postcards from china

hi batchmates, i'd like to share some pics from my recent beijing trip. pa-extra lang, slight, hehe. (pssst--totep, ojee, gerald, padi vicboy, henry and glenn, jay, dennis, erwin, ian--haen na kamo? paramdam naman diyan!)

up on the great wall of china -- a childhood dream come true! we managed to reach the tower in the background, the 4th in a 13-tower stretch near beijing. and this was only a small portion of the entire great wall -- one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and purportedly the only man-made structure visible from space. kakalula ang achievements ng mga chinese.

finally getting to ride a camel

all dressed up for the international travel fair (my beijing trip was to cover the Department of Tourism participation in the event), lampas na ini 12noon, we hadn't eaten and you could see it in my tired face and messy hair. sayang an barong! :) but the building itself is glorious.

the beijing exhibition center, a magnificent 1950's russian-style edifice where the international travel fair was held. (i shot this picture with a digital camera. linuz, pwede na? hehe)

inside the forbidden city, resting before the assault on the grand hall (in the background), where china's emperors once held court. the walled city, a complex of buildings and courtyards and gardens all preserved beautifully, is so big that it's said one could stay in a different room everyday for 17 years! in ancient times, no common people were allowed into it, only members of the royal family, their officials and servants. and once you entered its gates, you couldn't get out forever. yay! (pagalunon na kami halfway thru that we never finished the tour.)

in tiananmen square. the gateway under mao's portrait is the entrance to the vast forbidden city. it's 10am and mainitunon, hotter than in manila.

si delon porcalla muroy-pudoy pa! now he's an ace reporter for the philippine star. iba talaga an olps sano! :)

fr. pj alindogan with dennis and totep

freshman year in college, with fr. alex jerus and burt sare (now a priest assigned with fr. henry in the coke seminary)