The Wandering Savant

(This is part one of my Mindanao Tour that had me covered over 1000 kms. of the Pan-Philippine Highway System.) I just had a sudden affection for solo travel. It brought in me a certain kind of excitement-not knowing what to expect and doing things alone. My goal is to explore some of the least explored places in the country and to let other people know that there are packets of gems in every corner of the country waiting to be uncovered. This purpose brought me to Cantilan, a small and laid back town in the eastern seaboard of Mindandao. Several miles east of Cantilan is the island of Siargao.  I landed  in Surigao City at 8 AM. I wasted no time and boarded a cab from the airport going to the Surigao Bus Terminal. I boarded a van going to Tandag. I told the driver to drop me off in Cantilan.  I arrived in Cantilan at around 12 noon. A part of CARCANMADCARLAN, one of the oldest settlements in Mindanao, Cantilan has been in existence since 1709.  My contact,

Not everyone is ever able to get rewarded with Lake Holon's mirror-like waters "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."   Ralph Waldo Emerson Wew! I just completed my very first solo travel ever.  There are a lot to be had in the pursuit of new places to see. One's courage will be tested and confidence will be put into action. The ability to interact with others will certainly be honed. It also offers the opportunity to restore one's faith in humanity. There are times when one has to give their full trust to complete strangers. I would like to think of myself as independent and that I don't need anyone in my life. Not even a day had passed on my solo travel that these assumptions proved fatally wrong. You always need someone, even a stranger to assist you and lead you to the right direction.  After a four-year hiatus and incessant prodding from friends, I am finally updating this

Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.' The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of 'Artist.' --  Edgar Allan Poe   Who would have thought… that somewhere in the outskirts of Baguio City lies a treasure house.  A house that could awaken even the most dormant artistic sensibility. It is a house that yanks someone away from the cacophony of the urban jungle. For someone who is looking for peaceful enclave in harmony with nature and man's creative expressions, the answer is BenCab Museum.  Nestled along rolling terrains of Tuba, Benguet lies Bencab Museum, home to  some of the most provocative pieces of visual arts. It is remotely situated outside of Baguio City but there is no mistaking the sprawling edifice carved out of the mountainside along Asin Road. Named after National A

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21, NIV) So, here and again we have let ourselves get entangled in a melodrama of sorts from our number 1 source of entertainment - the social network. I think it was two weeks ago when I first came across a video of a young woman shouting at the top of her lungs admonishing lady guard at an LRT station in Manila. Apparently, this was a video uploaded by a "concerned" individual. Little did I know that the said 3-minutish video would eclipse Breaking Dawn (Part 2) in terms of say viewership. The video went viral across social networking sites-twitter, Facebook, youtube, etc.  I recently learned that the video did not just go viral by itself, but much to my chagrin, so are the parody videos depicting the original scene. Everyone is eager to get his or her own piece in this tale of infamy. Everyone wants to get his or her own five minutes of fame. We are like flies ju

Do not equate knowledge with learning! Still, I am  struggling to grapple this whole thing called learning-such an elusive idea. We thought we have accumulated so much of it along the course of our existence that makes us bold enough to trudge ahead.  The 21st century brings about so much progress, or so we thought.  We have seen advances in science and technology that we could never have imagined twenty years ago. We are living in a very connected world that the line dividing our public and private lives seem non-existent.  However, much to any unthinking human's amazement is the fact that while technology has given us a great leap forward, human behavior remains stagnant. It is disheartening  to note that in the course of human history we have't learned anything at all.  How many among us are still harboring pent up insecurities and prejudices against each other?  When the one single individual's behavioral   issue gets amplified, the result would be c

Does it happen by accident that the words shallow and hollow rhyme?  Certainly, it is more of a coincidence than a rigid rule in English, considering how queer this language can get. Nonetheless, I am as baffled as anyone who cares.  This is the question that occupied a greater percentage of my mind as I was going home today. For the uninitiated, I have an uncanny way of entertaining questions in my mind that for some people may be considered frivolous. Words might be too uneventful for a few to even merit a second thought but in my case would involve so much mental calisthenics. Such is the case for us who have no inheritance but a few worn out books in our old dusty shelves.  Going back to the issue at hand, in truth, I have never fully contemplated the implications of these words before. It might be helpful to define the words. The word shallow is most commonly used as an adjective, though it could also be used effectively as a verb or a noun, to