Travel notes, food finds, and everyday stories.
The first meal in a new place sets a small tone for the whole trip. Ours was in Sa Pa, with cool mountain air and a light rain falling outside, which is exactly the weather a bowl of hot pho was made for. We ended up at Nhà Hàng Thìn Oanh, mostly because it...
I asked my friend to tell the driver to slow down. Then I asked again. It made no difference, because he kept speeding up, and I was in the back seat of a car climbing a mountain in the dark, wide awake. That was the last stretch of a very long trip to Sa...
The staff at the A-Lounge counter swiped my card a second time, then a third. Nothing. “Sir, it’s not showing up in our system. Do you have your Priority Pass card?” I didn’t. I’d left it at home, because I genuinely didn’t think I’d need it. I’ve had free lounge access through RCBC for...
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here. The past couple of weeks have been busy in that particular way that leaves no room for sitting down and actually gathering my thoughts. I’ve missed it, even as I let this space go quiet. But today isn’t just any day. Tonight we fly to...
After our Sunday gym session, one of my buddies started talking about bulalo. Not in a casual, maybe-later kind of way, but in the specific, single-minded way you crave something after you’ve just burned through a workout and your body is asking for exactly one thing. There were three of us, including a friend...
In my line of work, I get to meet people at their most vulnerable. I don’t take that time to probe. I try to listen, offer something from experience if it helps, and if I can, take a little weight off whatever they’re carrying. Sometimes that’s the whole job. Just making the burden feel...
There’s a particular kind of hunger that hits after a Sunday long run, the kind where your legs are heavy but your stomach is louder than your legs. That’s usually when we find ourselves pulling up to Pancit Cabagan Batil Patong along San Vicente Road in Urdaneta City, still in our running clothes, still...
I used to think adulthood would announce itself. A mortgage, maybe. A wedding. Some milestone with a date on it. Instead it showed up quietly, in the small print of my calendar, in the invitations I started saying no to. That’s the first sign, honestly. Time started to feel fast, and a little frightening....
Travel Date: August 13, 2026 I checked into Conrad Manila at 3:46 in the afternoon, and instead of unpacking, I went straight to the mall next door. My first trail run is coming up, in Vietnam, and I still didn’t have half of what I needed. Running shorts, a hat, swimming shorts for after....
There’s a version of buko pie that tries too hard. Heavy on condensed milk, drowning the coconut in sugar until you can barely taste what made you order it in the first place. Cabuyao Original Buko Roll Bakery’s Classic Buko Pie is not that pie. At ₱250 for a whole pie, this one leans...