The Angono Petroglyphs- Philippines Oldest Work of Art

This is where one can see the oldest work of art in the Philippines done 3000 years ago using stone tools. 

I visited this site on May 1, 2018 and what normally is a 2 to 3 hour ride from Manila to Angono-Binangonan in Rizal Province took me less than an hour, being a Labor Day holiday.  The Waze app I used was very accurate and I suggest using this because only 5% of the locals have knowledge of this place.  Ninety five percent of the visitors are out-of-townees. 

The site is on an elevated area, hilly, and located inside a subdivision which is privately owned.  There are no public transportation inside so one has to walk a few minutes from the entrance to the site.  If you have a private car, there is a parking area beside the tunnel entrance to the petroglyph. 

Its a 5-10 minute walk from the man-made tunnel entrance which was a little dark but cool.  There is a mini museum which use to house the artifacts like flake stone tools and obsidian flakes, but has been transferred to the National Museum in Manila.  There are 127 figures consisting of stylized human figures and several animals like lizards and turtles.  

Since President Rodrigo Duterte became president, he abolished the entrance fee, so everybody can enter free of charge. The site is well maintained with guards 24/7.  My only suggestion is that the actual petroglyph should be covered or housed because weather elements will surely erase it after 100 years.

One can tour the whole site in an hour. This explains why Angono is the Art Capital of the Philippines producing geniuses like Lucio San Pedro and Botong Francisco.  Their ancestors have been doing art since 3000 years ago.  The site is also on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and I hope this will be accepted by Unesco in the near future.

The Historical Village of Hokkaido

The Historical Village of Hokkaido covers an area of some 54 hectares and is located in the Nopporo Forest Park in the suburbs of Sapporo City. This outdoor museum was opened to the public on April 16, 1983, to preserve the olden day structures and to show what the pioneer's life was like in Hokkaido.

About 60 typical structures of the Meiji and Taisho era (Mid 19th to early 20th century) are restored in a site which is divided into Town, Fishing Village, Farm Village and Mountain Village sectors.  Due to time constraints, we were only able to visit the Town sector of this massive area.  Each structure is reproduced authentically with displays inside.  

Horse drawn trolleys in the summer and sleighs in the winter provide transportation for visitors along the main street, which is lined with old wooden and wooden buildings.   I had the privilege to visit a doctor's clinic, a barber shop, police station, brewery, newspaper, and photography studio building to name a few.  Throughout the year, there are many delightful entertainments for the visitor.  

Museum hours are from 9 am to 4:30 pm on Tuesday to Sunday.  The ticket office closes at 4 pm. Ticket prices range from 500 to 800 yen.

Yangdong Folk Village-UNESCO World Heritage Site #117

After a breezing 30 minute ride from the Geongju city center, we arrived at the Yangdong Folk Village (Yangdong Village of Gyeongju), a traditional village from the Joseon Dynasty.  It is located in Gangdong-myeon, sixteen kilometers northeast of Gyeongju, South Korea, along the Hyeongsan River. Mt. Seolchang stands to the north of the village. 

The village is designated as Important Folklore Materials No. 189 by the South Korean government.

The size, degree of preservation, numerous cultural assets, traditionalism, beautiful natural setting all contribute to the importance of Yangdong Village. It is also a fine example of the  yangban (Korean aristocracy) lifestyle and Neo-Confucian traditions. The village is listed by the South Korean government with UNESCO as world heritage site with Hahoe folk village in 2010.

Beautiful Geongju- Cheomseongdae Observatory

This observatory was built during the reign of the Silla Queen Seondeok (632-647 AD).  This is the oldest astronomical observatory in East Asia which consists of 26 steps of 30cm high stones placed above double stylobates.  Its exact dimensions are 5.17 meters in diameter and 9 meters in height and is made of granite stones witha stoen base measuring 5.35 meters.

 

At the top, the square stones are arranged in the shape of the Chinese letter for "well".  Every part of the building from its structure and composition of each stone contains symbolical meaning.   It is filled with various scientific yet mysterious points, such as the fact that the stones that make up the letter for well at the top of the observatory are exactly the length of the stylobate.

Beautiful Geongju- Wolji Pond

In the year 679 AD, during the 19th year of King Munmu's rule, Donggung Palace was built  as a venue for state festivals, banquets and as a prince's palace.

According to to History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguksi), that inside the Palace, a pond was dug, artificial hills were created, flowers were planted, and strange animals were brought in and raised.  The pond also served as a place to entertain valuable guests and hold banquets for the king and his subjects.  The artificial pond with an area of around 190 meters in all four directions was also called the Anapji during at the Joseon dynasty.

Wolji Pond was uncovered during the excavation and dredging work conducted in 1975.  The date inscribed on the roof and tiles decorated with stylized floral medallion (posanghwa),  confirmed that the original dates of construction were accurate.  During the Joseon Dynasty, the pond was neglected and became a straying place for wild ducks and geese hence became Anapji (wild goose and duck pond).

Awesome Jeju Island

Rising 1,950 meters above sea level, Halla-san is the central volcanic mountain peak of Jeju Island. About 360 parasitic volcanoes surround Halla-san's base, the largest number of such volcanoes that has been found around any single mountain peak. Halla-san is famous not only for the uniqueness of its geographical formation but also for its ecological diversity. The combination of high mountain peaks, oreums (parasitic volcanoes), caves, and beaches make for numerous and various environmental habitats. 

