MYS Universe

Farmer says there are no spirits in the fields

In the middle of last year, I had to travel to the CALABARZON provinces for work. In the middle of this, I was invited to take a side trip to Candelaria, Quezon to visit Radel Matibag, a young farmer who had just returned from an exposure program in Japan. I wrote about his journey in […]

TRAVEL

Children’s playground and urban garden at Rizal Park

Rizal Park in Ermita, Manila, isn’t just a beautiful public green space, it played a big part in Philippine history as well. Formerly called Luneta National Park, his was where not only National Hero Jose Rizal was executed by firing squad in 1896, but also where, 24 years earlier, Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto […]

TRAVEL, TRUE WEIRD

My Siquijor adventure: getting hexed on an island paradise

In 2010, I was sent by a travel magazine to Siquijor, a small island province in the Visayas region of the Philippines. You need a ferry to get there, and I and the photographer took one from Dumaguete. The island was first called “Katagusan,” after the molave (Vitex parviflora) trees that populated it. When the Spanish […]

BLOG, TRUE WEIRD

The ghosts of Fort Santiago (at least some of them, anyway)

I don’t encounter the supernatural very often, nor do I wish to, but they seem to take advantage of the few times that we cross paths, packing a bunch of experiences in the span of a few days, or in this case, hours.

BLOG

Chef created mouth-watering dishes during lockdown with only a stove, an old wok, and a blunt knife

Where were you when enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was declared? Chef Ramon Antonio was in Mactan visiting his mother. “I have been visiting my mother in Mactan every month since 2018 (always via PAL for 46 years and counting), [for] at least seven to nine days per month, since that first time she slipped. She […]

BLOG

Trying a foraged puffball and living to write about the experience

This isn’t a post about watching a puffball explode. It’s about eating it.

BLOG, TRAVEL

My Fort Santiago supernatural experience

As romantic as this sounds, for a brief moment, people got to see Manila the way Carlos saw it: not just as a random city, but a dynamic place filled with life, potential, and art.

BLOG

Starting a new journal

Finished my old journal (Filed Notes) and starting a new one. This particular Field Notes journal took exactly one month to finish. Quite an achievement for someone who tries to fit everything in neatly, with as little overlap as possible. It’s also the journal I started drawing in. It’s taken me years to finally put […]