Baguio: Around Baguio City

Today, I decided to stay in the hotel the whole day to finish pending school requirements. Baguio's climate is so conducive to thinking and sleeping! But Jiajin and Doc Ryan were able to cover a lot of ground. So I'll talk about their adventure here.

Baguio being a tourist city has well-established tour options. And one of them is on a taxi. Ryan said that there is a standard rate (according to the driver that is) and a standard three-hour tour on a taxi for PHP700. If you go to the tourist attractions individually, the cost of taxi would total close to that amount so might as well charter one.

On this list of places they visited was the Mansion House which was built and used by the American government as residence and office of American governors-general during the summer months. And has since been used as the official residence of Philippine presidents while they are in Baguio. Near the Mansion House is Wright Park where visitors can go horseback riding.

The two also visited Mines View Park which offers a panoramic view of the old mines in Benguet. I haven't been there for quite a while and I wonder if the view has not been enundated by illegal structures and houses like many of Baguio City's mountain vistas. At the entrance of the park is a flea market where one can buy souvenir items, local food products and plants among others.

Since Jiajin had enough of churches when we went to Ilocos, they skipped the Baguio Cathedral and the Lourdes Grotto and went straight to Camp John Hay, the former rest and recreational facilities of the US Military which was turned over to the Philippines in 1991. It's good that this area of Baguio is still well-preserved. In fact, this is one place of Baguio City that I do not mind visiting because of fresh mountain air and pine trees all over.

Last night, on our way up Naguilan Road, we had our windows down so that we could enjoy the fresh mountain air. The moment we entered the city limits, we had to close the windows again since the exhaust from all those jeeps was just horrible. Anyway, the landscaping at Camp John Hay Manor is simply superb! Last time I was there, my mind wandered in the large garden behind the hotel. It's a great place to relax and unwind.

Another place worth visiting is Fort del Pilar or the Philippine Military Academy. If you are lucky, there may be a parade. I think the cadets where practicing for graduation when Jiajian and Doc Ryan arrived. There is also a park reserved for military relics. But aren't the military equipment used by the AFP today also relics? Hehe! But seriously, I hope the new generation of cadets will really serve the country and not a particular group's political interests.

They then went to the Kennon Road View Deck and Lion's Head along Kennon Road which has become a welcoming landmark of Baguio despite the fact that there are no lions in the city or its history.

The only place they went to which I have yet to see is Tam-awan Village. The place contains several authentic Igorot huts which give visitors a window into the old Cordillera way of life. It also plays host to a community of artists which uses the conducive environment to release their creative juices.

I met up with them late in the afternoon at SM since I wanted to check mail (I hadn't seen my mailbox in ages). We decided to have dinner at Don Henrico's. Just like at 50's Diner, Don Henrico's had value meals too. My plate of spaghetti and garlic bread, chicken and fries was PHP140. I didn't expect the servings to be large since for the same amount in Manila, you had small portions.

For our midnight snack, I ordered a pizza for take-out. As soon as we got back at the hotel, we asked the staff to start up the fire at the fireplace on our floor. And we spent the night watching TV and munching on pizza. Tomorrow, we go back to Manila. But Doc Ryan wants to bring Jiajin to La Trinidad, Benguet first to check out the strawberry fields. So I guess we'll have lunch there too before we go down Kennon Road.

Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur: More great stopovers in Ilocos

It was time for our drive down south to Baguio City. It was a leisurely drive from Pagudpud to Laoag since there were just a few vehicles on the road.

We would have stopped by Bacarra to check out their church, a national cultural treasure, which is known for its gargantuan bell tower. But since we had a long list of churches to visit today, and since I been there already, we decided to skip it and head straight to San Nicolas, just a few kilometers from Laoag.

But before that, we stopped over at the Museo Ilocos Norte so that Jiajin could take a look. At the same time, I needed to take a photo of it for the 2008 HCS Calendar which will feature examples of adaptive reuse. The museum, housed in what was formerly the Tabacalera Building, won the Gawad Alab ng Haraya for Outstanding Cultural Conservation Program (Adaptive Reuse) in 2002.

The San Nicolas town proper has a good collection of colonial buildings including the church and convento, municipal hall and elementary school. We stopped by the church to check it out. Our next stop was Batac to check out the Marcos Mausoleum again. This time it was open and we were able to view the body of President Ferdinand Marcos preserved with wax.