A variety of plants and animals can be found on Halla-san, where climates range from the subtropical to the temperate and, even in some areas, polar.

The Geomunoreum Lava Tube system was instrumental to Jeju's selection as a World Heritage site. The Geomunoreum caves were formed by lava pouring down the island's coastline from Halla-san, and both its length and scale make it one of the largest and most distinctive of any such cave systems in the world.

Seongsan Ilchulbong peak is an ideal spot for enjoying the sunrise. As it rose from the sea, the geological history of the formation attracts visitors.

In addition to the designation as Natural World Heritage Site in 2007, Jeju Island has also been appointed to the World Network of Biosphere Reserve in 2002 and the Global Geoparks Network in 2010. Jeju Island is the first spot in the world to receive the UNESCO Triple crown designation. Highlighting these aspects, Korea put a huge effort in the vote for the New 7 Wonders. The island is an unexplored district containing all seven themes; great landscape, island, volcanoes, coast, cave, falls, and forest which were the main required elements for the vote. Unlike other proposed sites, Jeju Island maintains a close connection with the lives of people, offering space for culture and history to co-exist. 

Himeji-jo

After an hour fast train ride from Osaka via the the Shin-Osaka line, and a 15 minute walk, we arrive at the magnificent Himeji-jo castle. The castle is the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture. It is located in Himeji City, in the Hyogo Prefecture, an area that has been an important transportation hub in West Japan since ancient times. The castle property, situated on a hill summit in the central part of the Harima Plain, covers 107 hectares and comprises eighty-two buildings. It is centred on the Tenshu-gun, a complex made up of the donjon, keeps and connecting structures that are part of a highly developed system of defence and ingenious protection devices dating from the beginning of the Shogun period. The castle functioned continuously as the centre of a feudal domain for almost three centuries, until 1868 when the Shogun fell and a new national government was created. 

The principal complex　of these structures is a masterpiece of construction in wood, combining function with aesthetic appeal, both in its elegant appearance unified by the white plastered earthen walls – that has earned it the name Shirasagi-jo (White Heron Castle) – and in the subtlety of the relationships between the building masses and the multiple roof layers visible from almost any point in the city.

It is approximately an hours climb  on several stairs to reach the top of the castle especially during summer where everyone seems to be visiting the structure to pay homage to their king whose remains are located at the topmost part of the castle. I was about to give up midway through the climb when I noticed that several senior citizens were climbing.  At the top, one can see beautiful city. On the way down one can see several rooms including the suicide or harakiri rooms.

Hoi An Ancient Town

Hoi An Ancient town is located in Viet Nam’s central Quang Nam Province, on the north bank near the mouth of the Thu Bon River. The inscribed property comprises 30 ha and it has a buffer zone of 280 ha. It  is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a small-scale trading port active the 15th to 19th centuries  which traded widely, both with the countries of Southeast and East Asia and with the rest of the world. Its decline in the later 19th century ensured that it has retained its traditional urban tissue to a remarkable degree.

The town reflects a fusion of indigenous and foreign cultures (principally Chinese and Japanese with later European influences) that combined to produce this unique survival. 

The town comprises a well-preserved complex of 1,107 timber frame buildings, with brick or wooden walls, which include architectural monuments, commercial and domestic vernacular structures, notably an open market and a ferry quay, and religious buildings such as pagodas and family cult houses. The houses are tiled and the wooden components are carved with traditional motifs.  They are arranged side-by-side in tight, unbroken rows along narrow pedestrian streets. There is also the fine wooden Japanese bridge, with a pagoda on it, dating from the 18th century. The original street plan, which developed as the town became a port, remains. It comprises a grid of streets with one axis parallel to the river and the other axis of streets and alleys set at right angles to it. Typically, the buildings front the streets for convenient customer access while the backs of the buildings open to the river allowing easy loading and off-loading of goods from boats.

The surviving wooden structures and street plan are original and intact and together present a traditional townscape of the 17th and 18th centuries, the survival of which is unique in the region. The town continues to this day to be occupied and function as a trading port and centre of commerce. The living heritage reflecting the diverse communities of the indigenous inhabitants of the town, as well as foreigners, has also been preserved and continues to be passed on. Hoi An Ancient Town remains an exceptionally well-preserved example of a Far Eastern port.

Complex of the Hue Monuments

After an hour plane ride from Ho Chi Minh City, we arrived at the beautiful resort city of Da Nang.  It took us another 45 minutes to arrive at our hotel in Hoi An city- the Hoi An Historic hotel.  It is the first hotel in this town which 5 minute walk to the ancient town center.  The trip to Hue city, which was the former capital of unified Vietnam in 1802 was a three and a half hour ride with several stops- the French and American bunkers in the previous wars, a marble museum and restaurant, before arriving at the citadel.  Hue was not only a political  but also

a cultural and religious center under the Nguyen dynasty until 1945.   The Perfume river- which we traversed winding through the capital, the Imperial city and the Inner city gives this unique feudal capital a setting of great natural beauty.