Golden prow

Intrigued by the bangka that rowed across my sunset photo last Friday, I followed it as it crossed the harbor of the Manila Yacht Club. Here are some of the sailboats docked there. The tall building in the background is the 1322 Golden Empire Tower, a residential condominium along Roxas Boulevard. Its main boast is that every unit has a view of Manila Bay. It is currently the tallest building in the City of Manila, and the fourth tallest in Metro Manila. At 203 meters, it's downright puny compared to the world's tallest building.

Gantry cranes

Mid-morning on a clear day, one can look out towards Manila Bay from the CCP Bay Terminal (where the ferry for Corregidor Island docks) and see the big cranes of the North Harbor. The breakwater shelters the Manila Yacht Club.

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Among bigger cousins

I was trying to get a photo of the sunset across the breakwater that protects the Manila Yacht Club when these two guys in a little bangka (canoe) rowed past. Now I'm forever left wondering where they came from—the breakwater extends all the way to the shore on that end—and what they were doing.

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For my soul

After spending almost the entire week indoors at the Ateneo Art Gallery looking at some very strange artwork, let's step outdoors for a breather, shall we? Just another beautiful day looking at the boats docked at the Manila Yacht Club. This photo is from the archives. After three weeks of almost constant rain, my soul is yearning for some bright blue skies.

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Smoggy afternoon in the city

From another balcony on the other side of the Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, a view of the City of Manila with the small white yachts docked at the Manila Yacht Club. The concrete bunker in the foreground is the Folk Arts Theater. Its formal name is Tanghalang Francisco Balagtas, after one of the Philippines' greatest poets, though no one I know has ever called it that. Imelda Marcos had this covered amphitheater built in 1974 especially for that year's Miss Universe Pageant, and since then has been used mostly for concerts and religious gatherings. In more recent years, however, it has been quite neglected and ignored as a concert venue.

Scale

I like the contrast of the huge cranes of North Harbor in the background and the small sailboats docked at the Manila Yacht Club in the foreground in this Manila Bay scene.

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Bay view

The hotels, apartments and office buildings of the Malate, Manila area of Roxas Boulevard as seen across the harbor of the Manila Yacht Club on an overcast Saturday evening.

City lights

The same view of the Manila Yacht Club, Roxas Boulevard and Malate, Manila as in yesterday's photo, but taken at seven o'clock in the evening. Everything just seems so much prettier at night, don't you think so?