27 March 2010

Venus, Venus

Is she wearing a nighty?

Photo from Yahoo! Sports

26 March 2010

Tallest buildings

Speaking of Hong Kong and high-rise buildings... the Two International Finance Centre in HK is ranked the 7th tallest building in the world.... it's height is 1362 feet and it opened in 2003.
2IFC, the tallest one here obviously

another picture of the HK skyline featuring 2IFC, taken from Victoria Peak.

The top 10 (not including the ones that are still under construction)
1. Burj Khalifa Dubai 2,716 ft
2. Taipei 101 Taipei 1,671 ft
3. Shanghai World Financial .. Shanghai 1,614 ft
4. Petronas Towers 1 and 2 Kuala Lumpur 1,483 ft
5. Willis Tower Chicago 1,451 ft
6. Jin Mao Tower Shanghai 1,380 ft
7. Two IFC Hong Kong 1,362 ft
8. Trump International Hotel Chicago 1,362 ft
9. CITIC Plaza Guangzhou 1,283 ft
10. Shun Hing Square Shenzhen 1,260 ft


Some of the tallest buildings in the world(including the ones still under construction and destroyed)
click picture to enlarge

In the Philippines, the tallest is the PBCom Tower located in Makati City standing 848 feet, it is ranked 117th in the world. It has 55 floors used for commercial offices. Naturally, the first 10 floors are occupied by PBCom or the Philippine Bank of Communications.

Still on IFC Tower and HK, I took this stunning night view video of the Victoria Harbour and HK Islands skyscrapers while sat on a bench along the Avenue of Stars just watching ferries crossing the harbour and some lights flicker from the buildings. I could really stay here for hours...

facts from: emporis.com

25 March 2010

Quake

Today, there was an earthquake in some parts of Metro Manila at a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter Scale. I was in Manila but didn't feel it but news reports proved it to be frightening to people who were, at that time on higher floors of a building. Fortunately, no one got hurt. I remember, the day after Chile was hit by a devastating quake, I was in Hong Kong and as I was wandering around the city, I was thinking that I wouldn't want to be there if it got hit by an earthquake(multiple knocks on wood).

From wikipedia.com: Hong Kong is mountainous and there are a lot of steep slopes. According to Emporis, there are 7,681 skyscrapers in Hong Kong, putting the city at the top of world rankings. The high density and tall skyline of Hong Kong's urban area is due to a lack of available sprawl space, with the average distance from the harbour front to the steep hills of Hong Kong Island at 1.3 km (0.8 mi), much of it reclaimed land. This lack of space causing demand for dense, high-rise offices and housing, has resulted in 36 of the world's 100 tallest residential buildings being in Hong Kong, and more people living or working above the 14th floor than anywhere else on Earth, making it the world's most vertical city.
I mean just look at where almost all of them live.


It's like this everywhere, high rise, high rise, high rise.

Sources: emporis.com
wikipedia.com
abs-cbnnews.com


24 March 2010

Lent

When we hear the word Lent, it usually reminds us of a few things: Ashes; Giving something up; Scrutinies: Examining our lives; Penance; Prayer; fasting; Stations of the Cross; and Blessed palms but Lent actually denotes to the forty days' fast preceding Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. It is also a season of soul-searching and repentance... of course lent is not the only time when we can repent but it is in most Catholics' beliefs that these things are widely practiced during Lent. I did not actually give up anything but in so many ways, as was taught to me as a Catholic, I try to keep up with the traditions brought about by this season.


I want to share a story that I have finished reading for the 2nd time. The Shack written by William P. Young. It's a like a prayer book, lessons from the Bible, daily bread, and fiction rolled into one great story that in one way or another will open the readers' minds and hearts. It will give you the reasons for one's lack of faith.



The story is about a father who lost his youngest daughter to a tragedy that made him question the capacity of God to actually save the one's who truly does not deserve bad things. It is not a story that is unusual but what's different about this is how the main character found his faith again. He met God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit who showed and reminded him of how painful, but also amazing life can be. These to me are the best parts of the book:

"Evil is a word we use to describe the absence of Good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of Light or death to describe the absence of Life. Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence. I am Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So, removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life."

"The person who lives by his fears will not find freedom in my [God's] love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe that I [God] am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it, you talk about it, but you don't know it."

"Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive. But should they finally confess and repent, you will discover a miracle in your own heart that allows you to reach out and begin to build between you a bridge of reconciliation.........Forgiveness does not excuse anything.........You may have to declare your forgiveness a hundred times the first day and the second day, but the third day will be less and each day after, until one day you will realize that you have forgiven completely. And then one day you will pray for his wholeness......"

"Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you. "


"Have you noticed that even though you call me Lord and King, I have never really acted in that capacity with you? I've never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others."

16 March 2010

Tron

I remember watching this over and over with my sister and little brother when we were in grade school in Betamax format. We thought it was the coolest "high-tech" movie at that time.

Now I can't wait to see the new film in December of this year... it will be awesome on IMAX.

14 March 2010

A GQ profile of Manny Pacquiao


The best I've read about Pacman...

by Andrew Corsello:
"I think about how Manny Pacquiao's life is a cyclone of madness and dysfunction and karaoke and tango dancing and fucked-to-death lions and grown men vying to fluff his rice and cut his meat and massage his thighs and sing harmony parts on Beatles songs.

How can he live this way?

Because he is the serene centering Eye. The storm, his life, envelops but does not touch him. The Tysonesque psychopathologies that drive other boxers to the dark side are flung centrifugally from his body and soul, outsourced to his disciples, who carry this burden and lay down their lives for him."

via GQ.COM

05 March 2010

Underwater Museum

On the March 2 issue of South China Morning Post, the cover story was about the underwater museum, located in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. I find it really amusing. It is not just for attraction, according to the website Environmental Graffiti: "The idea is for the sculptures – all made of pH-neutral concrete – to attract algae and marine life and therefore soon take on a life of their own, giving the local ecosystem a boost."




Random pics from my trip....

I wish some of our public toilets here have this...

or this... (toilet seat cover)

I love how they translate this not just in English but also in Filipino... I guess a lot of hard headed Pinoys over there...

In DreamWorld theme park, they call Snow White.... Snow Whote?

A sign by the entrance of Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. So basically, you cannot do anything. It would have been much easier if they put up a sign saying "NO ENTRY"


I loved seeing some familiar stores...





they don't have Walker's Thai Sweet Chilli crisps here :(

It says "do not walk outside this area"... I wouldn't dare!

04 March 2010

Nine...

On my last full day in HK, I went to a mall called Pacific Place.

almost all malls are nice and spacious like this. no stalls in the middle...

I went to see Nine, which was released in the US last year, I don't think this was ever shown in Manila. I did not read the excerpts nor had I any idea of what the movie was about but my friend and I thought that it was an action film. It was a musical...a really good one, in my opinion. Great performances by Nicole Kidman, Fergie, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruz, Daniel-Day Lewis and Judi Dench.

We watched the movie at the AMC Cinema.


in this very spacious movie house...

Can't get enough of HK

Love, love, love HK... I just had to go back after Bangkok and I enjoyed my stay there so much. As mentioned in my earlier post, one of my favorites is the mass transportation...

just look how much leg room I have here... If I had to commute by bus everyday in the Philippines, I'll always have bruises on my knees.

underground train is also an easy way to get around...



I love how Chinese people are all so well dressed for work...

there's wi fi hot spot in almost every corner especially in the Central area...

Visited Ikea and had Swedish meatballs for lunch...

some school kids in an educational trip...

the hotel I wish I was staying in...

I could stay here for hours on end...

This was like an overpass in Lohas Park that felt like half a mile long...



The MTR(underground train) Lohas Park station...

inside the train, look how clean! why was I alone? it was only 10:30 pm...

Bangkok Day 2 and 3

On the 2nd day in Bangkok, we went to Dreamworld, it's a character themed amusement park.



my favorite was the house of the giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk"





There was a display of the 7 Wonders of the World... my original plan was to go to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, but it didn't push through because of time and money limitations, so I'll settle with this for now and see the real thing next time...

this looks scary but fun...

and this one's fun but scary...

my favorite in the park was the 4D experience... it's like watching a 3D movie but it feels more like you are in the situation. For example, if they are spraying water, you also get wet, if air is blown, you feel the air and if there are rats on the floor, you'll feel it on your feet as well. Pretty cool!

more street foods...

We went back to the Night Bazaar after the park... then off we went to the airport for the flight back to HongKong...

our taxi driver kept on talking on his mobile phone while driving about 100 mph... I guess, they don't have laws against this because even the drivers of the other taxis we rode kept on taking phone calls.

some billboard...

the Bangkok airport

with a huge picture of their King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX in front... It's like this in almost all buildings there... they have either his picture or a golden buddha

our nice Kenya airways fight attendants...