| 12.31.2019 – One Hundred Twenty Three years after Dr Jose Rizal was executed in Luneta Park (formerly Bagumbayan) Filipinos continue to celebrate his heroism. But besides the memorial in reminding the locals about the country’s national hero it was also a day to appreciate parts of Manila, which was busy with a huge turnout.
Manila has so many places to see and visit, which was limited time in getting to those locations. Decided to head out to some of the familiar place that I’ve frequented to in this year that I rarely see before and here are some photo narratives of that walk… |
From the Rizal Monument in Luneta there’s already an air of celebration since the crack of dawn the laying of the flowers at that location has been blown by the wind in some point of the day. The assigned security was standing guard at the monument while people take photos and selfies. It was quite an intense crowd in the area as a parade of dancers and band pass through the crowd near the monument.
I got there to do some photography at the same time observe the crowd. The ride from Gil Puyat Avenue by Jeepeney through Ermita was bustling with vehicles creating traffic just less than 24 hours before the year turn to a new decade. Getting to Luneta was challenging already with people going to the same direction where I was.
It took me almost an hour taking photos and checking out the nearby spots and was aware of the time too chasing the sunset before things become night. Rarely, I walk far distances but it was also a self-discovery to newly built or renovated locations that I can’t pass through the past months.
The Gomburza
This part just across the National Museum of Modern Art was under construction several months back that the entire sidewalk was closed and there was no safety lane made for pedestrians to pass through the area. But now it is one of the new locations to just hang out and spend a few minutes.
You can see concrete seats with plants surrounding the area and just in front is the above mentioned museum, which is already close during the late afternoon past 5 PM. The road is busy passers-by take a photo of the Gomburza Monument and at the background is the walled city of Intramuros.
I was planning to go there but given the limited time probably when I get there the place where I take photos would be closed already. It was at the Gomburza I spent most of my afternoon before I went straight to Jones Bridge through the underpass connecting the Philippine Post Office that has already been closed for the Holidays.
Illuminating Jones Bridge
By the time the sun has set the lights surrounding Jones Bridge had lit up. Many people has trickled in and started taking photos on both sides of the bridge while vehicles pass through before the Chinatown’s iconic arch. It was a busy part of the bridge since the major renovation the past months.
It has become a normal route whenever I’m in the area as on a week day there’s not much people staying there to do their portrait photography. But when it start to go dark there the crowd start to build up.
Ending the day I went to Escolta and from there took the train back before the last trip at ten in-between Jones Bridge and heading out I was at the office just going through things before the end of this year begins. It was another productive day as you can see in the images from yesterday. This is the last post for 2019 as things will be back to normal in a few days after the New Year for 2020.
Here’s to another year and things would turn out to be a better one to start a new decade moving forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment