Boarding Gate 101

When I was in elementary school my uncle gave me a world history book, and the image of this mask is one of the things that I remembered from that book, probably because I found it creepy. I've seen a picture of this again in my humanities textbook when I was in college, but I could not remember finding out what it was. The ivory mask was from the Kingdom of Benin (present day Nigeria). Dated to about 16th century AD, the mask was created for the king, Oba Esigie, in honor of his mother, Idia . Ivory was the primary commodity of the kingdom, which attracted the Portugese, and later the British, which conquered the city.  An identical mask is on display at the British Museum.

A red rideable miniature train, o ne-third the size of a full sized Huntington,  passes through in St. Louis zoo.   It is a replica of a steam-powered   C.P. Huntington  train. 

A couple in the Bund district in Shanghai. The guy's attention is obviously somewhere else.

My dive master, during a dive in a wreck site in Coron, Palawan

A few moments after taking off from Chicago Midway International Airport (IATA: MDW), enroute to New York, aboard a Southwest Airways Boeing 737. The airport's intersecting runways look interesting from the air.

Billboards advertising the plays in Broadway

The gilded temples in Grand Palace, Bangkok

A vsitor tests the waters of Kayangan Lake, in Coron

Victoria Harbour at night, from the roofdeck of my hotel ( Metropark Hotel ) in Causeway Bay area. Beyond the harbour is Kowloon, and in the foreground are the tennis courts of Victoria Park.

No not the movie, but the statue of the titan Prometheus - bringing fire to mankind - at the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The bronze gilded sculpture is located at the plaza in front of the 30 Rockefeller Plaza building. Usually featured in Christmas-themed or love story movies,   the plaza becomes a skating rink during winter . The wall behind the statue has the inscription from Aeschylus : " Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends ."

Approaching Tokyo-Narita from JFK.

The Tiger Airways Airbus A320 that I took to Singapore from Manila my review of the airline here

Painted by Imao Keinen, a  Japanese artist from Kyoto famous for his flower-and-bird paintings (Kachō-ga). The autumnal theme of reeds and geese was a popular theme during the Taisho period. Pair of six-panel folding silk screens. 1916. St. Louis Art Museum

Our ferry boat sails from Manhattan for Liberty Island and Ellis Island

Just before the start of the New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers game. March 2011

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was about eighteen when he did this h igh Baroque sculpture. Marble. 1616-17

Surfers on downtime in San Juan

Henri Rousseau's La Bohémienne Endormie (The Sleeping Gypsy). Oil on canvass, 1897.  Naïve art. 

A native American canoe made from animal skin, at the Museum of Westward Expansion

Delmar Boulevard, also known as 'The Loop," is a major thoroughfare in St. Louis. Popular to the cognoscenti and the hip, the Loop is the location of many attractions, including Blueberry Hill (the bar with the blue sign in the picture; Chuck Berry still performs there), Tivoli Theater , several clubs and restaurants, and my favorite, a Ben & Jerry's. 

A 6th century B.C. bronze chariot, inlaid with ivory. Found in Moteleone di Spoleto in 1902

My ride from J.F. Kennedy International Airport to St. Louis, a Delta/Comair CRJ-700

These 1- satang coins - 108 in all - are dropped in 108 bronze bowls inside Wat Pho (or Temple of the Reclining Buddha) for good luck. The bronze bowls represent the 108 auspicious characteristics of the Buddha.

The pink art deco theater was inaugurated in 1931. Located in Padre Burgos Avenue in Manila, the theater has a capacity of 1670. It was  designed by architect  Juan Arellano .   Arellano also designed the Manila Central Post Office building.

The pool area of Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, which is adjacent to Terminal 3, as seen from my room. My review  here .

A lake nestled between two mountain ranges, as seen from the plane

An Aeta kid sitting on top of a rock in a lahar field, near Mount Pinatubo

The main concourse of the Grand Central Terminal, in Park Avenue and 42nd Street, New York

A Firefly ATR-72-500 sits in the tarmac of Langkawi International Airport (LGK)

View of our hotel, Four Points by Sheraton Langkawi, from the infinity pool. My review of the hotel, here .

The Old St. Louis County Courthouse was completed in 1864. The Greek revival style building was the venue of some famous cases in the United States, including the infamous Dred Scott case . Scott was a slave that sued for his freedom, but which the Supreme Court later ruled that he cannot sue because he was a private property and by law, is only considered as 3/5 human for the purpose of congressional representation.  The building is now part of the Jefferson National Memorial park.

The grand staircase inside the Spiral restaurant of Sofitel Philippine Plaza, in Manila. Spiral is a concept restaurant that features international cuisine and open cooking stations.

The replica of Statue of Liberty's foot, inside the Liberty Museum

The Cathedral is one of most popular dive sites in Anilao, Batangas. It has a cross between two large rocks at a depth of about 60 feet. The cross was brought there by former Philippine president Fidel V. Ramos. The fishes are not people-shy, and they would swarm at you if you feed them with bread.

The Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. The museum's  Beaux-Arts    facade, great hall and the Grand Stairway were completed in 1902.

Considered the world's most expensive coffee, kape alamid is made from the droppings of civet cats (known locally as alamid , and we have one as a pet when I was a kid)  , which feed on the ripened berries. The undigested seeds are then excreted, which the farmers collect, wash, process and roasted into coffee. A  100-gram bag of kape alamid beans cost about $90.

The  Eternal Flame of Freedom is a Corten steel sculpture located behind the Pacific War Memorial in the Topside area of Corregidor . The 40-foot tall sculpture, created by Aristides Demetrios , is a tribute to the men and women who have fallen defending freedom from the invaders.  The sculpture sits on a platform that gives a nice view of Manila Bay, Bataan and Cavite coastlines.

The main tunnel of the World War II-era  Malinta Tunnel complex, which is more than a quarter kilometer in length.

The Philippine pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, designed by architect Ed Calma. This is the largest pavilion mounted by the country in the World Expo so far.

Selling hot dogs, pretzels and knish, stands like this dotting New York provide quick nourishment to hungry locals and tourists alike

Resting on the beach and watching my friends frolic and snorkel. Banol beach, Coron

Sea urchins dot the sea floor menacingly, daring hapless barefooted humans to go ahead and step on them, in Siete Pecados, Coron, Philippines

Scuba diving in Bauan, Batangas, Philippines. I'm the one with the yellow fins on the right.

A ground crew signals to the ZestAir Airbus A319 that just landed in Legazpi Airport (IATA: LGP) to turn left. This was my ride going back to Manila.

A covered wagon, also known as a prairie schooner, on display at the Museum of Westward Expansion. When I was a kid I often read about these in books about Indians and cowboys and the Wild West. 

Our boatman - the one who conns the boat and guides us around the islands of Coron - is also the one who prepares lunch. Here he is grilling fish and pork chop at a makeshift campfire in Banol Beach .

Katibawasan Falls in Camiguin, Philippines as seen just a few feet from the vertical drop

What's on the menu in a restaurant in Shanghai. I should have had the #8 on the menu.

Usually cooked in coconut milk and spices, the curacha (or spanner crab) is a delicacy to try in Zamboanga City. The crabs are gathered deep in the sea surrounding the Zamboanga peninsula. 

The 102-storey, 443-meter high Empire State Building. The Art Deco building - completed in 1931 - has observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors. It used to be the tallest building in the world for forty years. It is now the second-tallest building in New York.