In Batac, we also passed by the General Artemio Ricarte Shrine as well as the Gregorio Aglipay Shrine. The town is very lucky since it got a lot of attention when Marcos was president. So there are several monuments, parks and shrines around town. These open spaces are in the town center and provide breathing spaces for Batac residents. Of course, we ate again at the empanadahan. This time i had a "double double" which is a double serving of egg and longganiza inside the empanada.

Another town I had always wanted to check out was Badoc since the reconstructed house of Juan Luna, another national shrine, could be found there. They also have this quaint church, the San Juan Bautista Church, which houses the image La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc. So we stopped over for a few minutes to check them out.

Next on our list was the town of Sinait which is home to a darkened image of the crucified Christ or Cristo del Perdon that has a sizeable following. I was happy to see that the interior of the church was very much intact. Is it something about the priests in the Ilocos Region (Pangasinan not included) since they seem to understand the historical fabric and cultural value of the churches under their stewardship. I hope it stays that way.

From Sinait, passed by Cabugao, then went straight to San Vicente, another town beside Vigan. Just like San Nicolas, it had a nice collection of heritage buildings in the town center. The church still has its original fence. While the school and municipio are of Spanish colonial vintage. The municipio even has a coat of arms embossed on its facade.

Another impressive (but abandoned) structure is the Asilo de San Vicente. An edifice which was once uses as the vacation home of the governor, it became the home of the Community of St. Paul of Chartes Sisters of Asilo de San Vicente when it was turned-over to the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia. Being a home for old women and orphans as well, it house a school as well which the sisters managed until 1946, the year they left San Vicente. It was managed by lay administrators until it closed in 2001.

We made a brief stopover in Vigan to buy woven blankets at the city market. But before that, we made a quick drive along Quirino Boulevard to check out the old houses such as the Quema House and Syquia Mansion.

Another stop was the Church of Sta. Maria de la Asuncion, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But we didn't go down anymore since we were a bit tired and I wanted to rush to one last church in that of Luna, La Union, which is a national cultural treasure. I had wanted to check out the one in Bangar since from photos of the interior, I could say that it's one worth stopping over too. But since it was getting dark, we rushed to Luna.

I was a bit disappointed when I entered the Santa Catalina de Alexandria Church in Luna since although the interior was intact, I noticed the santos were quite new for it to be considered a national cultural treasure. In fact, Bangar has ceiling murals which would make it a better choice. But I would later find out from Archt. Richard Bautista of the NCCA that two ivory santos were stolen from the altar which may explain why the santos are new (they must have kept the old ones). At the same time, the built environment it was located in was another factor with a well-preserved colonial town center around it. But sadly, as Richard puts it, the local government "Agoo-fied" (if you notice Agoo, La Union is full of all these fake colonial buildings, while they renovated the facades of their old buildings such as the basilica with this horrible unpainted cement finish) the place.

Anyway, we took Naguilan Road up to Baguio City. It was my first time to use this route and sadly, it was to dark to see the scenery. There are five roads that lead to Baguio namely Kennon Road, Marcos Highway, Naguilan Road, Halsema Highway and a road which connects Baguio to Nueva Vizcaya via Ambuklao Dam, one which I have yet to use. I think we arrived in Baguio at about 8 p.m. and went straight to Villa Cordillera where we had booked our stay.

For dinner, we met up with Doc Ryan at the 50's Diner which I really enjoyed since it was value for money as well. Imagine a plate of chicken, spaghetti and garlic bread, a slice of pizza, french fries and pork chop all for PHP100. I don't think Shakey's bunch-of-lunch can beat that!

La Union, Ilocos Sur & Ilocos Norte: Driving up north to Pagudpud

Our long drive up north began yesterday afternoon. We left San Fernando, Pampanga at about 2 p.m. (it was my grandmother's birthday celebration so we had lunch there) and reached San Fernando, La Union at about 6 p.m. We passed by the Ma-cho Temple so that Jiajin could see a local Taoist temple. It was closed when we got there so we were only able to go around the grounds and enjoy the San Fernando Bay sunset from the place which was high on top of a hill.

From San Fernando, it was another long drive to Candon, Ilocos Sur where we had dinner. It is a popular stopover because of its local calamay, which are flat like pancakes and covered with a clear celophane. There are two kinds, one made with brown sugar and the other with white sugar. Another product sold there is the Ilocos chichacorn.

