Fire in the Sky

Last night the sky lit up with fireworks.

New Year in the Philippines. The view of the Metro Manila skyline from Monterey Hills in San Mateo, Rizal. Photographed by: Paolo Nacpil. From: Photographs by Paolo Nacpil on http://capturedphotos.tumblr.com

In a fireworks crazy country like the Philippines, people spend crazy amount of money on fireworks to welcome the new year.  Manila was practically a war zone last night - fireworks exploding here, there and everywhere. Fireworks debris fell from the sky.  Ash fell from the sky.  My cars were covered  in ash and worse, my plants were covered in ash.  Smoke was everywhere.  The runway of Ninoy Aquino International Airport is usually closed every year on new year from twelve midnight until two hours later because of zero visibility.  Consistent with our government's tourism slogan . . .

. . . new year celebrations are more fun in the Philippines, unless you have asthma.

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Sounds Greek to Me

Disticha.

Sounds Greek, right?  That is because it IS Greek. 

I learned today that not all scientific names are Latin or Latinized.  Some are Greek, like this one.  I wonder if there are other scientific names out there that were derived from other languages aside from Greek or Latin.

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The Painted Cycad

Wow!  I just realized that it has been a month and a day since I last posted.  

Explanations first.  

I decided a while back to limit my posts to weekends which is when it is most convenient for me to take pictures and research.  The past weekends, however, have not been conducive to blogging which is why there have been no posts from my end.  It also explains why I haven't been commenting on your blogs.  The number of Google Reader items to read to play catch up = Scary!  I already started last night but I've barely made a dent in the numbers.  

There were two long weekends to enjoy last month, one of which was spent out of town communing with nature at our favorite go-to mountain home.  Here is a picture of Pals (from the "Plant Clinic" post) and I heading down to the stream for a swim.  You can almost make out the stream above my head.

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A Plant Addict in Cavite

Remember Paul from my Plant Clinic post?  He and his wife, Michelle, have become avid tillandsia collectors. Michele works at a university with a Centennial Garden and Botanical Park where she happened to find, surprise, surprise, tillandsias.  It turns out that the airplants were being brought there and cared for by Joel N., a consultant of the university's Environmental Resource Management and Campust Development Office and another tillandsia lover.  He invited Michelle and Paul to visit his collection and I invited myself (hehe) and tagged along.

Joel lives south of Metro Manila and to avoid traffic, we decided to visit him on a Sunday.  Here is a quick peek through the grills of Joel's gate.  His plot is filled with plants.

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Selamat Datang

"Selamat Datang" is what Malaysians say to welcome their visitors.  It's like "Mabuhay" for us Filipinos.  There's just something about Selamat Datang.  Everytime i hear it I really feel the sincerity of the greeting. 

Last June 29, I flew to Kuala Lumpur upon the invitation of Tourism Malaysia.  I was part of a group invited to witness the opening of Floria 2012, Malaysia's biggest garden show, and Magic of the Night, a spectacular fluvial parade held in Putrajaya.

I flew to KL on Malaysia Airlines(MH).  The last time I took this airline was way back in 2007 when I went to Langkawi.  The aircraft then was an A330.  The inflight service was good but I was a bit surprised when i found out that there were no individual PTVs.  Five years forward my whole flying experience with MH changed totally, for the better of course.  This time the aircraft was a brand new B737-800.  A very powerful bird with a spacious cabin.  Check in was quick and easy.  The flight departed on schedule.  The leather seats had a wide pitch providing full comfort.  The meal service was good.  I liked that it came with a bar of chocolate.  However, what truly amazed me was the inflight entertainment.  Each seat was provided with an individual PTV.  The entertainment menu was varied, catering to all sorts of passengers - young and old, Asian or westerner alike.  During the four hour flight, I chose to watch the Wrath of the Titans, a movie that I missed when it was shown rcently in the cinemas.  I almost forgot to mention that upon boarding the aircraft a lovely flight attendant wearing a traditional Malay dress greeted me Selamat Datang and from this time on I knew that this trip would be an experience in a Truly Asia fashion.

 (L-R, top to bottom: In-flight meal, MH Check-in counter at NAIA, MH exterior/livery, MH interiors, my travel docs, In-flight entertainment.

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