By Fung Yu, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

Author’s note: This article uses Apple’s QuickTime and Adobe Flash in providing an immersive experience by means of virtual reality technology. QuickTime and/or Flash are required to view the 360-degree VRs. Average VR size is 2MB each.

IT was just prior to the Christmas season last year that I took a trip to Shanghai and Beijing with my friends. Although this was my second time to China, it was my first time to visit these cities. We took advantage of Cebu Pacific’s “One Peso” promo fare from Manila to Shanghai. The smooth flight took about three hours, touching down at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai just a few minutes before midnight. The outside temperature was in the range of 7 to 10 degrees Celsius; thank God for the cheap winter jacket I bought at our local “ukay-ukay.”

Being a modern cosmopolitan city with a rich history, Shanghai has become a fusion of Oriental and Western influences. The city is dotted with marvelous skyscrapers, towering infrastructure, and contemporary architecture. Likewise, its old streets boast of neo-colonial buildings, ancient temples, and old traditional houses.

The highlight of our Shanghai tour included: The Bund, the heart of international settlement along the western banks of the Huangpu River; the Oriental TV Tower; the Huangpu River cruise and the sight-seeing tunnel underneath it; People’s Park; jade and silk factories; Yu Yuen Garden; and of course bargain shopping among the “secret shops” of the old districts which my female companions enjoyed so much.

Pigeons in People’s Park

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Performances at Sian Tian Ti

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Shops outside Yu Yuen Garden

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Fishes inside Yu Yuen Garden

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Compared to Shanghai, the capital city of Beijing is a sight of endless wonder. Apart from the rich historical heritage of ancient dynasties, a journey in Beijing is one of visual spectacle as well as a gastronomic experience.

Being higher up in the North, the temperature was of course a lot colder than in Shanghai; and since it was the winter season, most trees looked barren with their leafless branches. Gone were the lush greenery, with very few birds in the sky, and the lakes were frozen. Even with a noontime sun above, you didn’t feel its warmth; sunsets came much earlier as well, setting around 4:30 p.m. local time.

We spent our first day scaling the Juyongguan Pass section of the Great Wall, said to be one of the steepest portions of the Wall. Then there was the Summer Palace where Emperors spent their summer months. The last stop of the day was at the Temple of Heaven where the Ming and Qing Emperors prayed for good harvest.

The Great Wall

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Summer Palace

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The following day was a walking tour of Tiananmen Square; directly behind it was the Forbidden City. As China will be hosting the Olympic Games this year, a lot of renovations were ongoing inside the former imperial grounds. The site of the Ming Tombs was the final stop. Here, people who are more attuned to their surroundings can experience an eerie feeling.

Tiananmen Square

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The Forbidden City

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Imperial Wedding House

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Ming Tombs

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Although I truly enjoyed this trip, I was actually looking forward to having my first snow experience. Alas, it just wasn’t cold enough for one during the time we were there.

VRs taken from December 13-17, 2007. The author can be reached at fung@firefly.ph

By Fung Yu, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

Author’s note: This article uses Apple’s QuickTime and Adobe Flash in providing an immersive experience by means of virtual reality technology. QuickTime and/or Flash are required to view the 360-degree VRs. Average VR size is 2MB each.

DOULOS (from the Greek word meaning “servant”), the “floating library,” visited the Philippines for two months — initially for the annual dry dock maintenance in the port of Batangas, then in Manila and Subic Bay for the onboard book fair and other community activities.

Built in 1914, just two years after the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the M/V Doulos is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship.

I caught up with the Doulos on a fine Saturday as she was docked at the port of Subic Bay; having missed her in Manila last December, this could very well be my very last chance to tour the ship. The first thing you notice when you step aboard is her friendly crew; a smile at every turn, a greeting in every corner. With a crew composed of various nationalities, bringing to the fore social and cultural diversity, it is indeed a heartwarming sight to see them working toward a common purpose.

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By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

ATTENTION overseas Filipinos, going to the Philippines is now just a click away. If you are tired of the usual long lines and slow processing of your application just to visit your loved ones here, the good news is that the Department of Tourism (DoT) has launched a new Travel Mall service on its Experience Philippines site that targets Filipinos in North America.

The Travel Mall is an interactive mall that will allow Filipinos in North America to shop virtually, book tickets, and even reserve hotel rooms to make their visit here more convenient. The DoT also lets people easily access all of the 7, 107 islands of the country through its partnership with accredited travel agencies in North America.

