November 4, 2023

Apo Island Dumaguete | 14 Amazing Things to Do in Apo Island in 2023

This Apo Island Travel Guide covers all the top things to do in Apo Island Dumaguete, Philippines. It also covers all the travel essentials you need to make your stay more memorable. A little note: Apo Island is different from Apo Reef in Mindoro. Apo Island is a little island […]
September 20, 2017

Taal Vista Hotel: A Story of My Sunday

TAAL VISTA HOTEL REVIEW | I lost my favorite Philips earphone that day. I may have let go of it during the hustle of arriving. Receiving a gift for me has always been akin to meeting angels: such is the beauty because it comes with a terrible loss. I’ve always […]
December 1, 2016

Brokenhearted? Nine Remote Islands in the Philippines to Find and Grow Some Love for Yourself Again

To live in an archipelagic nation like the Philippines translates to leaving the island you call home and find yourself on a different island whose people speak the same (or an entirely different) language yet with a certain sing-song melody that is different from yours. That is how I live […]
March 12, 2016

Experience Kawasan Canyoneering with This Ultimate Guide

I have a river for a writing muse. Almost every month, I bused to southern Cebu, dropped off Matutinao (Badian), walked beside the rushing madness, skipped the crowded first falls, and trekked up to the lagoon, where my muse ends and where another river starts. I sometimes took a dip, […]
February 11, 2016

Ten Philippine Destinations Where Your $100 Can Go Far

Said the overly quoted Pico Iyer, “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, […]
April 24, 2014

Photo Essay | Missing Batad Rice Terraces and Some Notes on Love

In Batad, the village shaman can predict the couple’s future using a chicken liver. He can read the liver’s veins and interpret them. Yes, the couple’s love and future are at the mercy of the liver.  I met a couple then—an environmentalist Filipina and an Italian cook—who suggested they would […]
June 1, 2013

Pinoy Travel Bloggers | Summer Epilogue

It is the body  that knows first that summer has arrived. Sweat trails the scalp, the spine, the forehead. It is the exposed skin that turns a shade darker. It is the nape that feels the uncomfortableness of of the heat. It is the body that screams for an escape to the […]
August 27, 2012

| Travel Essay | Stories from Britania

“Nganong naabot man ka diri, Nong?” (What brought you here, Nong?) “Unsaon ta man, day, diri man nako nakit-an ang akong pikas sa kinabuhi (It can’t be helped, day, I found my other half here),” answered Nong Tony who has lived in Britania for 15 years. The tone he used […]
April 21, 2012

Quotecard: Cloud 9, Siargao

Cloud 9, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, Philippines When the Pacific Ocean’s little furies subsided, locals surfed the shore. They were totally unaffected of the threatening waves in front of them. 
April 5, 2012

Quotecard: Tuburan Pantalan

Tuburan Port, Tuburan, Cebu, Philippines   It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it […]
March 28, 2012

Where Does Siquijor’s Magic Come from?

You must have googled about Siquijor witches. Hence, you are here. This one, though, is an essay on my first trip to Siquijor. This was the first essay that led me to travel writing. And I hope you enjoy reading this narrative. *** While sitting under the thick foliage of […]
March 1, 2012

Moonwalking at The Walk’s Moon Cafe

Jo’s Fajita Salad | P107.14* “Manglibre ka, ron, te? (Will you treat us out, te?)” Virhenia asked. “It’s not my birthday! But let’s eat out!” It’s thirty past midnight. I told Jo, Judy, Ellen, and Sachi to go ahead because I had to drop by  my place to get the camera. […]