Summertime in Taiwan

AS THE journey – from Clark International Airport, so is the destination – Taipei City, in smoothness, in enjoyment. It’s my sixth touchdown on Taiwan’s capital, the last in 2018 yet. But for one spot – Taipei 101 – everything in the itinerary is new. The usual museums and memorial halls unlisted.

In this narrative – as in all travel tales – comes to fore the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli’s adage: “I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” Hence:

 

PERFECT NIGHT OUT

Spend it best at Ximending, starting with a hearty treat at Mala Hot Pot, Ximen Branch with the widest variety of choices from meat to seafood, leafy vegetables and mushrooms of all kinds, mix your own condiments, all into the shimmering pot of flavored broth and savor the aroma of ambrosia itself – eat all you can but no leftovers, fruits in season, unli drinks too from assorted teas to colas, from coffee to juices, pastries and cakes, ice cream of all flavors but only by Haagen Dazs and Movenpick.

Post-prandial stroll along the walking streets teeming with happy people perks up the night fantastic.

 

TAIPEI 101

The capital city of Taipei’s, if not the whole of Taiwan’s top tourist draw. Verily, the country’s signature image. A monument to human achievement. Once the tallest building in the whole world. Behold the lay of Taipei City from its 89^th Floor Observatory, see a bird’s eye view of the familiar landmarks: Chiang Kai-Sek Memorial Hall, Taipei National Palace Museum, Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Grand Hotel – where Ninoy Aquino slept the night before his martyrdom; marvel at the sinuous rivers in sparkling silver under the sun and the vast areas of green in parks and the mountains in the distance that surround the city. Truly, an awesome, exhilirating experience to share. Suffice it to say. Be there.

 

DIN TAI FUNG

Wok. Peace. Abundance. The utensil used for cooking. The ambience most conducive to happy dining. The abundance of menu options. Elements to a most delightful gustatory experience, that define Din Tai Fung, a destination unto itself at the ground floor of Taipei 101. With no table reservations, everyone queues up – a waiting time of 50 minutes on an average day. But every second of the wait is well worth it, if only for a taste of xiaolong bao, its most famous dish craved for, the world over. Favorites too are its hot and sour soup, shrimp siu mai, steamed dumplings with veggies and meat, fried rice with shredded pork and egg, and for dessert – soybean paste dumplings. With complimentary house tea, to perk up the taste buds.

 

PINEAPPLE CAKE MUSEUM

A different take from your usual museum – you get to taste what’s on display and get it home too. Plus, a workshop for DIY cake-making – you get to knead and mold the dough for the mentor to bake and give to you at the end of the tour. Light and music show – of giant red-seeded dandelion flowers bursting at every touch, of paper lanterns bearing good luck wishes flying skyward at every tap – to everyone’s delight, waiting at the second floor. Only at Vigor Kobo Pineapple Cake Museum, Wenlin Rd., Shilin District, Taipei City

 

DADAOCHENG WHARF

The old trading port near No. 5 Water Gate on the banks of the Tamsui River found a new incarnation as a tourism destination, cycling area, and embarkation point for river boat tours. As part of the riverine summer program of the city, the wharf hosts a fireworks festival, complete with street food peddled from container vans and music that draw thousands of locals and tourists alike. One of Taipei’s oldest neighborhoods, Dadaocheng still holds remnants of its storied past in its narrow streets lined with little stores selling tea and coffee, dried sweets and seafood, textiles, tea cups, and other goods, as well as cafes. Find spiritual respite, if only for a few minutes, at the Dadaocheng Mazu (Mother-Ancestor) Temple. 

DISNEY SAND

Mickey Mouse and the Gang, Snow White and her Castle, Aladdin and the Lion King, Frozen and Moana, Monsters and Toy Story, Avatar and the Marvel Universe, Star Wars too, and more, much more. No Disneyland but Disney Sand at the Fulong International Sand Sculpture Festival celebrating Disney’s 100th anniversary at the eponymous beach in Gongliao District, New Taipei City. Yes, that happy place for both the young’uns and the young once. Nearby at Fuji restaurant, the best seafood dishes I have ever tasted in all my visits to Taipei.

