Top 5 Things To Do in Kabankalan City

Here is my list of the top 5 things to do in Kabankalan City (from a visitor's point of view):

1. Take part in the Sinulog Festival (held every third Sunday of January)
2. Swimming, hiking and a picnic at Mag-aso Falls
3. Public plaza
4. Public market (just so you see what the locals do)
5. Visit the new City Hall

Exotic Food

Filipinos in other countries must be really home sick, for Anthony Bourdain's post on the Philippines episode for the No Reservations show got 407 comments. Who gets 407 comments on one post? While going through the latest tweets tonight (or this morning, or whatever), I hopped on several links and ended up at his blog. It's crazy and the conversation even extends to Colin Devroe's review of the show. I guess it was expected, what with all the lechon, sisig, kare-kare, adobo, fishballs and other food that all reminds us of home. These are the food that our grandmothers cooked for us, our mothers served us, our comfort food. Maybe even fiesta food.

Some friends once described how kare-kare is cooked to an American friend, and they had a hard time describing the dish. It's ox tail cooked in a sort of soup with peanut butter and local vegetables, and then it's eaten with bagoong (fish sauce?). So imagine describing that to someone who grew up in the U.S., someone who cannot imagine an ox tail being cooked, let alone with peanut butter. Let's just say, they were hooting with laughter that ended with the friend describing it in the end as (forgive my "French") "peanut butter and ass".

The show could have featured many other dishes. I haven't seen the Philippine episode of No Reservations yet, but since the show is about exotic food, there are a few dishes that they might have also liked to try like ox tongue (cooked all over the country), diwal (I don't know if they have it also in Luzon but I saw this in the Visayas; it's a "longish" shellfish that is usually baked or boiled with just salt, red pepper and green onion leaves to top it off), and maybe some roasted goat.

Chinese Food Mysteries

Ever wondered about the origins of General Tso's chicken? Just wanted to share this video from TED Talks.

Jennifer 8. Lee: Who was General Tso? and other mysteries of American Chinese food

Google Earth Underwater and Mag-aso Falls

As of this writing, Google just launched "Ocean Google Earth", or Google Earth underwater. Amazing, isn't it? At first, one might think that it would only be useful for those in the scientific and research community. But on second thought, the applications are only limited by our imaginations. In fact, it can be a sort of travel experience from home, straight from your desktop or laptop, specially with the sometimes high cost of travel, specially in this economy and, in some places, in these kinds of weather.

I've been waiting to post my pics of Mag-aso Falls for sometime now and I've finally done it. Mas-aso Falls has only been recently developed by Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental. The main falls is that pic on the left, and to get there, you have to go down some 100 steps or so (I stopped counting). The water is clear and there are not that many people, except when we went there, which was on January 1. I didn't know that it is a tradition to go to the beach or somewhere with water on New Year's Day. The people of Central and Southern Negros, though, take it up a notch. You see them all in fully loaded tricycles, pick-up trucks and hauler trucks.

So anyway, when you go back up the steps to the main falls, they have a swimming pool back at the top, and just a few steps near that are the small "falls" up the river. My cousin said that is one of the best places to bathe in because you're the first one to bathe in the water. :)


If you click on the picture, it will take you to my Flickr page where you'll find a few more pictures of Mag-aso Falls.

Food - Just Like Travel

Whenever I can’t find the time, or the opportunity, to travel I take comfort in food, which can transport us to other places just as well. One of my best memories from being in other places is from having all that wonderful food. Food is such a basic necessity that sometimes we tend to overlook it, settling on the first fast food joint that we find. Not that they’re all bad, we had fun savoring all the dips at an El Pollo Loco in L.A.

Remember “laswa”? It always reminds me of Negros and home. Green Indian mangoes take me back to trips to Lian, Batangas and the eat-all-you-can Indian mangoes near the beach. After snorkeling, it’s the desert after all that grilled fish. Or how about those seaweeds that sort of look like little beads, which are a good reminder for Cagayan de Oro. Sometimes, something very simple can also take you home. For me, that would be grilled cheese sandwiches made on the stove. It’s a bit of a weird method, but it works for me.

