Hello everyone! Sunday, March 28 my family and I decided to have some physical activity and touch grass. Around seven in the morning we went to the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. The University of the Philippines or UP for short is one of the country's premier university. It boasts of successful alumni including our current president, seven other former presidents, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, senators and congressmen as well as thousands of other professionals. Anyway, enough about that, we went there because it's home to a sprawling park inside the university where people jog during the weekends.
We parked beside this old building.
The bent metal railings and growing grass on top gives the building a quiet, creepy vibe and looks like a great location for a horror movie. I wonder how this looks at night.
I bet this building's story/history will be worth a whole post but that will be a topic for another time.
We started our walk towards the Oblation area. We were greeted by hundreds of joggers from a distance. I don't know why but with the hundreds of people running, the scene reminds me of zombie movies.
From the left of the image, the joggers were moving to the right side of the road to run around the jogging area.
The left side of the road are wide open spaces while the right side contain the buildings. I walked by the right side to take some pictures.
A short while later I heard a serene Chinese music playing from a distance.
I zoomed my camera and saw that there are people practicing Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial arts involving slow, flowing movements and deep breathing.
The wide open space where you can literally touch grass offers a lot of activities like playing badminton, soccer or just simply have a picnic.
This is a curious chicken feet statue. Where's the rest of the chicken?
Some places in the university must have been sponsored by fraternities or sororities. We saw a lot of these around the area.
Where does this bridge lead to? We found the answer a few minutes later.
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We stopped by to buy some "taho". It's a local snack made of smooth tofu, sweet syrup and topped with tapioca pearls.
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We passed by some buildings in the right side.
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On the left side is a wide soccer field. The morning sun is already up but it's not that hot yet.
I wanted to visit this path but maybe for another time. The place is so big there are a lot of areas to cover.
This is the other side of the bridge we saw earlier. We could have crossed it and taken a short cut but we would have missed a lot of sights.
Yet another path I wanted to visit for another time.
There's the UP Film Center, produces the country's movie industry professionals.
I am not sure what is this white tower with bells on top. It's one of the curious buildings I plan to investigate next time.
Beside the white tower is this statue of a naked woman. Her arms are spread eagled like a cross.
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After close to an hour of walking we finally reached the Oblation statue. It's a naked man with arms outstretched seemingly offering himself. The Oblation Run is inspired by this statue. It's an annual tradition by the members of the Alpha Phi Omega, one of the prominent and influential U.P. fraternities. Members of the fraternity run around the campus in their birthday suits. Yeah, completely naked.
The view from behind or the view of the behind.
We rested in the Oblation for a bit and decided to go home. On the way back we spied some vegetable vendors and we bought some lettuce and Chinese cabbage.
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On the way back, we were hungry and we somehow ended at McDonald's for breakfast.
Mine was biscuit with Strawberry jam, eggs, sausage and coffee.
It was a fun Sunday to exercise, touch grass and appreciate nature. It's a chance to take a moment and cherish the beauty of our surroundings and detach ourselves from everyday routine. We will definitely be back in future weekends.