Formerly the Amigo Terrace, a homegrown hotel located within the heritage district of Iloilo, the rebranded Citadines Amigo Hotel now boasted a beautiful fusion of nineteen-eighties architecture and post-modern interior styles. The blending of the old and new flairs commanded a double dose of retaining its already familiar homey ambiance among Ilonggos and the addition of appealing aesthetics to the city’s visitors.

When I first visited Mirador Hill in October 2020, just when the city was starting to loosen up with Covid restrictions, it was still known to most as the Mirador Jesuit Villa and Retreat House. At that time, there were already plans to create a bamboo forest and an eco-park surrounding this haven of tranquility.

During the first months of the pandemic, churches everywhere in the Philippines closed as a way to follow social distancing and quarantine protocols. After more than a year of being at home and attending online masses, several churches were then reopening and accepting devotees and people who needed divine intervention in their lives.

Far from being a typical Philippine island destination, Culion hid ubiquitous layers of fascination courtesy of its storied history that was both harrowing and triumphant. Many decades removed from its upsetting past when boatloads of patients stricken with leprosy were sent to the island to live a life of treatment and isolation, Culion’s journey from being the island of no return to a charming quaint isle was enough to entice any inquisitive traveler.

Popping with a yellow color you could spot a mile away, Sunlight Guest Hotel was every bit of its name, radiating light on a bright and beautiful day. Lending a Mediterranean vibe, it stood behind the water teeming with marine life and overlooking the islands of Coron and Uson. A small jetty within the property of the hotel instantly led guests to a day of diving and snorkeling in the nearby Siete Pecados coral garden.

After devouring generous servings of Cordilleran cuisine at the Farmer’s Daughter, Missy and I were craving a coffee fix. “Plus, I needed to join our Christmas party for an hour via Zoom,” Missy told me. I figured the outdoor setting of this café I first saw on Instagram would be an ideal place to sit, sip, and chill—and in Missy’s case, to “Zoom.”

“Forward! Remember that from these monuments yonder forty centuries look down upon you,” Napoleon Bonaparte declared to his troops as they geared up for the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798. Indeed, the history of the great pyramids dated back to one of Earth's ancient civilizations. This fact made my experience feel all the more surreal. I recalled staring at the pyramids with wide eyes while standing immobile, engrossed in a spectacular, fleeting moment. There was no better way to cap our Holy Land trip than with a chance to see the Great Pyramid of Giza up close.

It didn’t happen every day that I got to wake up in a new and unfamiliar place. Yet there I was stirring into consciousness from a deep slumber in the province of Basilan. A full day had passed since I stepped out of a ferry ship from Zamboanga, shattering my previous misconceptions about this province.

As it entered its tenth year, the #NLEXLakbayNorte continued to promote more tourist destinations in Northern Luzon. However, due to the global pandemic, the usual five to six-day caravan across several provinces was curtailed to a shorter trip focusing on just one province. This writer of Nomadic Experiences was recently invited to participate in the two-day familiarization tour of Nueva Ecija. Following IATF-enforced safety protocols, we explored other must-visit places in the province known as the “rice granary of the Philippines”.

We rarely came across companies that put advocacy and employee empowerment at the center of their corporate mission, but Glorious Industrial and Development Corporation—GIDC, the Stevia Company—was setting the model. As the first stevia grower and manufacturer in the Philippines, GIDC harvested and marketed Sweet and Fit Stevia, the foremost stevia herbal dietary supplement registered by the Food and Drug Administration in the Philippines, as its main weapon in leading the charge against diabetes. Grown and harvested in the Philippines exclusively by GIDC, Sweet and Fit Stevia was free of calories, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and had zero glycemic index.

Socially distance yourself from the hustle and bustle of Manila by taking a three-hour drive to this part of Nueva Ecija, where one could wake up to a sea of clouds and the humming of birds. Nestled on the slopes of the Sierra Madre mountains and overlooking the calm waters of Pantabangan Lake were a set of cabins that gorgeously blended with the surrounding nature.

Looking for where to eat in Zamboanga City? One restaurant had become almost synonymous with the city's culinary identity: Alavar Seafood Restaurant. Best known for its legendary Curacha con Salsa Alavar, the restaurant had been welcoming travelers for decades and remained one of the first stops for food lovers visiting Zamboanga.

“Naka hain na ang pagkain sa hapag kainan”. Most of us eighties kids would attest that these words were enough to get us running into the dining room from playing games on the street. "Hapag Kainan" was the Tagalog word for "dining table," which was probably the most significant fixture in a Filipino household. It was the place where family members came together to talk about the day's events while enjoying a delicious homecooked meal.

Mountain bikers and motorcyclists alike were flocking to the rugged hills of Colosboa in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija. This was because of the terrain's snaking dirt tracks that would delight any two-wheeled rider, as well as the beautiful countryside scenery. However, as the host of a TV shopping show would say, "but wait, there's more." Because Colosboa Hills was also home to a bike and souvenir shop, a rustic bar called Hill's View, and a foodie hangout place called Tambayan ni Berto.

A few days removed from being graced by the presence of National Living Treasure awardee Apuh Ambalang—a Yakan master weaver who unfortunately passed away at age seventy-eight in February 2022—in Lamitan, Basilan, we continued our discovery of the 'Habi' (weaving) culture of the Zamboanga Peninsula by making an educational stop at the Yakan Village in Zamboanga. Despite the fact that this was my second visit to this Yakan cultural hub, I was immediately captivated by the vibrant woven creations displayed in the rows of stalls that greeted us after we alighted from our vans.

While in the midst of our culinary exploration of the Zamboanga Peninsula and on our way to more Hilom (wellness) and Habi (weaving) discovery, we passed by a province I’d never been to before: Zamboanga Sibugay. Only a few days removed from ticking Basilan as my seventy-fifth province visited in the Philippines, I stared intently outside the window of our van, engrossing much scenery and wondering if I could checkmark it already. However, I had a personal rule that if I didn’t stop to either eat or sleep, it didn’t count. Good thing, though—despite having a hearty breakfast already—our group stopped for another round of breakfast at this hilltop property in Ipil called Stonehill Farms.

A feast of a brunch consisting of mouth-watering Tausug and Sama delicacies on a floating cottage, followed by a beachfront banquet with curacha crabs and other fresh seafood catches, made for one memorable first day in Basilan. It went without saying that I expected our lunch the next day would be equally fulfilling—and it indeed was.

After leaving a high-paying job in a Hong Kong-based exporting company more than twenty-five years ago, Helen Rulloda never doubted she was making the right decision. Driven by a strong faith that she was headed to her path of true calling, she eventually stumbled into a little-known handicraft trade in her home province. Recognizing the beauty of an industry where generation-to-generation handing down of artisan weaving skills persisted, Helen seized the occasion to answer her calling.