Sometimes, food also takes you international. Take grilled chicken, which reminds me of nights grilling fresh chicken breasts and beef steaks in my hotel room a couple of years ago (crazy I know, but we figured out a way to manage the smoke detector!). I associate Mexican food not only to Mexico but to Los Angeles as well – tacos and nachos at Tito’s Tacos near Sepulveda Boulevard, etc. etc. Burritos transport me to Baja Fresh in Nashville, TN with the cool lunch crowd that always fills up the place. Some of the best steaks I’ve had were from team dinners in the American South, so when having steak (or even just a bit of beef that kind of tastes like such) I always think of Birmingham, Alabama and the Capitol Grill in Atlanta. Churros and the matching chocolate can take you to Spain. Mozart chocolates and “kanabanosi” (those European beef jerky sticks) takes me to Austria. Or chicken adobo, which reminds me of Atlanta and the endless experiments I made trying to make adobo in my little kitchen there, or at least something that resembles adobo.

This is making me hungry again so I need to think of something else now. Well, we will always find something to enjoy about food, and besides the delectable tastes, we will always find a place to associate it with. Bon appétit!

A Great Year to All

First post for 2009... and although it's already February, belated happy Chinese new year to all! Haven't been able to write in here for some time now, you know how it is during busy season. It's, well, beeezy.

Let's start with great good news:

• Cebu Pac continues to wow us all with low-fare promos, including free tax and insurance fares. The site's advise is to book flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the best low-fare flights. Just keep searching and you'll eventually find a long weekend and promo fare match that will fit your schedule.
• PAL is offering the half-miles promo for Mabuhay Miles members, where you can book flights (including international ones) using your miles but at half the miles. You can reserve up to February 5, 2009.

While surfing the net recently, I also came upon this picture taken at Quezon City, Philippines that was featured in National Geographic's Intelligent Travel Blog. It's beautiful and colorful and brings back great memories of markets and Wednesday market days. It's time we appreciate local color. Wish you all a great year ahead!

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I am always on the lookout for great travel pictures that convey a sense of local life and color. What other sites do you know that feature similar styles as the IT blog referred to above? Or is the site that you're running has features like these? Please ping me if you do.

Blog Action Day: Look at the Positive

Here's my 2 cents worth to Blog Action Day 2008.

All we see are sugarcane everywhere. We are in Negros, sugarcane country, and we are driving along a two-lane highway, one lane going north, the other going south. I'm hitching a ride with an uncle and his wife and we're heading to my grandmothers' wake. We had a pleasant ride for some twenty minutes or so when my uncle suddenly calls my aunt's attention.

"Look at that, oh."
"Yeah. That's why I want to bring the kids here again."

I squirm in my seat, uncomfortable that I get to be the witness of this conversation. I look ahead and see what they see, "karga-tapas" guys or sugarcane field workers cutting and cleaning the sugarcane and loading them in batches on a waiting truck. This part of harvesting sugarcane is a very labor-intensive process and there could be several people working on a portion of a field at one time. Here, in front of us, are several people on each side of the , highway, working the field and clearing out patches in a (I'm sure) systematic manner here and there.

"You see, Rizza, sometimes we forget." My aunt tells me.

Maybe... Sometimes we forget what other people's lives are like, we forget what we're working for.

At another time, while traveling on the same stretch of highway, this same aunt tells me that she likes Filipino houses. Specifically, the houses and huts of the ordinary people. She says "they're just simple, from simple and native materials, but they have a certain grace to them." I wanted to grin so wide at that point, if I just could.

The story does not always have to be so grim and it doesn't always have to be about blaming someone. There are those who might live in poverty or in the edges of poverty, yet who still have a certain grace in the way they live. In our travels, let's invite everyone to look at the positive side of things.

Cebu Pacific Sale

Just wanted to share something that I came across recently when I had nothing to do but surf the net looking for cheap airfare, hoping to get a good deal on an adventure trip one of these weekends. Cebu Pacific Air just recently released its promo fares which start at Php 1 (plus taxes and surcharges), including Php 288 all-in fares for domestic flights. I have been searching for good deals for the November 29 to December 1 weekend and found a Manila to Iloilo flight for Php 2800 (roundtrip). Good enough, considering how much it used to be and how much the other carriers charge for this. But then, in all my OC-ness and, uhm, frugality, I might end up staying home because I can't decide where to go. Whew.

If you want to go abroad or around Asia, the flight fares are also reasonable. You can go to Hong Kong (roundtrip) for Php8000+. But you need to research carefully and plan the timing so that you get good fares, and sometimes, the earlier you buy, the better. Yes, it's time. It's time to get those hands pitter-pattering on the keyboard and clicking on all kinds of flight combinations to get that deal. After all, a great bargain can make you feel like the queen of the world.

