a "little" patch of...

paradise? no. that will be too much. that's already hyperbole! i won't go as far as describing this "tiny" patch of land near the manila bay as such.

but on a good day, when the sun is about to set and there's not much crowd, and the breeze is cool and crisp (and not smelly), then one can already experience a little sort of bliss just sitting on the concrete seawall overlooking the sea, gazing directly at the fiery colours in the sky, as evening takes over from sun, while silence and then darkness envelopes everyone and everything else, including the coconut trees that seemed out of place in a concrete jungle that is manille.


when in a jovial mood, or when i want to shake the lethargy away from my system, or when i just want to sweat all the negativity out of my body, i usually walk from the ccp complex near roxas boulevard up to this place at the back of mall of asia.

it would usually take me around half and hour to forty five minutes to get there, passing along tree lined streets from the coconut palace/picc, down to the house of the spirits (an abandoned building beside sofitel hotel believed to be haunted by the ghosts of the workers who were trapped inside when a wall collapsed while the edifice was under construction during the time of the conjugal dictatorhip), the gsis complex, the senate (another house of the spirits of a different kind), a bridge, then a pier under development, and finally, the place.

sweaty, tired, thirsty (i always bring with me a bottled water), i would sit on one of the concrete benches under lamp posts, drink up, and just stay quiet, absorbing everything, including the whispers of the sea wind as it calls upon mother earth to take home the flirting waves that have been romancing the stones on the shore all day.

then in a few minutes, the view will be this. bliss!!

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but even before the glorious sunset comes into view, the place looks peaceful, quiet and, strangely, clean. maybe it's because the mall owners make it a point to maintain its cleanliness. after all, cleanliness is next only to godliness. chos!

here's hoping the sys who own the land won't put up buildings and other structures along this vast vacant lot so as not to spoil the view. but in the name of commercialism, everything is possible. after all, businessmen in this country are not here to provide us a front seat view of nature's beauty, right? sad!