Thank You 2011

In less than 6 hours, I'll bid goodbye to 2011 and will welcome 2012 with open arms... I am thankful for everything that had happened this 2011, good or bad, happy or sad, I know it's all for my own good.


The Lord has been so good and faithful, I just cant describe how thankful I am for everything that He has done and continually doing in my life, it such a humbling experience. 


To wrap up my 2011, here's a short summary of my 2011 adventure : 


* Sinulog Festival in Cebu
* UP Fair
* Puerto Princesa, Palawan trip
* Ice Skating at MOA (what a kid in me)
* Boxing moments in VisMin (Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Davao)
* Cobra Ironman in CamSur
* Cobra Dragon Boat Regatta and Tampa Bay events
* VCF (such a blessing! Thank you Aris)
* VGroup 
* Vietnam Trip

* Great people I've met and spent my time with from all around the world

I look forward to seeing greater and bigger things this 2012.

Praying to hear the sweeter song and seeing the beautiful side of love. ♥ 

Happy New year to all!

HCMC Vietnam : Saigon City Tour

Vietnam Day 3 (December 4, 2011) : Saigon City Tour


*The Notre Dame Cathedral
*The General Post Office
*Binh Tay Market

HCMC Vietnam : Thien Hau Pagoda

Vietnam Day 3 (December 04, 2011) : Thien Hau Pagoda

Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu (The Pagoda of the Lady Thien Hau) is a Chinese style temple located on Nguyen Trai Street in the Cho Lon (Chinatown) district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It is dedicated to Thiên Hậu, the Lady of the Sea ("Tian Hou" as transcribed from the Chinese), who is also known as "Mazu".


Thiên Hậu is a deity of traditional Chinese religion, who is revered in the southern maritime provinces of China and in overseas Chinese communities. Thiên Hậu is worshipped in the seafaring Chinese communities of Fujian, Guangzhou, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. She is not specifically a deity of Taoism or of Buddhism, though she has been brought into connection with figures and themes from Taoism and Buddhism. For example, at Quan Am Pagoda, also in Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City, the two major altars are dedicated respectively to Thiên Hậu and to Quan Âm (the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara).


The temple is located right on busy Nguyen Trai Street. It can be accessed by entering through an iron gate and crossing a small courtyard. The roof is decorated with small delicately fashioned porcelain figurines expressing themes from Chinese religion and legends. Lanterns and wooden models of Chinese theaters hang over the entrance.


The interior of the temple is actually a partially covered courtyard, at the end of which is the altar to Thiên Hậu. The exposed portions of the courtyard contain incense burners, and open the view to the remarkable porcelain dioramas that decorate the roof. The dioramas show scenes from a 19th century Chinese city, and include such colorful figures as actors, demons, animals, and Persian and European sailors and traders. In one scene, actors depict a duel on horseback battle between the revered halberd-wielding general Guan Yu of the novel Three Kingdoms and another fighter. Another scene depicts the three Taoist sages representing longevity, fecundity and prosperity.


The altar to Thiên Hậu is dominated by the three statues of the goddess. The faces are bronze in color, and the clothes and crowns are multi-colored. Incense burners are all about.

 Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thien_Hau_Temple,_Ho_Chi_Minh_City

HCMC Vietnam : War Remnants Museum

Vietnam Day 3 (December 04, 2011) : War Remnants Museum


The War Remnants Museum (Vietnamese: Bảo tàng chứng tích chiến tranh) is a war museum at 28 Vo Van Tan, in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War.


Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government [of South Vietnam]." Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993. Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States.


The museum comprises a series of eight themed rooms in several buildings, with period military equipment located within a walled yard. The military equipment include a UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, an F-5A fighter, a BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" bomb, M48 Patton tank, and an A-1 attack bomber.


One building reproduces the "tiger cages" in which the South Vietnamese government housed political prisoners. Other exhibits include graphic photographs, accompanied by short copy in English, Vietnamese and Japanese, covering the effects of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliant sprays, the use of napalm and phosphorus bombs, and atrocities such as the My Lai massacre. Curiosities include a guillotine used by the French and the South Vietnamese to execute prisoners, last in 1960, and three jars of preserved human fetuses deformed by exposure to dioxin.


There are a number of unexploded ordnance stored in the corner of the yard, seemingly with their charges removed.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Remnants_Museum_(Ho_Chi_Minh_City)