Choosing the Travel Destination

All too often, we choose our travel destinations because it's the most popular travel destination of the month, or it's what everyone's talking about or it will add plus-points to our social status. We do this, in spite of the fact that you want to go somewhere else much more simple, more mundane probably, or less glamorous. I saw a video blog recently which encouraged everyone to “be who you are” as “you are your DNA”. Your likes and dislikes define who you are. Your travel choices makes you who you are, it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks if you think this place is more romantic or that it offers a more authentic experience of the place and its history. What matters is what you think.

Real travel changes you and keeps you in touch with the real you. This is because the sense of place that you get from a locale and the authentic history and knowledge that you learn forges you into a better you. In the same manner, staying home, or working, or going to the other local attractions keeps you in touch with the real you.

There is a song that says it well, “be true to your heart”.

Little Walks

Next week, our bosses will be out traveling in the Hongkong/China area. Well, it's not exactly a case of when the cat is away the mouse can play. No bonita. That is a weird situation for all of us. Of course, in an interconnected world, people are just an email or a text message away.

Anyway, as it's a rainy night in Makati, this actually reminded me of the Promenade at the Tsim Sha Tsui side of Hong Kong. Sometime before in Tsim Sha Tsui, my uncle went to China very early in the morning so he can play golf with his buddies and he left me alone to fend for myself. He must have realized that I can find my way around by following the maps in all those folded papers and travel brochures. My friends call them "papel-papel". With the sole intention of seeing those old folks doing their tai chi early in the morning, I went out 7am -ish for a walk on the Promenade along the harbor. Well, nothing beats a walk along the harbor early in the morning. You have the Promenade all to yourself (well, okay, along with a few other joggers and walkers), see the HK Cultural Center, Clock Tower, the Avenue of the Stars and the HK Space Museum without the usual crowd.

There are actually many other "walks" to do in Tsim Sha Tsui. You can get lost in Kowloon Park and at the Knutsford Terrace/Knutsford Steps, as well as walk the length of Nathan Road and haggle with a vendor for those dried things that hold clams. Haggling is a lot of fun, then see their reaction when you walk away saying, "Ok. Thanks. I'll think about it first."

As in life, the little things count. So pay some attention to those brochures on those little stands in little corners. There are themed walks that can guide you around and they include maps and bits of descriptions about the attractions. I took one of each of the brochures available and those basically became my maps for going around. They are also posted online at the Discover Hong Kong website.

From those little walks, I discovered that walking around and getting lost (a lot) can actually help you know a place better. I hope to discover more interesting places soon. I hope you do too.

Why would anyone do that?

What to write... what to write? I haven't traveled or been somewhere in the past few months so I have no exciting breaking news to write. Then I came across this picture and remembered the afternoon I took this picture. This was taken around three years ago actually. With three other friends, we went around town trying to discover interesting places. Right across the CNN Center, we discovered this park, the Centennial Olympic Park, with this fountain on the ground shaped like the Olympic rings.

When I saw it, I thought it was really just a normal fountain. But these kids made it just a bit more interesting. They were out there in their bathing suits, playing around the fountain. What's weird though was their reactions. They would go to the middle of one of those rings, stand there and wait for the fountain to come blasting out of the ground. Then when all this water will splash around, they will scream at the top of their lungs, while still in the middle of the ring, mind you, then run across the splashing fountain to get out of the ring. Like, duh... I must be getting old.

Have you ever seen a child put a finger on a hot kettle just to know if what everyone is saying (that the kettle is hot) is true? Or the adventurous traveler try white water rafting to know what it would feel like if the raft tossed you high up in the air, or worse, capsized? Well, one of my friends went to Colorado and tried white water rafting. The raft capsized. :D Fortunately, they were all just fine.

Like a Spark

Great travel ideas come to us like a spark. Usually, they're not a result of so much planning and careful thought. They appear out of nowhere, like a bright spark in the middle of a dark sky and suddenly spread out like fireworks - bright, colorful and exciting. They call you to just go, not next month or next year, but tomorrow. It's a call at the back of your head telling you to start packing now.

This reminds me of an English guy who said he doesn't normally think so much about his upcoming trips. He just packs his things and goes to wherever it is he needs, or wants, to go. His favorite website? You guessed it -- Lastminute.com it is. :)

This is not a call to all of you to leave your jobs and pack your bags, like, now na. It's reminder that we don't need to "engineer" our trips so much, and even the way we live our lives. That where to go will come to you when you least expect it. That sometimes, places off the beaten track can actually define a trip.

