mental notes

I finally visited the Miag-ao church, a UNESCO Heritage site. It is on the island of Panay, province of Iloilo, region of Western Visayas in the Philippines.

 "... a place which always had a hypnotic pull on me:  a magnificent cave network shrouded by the mystique of hanging coffins and burial grounds;  the prospect of mountain treks and river rafting just a stone’s throw from a town center, where the fullness of life ensues plainly, as if only, with the rising and the setting of the sun; no videoke or discordant voices to disrupt the nightime still, just the soothing murmur of a nightingale wind as though a lullaby of angels slightly overhead;  a ritual of mountain coffee at dawn awash in an ambiance of almost spiritual tranquility; smoking cheap tobacco across the day underneath a perpetual mantle of fog and haze.  It is nothing short of majestic: heaven and the stars within your reach, the world and its chaos beneath your feet. I have been there several times and still keep planning of going back, even imagine living there. But in all my fascination, I never fantasized meeting anybody special there. I guess in a place 4000 feet above sea level, any compulsion to look for a warm cuddle is easily surpassed by a more basic impulse to grab a thick blanket. ..."