 

JIUFEN

Shot to prominence with the claim of being the inspiration behind the highly popular Japanese anime Spirited Away by the renowned Studio Ghibli, the mountain town of Jiufen, east of Taipei, has – despite that claim shot down by the anime creator himself – remained a must-visit destination with its own magical vibe of the coast and mountains, its meandering alleyways lined up with street food stalls, souvenir shops, and tea houses – the most famous of which is Amei Teahouse, the very centerpiece of the anime inspiration. A tea ceremony, we had there. For real.  

YEHLIU GEOPARK

The geological formations of sandstones and mudstones carved by the wind and the waves here have so taken the rough shapes of human parts, animals, even utensils -- earning sobriquets as Queen’s Head, Gorilla Rock, Maling Bird Rock, Cute Princess Rock, Dragon Head Rock, Giant’s Kettle, and Sea Urchin Fossil, leaving visitors in awe. Turning to a world of wonder comes night time with a spectacle of light, water, and shadow at the Queen’s Head, Cute Princess Rock, and a giant water wheel at the amphitheater by the beach.

 

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

In the swirl of two-and-a-half days, Taipei totally satiated the senses. But even as the sights and sounds of the places visited start turning from moments to memories, there shall remain that lingering taste of the city’s flavors: Mala Hot Pot. Din Tai Fung. Fuji Restaurant. Inhouse Hotel Yeihlu’s Fisherman’s Kitchen. The street food at Dadaocheng and Ximindeng.

Fly from Clark International Airport to Taipei via Cebu Pacific, EVA Air, and soon Starlux Airlines.    

 

 

E-travel defined at CRK

 

THE electronic element as in the generic “e-“ remains in the range of definitions even as the Clark International Airport has impacted an entry of its own: e – ease of – travel, translating to smooth, seamless, and stress-free. This, most evident in my first post-pandemic international trip on July 4. 

E-ticket allows unhampered entry to CRK. E-boarding pass takes one straight to the bag drop for checked-in luggage, short pleasantries, and a hard copy of the boarding pass. Or passengers can use their phones to scan a QR code for contactless check-in, printed boarding passes and baggage tags. Automated self-service bag drops are also there for their availment to avoid lines at the conventional counters.  

 

Breeze through the immigration booths with one already registered on eTravel System of the Republic of the Philippines (in lieu of the usual departure card). Passport stamped, while away one’s own sweet time at the Plaza Premium Lounge with the creature comforts befitting a luxe hotel.

 

Hop on a golf cart – playfully indulged in the “sabit sa jeep” of my bygone age – to Gate 15 through a wide expanse of a corridor seemingly made wider by the terminal’s floor to ceiling glass walls – with a soothing view of majestic Mount Arayat at the end. Soft, thick carpeting wall-to-wall, generous comfortable seats – long comfort in such short wait. Simply splendid. 

 

Boarding – on time. Flight – on time. Arrival at Taoyuan Airport in Taipei, even ahead of time. Smooth and easy all the way. Aye, only at CRK.

 Next: Summertime in Taiwan 

 

June 15, 1991: The End of Days

ONCE WAKEN, Mount Pinatubo gave vent to centuries of pent-up fury with a series of powerful eruptions, the biggest of which spewed a deadly cloud of ash and gases 25 kilometers into the sky on June 13.

“That is already the big bang. I can’t see any other eruption that will exceed this. What we are seeing now are phenomenal eruptions,” Director Raymundo S. Punongbayan of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported.

He cautioned though that: “The story of Mount Pinatubo is not quite over yet.” Mount Pinatubo proved Punongbayan wrong – on the first assertion, and right – on the caution.

June 14 saw the dark clouds like the wings of a monstrous bird casting trembling shadows across Angeles City during the day and a strange gloomy spell that dimmed the lights of the city’s tourist district in Balibago.

Residents, confused as to the real danger became expectant of a distant calamity. Frightened by the frequency of mild quakes and the smell of sulfur in the air, they braced themselves for the inevitable.

The people with foresight started to leave; the fearful began long prayers at home and inside churches; the ignorant, as usual the powerless, waited in trepidation, ready to accept anything, even danger and destruction in sordid acceptance.

That was how the Mount Pinatubo eruption of June 15, 1991 came to Pampanga: with deathly fear, unfathomable anxiety, and widespread confusion that only plagues, war and the other scourges of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse could have wreaked anywhere.

