Make me moan, Caramoan…
~Santi Obcena

Fresh from the trip to Ilo-Ilo a week before, Ron and I decided to bring Jeff to Caramoan Islands. Together with Santi, we huddled at terminal 3 an hour before departure. As always, Ron had to be late… We had to do unbelievable stunts to keep the counters open till Ron arrived. And he did, in the nick of time…
After a short plane ride to Naga Airport, we hit the road and immediately looked for a place to eat.

Kinunot, stewed shark and stingray meat.

Pinangat, taro leaves …

Fresh from the comatose-inducing overnight in Concepcion, we headed back straight to Iloilo City and looked for a place to eat late lunch. Mang Inasal is almost like herpes, they are everywhere. That’s why Jeff got too curious and I let him try its famous barbecue chicken, and it was so cheap it could possibly be fake chicken.
When Monette arrived in the city a day ahead of us she luckily stumbled-upon this new hostel in La Paz while looking for cheaper alternative. So we spared ourselves from exerting the same …

Filled with loathsome La Paz Batchoy soup, we decided to move along to get to our next destination, the Beach. Finally…
We hopped on a cab to take us to the bus terminal in Jaro and labored about 2 and a half hours of sweltering bus ride to the isolated town of Concepcion. We unfortunately planted ourselves beside the window so that when we went down the bus, the skin color of our left arms are nowhere near our right’s. We were dropped off at the wet market where our contact …

After the Pinatubo hike, that’s when we realized that it would really be the busiest month of 2010. After booking some more flights we ran around Manila like foreign tourists, minus the public transportation piece of it. We gave our guest from Vancouver an ultimate Manila experience–from the down and dirty foodie heaven of Estero to the glitz and glams of the Philippine fashion week.
After the fabulous holiday runway show of our friend Santi Obcena, I went straight to work, while Monette went home to prep-up for her 5 AM …

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots and spring rain.
~t.s. eliot, the waste land

It was late afternoon in 1991, when I noticed that the window in my room is covered with what seemed to be like a thin layer of flour. I went out to find out what’s happening. It was like snowing, but the falling specks was dry and not cold. I also noticed that the car parked outside was covered with what looked like confectioner sugar. I wiped a …

After two years of traveling, people would think that we have learned to cover our bases. After numerous “planned” spontaneous trips, we are proud of how detailed our researches are from getting to one destination to another, the place we are going to stay in, the food we will try out, and the places we are going to see. So what the hell happened?
We crammed…
We had to take the flight from Clark and the schedule that was supposed to be at 6pm was moved to 4pm. The Philtranco bus going …

“Hoy, Bawal maglaro sa kalye, patay ang Diyos!”
["You're not suppose to play on the streets, Jesus is dead"] –Aling Julie (My Mom)

This is the usual image of the holyweek observance in the Philippines. Penitensya is a traditional act of self flagellation as a form of repentance. The origin can be traced back to the colonial era of the country. Now it’s a bizaare spectacle attracting both local and foreign visitors.

Looking back, my personal memory of this occasion is more comical than spiritual.
I grew up in a traditional catholic Pinoy family. We live in a closely …

Hot air balloons were just fragments of my childhood’s story book memories. Like candies flying in the sky peeking behind white fluffy cotton clouds. This came to life in the fields of Clark in Pampanga in the tune of P250 (2010).
For 16 years, Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is being celebrated at the Omni Aviation Complex in Clark Field, Angeles City, Pampanga every February when the air is cold, suitable for hot air to rise up the sky. In the later half of the recent decade, Filipinos discovered this event. The …

This one caught our eyes when we were walking along Calle Crisologo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
We weren’t sure of the exact site where it will be rising, but the Kutcheros confirmed that Legacy Superclub will open in the middle of this UNESCO World heritage site, that same old house where the banner is posted.
We were speechless, didn’t really know what to say.
What are your thoughts about this?

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In the last couple of months, the pacific ring of fire has been under siege. And now, Mt. Mayon is on the verge of erupting.
The Country’s  most active volcano could erupt within days, officials warned Sunday after detecting a drastic surge in earthquakes and eerie rumbling sounds in surrounding foothills. Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated as a precaution.
Scientists raised the alert level for the Mayon volcano to one step below a major eruption after 453 volcanic earthquakes were detected in a five-hour span Sunday, compared to just …