OLD SOUK | Warm Hues x Imperial Cues

Souk or sometimes written as Shuk, a plaza or bazaar and highly popular in Arab countries, gathers people for buying and selling pieces of merchandise. The Old Souk, interchangeable with what locals called as Dubai Spice Souk, is home to thousands of abstract visuals —  language, race, religion and ethnic affiliations; has subtly stood close to a century. This colorful market is walled just near the historical and picturesque aperture for trade and commerce, the Dubai Creek. Interesting pieces or art with rough cultural influences from Arabian and European countries, all rolled in maze-like alleys. 

BEACHIN' VEGAN | Mindoro Beach, Mindoro, Vigan, Ilocos Sur

Mindoro Beach | 

While you've probably heard  about Vigan's famous tourist spots  —  Calle Crisologo, The Sinking Bell Tower, its cathedrals, monuments and delicacies — it's worth to know, too, its underrated natural scenically secret spot — Mindoro Beach.

Mindoro Beach or also known as Playa de Oro Beach is located at the heart of Barangay Mindoro in Vigan City. It has a long stretch of semi-fine grayish sand without any construction occlusion. It's merely clear waters peeping from South China Sea, colorful boats of bigueno fishermen, a few bamboo huts, inner peace and generous sunshine to fill your heart and eyes.

VIGAN, ILOCOS SUR | A Vintage Collection Of Sights and Sighs

Vigan, the capital of Ilocos Sur in Region I, is one of the components of UNESCO's Heritage Sites. It perpetuates the stereotypes of civilization by safeguarding old traditions: food, structures and religion. Expressive architecture arising from trivial alleys are all unadorned exposition of the past Hispanic colonial time. To date, its tractable history remains as striking as a descending sun — beautiful and quietly glorious.

HOW TRAVEL CHANGED MY LIFE

Everyone was expecting me to become a teacher, a doctor, a banker, a SOMEONE.

And there I was, wrapped up in my own little world against other people’s worlds, sitting in a corner, at war with my own soul, wrestling realities, stuck deeply between the never ending forethoughts versus afterthoughts, and sincerely wanting to be just someone. At some point, though, I was unconsciously sharing their own expectations, too. It’s a shame, I told myself, as I quietly decided to be aggressive in taking and making paths; explored and the unexplored.

This entry is a compilation of realizations of a wannabe, a dreamer, a realist, an eyewitness and a storyteller.

Join me as I travel places and unravel the parody of the game they call LIFE.

BATAD, BANAUE, IFUGAO | A Narrative of Plot and Subplots in Aha-Timeline

PROLOGUE |

I was never good in math but I have always been interested in learning history.

I am fascinated by the analytical formation of each theory based on different genus: personal, ideology, science or mere experience. The scriptures describing the fall of a certain empire or how an entire race triumphed over alien conquerors must have been made – imagined and witnessed or both - by geniuses. So, I wandered into wondering along the northeastern edge on the map, to learn and unlearn things: old and new ones, too.

Due to consistent urbanization of Banaue, it did not meet the criteria to be included in the listings of UNESCO Heritage Sites, but its neighboring town, Batad, has long sought to preserve and conserve the magnificent landscape.

Batad, 12 hours away from kilometer zero, is highly popular for its spectacular topography: natural and man-made. Waterfalls,  Rice terraces and aboriginal cribs pleated on forested mountains bring resolve on how the indigenous Ifugao ancestors had protected the land and their tribe. 

Communing with the mountains of Batad is like reading a book. The content on each chapter presents special tones, theme and mood - what are your choices? You read it from preface to conclusion or you don't read it at all.

It is my quest to abridge the gaps of what is illustrated in books versus the imageries painted in my imagination.

I am excited.

THE ICY CORDILLERAS | Tinglayan, Kalinga and Maligcong, Bontoc

Kalinga and Mountain Province, two of the provinces that comprise the Cordillera Administrative Region ( CAR), stronghold the Philippine's highly invaluable cultures and traditions. Their tribes are strategically located in sierras for agriculture that have been sustaining the ancient households for years. These villages and its settlers, despite many technological advancement, remain interesting as it win out being independent and  at ease in framing their heritage in its true form.

ELYU | Surfing into the Waters of San Juan

ELYU | 

One of the four provinces in Ilocos Region - La Union - bring diverse people together to do similar interest – surfing. It is closely situated to the provinces in the north: Ilocos, Abra, Pangasinan, but is also accessible by a seven-hour land travel to those who are coming from Manila. For the past years, it has been called as the surfing capital of the North, fostering amity among tourists and locals, and realizing dreams of the young and young at heart. And, whether surfing is a juvenile curiosity or an established skill, you’ve got the full coastline of San Juan – its waters and big waves – willing to give you that kind of stoke you’ve been chasing.

BIYAHENG SAGADA, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE | Don't Panic, It's Organic

SAGADA | 

Sagada, not long after the release of a local movie stole the attention of romanticists, has become an instant resolve for adventurers: happy and sad. It is surprisingly amusing how a faint, antiquated, held in reserve, sheepishly pretty little town has promptly become the “tadhana capital of the Philippines.”

So yet again, we travel hundreds of kilometers to get lucky, either to make a break or bend and mend our own kind of tadhana: past, current or potential.

What is your Sagada story?

What is your tadhana story.

I’d love to hear it, dear.