Like an epic, graphic accounts of the Great Eruption varied in their dramatic and incredible description. Real life narrations and first-hand experiences of those who remembered the event are reinvented in every retelling.

Newspapers of the day were unanimous on the congruent conclusion that the volcano had awakened from a 600- year slumber, with accurate forecast of vast devastation, widespread socio-economic dislocation, and a heavy toll from the volcanic fury.

At the Zambales side was a group of media workers who quoted witnesses who said the skies darkened momentarily after the volcano erupted in the early morning of 15 June.

Newsmen reporting from Clark said Mount Pinatubo vomited scorching volcanic material in a violent outburst, then acrid ashes and gases oozed out of the volcano’s active vents. Like the explosion of the first atom bomb in Hiroshima which was timed officially by the US military, the Phivolcs placed the Great Eruption at 8:15 in the morning of 15 June 1991. And thereafter, day turned into the blackest of night.

A tropical storm spotted a distance away from Central Luzon as early as 10 June moved in for the “kill” after the major explosion and developed into a full-blown typhoon.

Thus, Typhoon Diding blew volcanic ash around Central Luzon. It spread and swirled the debris up to Metro Manila, and as far away as several countries that affected air travel for some time.

The midday darkness, the rumblings of the volcano, frightening quakes and aftershocks, lightning and thunder, howling winds and a torrential rain of pumice stones as big as golf balls, mud and ash did indeed presage an apocalyptic end of days.

Panic

Panic broke out in all the districts of Angeles City, its 180,000-populace caught in pandemonium.

Thousands of vehicles scampered out of the city carrying frightened families to San Fernando and nearby towns. The most opulent residents opted to seek safety in Metro Manila.

The families that stayed behind had no alternative places to make their sanctuary. Those who panicked walked on foot or used every available transport to vacate their abodes in the city. Workers left their posts from factories, markets, shops, clinics, offices, and private occupations, to reach home as fast as they could to prepare for an evacuation. Even policemen on duty rushed home to secure their households.

Crying infants, mothers shouting instructions to members of the family, neighbors hollering for their straying children drowned out church bells that rang incessantly in warning and as notice to leave areas within the 30-kilometer radius from the spewing monster…

Phivolcs officials had earlier warned residents living within the danger zone to immediately abandon their places…

When the 1,500 US Air Force security unit who earlier declared they would abandon Clark “only when we see lava at our doorsteps” raced out of the abandoned base, Angeles residents knew it was time to do likewise.

Exodus

Thus, started the biggest exodus of evacuees and refugees that only a war could generate. All main thoroughfares leading out of Angeles, even those of San Fernando, were jammed with motorists.

Heavy pedestrian traffic clogged narrow roads with frightful people carrying and bundles of clothing. Infants nearly choked in the miasma of sulfuric fumes and steady ash. Every frightened Pampango thought it was the coming of doomsday.

At the North Luzon Expressway, traffic grounded to a standstill as thousands of men and women occupied all lanes in their rush to get out of Pinatubo’s way to wherever. “Kung saan kami maihahatid ng aming mga paa,” the refugees would say.

“We met wave upon wave of panic-stricken people. Kung saan sila pupunta, hindi nila alam,” said Quezon City Mayor Brigido Simeon Jr., a Kapampangan native. He brought some buses to help in the evacuation right at the Angeles City exit ramp of the expressway. The Amoranto Stadium and public and private school houses in Quezon City were designated evacuation centers.

Faces

Public places looked like an open sanitarium with people’s faces covered by surgical masks against ash inhalation. Acquaintances barely heard each other, their speech muffled by heavy gauze masks. But what need was there of distinct language when common fear and the reality of danger made for easy communications among the distraught victims?

In the Metro Clark areas, pumice stone pelted rooftops. A mud rain, then a mighty shower of ash fall covered the premier community as it did towns all over the province.

All through the day and night, sulfuric fumes engulfed Pampanga as pebbles kept falling in malevolent fury. Leaden ash and sand caused building to collapse, first the rooftops buckling down, then the whole structure keeling over like a boxer pummeled by knockout punches.

Two were killed and dozens of commuters were injured when the roof of the Philippine Rabbit Bus terminal in Angeles City collapsed due to heavy ashfall…

Mute agony

Thus, the day of terror began. The nighty ashfall turned day into night while earthquakes shook the region…Mute agony, unimaginable horror, and certain pain, had been written. And equally visible on both the faces of the rich and the poor.