It took another 45 minutes or so before we finally arrived in Vigan where we decided to stay for the night. Hotels in the heritage area are quite pricey. But after walking around, we found the Vigan Hotel which offered air-conditioned rooms for PHP795 a night, breakfast for two included. The only hitch though was that it was a common bathroom (they have rooms with private bathrooms just like the other hotels but it was in the same price range of over PHP1000). But since it was a Sunday, most tourists had gone back to Manila. So it seemed we had the hotel all to ourselves.

The next day, we got up early to walk around Vigan, the best-preserved Spanish town in Asia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was my third visit here so I just accompanied Jiajin around, from the St. Paul Cathedral to Plaza Salcedo, Plaza Burgos, and Crisologo Street which is the most intact of all Vigan's streets.

There are actually better houses in the other streets such as Quirino Boulevard where you can find the Syquia Mansion and the Quema House. But unlike Crisologo Street, they cannot be pedestrianized since they are major routes. From Vigan, we drove a few meters out to Bantay to check out its bell tower.

Our next stop was the town of Magsingal. It's church, the San Guillermo Church, is a national cutlural treasure. It has a very intricately-carved gold and green retablo. Outside, you could see the ruins of an older church whose bell tower is still standing. This explains why the church belfry is a bit far from the current church since they din't bother to construct a new one. Beside the belfry is a small chapel that was converted into a branch of the National Museum. There was a blackout that day in the Ilocos area so we didn't get to see what was inside.

Batac was next on our list of stopovers so we could check out the Marcos Mausoleum among other things. But since there was no power, it was locked today. But that was not a problem since the other attraction of the town was its empanada. It turns out that the empanadahan has a new home beside the elementary school. So after finding it, it was time for another binge. I have an older post on my previous empanada binge since I just adore these crispy fritters. For today, I had a jumbo special, the one with hotdog in it, aside from longganiza and egg of course.

We then went to Paoay to check out the San Agustin Church, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. A few kilometers drive between Paoay and Laoag is Lake Paoay. There is a viewing area constructed by the Kiwanis Club which is worth stopping over.

One thing I had not seen yet were the Ilocos Norte Sand Dunes, one of the national geological monuments of the Philippines. We had already visited the Taal Volcano which is also a national geological monument.

According to the National Committee on Geological Sciences (NCGS) which makes the declarations, "Though common in desert environments in the higher latitudes, the sand dunes of Ilocos Norte stands out as a unique land form in the Philippine setting. The dunes cover an area of about 85 sq kms, and stretch for at least 40 kms. Along the coast, sparse vegetation consisting mainly of grasses and shrubs blanket the low-relief area which is believed to have been formed a few thousand years ago through the combined action of wind, waves and shore currents."

A good place to view them are in the Suba Beach area. But the marker installed by the NCGS can be found near Fort Ilocandia in Laoag City. In some places, it really feels like you are in a desert. It would have been fun if we had some off-road bikes to explore the sand dunes. Maybe next time.

We made a brief stopover in Laoag to have my car tuned-up and then we were off to Pagudpud. Since we wanted to get there before dark, we had skipped several great stopvers today and reserved them for our trip back. But we made sure to pass by the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos, another national cultural treasure, and the viewing area for the Bangui Bay Wind Power Project.

The wind farm project in Bangui Bay, composed of 15 towers, is the first in the Philippines and the largest energy-generating set of wind turbines in Southeast Asia.

It was close to 5 p.m. when we arrived in Pagudpud. To make sure we got value for money, we stopped by the municipal hall to ask the tourism officer to recommend a place. He sent us to the Polaris Beach House which was right beside the Municipal Beach Park or White Beach.

Although the published rate was PHP1500 a room, since there were just two of us, we got the air-conditioned room just for PHP800. I was told that during the peak season, a room for two in the said resort could go as high as PHP2000. So I could imagine how much it would cost in other resorts. It was a good choice since the facilities were good and I personally liked the place relative to the amount we paid for it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach watching the sunset. It was a bit chilly for a swim but not too cold for us to avoid the water. Dinner was at the resort as well. We got a big plate of adobo good for 2 to 3 persons for PHP200. A bit pricey but what do you expect?

