Dedicate a whole day for this. And do it leisurely, as we did. You may take jeepney rides to get around or you may want to hire a car and local guide for the entire day. Route is simply all around Mayon Volcano (all along a lone, long circumferential street!) starting from Legazpi City, and back to the same city. The guide doubles up as your photographer and food guide too. Forget those fancy restaurants, get "dirty" with the more "famous-with-the-locals" eateries and roadside stalls. My best meal was in a roadside eatery called "Let's Pinangat" in Camalig, Albay -- thanks to our Tour Guide Edwin Ala. Padang Memorial From Legazpi City, we drove towards Barangay Biga-a, just 8 kilometers from Mayon Volcano. This place is a PERMANENT DANGER ZONE. And for good reason. Back in ... read more

Not just one sighting. Not just two whale sharks (or butandings, as they are called here). Today is my lucky day. Three whale sharks. Three sightings. Each time, the butanding "stayed" with us at least a full minute before bidding us goodbye with a gentle flip and dive . What an adrenaline rush! You think I'm a diver? To tell you honestly, I am perennially jealous reading about diver-bloggers narrate their undersea adventures. Them seeing the undersea world . The colors. The tranquility of the deep blue sea. The anticipation of meeting and encountering unknown, unnamed species. I never dreamed of doing what they do. Thought I'd never have the nerve. I'd be quite content seeing a few colorful tiny sea creatures with my grandchildren and enjoying a boat ride on a clear, peaceful day. Besides, ... read more

This. Is. More. Than. Just. A. Wedding. Friends from all over are flying in for this wedding. College and high school friends from way back, who remained friends for all of 40 years. (Does that tell you how old I am?) Many of us stayed in the same dormitory for a time long enough to make sisters out of us. A time when we partied well into the morning, donned the shortest skirts and the tightest shirts, wore head bands on wet, frizzed, unkept long hair, and our jewelry cases counted too many huge dangling earrings. Our mothers screamed in terrror over our fashion sense. Our fathers could only shake their heads in frustration. Our male friends at the time were mostly guitar-strumming college boys whose hair were longer than ours. Oh, you should see them ... read more

It's 3 o'clock in the morning and I stare brain dead How that form now spans nearly the length of the bed Have I missed any of those precious years .......or Simply ignored how these "babies" grew inches more? Memories flood my mind like a tsunami Years nearly forgotten, joy overflowing Yesterday's past morphing into my present Those little ones have grown ! They ask more pointed questions now My bedtime stories no longer hits I've long stopped humming lullabies IPods plugged in their tiny ears. I fetch them from school but wait in the car I hear their laughter before I see them come Bags too heavy, hands too dirty And more than ready to be home in a jiffy. These are my little travel buddies And my prayer warriors too Over scoops of yoghurt ... read more

Skipping Manila? I know .... the sun and sand beckons in the beaches of Boracay. There's serious diving in Palawan. You long to breathe the mountain air in Baguio and Benguet, or simply go completely rustic in the northermost part of the country in Batanes. Or maybe you want to try your surfboards in Siargao or even check out the tarsiers and chocolate hills in Bohol. For many, it's the heritage sites in Vigan and Laoag in the Ilocos region, where one is transported in time to a colonial era. The air is cleaner, less crowded, people likely less busy and thus friendlier, and board and lodging even cheaper in the islands south of Manila and the provinces north of Manila. Metro Manila I can't blame you. Manila is so congested, dirty in many parts of ... read more

Malacca. It is old Malaysia. Not the ultra-modern Kuala Lumpur, the capital. But Malacca or Melaka, with vestiges of its Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and British influences. The place is so ethnically diverse -- the stuff that makes it legendary. And speaking of legends, Hang Tuah is one legendary warrior/hero who lived during the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah of the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century. Touted as the greatest of all the warriors or "laksamana" , Hang Tuah was known to be a ferocious fighter. Judging by the many shops, streets, restaurants and buildings named after him, Hang Tuah is obviously held in the highest regard in present-day Malaysian Malay culture. Since I found him to be the most well-known and illustrious warrior figure in Malaysian history and literature, I thought I should start ... read more