• National Museum Of Natural History: The Things We Miss While Scrolling
    Travel

    National Museum Of Natural History: The Things We Miss While Scrolling

    Most people don’t make it past the first paragraph. You probably won’t either. Or maybe you’ll just stop to look at the photos from the National Museum of Natural History, Philippines. That’s how we’ve been programmed these days. We are rewired to scroll, pause, swipe, and repeat.  The algorithm decides what matters now. And if it doesn’t flash, move, or shout in under eight seconds, we move on. That’s why museums feel so irrelevant today. And it’s not because they’ve failed to evolve and adapt. They’ve renovated, rebranded, and redesigned entire exhibits just to hold our attention a little longer. But still, we scroll past them. Because museums offer depth,…

  • Mt Kupapey Proved That Burnt Toast Can Lead To Something Beautiful
    Travel

    Mt. Kupapey Proved That Burnt Toast Can Lead To Something Beautiful

    What if everything that went wrong was actually going right? What if a cancellation was actually a redirection? What if the setback was really just part of the setup? Most of us have goals and trips we’ve mapped out for months or even years. We plan for months, picturing how everything should unfold. And yet, it takes just one storm, one cancelled flight, and one shift in the weather to throw it all off course. That’s what happened to us. We were meant to take the mighty multi-day Kibungan Cross Country hike. That was the dream. But the Universe had other plans. And somehow, we ended up hiking Mt. Kupapey…

  • Sumaguing Cave: A Journey Through Darkness, Doubts And What-Ifs
    Travel

    Sumaguing Cave: A Journey Through Darkness, Doubts And What-Ifs

    They say you can’t change the past. But somewhere between the ice-cold waters and slippery rocks in Sumaguing Cave, I kind of wished I could travel back in time. It started with a phrase uttered by a Caucasian tourist after exploring this underground labyrinth in Sagada. “I saw my life flash right before my eyes,” he said. I admit. That’s not exactly the most encouraging and comforting thing to hear right before a Sumaguing Cave adventure. Yes, I was once a fearless hiker and thrill seeker, with years of experience in hiking and exploring caves. But I no longer had the confidence and the athleticism I once had in my…

  • Mount Pinatubo Tour
    Travel

    Mount Pinatubo Tour: A Wild Adventure That Proves Disasters Are Beautiful

    Some disasters leave nothing behind. Ruthless and unrelenting, they erase towns, reshape landscapes, and swallow rivers. Yet, beauty can also emerge from catastrophe and chaos. On our Mount Pinatubo tour, I realized that disaster and beauty are not always opposites. Sometimes, they rise from the same eruption. Even though my Mount Pinatubo day tour wasn’t exactly a breeze, it was a surreal and eye-opening experience.  It led me to an iconic sight I once saw only in my childhood textbooks.  And it proved that even the most violent endings can lead to something new and beautiful. It reminded me that ruin and wonder can coexist, and we must burn before…