My Grandfather's Dog

We have a dog in our homeplace that always fascinate me. This dog was owned before by my grandfather. My grandfather is a dog lover. He would always exhibit special fondness with dogs. Every dog in their house and even ours is very close to him. I'd always see him cuddling and playing with his pet dogs. Last October 2005 he underwent an operation that he could not endure. Early November he was gone. The event is very regretting to me for some reason. Their house became a deserted place. The dog was left without a master. I really don't care about dogs at that time and I seldom notice them everytime I visit my homeplace. When I went home for my grandfather's burial I noticed my grandfather's dog playing with our dogs, that dog is one of the dogs that greeted me as I entered our house. I was thinking that maybe someone from my grandfather's house visited us, but there was none. They told me that he went there by himself. I was very surprised! They then informed me about what happened. Few days later after my gandfather died the dog appeared in our place like someone was leading him in. He never been in our place before how come he found his way to our house. And how come he recognized us as related to his previous master. They speculated that maybe my late grandfather lead him to our home where he can be treated well. I really can explain this thing in a natural way but as of now I like it the way what the others believed.

I found this dog early in the morning in our backyard sleeping in the old tire. The sight like this is very rare.



This dog have still one fascinating behavior. He is afraid of the sound of explosion.

Have a nice day!

Broken Road

Last year my assignment took me to the heart of Mindanao. My frequent travel from Cagayan de Oro to Davao made me a witness to some of the nature violent force. Travelling from CDO to Davao and vice versa is so far the longest journey I experienced by land in a single continous trip. The journey is roughly six hours passing the whole length of Bukidnon province. Boring? Yes, sometimes, but if you just open your eyes you'll see the scenic beauty Bukidnon has to offer. Living by its name (Bukidnon according to me means "those who live in the mountain") the province is truly mountainous with a very deep chasm on either side of the road. On rainy months it is very risky to travel on some of its isolated highways.


The signage points to the detour as this road became inaccessible due to landslide. Rocks littered all over the place.

Its a dead end. The road lead to nowhere but into a deep chasm created by landslide. On the far side of the road are the newly harvested rice being dried.

This scene is the other angle of the damage created by landslide. See how deep the opening is.

I was later informed that no one was seriously injured by this event and that road was surely repaired by now.

Have nice day!

Siquijor

I'm back again. I travelled a lot last month until the second week of this month. In early days of June's first week I went to Siquijor island. I was speculating that this trip would surely bore me. I always envisioned Siquijor as a place stagnated in time, based on the account of many people who already visited the place. I was wrong. The island surprised me. Enchanting as the legend tells, almost immediately I fell inlove with the place.

This picture was taken as I approaches the island. It was 7 o'clock in the morning and the sun keep on urging me to take a picture of her above the island. See how she dances against the camera of my cellphone.

The church of Siquijor, Siquijor. This old structure greeted me as my senses started to become very active to accomodate the beauty around. Built on stones made by corals the building is simple in style yet magnificent. I saw a dozen more old wooden buildings based on limestone inland.

The church of Lazi, Siquijor. Lazi is located on the southern part of the island. The town church is the oldest church in the island, created on 1884. Located on a tree-shaded hill the scene is awe-inspiring. If not for the limited time I would stay there for a while and explore the place. Just across the street is a huge convent.

A scenery just in-sight from the port of Siquijor. The view is a paradise, a green sea, a sea-embracing land beyond and a foamy clouds above, yet the view of this place is deceiving. Hidden from this beautiful picture are the ugly human creations.

The island amazes me. Many of the old houses are well-preserved. Modern houses too with a very unique designs took their share in the rolling Siquijor landscape. I also saw for the first time only in Siquijor (I think in San Juan) in the middle of the plaza is a public bath. The bath is a natural spring-fed pool. The sight of bathing crowd is luring me to join the fun. I imagined myself swimming and demonstrating my sidestroke in that pool, but that would be next time.

I only visited the tiny part of the island and I hope to explore more of it someday if my time will allow.

Have a nice day folks!

Traveller's mumbling.

Journey
January 31, 2006

How long the road do I have to tread?
How far the place to go ahead?
How many rivers do I have to cross?
To end the every detail of my cause

How high the mountain to scale beyond?
And feel the hardship by my hand
How sweet the scene I’m going to see?
And once again to breathe the air free

The enormous view of stretching plain
Had wipe my heart’s sadness and pain
A relieving feeling for a troubled mind
A comforting place for me to unwind

The valleys, hills and great rivers
A precious memory worth to remember
The beauty around is infinite
The nature's wonder is very sweet

But the journey is tiring and hard
Unwelcome event may catch me off-guard
As sadness is always what it brings
And the fruit can be quite frustrating

Yet I cannot hold not to lay a step
To make my stride into a big leap
The trip may take me far from home
Yet the world is still a good place to roam