Yanni’s Music Wednesday, Apr 30 2008

The administrator of the building in Ortigas where I worked recently installed several video screens at the loby and elevator area to display some advertisements.  In one of these ads, a familiar tune is used.   This unforgetable music never fail to put a smile on my face and remind me of the time and age when Internet is in its infancy and I’m just a young man who’s not yet jaded by the realities of the world.  I am sure that every quizzer who actively competes between 1992 to 2000 will remember this composition from the greek composer, Yanni:

The title of this composition is Santorini and was used as the theme song of the Channel 9 show, Battle of the Brains.   And for almost a decade, this song motivated one generation of Elementary, High School and College quiz bee competitors in the Philippines.   Santorini was inspired by the history of an island with the same name.    The island of Santorini is the site of one of the largest and destructive volcanic eruptions in history.    This eruption destroyed Santorini (originally called Thera) and the Minoan civilization that reside on the said island.     There’s a popular theory that believes that the eruption in Santorini and the resulting destruction of the Minoan civilization is the basis of the legend of Atlantis.  

Listen to closely to the composition and imagine the massive eruption of the volcano in Santorini, the cataclysmic event that inspired an enduring legend, that inspired the music. 

 But my favorite opus by Yanni is the song, Aria.  This song is based on the Water Duet, a popular duet from the Leo Delibes opera Lakme.      This music is best listened to with your eyes closed.  The music is perfection in its simplest representation.   You don’t just listen to Yanni’s music, you have to feel it.   Its difficult not to think of heaven and God while listening to this. 

I’ve added another item in my Bucket List, or 101 Things to Do Before I Die, that is to watch a live performance of Yanni or his music, Aria.

 

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Songkran Festival in Manila Wednesday, Apr 23 2008

April 13-just arrived from Singapore to watch The Contenders, Beck and I just stayed at our house for a few hours to have some rest and off we go to Bonifacio High Street (which is fortunately just 10 mins. away) to attend the Songkran Festival.  We were invited to be a part of this celebration.

The Songkran Festival is the Thai New Year that is celebrated on April 13 to 15.   Part of the celebration of this festivities is to throw water to people, even to strangers.  It’s just like the Feast of Saint John The Baptist that is celebrated in San Juan.    It is believed that by dousing water to people, it will bring the Thais good luck and prosperity to the incoming New Year.   Perhaps the most famous celebration of Songkran is Chiang Mai.

Holding a Songkran Festival in Manila is a good way of promoting Thailand and its culture among Filipinos.   And events like this should be held more often in order for Filipinos have a clearer understanding of its neighbors.  I often find it odd and disturbing that we Pinoys know more about the USA which is 12 time zones away than Thailand which is our next door neighbor. 

 

Kru Romnick in a muay boran costume with Kru Arman

Yna doing a wai kru exhibition.  She’s a 2005 SEA Games gold medalist in Wai Kru

An exhibition of Krabi Krabong.  This is the sword/stick martial art of Thailand, much like the Philippines’ arnis/kali/eskrima

Muay Thai matches are also part of the program

 

Kru Romnick and Kru Marlon with Thai cultural dancers who flew from Chiang Mai just to grace this event.  The Songkran is also a day for Thais to visit their elders and be with their family.  So it really is a lot of sacrifice for these students to be in the Philippines during the celebration of Songkran.   I also got to practice my limited Thai language to these lasses. 

Kru Robert Valdez-MAP President with Thai Ambassador Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhya and PTT Philippines President Siripong Phoungpaka

The highlight of the Songkran Festival is a cultural presentation of the folk dances of Thailand performed by students from Chiang Mai

The people who made the Songkran Festival in Manila possible.  That’s me on the right side wearing a black The Contender Asia t-shirt

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The Contender Asia Finals Pictures-2nd Batch Thursday, Apr 17 2008

The security of the Singapore Indoor Stadium didn’t allow me to bring in my Canon DSLR but consented to bring our two other digicams.   Since the digicams doesn’t have the zoom power of my DSLR, the picture quality is quite blurry. 