We're off to Baguio City tomorrow. The plan is to leave early since we'll be stopping over at some of the places we missed on the way up.

Street food in the Philippines

Just as I was bloghopping, I found this post of Sidney Snoeck on street food which was timely since I had been planning to blog about the street food we ate the past few days. As he puts it, "food is a window into culture." So here is a sampling of some of the tried and tested street food outlets.

When a friend from China arrived, I took him straight to UP Diliman. The best thing to do of course was eat since the UP campus in Diliman is a haven for street food.

We dropped by Mang Larry's isawan in front of the Kalayaan Residence Hall. Since I was a resident there for a year when I was a freshman, I saw that stand everyday. And that's how I became a fan of isaw. Aside from pork barbeque, the selections of grilled chicken and pork innards, collectively referred to as isaw, include isaw baboy (pork intestine), isaw manok (chicken intestine), tenga ng baboy (pig's ears), goto, botsi, atay (chicken liver), balun-balunan (chicken gizzard), and betamax (pig's blood) among others.

There is another isawan that used to be in front of Ilang-ilang Residence Hall but moved to vacant lot beside the UP Law Center. The main difference is in the sauce since Mang Larry has a sweet brown sauce and spicy vinegar while the other is mostly vinegar-based.


Other selections in UP include the sorbetes, taho, lumpia, banana cue, camote cue, cheese sticks, fish balls, squid balls and kikiam among others. Good thing there was a sorbetes vendor nearby and we got some avocado ice cream. For dinner, we had sisig and rice, and a serving of halo-halo at a street food center in Park 9 along Katipunan.

I've been trying to find hawker centers here in the Philippines just like those in Singapore and Malaysia. And the closest thing we've got is Market! Market! in Fort Bonifacio Global City, just along C5. So after our visit to the Manila American Cemetery, we went straight there.

First thing which caught my eye was the Ilocos empanda stand. We had one each but not too much since we were going to Ilocos anyway to savor the real thing in Batac. Then we had tokneneng (battered, deep-fried quail eggs). The stand also sold day-old chicks and quek quek (battered, deep-fried chicken eggs). I think there was also balut and penoy (hard-boiled duck eggs with and without fetus respectively).

Another stand sold street drinks such as sago't gulaman and buko juice. Shawarma may not be Filipino but it has become a popular local snack that has been Filipinized by adding cheese and sometimes, french fries in it. Then there's the puto bumbong ang bibingka, and turon among many more sweet snacks. The selections there are endless which makes it our local version of a hawker center.

Anyway, there's more food as we go up north.

Dictionary of Philippine street food
I could not find a dictionary of Philippine street food online so I'm starting one here. Please add to the list by commenting below. Help me with the descriptions too. Please take note that this list is for food commonly sold in the streets; or else, we'll have endless possibilities.