Fernbank Museum on a Weekend Afternoon

Fernbank Museum, originally uploaded by Rizza Po.

Other than New York, where else can you find a museum that offers dinosaur fossils, martinis and movies in IMAX on Friday nights? Answer: the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, Georgia. It's a geek paradise - DNA models, dinosaur fossils, life-like replicas of animals in the wild like bears, deer, and other exotic animals. There are also areas for play for kids and the not-so-kids, like a giant bubble-maker, science tricks, and other great stuff. Though we're not exactly kids anymore, I think we kind of enjoyed it.

Two of our friends based in Houston, but working from Kansas City, decided to visit Atlanta that weekend since Hurricane Katrina was hovering near the Mexican Gulf at that time (yes, this photo was taken in 2005). We all decided to go to the Fernbank Museum that weekend since it's just nearby. Besides, I have been passing it everyday for several weeks already yet didn't even get to peek inside. But we were glad, it's a great place for a drowsy weekend. You will get scared, have fun, be awed and amazed, see a film on IMAX, all in one place.

Oklahoma City: Steaks, Bricktown and A Water Taxi

The boat guide slowly steers our boat through the dark waters of the man-made canal. The night sky is clear, the crowd at the nearby stadium is going wild, the younger generation are all at the giant cinema complex a block away, the hip and the fabulous are waving at us from the terrace of the bars and restaurants above us, and we all wave back. When we pass by a foot bridge, the boat guide tells everyone to shout "yee-ha!" Obligingly, we all shout back - men, women, children - "yee-ha!"

Oklahoma in Two Days
That is a scene straight from my trip to Oklahoma City. I was working on an engagement for one of the oldest and largest non-profit organizations in the US and my Manager wanted me to go over to Oklahoma for two days to visit one of the client's facilities. I was shocked at that, for even in the Philippines, I haven't even been assigned in Laguna. Now, he wanted me to go visit a city in another state, for only two days. From where I came from, that just wasn't done!

Arriving in the city on a Thursday, I get lost right away two miles from the airport. Blaming it on the car steering and bad directions, I went around the airport loop several times before finally finding my way out to the main highways. It seems I have a penchant for getting lost at the wrong places at the wrong times.

That afternoon, deciding to do something "local" other than working at the hotel, I went out in search of Lake Hefner. The lake is pretty near the city (according to the guidebooks) and I found it easily. Yes, I didn't get lost this time, thanks to online driving direction. There's a park around the lake and on a work-day afternoon, it's quiet with a few families having a snack here and there, several kids on the playground and rain clouds brewing in the distance. There must have been some kind of wind that day for after taking only a few photographs, it started to rain. Off I went back to the mall.

Obviously, I don't want to elaborate on what happened at work the next day. Suffice it to say that I saw some really cool stuff and had to do a lot of writing and editing afterwards. That night though, I thought that I had to make the effort to get to know the city a little bit. Sometimes, we do business in different cities but we just go to the places that are familiar to us and we do things that were part of our routine back home. At that time though, I was determined to understand local culture, so I madly read the magazine at the hotel, the one with all the city guides and information. Then off I went to find local flavor.

Get Me Some Local Flavor, Er Culture
Oklahoma is famous for its steaks. Please don't ask me about the beef production statistics there but the restaurant seemed to be on all the major recommendations for things to eat. I went out to the city center and settled on one of the best places in town - Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse. An Oklahoma native, Mickey Mantle was a baseball legend. Now, what could be more Americana than a medium well prime rib at Mickey Mantle's in the middle of Oklahoma's Bricktown district? I thought it was one of my luckiest nights.

After all that heavy-hitting dinner, I had to go and pass the time by doing something fun and frivolous. When I saw the yellow water taxi, I knew right away that I had to get on one of those. After all, my drama was supposedly to do what the locals do and experience what the tourists do.
The water taxi is a longer version of a speed boat. It goes along the Bricktown canal which winds its way through several blocks in the city center, affording one with a good glimpse of the bar and restaurant crowd, historical points of interest and several foot bridges. Unlike the Venetian gondolas though, this water taxi is powered by an engine.