This is for my friend Toby who wants to marry Jaymee Ong

Soren and Sean

Zach and Zidov

 

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The Contender Asia Finals-Pictures 1st Batch Tuesday, Apr 15 2008

As promised, I am posting some of the pictures we took during the event.  Displayed here are the post fight pictures.  I will be posing the photos of the fights soon.

Me displaying the tournament banner of Muay Thai Association of the Philippines-Ultra Chapter.  Eventually, I was able to ask the Contender Finalists and Jaymee Ong to sign this banner. 

Yodsanklai Fairtex receiving the check for $150,000.00 prize money for being The Contender Asia Champion.  On the far right is JWP raising his runner-up trophy

The story behind this picture is very touching.  RP met Yodsanklai November last year when I trained at Fairtex Pattaya.   Yod is on his way to the locker area and the audience are mobbing him for some pictures and autograph.  RP was standing on a chair, holding a banner that shows our family picture with Yodsanklai.  She was about 5 to 6 meters away from Yod between them are several people.   RP was yelling “Yodsanklai, Yodsanklai”.  When Yod saw her, he excitedly said “Baabbyy” then also said “Come” and motioned for RP to  come near him.   The crew and security parted the audience so that RP can approach Yodsanklai.  We overheard some audience say,”Maybe Yodsanklai is his uncle”.   Who would expect a world champion who just won $150,000 will remember a kid he met 5 months ago. 

Me and RP with Jaymee Ong and her mom

With Zig Zach.  He fought one of my muay thai instructor Kru Billy Alumno in two occassions. 

Beck with Dzhabar Askerov

RP with Zidov Dominic

With Sean Wright

with Pamela and Vanessa Chong of The Amazing Race Asia 2

Beck with Vanessa Chong. 

Beck with Paula Taylor, also of The Amazing Race Asia 2.  At the back is Marc Nelson who is Paula’s date for that night.

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The Contender Asia Finals Monday, Apr 14 2008

The much anticipated finale of The Contender Asia was held in Singapore Indoor Stadium on April 12.  Me and my family flew all the way to Singapore just to watch this event and give support to our favorite muay thai fighter, Yodsanklai Fairtex.  

There were two preliminary bouts before the main program.  In the first fight, U.S. Wang of the Singapore Muay Thai team (and 2007 SEA Games bronze Medalist) went against Sukari Flash of Indonesia.  The Singaporean won by 2nd round KO.  The second fight was a women’s muay thai match between Brenda Chin (Singapore Muay Thai team and also 2007 SEA Games bronze medalist) and a Thai fighter (who has such a long name, I didn’t bother taking note of).  Again, the singaporean prevailed.

The Main Program

The entire stadium went wild when the line up of the fighters was announced.  One by one, the Contenders went down the aisle with their respective country’s flag: Soren Monkon Tong of Australia, Sean Wright of Scotland, Zig Zach of Singapore, Zidov Dominic of Switzerland/Croatia, Rafik Bakkouri of France, Dzabar Askerov of UAE, John Wayne Parr of Australia and Yodsanklai Fairtex of Thailad. 

1.  Soren Mongkon Tong Vs. Sean Wright-this is for the WMC Intercontinental Championship.   Sean Wright used his hand speed and strong punches to stagger Soren in the early rounds of the fight.  Soren used his height advantage and greater reach in countering Sean.   Soren landed several elbows and knees on Sean that by the 4th and 5th round, Sean is on the defensive.   Soren won by unanimous decision and is declared the new WMC Intercontinental Champion.   

2.  Zig Zach vs. Zidov Dominic-this is a rematch done to erase questions posed by viewers of the show whether Zach could have won their match if he didn’t sustain an injury (his shoulders popped out of its socket).   During their wai kru, Zach did his bow and arrow finish twice but Zidov would just pretend to catch it and break the arrows in half.  Zach then approached Zidov and made a sword slashing and thrusting gesture on Zidov.  This is the same wai kru move that Zidov did during his fight with JWP. 

