January 22, 2014
Walkers are ‘practitioners of the city,’ for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities. Just as language limits what can be said, architecture limits where one can […]
January 20, 2014
I asked Chad to write about our trip to Kinatarcan, knowing it was a crazy trip. I just told him to write with sincerity and honesty. But he was way too honest! But I actually loved it and laughed so hard while reading. So here is his recounting of our […]
January 16, 2014
Sun Xi Beach Club Alegria Photos Staying a night at Kawasan was the original plan. But my muse remains a snob—and it is better that way—to Internet and phones. So we had to scout a place where I could finish some work and where Chad could check his sports. We […]
January 15, 2014
Inside the tunnel-like tent, it was hot. So Nanay in her 70s chased the shade running scarce in the treeless lot at Cebu South Road Properties. She sat on a kid’s stool in the tent’s shade with her sunglasses on. The younger ones huddled at the big tent in the […]
January 12, 2014
It is a personal pilgrimage. To visit my muse, that is. Despite my countless visits, Kawasan’s vigor strikes me as exciting as the first time I set eyes on her. We were supposed to visit this place on New Year’s Day to lead off the year with rush, flow, exuberance. […]
January 5, 2014
Somewhere mid-2013, I embarked on a photography project I named “Images from the Bus Window.” Instead of randomly shooting subjects from the bus window, this project now comes with a theme. Let me start with the theme yellow. For Hannah Reyes, a very young and hot photographer I admired a […]
January 1, 2014
Yesterday, we visited the Tent City at Cebu South Road Properties where some of the survivors of the Super Typhoon Yolanda took refuge. Temporarily, I hope. Chad and I personally selected the toys at Carbon, the biggest and cheapest market in Cebu. We argued, deliberated, and finally agreed on the […]
December 17, 2013
Last Sunday, I headed to Bantayan Island, located in northern Cebu, at three in the morning to give the P32, 000 cash donations and little gifts for the kids I would surely meet along the way. Bantayan Island is the first site of our modest Project Rebuild, an initiative to […]
December 8, 2013
In one of the rooms at Palompon Elementary School, these words were framed: Nobyembre Paglilingkod | Pagmamalasakit Ang pagmamalasakit at paglilingkod ay kusang pagbibigay ng ating sariling kakayahan na maaaring material, moral, at ispiritwal sa ating kapwa lalo na sa mga kapus-palad at nangangailangan.
December 4, 2013
The highways are already cleaned up. The debris in the pictures are from the coastal streets especially Magallanes and the one by the public market. Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation is conducting a “cash for work” program. People—around 6000 of them—are paid P500 a day. They shoveled dirt, put them on a […]
November 21, 2013
To donate, click here or directly deposit it through Paypal under the email backpackingwithabook@gmail.com. More than food, survivors need shelter and livelihood to start their life anew—after Haiyan claimed and orphaned thousands of lives, damaged billions-worth of properties, left thousands homeless and jobless, traumatized those who survived. We will help them […]
November 14, 2013
“Ingon sila silot daw nis Ginoo nato. Pero para nako, grasya ni,” Tatay in his ’50s claimed after taking several gulps from his glass of tuba. “Daghan kaayog grasya naabot human sa linog,” he further shared. The tuba vendor scooped a spoon of lilong doused in native vinegar and spiced […]