As if to add force to nature’s punitive and merciless wrath, a powerful tropical storm appeared across Central Luzon. Its winds and rains unleashed millions of tons of pyroclastic materials from the slopes of the volcano, sending torrents of smoldering mudflows to Pampanga and Zambales lowlands, burying houses, scouring riverbanks, collapsing bridges, destroying roads, and causing massive destruction in infrastructure and private property unmatched even by the scourge of World War II.

Seven bridges in Pampanga, including the three main spans in Angeles City – Abacan, Friendship, and Pandan bridges – were destroyed by rampaging mudflows. Churches, markets, schools, public buildings, hospitals including the Ospital ning Angeles collapsed.

The Biggest Bang that was the June 15 eruption would segue to the succeeding blasts with more devastation to follow.

(From Chapter 3, The End of Days, of the book Pinatubo: Triumph of the Kapampangan Spirit edited by Bong Z. Lacson and published in 2008 by the San Fernando Heritage Foundation.)

 

The meaning of the day

IF WE are to draw out the deepest meaning of what we celebrate on June 12, it will not be enough to merely recall all the glorious epochs in our history: of the unfurling of the Philippine flag at the Aguinaldo Mansion in Kawit, Cavite; of Tirad Pass and Zapote Bridge, and earlier on of Bagumbayan and Pugadlawin; and even much, much earlier, of the various revolts of Dagohoy and Maniago, of Sumuroy and Hermano Pule, of Diego and Gabriela Silang, down history line to Bambalito of Macabebe, and Lapu-Lapu of Mactan.

Nor should we be content to merely pay tribute to Rizal and Bonifacio, Mabini and Jacinto, Jaena, the Lunas and del Pilars, Sakay, onto Abad Santos and Aquino, and all those who consecrated their lives to this nation, not excluding Edgar Jopson and Lean Alejandro.

To take the full measure of our celebration of freedom day, it is not enough that we commemorate what our heroes did. It is a requisite that we imbibe their spirit. It is a must that we match their deeds with our own.

No, I do not mean we should all die like them. As a smart-aleck once said: There is one thing about heroes that I don’t aspire to be – that is their being dead.

Heroism has become the subject of humor, even the object of derision, in these unheroic times. As that common caution to the heroic goes: ͞Huwag ka nang magpakabayani. Binabaril yan sa Luneta.

We don’t have to die, if only to emulate our heroes. They have done the fighting and the dying for our country.

Our task is to live for our country. The song of our heroes for the Motherland is “ang mamatay nang dahil sa iyo.” Our song for her is “ang mabuhay para sa iyo.”

Dying for the country is the stuff of heroism. Living for the country is the essence of civic responsibility. Living for the country is our sacred call to duty.

Yes, Ninoy Aquino was right: The Filipino is worth dying for.

So are we equally correct: The Filipino is worth living for.

So how well have we responded to that call? How well have we served, and still serve our people?

For those in government, that call to duty assumes an even greater magnitude.

It is not uncommon to find in government people who value themselves as privileged by virtue of a padrino’s influence imposed on their behalf.

Consequently, they feel no obligation to serve the public, or if they do so, they seek additional consideration as an entitlement. It is not uncommon among government people to see a government post as a sinecure, an office that requires no work but pays off most handsomely.

It is not uncommon for government leaders to value themselves as Providentially-appointed and thus bequeathed with divine rights to wrong their constituencies.

With such misgiven commonalities in government, what service can still be rendered to the public?

For the public at large, the so-called civil society most specially, living-for-the-country goes beyond the perfunctory relief-giving in times of calamities, way beyond the routinary round-table discussions of issues besetting the people, way beyond the television soundbytes of commitment to the poor and the marginalized.

Living-for-the-people is pure will found manifest in the act of tangibility: of real service.

No, we are not called upon to render the supreme act of heroism. We are called to be true and faithful to our civic responsibility.

With the flag as our witness, today requires of us to re-dedicate ourselves to our country, to give our own contribution, no matter how humble, to the mission of re-building this nation.

The fulfilment of any mission requires the unity of mind, the solidarity of purpose, and the collectivity of efforts of all those concerned. Unity is paramount.

