Sunday, July 30, 2017

Postcards for the weekend 48: Philippines

I'm finally back in Singapore after a 3-week outstation work. I'm happy to end this Saturday with a dinner together with a friend from the Philippines. He's here for a business trip and since there are no Filipino restaurants in Beijing (where he's based now), we decided to eat at a Filipino restaurant. Talking in Filipino and about the Philippines made me miss home even more. Hence, this weekend, I'm sharing scans of postcards that I sent out in the past while I was still based in Manila.

There are three main island clusters for the Philippine archipelago. Luzon in the north, Visayas in the middle, and Mindanao in the south. Let's start from the north -- 




Vigan is a city on the northwest coast of Luzon. It's a popular tourist destination due to its well-preserved colonial Spanish narrow streets and buildings. On this postcard is Vigan Cathedral, a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site declaration for the City of Vigan.


The capital city of Manila is on the same mainland Luzon as Vigan. Luzon is a long stretch of land mass and the distance from Vigan to the nation's capital, Manila is approximately 405 km. On this muti-view postcard, we have a glimpse of old and new buildings in Manila. And oh, there's the monument of our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal.


An island to the southwest of Manila is Palawan. Here's a subterranean river national park postcard from Palawan's capital of Puerto Princesa. 


From the center of the Philippine archipelago: Visayas, there's the beautiful city of Cebu. Here's a postcard of a grand Taoist Temple, that is open both for worshipers and non-worshipers. I had a great time exploring the place back in the year 2012.

And from the south -- here's a dance called dugso


Its origin is the mountainous province of Bukidnon in Mindanao. It's a dance of thanksgiving and invocation of protection. The dancers wear colorful costumes in local patterns, wear equally colorful headdresses, and bell anklets to which they dance with the rhythm.

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you enjoyed these postcards from my home country.

~maria

P.S. We will have no linky party for the first 2 weekends of August as I will be on a holiday. We will resume on the 3rd weekend of August. Ciao everyone!






2 comments:

  1. Sure I enjoyed your beautiful postcards! Thank you for sharing the wonderful pictures and your information.

    And I am happy to read that you could talk in your mother-tongue and eat familiar food, be it just one day.
    'Living' in a non-native language can be exhausting, I learn from non-Dutch friends in my country, and also is my own experience when living in Central America, in the early nineties, during almost half a year. Talking your native language is a kind of relief, then, and reloads the battery.
    In your situation, I can imagine that feelings of nostalgia can even hurt a little (or more?), being so much time abroad. I hope you will get the opportunity to visit the Philippines soon again!

    Wishing you a wonderful holiday, and 'see' you at your blog in the second half of August!

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  2. Hi Maria, I thoroughly enjoyed your cards from the Philippines! You are quite amazing to be able to put this post together and host the linky party all while you are so busy with your work. As for myself, I have been a little slow on my blogging the last few months and missed a couple of the link ups. But there is no doubt that I do look forward to Postcards for the Weekend. I’ve learned quite a lot from those who share their cards here! I am happy to see you will take a break for a couple of weeks and, hopefully, have time to relax and recuperate from such a busy schedule! I will look forward to the linky again in the second half of August. In the meantime, take good care. Thank you, as always, for sharing and for hosting! Very best regards from Seattle!

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