So there I was, riding the water taxi with groups of families, a couple of people my age and an older couple. The weird thing is that in this water taxi ride, the guide doesn't just point out things and places of interest, he also makes everyone wave at people in outdoor tables and terraces, as well as cheer on everyone to say "yee-ha!" everytime we pass under a bridge or foot bridge. Until this day, I never understood why it's done. It must be a Southern thing. But I do intend to find out soon.

That was my quick adventure in OKC. I must have been there for only 48 hours but I felt like I had done a lot. I can still remember the sounds of the crowd from the baseball park across the street, Bricktown, downtown, and the drive around the city. What I did there was somehow affirming for me, that I can balance business and having other pursuits outside of work. What happened to that "affirmation" though is another long story. That trip also marked a start to having a new attitude towards business travel - that we can work hard and do business in other places but that it is also equally important to take the time to absorb the local culture, the city's eccentricities and traditions, as well as experience the local attractions. It can make a trip a richer experience.

Stone Mountain Park: Sculpture and Laser Show

"Hi, are you guys Filipinos?"

After living in Atlanta, GA for a few weeks, it was the first time that someone asked us that question. We all look at the American woman and her daughter behind us, smiling. We are on the train that goes around the Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad, a 5-mile trip that goes around the base of Stone Mountain. We acknowledge them and she exuberantly invites us to meet her Filipino husband. When we got down the train, we all follow her to the picnic area. A voice inside me is saying that we shouldn't talk to strangers, but I trust my other girlfriends' instincts and follow along.

We meet the husband, a missionary from Samar. We talk a little bit and listen to the wife talk about how she used to go to the post office in Samar to deliver and mail letters to her mother in the US. They then invite us to go and visit Myrtle Beach. Great.

This is Stone Mountain Park, "America's favorite picnic ground" prior to the Civil War. The main attraction here are the activities around the stone mountain, also called "the largest deposit of merchantable granite in the world." In short, it's a mountain that is actually made up of solid stone. On the northern face of the mountain, there is a gigantic carving of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. This is the world's largest piece of sculpture.

After walking around and taking the cable car to the top of the mountain, we get hungry. So we pile up on the car, go out of the park and find a Chinese restaurant that offers a buffet spread. When you have six people who have different tastes, Chinese food is the only food we can all agree on. Chinese food is also generally cheaper in the U.S.

The buffet is good, there is a wide selection and there is a desert bar which includes fresh fruits and ice cream. We all think we are in food heaven. Who knows how many plates of food we have consumed that day. Who was counting anyway? What I don't forget up to now are the mountains of orange wedges piled high on our plates.

After the heavy early dinner, we go back to the park to catch the laser show. Parking space is nowhere to be found and we go around the parking area several times. Two of my friends are already threatening to literally move the motorcycles parked nearby. Then our prayers are answered and we finally find the prized parking space.

There is a big crowd in the picnic area. We find out that guests sit on the grass; others brought a picnic blanket, while others have picnic chairs. The sound-and-light laser show includes lasers beamed on the side of the mountain, fireworks and music. Of course, country music too.

On the way home, we sit in silence and wonder at the day that went by. Why was that Chinese buffet so cheap when we ate so much?

If you want to read more on the park, more info can be found at the Stone Mountain Park website.

Goya Dark Mint as Pasalubong

In the Filipino culture, there is a concept called "pasalubong". It's the traditional practice of giving a gift to your host, friends or family when you arrive at another city or place. Actually, the gift itself is also called the pasalubong. It is a tradition that is so much a part of the Filipino culture.

For so many years, expats and migrant workers bring along an extra bag or balikbayan box just for the gifts. Travelers and vacationers who go to other countries do the same thing. But there's never been a local brand of chocolates yet that can stand head to head with the likes of Hersheys, Ferrero Rocher or Milka, that travelers can bring to other countries.

Flashback fifteen plus years ago. Kids then loved Goya, that local brand that brought us Curly Tops and Flat Tops. There was no need to refrigerate them so even the neighborhood tiangge had it. It was cheap too.

Now back to the present time, where everyone has been blogging and twitting about the new Goya Dark Mint (dark chocolates with mint). Or maybe it's not new, maybe it's been there for some time now and it just slowly entered the conversation. Whatever. People love it, I love it and there's been a mad rush ever since to find them. One Dark Mint-holic from Davao went grocery shopping last week and when she saw no Goya Dark Mints, she panicked and thought they ran out of it. It turns out they just transferred it to another shelf.

The new Goya Dark Mint comes in an export-ready packaging and it's only PHP25.50 (at Landmark). Are we witnessing the rebirth of the Goya brand?