As it has long been said: “Never forget that unity is the distinct instinct of people who want to accomplish something.”

Unity then is our call. As rebuilding our nation is our goal. I find this the meaning of our Independence Day celebrations today.

(Recurring relevance every Independence Day of this piece since its first publication on June 12, 2008)

Saving the flyover, traffic be damned

 

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- “It is high time the law against overloading is strictly implemented as it prematurely deteriorates our roads and bridges including flyovers and put the safety of other motorists in jeopardy.”

Thus, spoke DPWH Senior Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain at the reopening of the modular steel flyover at the intersection of Lazatin Ave. and Jose Abad Santos Ave. here last April 18 after it was closed for total rehabilitation for over two months.

In less than 20 hours from its opening, Sadain’s call took urgency after a delivery truck and a tourist bus successively struck the overhead gantry at the approaches of the flyover put there precisely to strictly implement the exclusive use of light vehicle.

Buses and trucks, and other heavy vehicles are expressly prohibited to use the flyover “in order to prolong the service life of the structure.”

 

Saving the structure, most apparently, is the one and only reason behind the rehabilitation of the flyover. Conveniently forgotten is the very purpose for its being – to ease traffic flow in that strategic point of busy JASA to and from the provinces of Bataan and Zambales.

 

By banning heavy vehicles from using the Lazatin flyover and the older one at the junction of JASA and MacArthur Highway some 500 meters east of the former, traffic has not been contained but even spread through the national highway northward to the St. Jude junction, where trucks and buses make the U-turn back to JASA, beneath the flyover, onward to western Central Luzon.

 

The DPWH very well knows the volume of heavy vehicles traversing JASA, being a main artery in the transport of goods between Manila and Bataan, home to an export processing zone and gas refinery, and Zambales, home to the Subic Freeport. Not to mention the over 2,000 dump trucks daily transporting sand from the quarry sites of Bacolor and Porac in Pampanga to the metropolis.

Instead of taking the bull by the horn, so to speak, the DPWH took it by the tail.

The need for a heavy-duty high-capacity viaduct, the DPWH addressed with a flimsy flyover restricted to light vehicles not exceeding 20 tons and 2.75 meters in vertical clearance.

Hence, the DPWH solution made the problem even worse. 

The farce is played out

“IT’S THE prerogative of the House.”

Terse was the initial statement of former president and current Pampanga 2^nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on her demotion from senior deputy speaker to simply deputy speaker last week.

Only to be followed by a longer statement that, among others, said:

“In the Philippines, the House leadership has traditionally been closely associated with the sitting President, and this relationship of deep trust between Speaker and President has been beneficial in smoothly enacting the legislative agenda of the President. I think this is acceptable, because in the Philippines, the check and balance needed in any democracy has traditionally been well-provided by the Senate.  
“When President Marcos won, I wanted to aspire for the Speakership of the House. But it soon became apparent that he was most comfortable with then Congressman Martin as Speaker. I quickly realized the wisdom embedded in that sentiment.

“By this disavowal, I hope that we can preempt any needless politicking so that the House and our President can focus on the job at hand with minimum distraction.”

Politicking. Distraction. The operative words unlost to House Speaker Martin G. Romualdez who, after days silence, issued his own statement, thus:

"There is still much work to do, so occasional moves to destabilize the House should be nipped in the bud.

"The House cannot be distracted from finding legislative solutions to issues that affect the lives of ordinary Filipinos. Rather than engaging in politicking, I would rather that we, in the House of Representatives, remain focused on more urgent matters.

“The House of the People is in order. This same level of order is what allowed us to approve on third and final reading at least 29 of the 42 bills that comprise the legislative agenda of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“[The House] should prioritize the real problems of the ordinary people, the only thing that deserves attention. Let’s set aside premature politicking.”

 

 

 

 

Vice President Sara – without the H – Duterte took politicking to down the basest plane altogether in her resignation from the Lakas-CMD immediately after GMA’s demotion: “I am here today because of the trust of the Filipino people in me to lead and serve them and the country, and this cannot be poisoned by political toxicity or undermined by execrable political powerplay.”

Execrable toxicity. The plot thickens? More popcorn?

Au contraire, it is all Rabelais: “Bring down the curtain, the farce is played out.”