fung.yu@gmail.com
Inside the Mind Museum
The country’s first world-class science museum is now officially open to the public at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
With over 250 hands-on interactive exhibits spread across 12,500 sqm of space, a visit is almost guaranteed of one mind-ful experience.
Comprising of 5 main galleries:
Atom – the minuscule unseen world of the elemental forces that governs our daily lives.
Life – displays 4.6 billion years of the living things that have walked this planet, including a 40-foot skeletal representation of a T-Rex!
Universe – knowledge of the vast cosmos from planets to stars and man’s quest for space exploration.
Earth – forces that shape our planet’s natural history and its evolution.
Tech – innovations that highlight human achievements and technologies that change our lives.
And finally an outdoor science park that visitors can play and a souvenir shop where fun and curious merchandise can be bring home.
The museum opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 9AM to 9PM. Entrance fee for adults in 600.00, private school students at 450.00, public school students at 150.00 and teachers at 150.00 as well.
Here’s virtual tour of the museum.
VRs taken on March 2011. The author can be reached at: fung@firefly.ph
Virtual Visita Iglesia
The first ever Virtual Visita Iglesia using 360 immersive panoramas was published by Rappler.com during the Holy Week of April 2012.
“…a multimedia tour of 14 Philippine Catholic churches in a virtual Visita Iglesia that brings together visuals, music, and 1-minute Bible readings to give the faithful time to pause in today’s fast-moving, stressful times. The passages are read by Paterno Esmaquel II. The virtual package allows those wishing and willing, but unable to for different reasons…”
“Technology and faith can mix.”