There have been a lot of people who have been saying that they will bring this as a pasalubong when they go to other countries. It doesn't really matter what you bring as a gift. As they say, it's the thought that counts. It's the fact that you thought about giving something to your friends and family. Different cultures may have different ways of showing gratitude but it's still all about sharing.

Goya Dark Mint is only one of the new pasalubong trends coming out. There was a commercial that claimed that it was Goldilocks, ang pasalubong ng bayan (the gift for everyone). What other interesting pasalubong ideas and/or travel gifts do you have? Care to share them? Send me a message. Or drop a note.

Globility

While reading posts on the net, I came across this write-up on a cool family (The Jenss Family Travels) that will go on a year-long trip around the world. They call the idea for the trip as Globility, that is, the "quality of being open to a world of cultures and experiences." Why this caught my attention? It's quite interesting. I look forward to reading their travel stories from different parts of the world.

Read on... As a friend of the father, Rainer Jenss, says, "Set your intention and the universe will conspire to show you the way."

How To Catch Crabs in the South

More river talk... here's my take on crabbing during a visit to Beaufort.



In the early morning darkness, we all file out the door to go crabbing. It's cold outside, and out beyond, dawn is slowly crawling out on the horizon. We walk on the wooden planks to get to the hut nearly floating on the side of the river.

We are in Beaufort, S.C. and we are about to haul out of the water the morning catch. I have never seen yet, nor cared to ask, how crabs are caught. I have always dismissed them as someone else' problem, hence, something that I don't have to think of. I have also noticed these little crab-like folks that run around on the sand when we go to the beach, but I look at them as cute little thingys that you chase around on the sand. So when everyone goes into an amazed state at the mention of catching crabs, I play along.

When we get to the hut, we look for the rope that connects to the basket trap. We haul it out of the water and find crabs... and chicken. It turns out that "in these parts", they attract the crabs with raw chicken quarters. Yes, as we say it in slang, sosyalin! You put the chicken inside the basket trap, put it in the water and leave it either for the day or overnight.

What we get are Blue Crabs, because parts of its claws are blue. Later, these will be cooked, the table will be covered with newspapers, where after an hour or two, a mountain of crab shells will show up.

I don't eat crab anymore due to dietary "rules" I have adopted, and don't ask me why. But it's great to see people eating from the bounties of the rivers and the seas, eating fresh and simple food. A big part of travel is also about tasting the local flavor, both the simple and the more complicated gastronomic delights.

Crabbing was a simple exercise of putting in a basket and hauling out the basket. Well, yes, there was the chicken too. But when done in the fresh morning air, in clean waters, with friends and family, it can be a pretty rewarding experience.

Pyrolympics Awarding Ceremonies Tomorrow (Saturday)

Last week, I turned my back on the World Pyro Olympics and instead went home to watch the Great King Sejong show on TV. Well, another relative is recently in town on vacation and I will actually suggest that they go to the Pyrolympics awarding ceremonies tomorrow. It's the last night and there will be a Fellowship of Fire exhibition display.

What makes it even bigger is that for the past few years, the competition has been held in the classical fireworks exhibition format, or Classical Pyrotechnics. Simply put, that is fireworks with no musical accompaniment. Next year, the organizers are said to be planning to introduce the pyro-musical format, where the fireworks are synchronized to music.

Read more on the Pyrolympics and the participating countries at the clickthecity[dot]com website.

Frank Gehry and MOCA Los Angeles

Earlier today, I discovered this video of Frank Gehry's talk (From 1990, defending a vision for architecture). I never realized that it's kind of long but it's a good introduction to him and his work. I loved his design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California.


When I was in Los Angeles, I happened to wander into the Museum of Contemporary Arts (L.A.). It's also a great place to discover design. It's just in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and it has a great collection of Frank Gehry's designs, including the previous versions of the Concert Hall when it was still being designed. There are also a lot of interesting stuff there like, like a mechanical skirt that "blooms" or sort of moves. There are architectural models of the Bubble Building in Beijing, the Beijing Olympic Stadium, fabric designs by Issey Miyake and other great stuff on fashion. What's more, the entrance fee is only USD$8. That ticket also got me free entrance to their satellite museum at the Pacific Design Center. But I wasn't able to go there anymore as I ran out of time.

Grand Avenue is a good place to wander and explore. What are your favorite architectural highlights in your city?