The Travel Mall and the whole Experience Philippines site is part of the marketing strategy employed by the DoT for North America as it shifts from traditional to online media. According to Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano: “Traditional media doesn’t work as much as it used to… this generation uses the Web for entertainment, for education, and for work. The platform for us had to be the Web… and three years ago we decided that at least 90 percent of our resources, 90 percent of our energy, will be using this platform to reach out to our target market.”

Online Videos by Veoh.com

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By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

AS we approached the Seattle-Tacoma airport, one of the flight crew members announced that the temperature outside was negative 1 degree Celsius. In short, it’s freezing. Thus started our little adventure in Washington, where Redmond is.

I’m here to cover a Microsoft event along with fellow tech journalist Melvin Calimag of the Manila Bulletin. We had to bring the thickest jackets that we could get (not to mention the layer of clothing that we already had on). According to some locals, it snowed the night that we got in. So the streets, roads, and even sidewalks are slippery. You have to walk carefully when you cross the street here.

We’re staying in Kirkland, just a few minutes away from Redmond, where Microsoft’s main headquarters is located. After going through  immigration, we had a bit of trouble locating our airport transfer. Apparently, we missed seeing a little sign held by Paul, our driver, who is an Indian who now lives in Seattle. Paul drives a”high-end” Lincoln car which he offers for rent to visitors and business executives (I assume mostly from Microsoft ). By the time we got into the hotel, we were told that we had to wait until noon to be checked in. Then we met a young American named Stephen at the Heathman Hotel. Stephen was apparently born in the Philippines and has lived there for about 15 years. He now works in the hotel, and has been staying in the US for three years. His eyes lighted up when he heard us talking in Filipino. He blurted out, “Kamusta.” A conversation ensued, which lasted for a while. I’m sure he misses the Philippines.

With just a few hours of sleep (blame the on-demand movie on the plane), and jet lag, I’m barely awake, trying to recall in a warm and cozy coffee shop the first time I crossed the Pacific Ocean.

THIS is probably one of the most unusual tourist spots — the Salar de Uyuni, a 40, 000-year-old lake in Bolivia that has dried up and created the world’s largest salt flats.

Check out the Reuters video clip.

CHECK out this iVDO clip that INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter took of the Disney in the Stars nightly fireworks display at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

HERE are more clips of INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla’s Shanghai odyssey. Hope you’ll enjoy them.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Online Videos by Veoh.com

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By Joey Alarilla
INQUIRER.net

INQUIRER.NET reporter Lawrence Casiraya interviewed El Nido Resorts chef Rey de la Cruz and sampled the exotic delicacy known as tamilok.

While it looks like a worm, the tamilok is actually a mollusk that burrows inside the trees in Palawan’s mangrove areas. It’s supposed to be an aphrodisiac, hehe

Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania at Miniloc island on Nov. 17.

For more videos from our Palawan adventure, check out my earlier post. And go to iVDO on Yahoo! for more videos from INQUIRER.net and our partners.

By Joey Alarilla
INQUIRER.net

UPDATE: Added a video.

WE went to Miniloc island in El Nido Resorts, Palawan last week to cover the annual Synergy information and communications technology forum jointly organized by Intel Philippines and Hewlett-Packard Philippines. This year’s Synergy was special because this was its 10th anniversary.

Of course, since we were in paradise, we not only covered the ICT forum itself but also shot videos for iVDO on Yahoo! and Tales for the Nomad, as well as producing content for different sites under INQUIRER.net. We wanted to show multimedia journalism in action, meaning the coverage provided by the INQUIRER.net team that attended (we’re informally known as the INQuboys, heh) not only included breaking news and Infotech articles, but also blog posts, podcast interviews and video. Because that’s how we are over at INQUIRER.net — we work hard and play hard, and we have fun while doing our jobs well.

Here’s an underwater video that INQUIRER.net reporter Lawrence Casiraya took with the waterproof Olympus mju 790SW digital camera that Axis Global lent us as a demo unit. We’re evaluating different digital cameras for our Editorial team, and this baby has really caught our attention.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

CHECK out this video from INQUIRER.net executive editor Leo Magno.

For more videos from INQUIRER.net and our partners, visit iVDO.