• Abnoy - unhatched incubated duck egg or bugok which is mixed with flour and water and cooked like pancakes
• Adidas - chicken feet, marinated and grilled or cooked adobo style
• Arroz caldo - rice porridge or congee cooked with chicken and kasubha; see also Lugaw
• Atay - grilled chicken liver
• Baga - pig's or cow's lungs grilled or deep-fried and served with barbeque condiments
• Balat ng manok - see Chicken skin and Chicharon manok
• Balun-balunan - grilled chicken gizzard
• Balut - hard-boiled duck egg with fetus
• Banana cue - deep-fried saba (banana) covered with caramelized brown sugar
• Barbeque - marinated pork or chicken pieces grilled on skewers
• Batchoy - miki noodle soup garnished with pork innards (liver, kidney and heart), chicharon (pork skin cracklings), chicken breast, vegetables and topped with a raw egg; origin traced to La Paz, Iloilo
• Betamax - curdled chicken or pork blood, cubed and grilled
• Bibingka - glutinous rice flour pancakes grilled with charcoal above and below in a special clay pot
• Biko (also Bico) - glutinous rice cake with grated coconut topping
• Binatog - boiled white corn kernels, sugar, grated coconut and milk
• Bopis - minced pig's heart and lungs sauteed with garlic and onion and seasoned with laurel, oregano, bell pepper and vinegar
• Botsi - chicken esophagus, deep-fried or grilled
• Calamares - deep-fried squid in batter
• Calamay (also Kalamay) - glutinous rice cakes; varieties all over the country
• Camote cue - deep-fried camote (sweet potato) covered with caramelized brown sugar
• Carioca (also Karyoka, Karioka) - deep-fried glutinous rice flour cakes served on skewers
• Cheese sticks - deep-fried cheese wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper
• Chicharon baboy - pork skin cracklings, made from pork rind boiled and seasoned, sun-dried and deep-fried
• Chicharon bituka - pork or chicken intestine boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
• Chicharon bulaklak - pork omentum boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
• Chicharon manok - chicken skin cracklings
• Chicken balls - balls made with chicken meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Chicken skin - chicken skin battered and deep fried
• Cutchinta - see Kutsinta
• Day-old chicks - literally day-old chicks deep-fried to a crisp, served with sauce or vinegar
• Empanada (Batac) - pork longganisa, egg and grated green papaya in a rice flour shell, deep-fried and served with vinegar
• Fishballs - balls made with fish meat, most often from pollock, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Goto - rice porridge or congee cooked with beef tripe
• Halo-halo - translated as "a mix of many things" or "an assortment," it is a dessert topped with shaved ice that may contain sweetened saba (banana), camote, macapuno (young coconut), kaong, nata de coco, pinipig (rice crispies), gulaman (agar), sago (tapioca balls), brown and white beans, garbanzos, ube (purple yam), and leche flan (creme brulee), with milk and sugar; Pampanga has three popular versions in Guagua, Arayat and Angeles which may include pastillas, crushed white beans and corn
• Helmet - grilled chicken head
• Hepalog (also Toknonong) - hard-boiled duck eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried
• Isaw - collective term for different types of grilled chicken and pork innards; varieties include isaw manok, isaw baboy, atay, goto, botsi, balun-balunan, and tenga ng baboy
• Isaw baboy - grilled or deep-fried pork intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Isaw manok (aslo IUD) - grilled or deep-fried chicken intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; also referred to as IUD because it resembles an intra-uterine device
• Iskrambol (also Scrambol) - frostees; shaved ice, diced gulaman, sago and condensed milk
• IUD - see Isaw manok
• Kakanin - collective term for snacks made with kanin (rice), particularly malagkit (glutinous) rice; varieties include puto, kutsinta, calamay, sapin-sapin, suman, palitaw, biko or sinukmani, and espasol among many others
• Kalamay - see Calamay
• Kamote cue - see Camote cue
• Kikiam - the special ones are made of ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets, deep-fried and served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; those in the street are seafood-based, usually made of fish meat and cuttlefish
• Kudil - deep-fried pork skin
• Kutsinta - steamed bahaw (boiled rice) with lye and brown sugar; has a gelatinous consistency
• Kwek kwek - see Quek quek
• Lomi - noodle soup made with thick fresh egg noodles or lomi
• Longganisa - pork sausage grilled or fried on a skewer
• Lugaw - rice porridge or congee; varieties include arroz caldo (with chicken and kasubha) and goto (with beef tripe)
• Lumpia - spring rolls; varieties include lumpiang basa; lumpiang hubad - fresh spring rolls wothout the wrapper; lumpiang prito; lumpiang sariwa - fresh srping rolls; lumpiang shanghai; lumpiang ubod; and turon
• Mais - boiled sweet corn seasoned with salt, butter or margarine
• Mais con yelo - sweet corn, milk and sugar topped with shaved ice
• Mami - noodle soup
• Manggang hilaw - green mango served with bagoong (shrimp paste)
• Mani - peanuts either boiled, roasted or deep-fried and seasoned with garlic and salt
• Maruya - banana fritters
• Nilupak - mashed kamoteng kahoy (cassava) or kamote (sweet potato) with brown sugar and served with butter or margarine
• Palitaw - glutinous rice flour pancakes topped with grated young coconut, sugar and roasted sesame seeds
• Panara - deep-fried crab and grated green papaya empanda sold in Pampanga during Christmas season
• Pancit - noodles; varieties are batchoy (Iloilo) - see Batchoy; batil patung (Tuguegarao) - local noodles topped with hot dogs, chicharon, ground meat, fried egg, and vegetables; pancit bihon; pancit canton - a kind of pancit guisado flavored with ginger and soy sauce; pancit guisado, pancit habhab (Lucban) - sautéed miki noodles served on and eaten straight from banana leaf sans utensils; pancit lomi - see Lomi; pansit luglog (Pampanga and Tagalog Region) - it has a distinct orange shrimp-achuete sauce and is topped with chicharon, tinapa, wansoy and shrimp; pancit malabon (Malabon) - made with thick rice noodles tossed in shrimp-achuete oil topped with shelled oysters, squid rings, suaje or hipong puti and wansoy; pancit molo (Iloilo) - clear chicken broth with wonton, garlic and crushed chorizo; pancit palabok; pancit puti (Manila); and pancit sotanghon among many others
• Pandesal (also Pan de sal) - breakfast roll; rounded bread
• Pares - translated as "pair," means the pairing of rice with beef; beef pares is characterized by very tender meat, usually with a lot of litid (ligaments)
• Penoy - hard-boiled duck egg without fetus
• Proven - hard portion of chicken entrails that is either marinated and grilled, battered and fried or cooked adobo style
• Pusit - squid grilled on skewer
• Puto - steamed rice cake
• Puto bumbong - purple glutinous rice snack cooked in a special steamer
• Quikiam - see Kikiam
• Quek quek (also Toknanay) - hard boiled chicken eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also used for quail eggs but some say the correct term for the quail egg version is tokneneng; the balut version is sometimes referred to as hepalog
• Sapin-sapin - layered glutinous rice and coconut milk cake usually topped with grated coconut and latik (residue from coconut oil extraction); different flavor per layer such as ube (purple yam), macapuno (young coconut), kutsinta and langka (jackfruit)
• Scrambol - see Iskrambol
• Sinukmani - see Biko
• Siomai - steamed pork dumplings
• Siopao - steamed pork buns
• Sisig - roasted pig's head, chicken liver, onions and chili, chopped and flavored with calamansi served on a hot metal plate
• Sorbetes (also Dirty ice cream) - street ice cream made with local fruits and ingredients; common flavors include ube (purple yam), mango, avocado, queso (cheese), chocolate, langka (jackfruit), buko or macapuno (coconut); strawberry is common in Baguio City
• Squid balls - balls made with squid or cuttlefish meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Suman - glutinous rice snack steamed in banana or coconut leaves; varieties include binagol (Leyte) made with glutinous rice, gabi (taro), coconut milk and chocolate; budbod sa kabog (Tanjay, Negros Oriental) which uses millet instead of glutinous rice; 
• Taho - bean curd snack topped with arnibal (liquefied raw sugar similar to molasses) and sago (tapioca balls)
• Tenga ng baboy (also Walkman) - marinated pig's ears grilled on skewers; see also Kudil
• Toknanay - see Quek quek
• Tokneneng - hard boiled quail eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also called kwek kwek by others
• Toknonong - see Hepalog
• Tupig (also Itemtem) - glutinous rice, grated mature coconut, coconut milk and molasses rolled in banana leaves and grilled; varieties in Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte (Batac) and Isabela
• Turon - saba (banana) with with sugar and sometimes langka (jackfruit) wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper and deep-fried
• Walkman - see Tenga ng Baboy