Zach once again proved that he is a very technical fighter.  He could easily connect his punches and techniques and immediately disengage before Zidov can make a counter.    Zach landed a low blow on Zidov’s groin but was considered by the referee as a knockdown.   The referee counted only up to 6 or 7 when the ball rang.  So technically, Zidov was saved by the bell. 

In the 5th round, Zach landed an elbow that bloodied Zidov.  The referee stopped the fight at least twice to have the ring doctor check the bloodflow.  The doctor decided that Zidov as unfit to continue fighting thereby giving Zach a TKO victory.  This elicited the crowds to boo the decision.   After the fight, Zidov indirectly asked for a rematch.  Because of the heckling of the crowd, Stephan Fox went up the ring and explained why the fight was stopped and announced that there will be a rematch between the two fighters in August, for the 2nd season of The Contender Asia.

3. Rafik Bakkouri vs. Dzhabar Askerov-this is for the WMC European Championship belt.   In the show, the two fighters had an altercation that elevated to a fist fight.   This match was described as a grudge match between the two.  Because of Rafik’s cocky character in the show, everybody in the crowd booed him, except for the few Francophones in the stadium who are rooting for him.  The fight is very close as they are of equal skills.  I think Rafik landed more kicks but Dzhabar was better with his knees and elbows.  In the end, Dzabar Askerov won via unanimous decision.  When Dzhabar was given the opportunity to speak, he said, “I forgive Rafik this time”.   

 The Main Event-The Contender Asia Finals

John Wayne Parr vs. Yodsanklai Fairtex-  this is for the Championship of The Contender Asia.   The crowd went wild and ecstatic when the two fighters entered the ring.  But all of the Singapore Stadium fell silent when the match started. 

Yodsanklai clearly took the first round as he landed more kicks and even scored a knocked down when he landed a right hook punch that sent JWP down on the canvas.  JWP was again knocked down  in the second round.   At the end of the 2nd round, JWP already has a cut on the corner of his left eyebrow, this early, one can see that the only way for JWP to win is to knockout Yodsanklai. The pace of the 3rd and 4th round somewhat slowed down. JWP tried to fight back by slugging it out and do a barrage of punches, some of which landed on Yodsanklai’s face.  But when JWP stopped, Yodsanklai just mocked him as if to say, is that all you can do?   It seems that JWP’s strategy is to fight at punching distance to maximize his punching power.  He would continually come forward at Yodsanklai and crowd him out to negate the Thai’s powerful kicks.   But Yodsanklai can match JWP punching power but JWP can’t match Yodsanklai’s fast and powerful kicks. 

It would be interesting to note that Dzhabar, Pitu and Zidov are all on JWP’s corner while Rafik is the only Contender finalist who is in Yodsanklai’s corner.

Everybody was on their feet when the 5th and final round came.  JWP tried to score an upset by endlessly attacking Yodsanklai with his punches.  But Yodsanklai would just evade or counter punch.    JWP connected a strong elbow that I thought Yodsanklai will hit the canvas. 

When the closing bell rang, it is clear who is The Contender Asia Finals Champion: Yodsanklai Fairtex!!!  The judges’ scores:  50-45; 50-44; 50-47, Yodsanklai winning by unanimous decision. 

 

Side note:

Yodsanklai Fairtex is my family’s favorite muay thai fighter (my wife is also into muay thai.  My daughter, RP, considers Yodsanklai as a friend because he would often ask for her whenever I train at Fairtex).  After the fight, the spectators all gathered around Yodsanklai for an autograph and some photo ops.   We brought the tarpaulin banner we specially made that shows our family picture together with Yodsanklai.   RP was spreading out this banner and repeteadly would yell, “Yodsanklai, Yodsanklai”, she was about 5 to 6 meters from the Contender Champion, separated by several people.  When Yodsanklai saw my daughter, he shouted “Baabbyyy”.  Then said, “Come” and gestured for RP to approach him.    The security and crew parted the audience to allow RP to approach Yodsanklai. This made some of the audience to whisper “Maybe Yodsanklai is his uncle”. 

