After a frenetic afternoon spent tending to the residents of Barangay Binan in Pagsanjan, Laguna, some of the East Avenue Medical Center staff who volunteered to help in the free clinic and I trudged up to the Japanese Garden. Though a bit rundown in some parts, the Garden is a quietly beautiful place, very...zen, as the pictures here will attest.

My hope is that the place will be kept pretty, serene and tidy for so many more Filipinos and foreign visitors to be recharged and inspired by the place. We all need pockets of peace like these in our frantic, 20th century lives...