This was to be a regular historical walking tour. But since I’m me and I know that our tour guide does not shy away from dark tourism (a real moneymaker in other parts of the world), I knew that I could get a few ghost stories out of the adventure.
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Went on a Pasig River Heritage Walk organized by Renacimiento Manila. We started at Plaza Lawton in front of the Manila Post Office, crossed part of the Jones Bridge, and ended up at the First United Building along Escolta. The walk showed me how small Manila can be on foot, even for someone disabled like […]
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I spoke to a a local practitioner who is called “Mananabas” (literally “cutter,” as in one who cuts with a panabas or forward-curved sword) because of their ability to walk grey areas, to find out what local plants are traditionally used to cleanse one’s space. This is their answer.
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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 […]
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I have always wanted to go to the Minor Basilica of San Sebastian in Quiapo ever since I found out that it is the only all-steel church in the country.
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A mini food tour to a province that takes its food seriously.
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If you grew up in Manila the 70s and 80s, Villa Escudero was the place for family vacations. And now, decades later, the resort still hasn’t lost its charm. Highlights included (and still includes) rides in hydraulic carts pulled by carabaos with flowers on their horns, as well as dining at the foot of a […]
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Many people will tell you to travel alone, will tell you that it is mind-blowing, life-changing, world-shattering. What not a lot of people will tell you is that it can be lonely, even for the most antisocial introvert.
Read moreIloilo is known for its La Paz batchoy, a pork noodle soup filled with innards and egg noodles, topped with fried garlic, spring onion, and pork cracklings. It is believed that the dish was invented at Netong’s, located in the middle of the La Paz market. Netong’s was started in 1948 by Leonito Guillergan, whose […]
Read moreMention the Philippines and most people think of weird food (fertilized duck egg, anyone?) and beautiful beaches. But stick around long enough, and you’ll find that (sometimes literally) beneath the country’s modern malls and mysterious mountains runs a lower mythological tradition so rich, its moved from the forest to the cities, morphing from myths to […]
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