Monday, December 13, 2010

San Joaquin Sparkling Lights


A few more days and it's Christmas day! Yippee!! How I love Christmas! I mean, who doesn't, right? hehe.. Christmas day is the day when you can get to be a kid again... Parties and games and food and presents! Ooh! And the lights! I just love watching the Christmas lights dance and twinkle like stars against the dark sky.

I never fail to go to the San Joaquin town plaza every Christmas season, just to see the sparkling lights and the colorful decors. And whenever I do go there, I'd be in awe.. every single time. Really. Just take a look at these pictures. These were taken December of last year. And oh, I'm so excited to see the plaza this year.


I'm currently stayin at Miagao (a small town about 20 kilometers from San Joaquin). It's a 20-minute drive and I don't have a car (How lame...) so I couldn't go to SJ whenever I feel like it. Though, I'd be going home to SJ on the 20th of the month. I still have to wait 7 more days before I could get to see the wonderful plaza lights.

Anyway, the municipality of Miagao also has a town plaza (Of course, every town has one..) and so, I decided to see what this little town has to offer. Tuesday night. I asked my next door neighbor's kid to come with me to the Miagao town plaza to see the Christmas decorations.. I was planning to ride my bike all the way to the plaza (it's about 400 meters or so) but then it started to drizzle. So we just took a ride on the "traysikel" (auto rickshaw). It was 6:30 in the evening when we arrived at the plaza. And well, I was a bit disappointed. You see, I was expecting to see magnificent decorations and dancing lights. The town plaza was quite.. bare. Yes, there were some lights and decors, but nothing extraordinary, really. I mean, when we stepped out of the traysikel and looked at the plaza, I was like, "Oh. okay.." Yeah, here I go again. Always the critic.

I'm not saying that the plaza looks ugly. Heck, no. I was only disappointed. I was expecting to see Christmas lights on the shrubs and poles... see Santa Clause and Mr. Snowman silhouettes highlighted by dancing colors... some magnificent Christmas trees. But no. The Miagao Municipal Building looked great. But aside from that, well I didn't see anything else worth taking a second glance. My opinion. No offense to the residents of Miagao. The town plaza is nice. But it's not really attention-grabbing.

Maybe I'm just a bit biased. I'm not a local. I'm from San Joaquin and sad to say, I keep comparing the 2 towns. Yeah, I know that both towns have their own local tourist destinations, promotional gimmicks, highlights and such... different in every way, granted. But oh well, I just can't help myself.

Miagao is one great town. It is where one of the most famous and prestigious university is located. I just thought that with the presence of the university and its students, the municipality could have given some more effort in making the town plaza a bit more extraordinary. And it's Christmas time. It's Christmas. Do I need a bigger reason than that?

Oh well.

16 comments:

  1. wow.. ang ganda n g mga lights... galing :D sana makapunta din ako to shoot that lights :D

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  2. uyyyy... i didn't know they call tricycle rickshaw in other country... hahah.. rickshaw is really sisters with our country's tricycle...

    anyway,,i think... the one is san juaquin looks pretty awesome.. and in some other way the one in the miagao looks good too.. i like it... i love the lights too.. i want to see more lights.. christmas lights are very adorable..

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  3. wow.. ang ganda ng mga ilaw... ang gandang lugar..


    And yes, malapit na ang pasko! It's time to celebrate the day of our Jesus Christ! :)

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  4. wow.. bongang bongga ang lights.. lapit 12 days na lang.. pasko na yyehhheeeyyyyyy

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  5. ang ganda! trully Holiday season is in the air na talaga :D

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  6. nang leah, ang ganda nga ng lights sa san joaquin.. I never knew na malaki pala ang ini-invest ng San Joaquin sa Christmas lights. :) ok naman po yung sa Miag-ao, mas maganda pa nga sya kesa sa City na ang mga parol ay sponsored pa mgakung anu-anong kumpanya.. nagmumukhang poster tuloy. heheh. nakita mo yung lights sa up admin building? hindi siya kasing cute tulad ng sa san joaquin pro cute pa rin. heheh. Merry Christmas nang leah! :)

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  7. @Kat: Really? Hehehe.. Wala pakong time para makapunta sa city and to watch the lights.. Pero next week, I'm sure meron na. =)

    Di ko pa nakikita ang admin building.. Puntahan ko lang by Friday. =)

    (Hambal ko guid mong.. nag andar lang ang pagka palasuya ko. hehe..)

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  8. ang galing naman. ang saya ng christmas diyan. merry christmas sa iyo leah and to your family.

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  9. Thanks, Rommel.. =)

    Merry Christmas rin sayo!!!

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  10. iba talaga ang miag-ao! :D visiting lang :)

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  11. Love the San Joaquin plaza! Merry Christmas, I already added your link in my pinoytextcentral.com

    Thanks!

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  12. HUWAAAW! Ang ganda naman jan! Paskong pasko! :)

    Merry Christmas! Ate Leah! ♥♥♥ =)

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  13. nakaka inggit ang pasko nyo, ganda ganda..:)

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  14. wow, the place looks enticing and jolly.. very nice :)

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