OUR OWN PARADISE

.los angeles.california.usa.

Last year, there was this thing I do with Google map after I found out how awesome it is: it’s called “virtual traveling.” You know how now you can type any address and Google map brings you there? As in right there on the street, in front of a building or a house. Grabe. I would virtually travel, almost like by foot to Japan, Italy, Rome, and different cities in America. Try going to Japan, & go to those secluded areas na parang probinsya nila, you’d feel so eerie, like you’re in a ghost movie or something, haha!

Sometimes too, when wanderlust hits me, but time & money won’t allow me, I’d Google countries I’d want to go to someday, and lately I’d go to Pinterest/Cool Hunter to feast my eyes on beautiful photos of places around the world. These are some of my favorites:

Keukenhof Gardens – Netherlands. Trees, flowers & a body of water. My dream backyard.

(photo from The Cool Hunter)

Riomaggiore, Italy. The density & the organized chaos calms me.

(photo from Pinterest)

Bora Bora. My dream honeymoon destination.

(photo from the internet)

Skaftafeli – Iceland. Ok siguro mag skateboard dito. Hahaha!

Preachers Rock, Preikestolen, Norway. Yes I would love to read a book, or do my nothingbox here.

(photo from The Cool Hunter)

Hamilton Pool: Nature reserve formed by thousands of years of water erosion that created a natural pool collapsed grotto and canyon. Lovely.

(photo from Pinterest)

Gorges de Lareuase III. Gorgeous eh?

(photo from Pinterest)

Whitehaven Beach, Australia. Ooooh yeah.

(photo from Pinterest)

I’ve always want to do this! Tapos talon (paraglide). Woooooh!

(photo from Pinterest)

The thing about traveling though… the image that you’d see of a particular place is not the same as when you are in it. Like if you’d look at that beach from Australia from a plane, or from skydiving, it’d give you a different feel than if you are basking in the sun in it…. right? Sometimes we’d go to a place because we’ve seen how beautiful & colorful it is from a magazine or a book or the internet. But when we get there, we’d be disappointed at how pale it is in real life. Because real life does not do saturations or contrasts or lomo, or whatever tweaks photoshop does to a picture! I know people who’ve experienced this. They go to Santorini and they’d be like, “Hmp parang Tagaytay lang e (It’s just like Tagaytay).” Or they go to this secluded beach in Florida and say, “It was more beautiful in the pictures,” and then they’d upload photos of themselves in it after fixing up the colors to match what they’ve seen in the ads. I’ve experienced the same thing with the Bellarocca Island. It was more attractive in the pictures. But it was still breathtaking from some angles. 🙂 But then, as I’d always say, it’s not really the place you’re going to, how opulent or ghetto, or high class or dingy it is. It is the company that you have that would make traveling memorable.

Like this travel that we had at the Catalina Island last weekend. It was cloudy & gloomy during most parts of the day. But we have really enjoyed our stay coz it was the first time, in a long time, that all of us were off from work/school. And this place refreshingly provided us temporary respite from the city life.

not photoshopped. edited in Paint.

Anyway…

But yeah I still want to see some beautiful & interesting places  and feast at it with my own eyes. I want to go to that place they call “between heaven & earth.” I want to go to Arctic to witness the play of lights or the Aurora Borealis. I want to go to Egypt and experience the contrasting view of the pyramid on my right, and the sight of the city on my left. I want to hike for days and reach the top of Machu Pichu & pretend to be transported in a different time.

But more than these, what I really want is to travel to different countries to feast on food, to talk to the locals, to sleep on their beds, to dance their national dance, to partake in their festivities, to chant their chants, to sing one of their native songs, to play their national game, to learn a prayer.

Sigh. I wish to live longer in this earth to be able to do all these.

* * * * * * *

Anyway, I have come across this image…

This is Skybridge Langkawi in Malaysia. Imagine having this… in Tagaytay.

Sigh.

I heaved a sigh coz we have this really huge (hectares & hectares!) land in Tagaytay. Story goes that my lolo’s lolo, a politician, used to own most of Tagaytay. But you know how before, parang wala lang, politicians would give away land titles to people, out of, I dunno, charity, or to get more votes. The vastness of the land areas they own is so huge that giving away parts of it was just like giving out barya (loose change)… Until there was only a small portion (still huge!) of land that was left to him & his family. The land is located in the innermost secluded part of Tagaytay, and at the end of it is a majestic view of the Taal volcano. Yes, kind of like in that photo above. There had been a lot of corporations or rich investors trying to buy it, but for some reason, it won’t push through. Different reasons, but mostly I hear was that they think that some areas were too matarik (steep), it would be hard to develop it. Well, I say, why don’t they do something like that (photo above)?? Ugh. Or maybe build a real nice resort/hotel at the edge of that property, where the land touches the river, and then build a cable car from there to the main road so that they can make their guests arrive in the hotel through that cable car… right??

Sigh. I heaved a sigh again coz last I heard, the government took it away coz my relatives could not pay the tax.

So if you are a rich developer reading this, please, maybe you could develop the land and make it as beautiful, if not better, than that one in the photo? And make me & my family honorary guests in your hotel so we could have own our paradise?

🙂