A quaint old church built in 1889 and a beautiful beachside landscape of undulating rock formations and layers that reminds one of puff pastry. Only in Tangalan, Aklan.

It’s just a small festival, colors are more subdued and less contingents than Sinulog but the Ibajaynons surely takes centerstage and knows how to have fun!

Boracay is not just a sun worshiper’s paradise, with its fine, powdery white sand and azure waters, but for thrill seekers, its also one of the best places for windsurfing.

It was rather weird. People were holding skewered and grilled chicken or parts of it. Some with steamed crabs, fish, and, even strange, raw meat stuck to a man’s body or raised up on wooden sticks, waved and being agitated to the loud shouts of Viva! Senor Sto. Nino!

A day’s trip to Barangay Naisud’s Mangrove Eco Park didn’t push through and erratic wind at Bulabog Beach in Boracay made this day trip disappointing.

I was entranced, awed. The huge disc dipping into the horizon with sailboats becoming silhouettes in the foreground. It wasn’t just any kind of sunset. It was a postcard pretty sunset enough to make beach revelers stop and stare or take photos.

January is festival month in the islands of Cebu and Panay and, unfortunately, for the third Sunday of the month, one has to choose: Sinulog in Cebu or Ati-atihan in Kalibo.

Situated at 2,000 feet above sea level in the cool hills of Busay, Cebu City, Tops has been there as far as I can remember. It’s the perfect place to just view the city and surrounding islands of Olango and, even Bohol on a clear day.

The baby turtles were just at the holding pen, about three inches long, 15-20 individuals. Some were sleeping with their front flappers conveniently resting atop the carapace while some biting on a blanched but definitely dead fish floating on the surface.

From a distance, the river looks calm except for a few patches of white, water foam as it hits submerged rocks and boulders. A closer look, however, reveals a fast flowing river, even turbulent at some parts and ripe for a wild and wet adventure that is water tubing in Maitum’s Pangi River system.

Our Southeast Asian neighbors have nothing of this type of archaeological find. We should be extremely proud as Filipinos in discovering the amazing anthropomorphic potteries, which could suggest the backbone of our own culture.

Singapore is a shopper’s haven with the many malls and markets that dot the island country but there are still those that stand out and these are not even found inside malls. Here are five interesting shopping areas outside of malls.

Maitum, at first look, seems just any provincial town in Mindanao that one just passes by along the way: habal habals, tricycles and VHires go about their daily routines, ordinary houses, large rice fields, old stands of coconuts and a good highway that hastens one’s travel. But then again, its just the surface.

Yes, I’m traveling and this is my third day of a 13 day trip around both ends, west and east of Mindanao.

Maitum is a gem of a municipality in Sarangani, a young province located at the bottom of Mindanao Island. It is a beautiful place with interesting history, culture and sights to offer the traveler.