Ish Meets World

Every time the Olympics come around, a lot of people are brimming with pride and filled with hope for their chances at winning the gold medal. Olympic fever sweeps the world off our feet. Last year, I visited China’s Water Cube and the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium, I shall write about those as well but for now, I want to share some photos that I took in Athens last month. I was there when the flame left the city to travel to London. As part of most tourist routes in Athens, the Panathinaiko Stadium is one of the most visited spots in Athens. It was built in 566 BC and was reconstructed in 329 BC completely in marble. It remains to be the only functional Olympic Stadium made entirely of the beautiful stone. In ancient times, this stadium hosted the first Olympic games which were played between Ancient Greek City States in honor of the Goddess Athena. The Olympic flag flies high in front of the stadium: The games ended sometime in 400 AD when the Roman empire took over and were ...

So in the afternoon heat, I decided to take a walk around the new part of Hanoi City, the capital of Vietnam. I’ve already posted about the crazy streets filled with motorcycles. The entire city is bustling with action. Our event was held in a venue at the edge of the city where the infrastructure was very modern. As I was walking around with my camera in hand, the first thing that caught my eye was this large paw print. Here’s a pic in scale to my foot which is not very small. Makes me wonder what kind of animal was roaming around in the the metropolis…what do you think???

In recent months, the MMDA’s implementation of the motorcycle lanes in Commonwealth Ave. and EDSA has caused a lot of controversies. The non-exclusivity of the EDSA lanes means that when there’s a lot of traffic (ALWAYS), cars take up the lane and the motorcycles need to weave around again. In Vietnam, I’ve seen a similar concept but it still amazes me how the roads are completely dominated by motorcycles. Cars have nearly no space! See the photos below: With the current state of traffic in Metro Manila, I’m on the fence about the increase in number of motorcycle riders. On one hand, they are certainly a faster mode of transportation. On the other hand, the lack of discipline of many of the riders has made the roads a lot more dangerous. What do you think?