Prevail

I remember those days when there was once a very active blogging "community". It should've been about four years ago when I felt that I could hardly catch up on reading the blogs I regularly follow.

It was exciting to read people who shared my interests on a host of things and I also admired how well they articulate their thoughts. I made friends with a good number of Pinoy bloggers and God knows where that has brought me.

I cleaned up my blog roll yesterday and it was sad that many of the bloggers I used to follow avidly have been left stagnant. I deleted these inactive blogs. Meanwhile, many active blogs are updated erratically, or at least the frequency of new entries have considerably dwindled.

Which brings me to wonder, is blogging (almost) dead? Was it just one of those passing fads that have come and gone?

It might very well be, and two of the culprits of its demise are Facebook and Twitter. Who cares to write a proper post when you can just update your Facebook account with "So and so is..."? You can also upload all your holiday photos without writing much about the weather or cuisine there. Or using your iPhone anywhere you can to tell people whether you liked a movie or not via Twitter, all in 140 characters?

Because my motivation for blogging then was to update my friends and family what I've been up to, Facebook has definitely become a more convenient alternative to those lengthy blog posts. Commenting is also instant, thus, interaction is more dynamic. I've even treated Twitter like a chatroom with friends from all over aside from my mundane (and really stupid) updates on what I'm having for dinner or how many laps I did in the pool today.

So for many months now my blog has functioned as my bookmark. I open it to check which blogs I follow have been updated, courtesy of my blog roll. (But lately, I've been using Google Reader more frequently and it's definitely far more convenient.)

Laziness in blogging always prevails these days. I used to go out of the house precisely because I want to blog about something, say a new exhibition, movie, or shopping place. At times, I felt like I was a journalist, armed with a small notebook and a camera. Even before I sat down to write a post, I've already developed an outline of the post in my head along with an idea of what photos go with it. I even took notes whenever I read a book to help me write a decent comment the next day. Blogging also made me a keen observer of what my friends are doing and saying, all in the hope of getting some good material to write about. I used to list a number of topics under the heading "stuff for the blog".

I miss the discipline of writing though, of attempting to put my thoughts into words (albeit mostly unsuccessfully), or just plainly bitching about minor things (at least that was cathartic, no?).

But that's a lot of hard work, mind you. I reached a point of shameless indolence, and Facebook and Twitter proved to be alternatives to serious research and thinking.

It's no comfort of course that I'm not alone in this lackadaisical attitude to blogging. If I can only shake each blogger I miss reading back to their senses , I would. Then, I also understand why they have opted for Facebook or Twitter in lieu of blogging.

I'm not taking that direction though despite my apparent dearth of posts. I am still very much sentimental of this blog (and it still gives me a good reason to write), hence, it's going to stay. Fuck Facebook.

Rock Arts in Northeastern Thailand

I was away on an official trip to Northeast Thailand where we brought a pack of archaeologists and heritage management professionals to rock art sites.

It took us over twelve hours to reach Pha Taem National Park in Ubon Ratchatani province. The park has the longest rock art site in the country. The huge paintings are on a huge side of a tall cliff overlooking a tributary of the Mekong River and across it is Lao PDR.

It's my first time to see rock paintings, and their size at Pha Taem made the experience very awe-striking. There are various subjects like fish, humans, livestock, turtles, tools, and a variety of geometric shapes scattered all over the rock walls. These remnants of the work of pre-historic men are tantamount to having a glimpse into their imagination as well as interpretations of the world around them.

We then moved to Udon Thani province to Phu Prabat Historical Park. Along the way we stopped by Ban Chiang, a World Heritage Site known for its red pottery. Some artifacts found in burial sites have been dated to about 2100 BC.

I've always wanted to see Ban Chiang because one of the chief archaeologists of the site was my former boss. In fact there are many pictures of him all over the beautiful museum.

At Phu Prabat we saw rock art on the magnificent rock shelters dotting the landscape. The paintings are Phu Prabat are smaller, thus less striking. The rock shelters are definitely the main highlight of the site. These natural rock formations were supposedly carved millions of years ago by glacier movement. It has also evidence of pre-historic and historic human activities (but not settlements).

Aside from the rock paintings, the site also has sculptures in various styles and periods, namely, Dhvaravadi, Buddhist Khmer, and Lan Chang. Some of the rock shelters have been converted into Buddhist monastic sites and these still serve as places of worship to this day. Because of the historical, natural, and cultural importance of the area, it is in the process of being nominated as a World Heritage Site.

The trip was definitely a good chance for me to spend time with my colleagues who again proved to be such a very hard-working lot. I also did a bit of shopping for pots, baskets, and woven textiles.