We were able to take a picture of that precious moment. 

I will post pictures of The Contender Asia Finals when I’ve already downloaded them from my cameras. 

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Father’s Daughter Monday, Apr 7 2008

Allow me to interrupt my series of posts regarding our European Holiday.  RP is once again the first honor, for three years in a row, for her grade level.     Although she didn’t match or surpass her last year’s achievement wherein she garnered 11 of the 15 awards, I am still very much proud of her.  For this year, aside for being the first honor, she also received 7 awards.    Perhaps the European Tour is an early graduation gift. 

The proudest moment for any parent

RP after receiving the medal.  It could be the mik…no it’s the genes. He he he.

At Italianni’s Bonifacio High Street for the celebration.  RP is wearing the miniature Eiffel Tower earrings and necklace we bought at a souvenir shop in Paris just the week before. 

 

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Roman Holiday- The Local Cuisine Friday, Apr 4 2008

Cultural Relativity-the tendency to judge or view another culture by comparing it to one’s own.   

Iron Chef America, Boy Meets Grill, Food 911 and other shows at Food Network are some of my favorite TV shows, isn’t it obvious that me and my family are gourmands?  But how do you pig out when all prices are multiplied by 60? (the peso-euro exchange rate)  Do we have to say goodbye to all those food, glorious food?   Rome has come up with a solution, the Formula.   Under this scheme, diners can choose 3 to 4 dishes (depending on the restaurant) for their primo (first course), secondo (second course), contorno (salad) and bibite (drinks) .  All this for just 15 to 20 euros…not bad for an authentic Italian cuisine, moreover, the serving is really generous.   

Primo is usually pizza or pasta or rissotto.  In the Philippines (cultural relativity at work), pizza or pasta or anything with rice are usually the main event.  Not in Italy.   There, those three are just for appetizers. 

Another observation that I find amusing is the way Italians drink their coffee, standing up in the bar, in the same way we Pinoys drink out shot of liquor. 

 

Beck, while waiting for our lunch at Ciao Bar.   This restaurant is just outside the walls of the Vatican.  We sampled the best Italian food during our trip in this restaurant.  Best for value too. 

This is the best pizza I’ve tasted during our Roman Holiday. 

RP enjoying her gelato, just outside the Vatican.  One scoop costs 5 Euros, ouch!  But I have to admit, this gelato is so creamy and great tasting that we didn’t mind having it for dessert even if its 7 degrees Celsius outside. 

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Roman Holiday-The Spanish Steps and The Fountain of Trevi Thursday, Apr 3 2008

From the Vatican, we took the Metro to go to the Spanish Steps, arguably, the high-end shopping district of Rome.   We were surprised with the number of people in Piazza di Spagna.  Now I know why in a travel book, it is advised that if one likes to visit the said piazza, is to go there between 2a.m. till 9a.m. 

We found two locations that was used in the movie Only You.   

 

The high end shops and the people who mill at Piazza Di Spagna

The Spanish Steps- it is difficult to appreciate the beauty of this stairway with all the people sitting on its steps.    The egg yellow building on the right is where the famous English Poet John Keats lived and died. 

A marker on the side of the building stating that in John Keats spent his last days in this house.  One of my favorite poems is his “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”

Beck and RP enjoying their stroll amidst the busy streets of near the piazza.

Fontana Di Trevi-The fountain that started the legend of throwing coins in the fountain and making a wish.    Actually, the legend started that if you throw a coin in this fountain, you are ensured to return to Rome.  This fountains have been immortaized  in countless movies, songs and novels.    Like the Spanish Steps, it is difficult to capture the real beauty of this fountain with all of the people visiting it.   I suggest that you visit this at night, when the the fountain and the waters are lit. 

Trevi got its name because three streets (tre via) converge on the fountain.

