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Things to do in Sagada (if you’re not adventurous)
View from Sagada Homestay “Humans are awesome,” I said, “for having invented…houses.” My epiphany was met with laughter. It was midnight, I had less than ten hours of intermittent sleep for two days...
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Bohol Island in a Day Tour
The temporary title of this blog post was, “How to take pictures of your Bohol day tour with a 50mm 1.8f manual focus lens,” because I may have destroyed my go-to 18-55mm zoom lens for good when I went...
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A Panglao Island Hopping and Land Tour (plus a bit of airport misadventure)
I hereby dub Panglao as Boracay lite, and in the best way. The powder-white sand of Alona Beach is perfect for barefoot walking in the day. In the evening, restaurants bring out chairs and tables, and...
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A Tour of North Batan, Part 1
Batan is considered to be the main island of the Batanes group. It has the most population, for it has the largest habitable and arable land area. The municipality of Basco is in north Batan. Our first...
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A Tour of North Batan, Part 2
A little story: My fears about meeting an accident right before my wedding came to a head when, to the surprise of everyone except me and my close friends, I fell into the gutter of a crowded but...
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Sabtang Island, Part 1: The Savidug stone houses
According to rumor (and the great thing about guesthouses is that everyone makes chika there), a famous Filipina actress who went to Batanes alone decided not to push through with her Sabtang tour...
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Sabtang Island, Part 2: On the way to the Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint
When you tour Sabtang Island, you actually only see the eastern side of the island, one that is near the coast. After visiting the stone houses of Savidug, we took a long road to our next destination....
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Sabtang Island, Part 3: Morong Beach, and more on the vakul
Perilous roads make for grand views. It’s true for the Cordilleras; it’s also true for Sabtang. Coast of Sabtang Island The southernmost part of Sabtang that we were able to reach during our tour was...
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A Tour of South Batan, Part 1: Mahatao
Unlike the previous two days, when the sky had been as blue as any Philippine summer sky could be, our third day in Batanes foreboded rain. Signal no. 2 had been forecast the day before as typhoon...
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Batanes after a storm, and some musings on traveling
It was three in the morning. Power was out, and the air inside our room was getting suffocating. I, however, dared not open the window. I’d been up awake for more than a couple of hours, watching the...
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A Tour of South Batan, Part 2: Uyugan
Brgy. Imnajbu (pronounced im-nah-boo) in the municipality of Uyugan has a very cool name and one of the smallest populations in the Philippines — just over 100 people! Its rugged landscape is...
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A Tour of South Batan, Part Three: Ivana
I just love how unique place names in Batanes are and how they make you pout your lips as they create sounds and stresses you never realized existed in a Filipino language: Kayvaluganan. Mahatao....
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Six Days of Seoul Searching: An Itinerary and Guide
My students were on semestral break, and so it was the perfect time for their teacher to go frolicking among the trees bursting with autumn foliage in South Korea. Fall foliage at Nami Island,...
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You should visit a university when you’re in Seoul
…and by this, I don’t mean getting a brochure on course requirements or inquiring on enrollment for foreign nationals (although of course, you can totally do that). I mean, go to a university and...
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An Autumn Morning on Nami Island
Notes on visiting Nami Island, Petite France, and the Garden of Morning Calm in one day from Seoul: Preparations Reserve your ITX-Cheongchun tickets here. Print out your reservation form. This is not...
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Do Min-Joon is waiting for you in Petite France
We were in the Gapyeong Tour Bus after having come from Nami Island. The tour guide was telling us all about our next stop. “Do you know who Do Min-Joon is? Because Do Min-Joon is waiting for you!” Oh...
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What does the Garden of Morning Calm look like in the afternoon?
Here’s how we described the Garden of Morning Calm upon seeing it: “This is a place our mothers would love.” We loved it too, of course, but in seeing all the flora, we also felt somewhat nostalgic...
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Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung (Hint: Visit the Secret Garden!)
Changdeokgung, built in the 1400s, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Like Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung was also burnt down during the 1592 Japanese invasion — not by the Japanese, but by citizens angry...
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Why Insa-dong should be your base in Seoul
I have mentioned before that you should stay in Insa-dong when you are in Seoul. Why? Let’s recap: First, many sights are a walking distance away: Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung,...
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We (unintentionally) gatecrashed a wedding in Unhyeongung
On our fourth day in Seoul, we slept for as long as we could and took our time with breakfast. Our goal was to visit nearby areas — the Jongmyo Shrine, Unhyeongung, the War Memorial, and whichever...
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