You’re Too Old for Bangkok When…

As we get older, travel is best savored in the anticipation and in the remembering. This is because the reality of travel has as much to do with enlarging the human spirit as with recurring botch-ups on itineraries, gaffes concerning foreign customs, misfortunes with exotic dishes and calamities on directions. And difficult as those enumerated [...]

Couch Surfing in Jakarta and Yogya, Indonesia

Pre-flight Blues Have you heard the old ditty “Help the Poor” by Robben Ford? Because the circumstances of our trip to Indonesia were far from ideal, I thought that infectious song was going to be the soundtrack of our holiday in the cities of Jakarta and Yogya. “Help the poor Won’t you help poor me? [...]

The Grace of Pain

There is an institution called” Bahay San Lorenzo” for people with disabilities near our office so I frequently see wheelchair bound people struggling with their aluminum contraptions down main roads chock full of speeding cars and jeeps that rarely give them an inch of courtesy or consideration. There are times when the spectacle of misshapen [...]

Ukay-Ukay Okay

The bazaar-flea market is crammed full of what previously were someone else’s valuable possessions. As you wander around the heaving place, you take in the carnival-like vibe and you are shocked that everywhere you look – far and near – it is overflowing with items for sale at cut-throat prices, all of them beckoning you, [...]

School of Dreams, Bridge of Tears

It doesn’t seem to get any easier even though I’ve done this drill a few times before. You’d think that a bit of practice brings confidence and poise but you’d be wide of the mark because none of those, not even a smidgen of those are pending with me now just when I need them. [...]

Hurry Up and Wait!

I must have punched the plastic snooze button on my low-priced alarm clock three times in a row to secure 15 extra minutes of calmness before its insistent and piercing clamor finally swayed me to plow through the sleep barrier and drag my aching, sleep-deprived ass out of bed. Still wobbly from the hurried change [...]

Signs and Inspirations of the Times

Looking out the car’s windshield, the road looks like an immense python meandering around the mountains, threatening to crush and squeeze the life force from fools who cannot help but scratch this insufferable itch to leave home and go somewhere else. If that sounds dark and unpromising, it’s because there’s a touch about driving in [...]

The Return of the Comeback

If Baguio City were a woman, then she’d be at that juncture in her life where she has lost the desire to bother with bangles and make-up to disguise her deterioration and decline. The telltale signs of metropolitan carelessness and neglect like noise, graffiti, garbage and traffic are all unchecked and out in the open [...]

Power of One

It was a dance unlike any other. On one corner, Ricky Hatton, a beer-guzzling, larger than life brawler from Manchester, UK who is the reigning and undefeated champion in the 140 pound light welterweight division. And on the other, Manny Pacquiao from General Santos, Philippines, the reigning pound for pound king of boxing. East versus [...]

Facebook as Time Machine

Facebook rocks! After an inordinate amount of time tweedling my thumbs, I finally took the plunge and got a Facebook account. Yes I’ve heard an earfull of merry odes and praises heaped on this social networking site but due to a variety of personal and semi-pathological reasons I’ve managed to – until a few days [...]