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Roman Holiday-A Pinoy TNT in Rome Wednesday, Apr 2 2008

Everytime I go to a different country, I would often talk in my native language.  This is to show who I am and where I am from and also, to meet other Filipinos.  I got this idea when I was watching the movie Amistad back in 1998.  

We were on our way down to the Metro Subway when I heard someone calling, “Kabayan, kabayan”.   His name is Reynaldo, he overheard us talking in our native tongue while buying some ticket for the Metro.    His first question is if we can help him find a job in Rome but we told him we are just tourists and can’t help him find a job.  Then he told us his story.   He has a family in Batangas whom he left behind to find his fortune in Italy.  He was told that once here, it would be very easy to find a job and can earn more than what he is earning back in the Philippines.   He found out too late that it is not true.  After more than a month, he couldn’t find a job, not even the dirty kind of work that no Italians nor Europeans would want to do.   To sustain himself, he would depend on the kindness of compatriots who would give him a few days of shelter and food.  But of course, he can only stay for a day or two.  So he would have to sleep in parks and other public places with just empty cartons to shield him from the cold.     He can’t go home because he incurred a debt of Php500,000 just to be able to come to Italy.     When I heard this, I want to tell him that I can think of at least 10 businesses that he can start with that amount without leaving his family, and that amount would already include attending some classes on small business management.  But that would be adding insult to injury. 

 He offered to give us a tour in exchange for some euros.  We have to decline not because we don’t trust him but because we really want to explore Rome by ourselves, without any guide.     We just gave him 5 Euros and the left over salad from our lunch.   I even felt more compassionate when he asked what is a salad.  If there’s one regret that I have during the entire Roman Holiday is that I should have given him more.    

We told him that we met a Filipino who’s working in a hardware in front of Piazza Risorgimento and he’s also from Batangas.  Perhaps he can help him find some job, when he heard this, there’s some glint in his eyes.   We then parted ways.

It’s sad to meet Filipinos in foreign lands who left their families because they were assured of a prosperous life abroad, only to find out that its just an empty promise. 

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Roman Holiday-St. Peter’s Basilica Tuesday, Apr 1 2008

 I’m an existentialist since college, which explains my view about God and religion.    Moreover, I’m very much into history and my reading led me to  believe that Christianity (or Catholicism) was used more as a tool to oppress and conquer rather than promote Christian values.   So my reason for including a visit to the Vatican in my Bucket List is purely due to my love of history and the arts.  The thought of being in a place where so much history took place and where the masterpieces of Renaissance masters are displayed exhilirates me to the extreme. 

I’ve taken more than 200 pictures at the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica, the space here is just too limited for me to post them all. 

 

The portico of St. Peter’s Basilica.   At the far end is a statue of Charlemagne on horseback. 

The Holy Door- this door is shut from the inside and is only opened during great celebrations, like Jubilee years.   

 

The Pieta by Michaelangelo.  This is the only sculpture where he carved his name.   Back in 1970s, a man entered St. Peter’s Basilica and yelled ” I am Jesus Christ, and you are not my mother”.  Then he chipped off some parts of the nose of Virgin Mary.   Since then, the sculpture was cased behind a bullet proof glass.

The interior of the domes of  St. Peter’s Basilica.  These were designed by Donato Bramante

The altar and the Baldicchino-the baldicchino at St. Peter’s was designed by Gian Carlo Bernini and is claimed to be the largest piece of bronze in the world.  This was made to mark the the tomb of St. Peter.    This was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII

Coat of Arms of Pope Urban VIII-this emblem is designed in all of four columns of the baldicchino.  All over the Vatican City you will see that the Popes have all tried to leave their mark.  

Beck and RP-taken in front of the basilica.  Behind them is the St. Peter’s Square which is being prepared for the Pope’s Easter mass

The Saint Peter’s Basilica

On our way out of the Vatican, we saw a group of Pinoys waving the Philippine flag.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get close enough to get their picture 

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