Indulgence

The Mountain

Kate Bush from Moments of Pleasure (written by Kate Bush)
I think about us diving
Diving off a rock into another moment

I'm back from Baguio and I had the most interesting time. I got a really cheap hotel so I could stay the night and go all over the place on my own time and pace. I went shopping at the Ukay-ukay in the morning and went to the market in the afternoon. I visited my Tita Laida Lim and had a wonderful time. She's an excellent cook and a wonderful person. I also met her daughters Fifi and Padma and they are brought up with much culture and so it was wonderful talking with them. There is a very strong artistic community in Baguio and the children are sort of immersed in it.

I just did it. It was one of those things were I knew that if I didn't do it, I'd never forgive myself ever. So, in spur moment of strength, I said I was staying and then just got a hotel and stayed.

I called up an acquaintance and found out what to do and where to go at night and found myself drinking alone in the Greenbelt of Baguio. It's a U-shaped set of buildings just lined up with bars from the ground floor, basement and second floor. Greenbelt of Baguio it was and I was sitting alone, drinking my beer and freezing to death. I was freezing to absolute death in the cold but it was lovely. I got to see what the artist I spoke to that afternoon was talking about -- men in trench coats, layered clothes, scarves, gloves, the whole shebang! It was lovely.

I even got to see the view from the Tam-awan village. At the peak, you could see the South China Sea if the clouds let up. That high up in the mountain, we were on the level of the clouds. They were on my eye-level far off. It was breath-taking.

It was so much bigger than me and yet, there I was, a part of it; beholding it. That must've been significant in some ways or other. I'm still breathless. I'm still over-whelmed. More when I can get to focus. I've just come down from the mountain and I've been changed.

posted by wanggo @ 12:15 AM