Manila: Manila American Cemetery, a war memorial in Metro Manila

Since we got home quite late yesterday, I decided to go somewhere nearby today. A lot of people do not know that there is an impressive Second World War memorial near Makati Central Business District.

According to the American Battle Monuments Commission, "The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines occupies 152 acres on a prominent plateau, visible at a distance from the east, south and west. It contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II, a total of 17,202, most of whom lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. The headstones are aligned in 11 plots forming a generally circular pattern, set among masses of a wide variety of tropical trees and shrubbery.

"The chapel, a white masonry building enriched with sculpture and mosaic, stands near the center of the cemetery. In front of it on a wide terrace are two large hemicycles. Twenty-five mosaic maps recall the achievements of the American armed forces in the Pacific, China, India and Burma. On rectangular Trani limestone piers within the hemicycles are inscribed the Tablets of the Missing containing 36,285 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. Carved in the floors are the seals of the American states and its territories. From the memorial and other points within the cemetery there are impressive views over the lowlands to Laguna de Bay and towards the distant mountains."

Designed by Gardener A. Dailey of San Francisco, the cemetery and memorial is located in the Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday except on December 25 and January 1. To read more about the place, download the brochure here.

I hope the Libingan ng mga Bayani was as elegantly designed and lay-outed as this one. The grounds are well-maintained and the grass is perfectly green even during the summer!