Mountain Province, Philippines Aug 28, 2026 Long haul bus rides usually begin late in the evening and drive through the night. The stack of goods they carry vary from car tires to giant packs of soft drinks, to mysterious sacks to motorbikes. And passengers and their bags and bundles. The main highways are decent tarmacked … More On Mountain Roads
Sagada, Philippines Aug 26, 2026 Some Austronesian migrants settled in the Batanes islands and their descendants still call it home, but others had itchy feet which led them to sail onto northern Luzon in the Penablanca area of the Philippines. Over the eons they moved into the Cordillera and are collectively called the Igorots. The … More Hanging Coffins of the Kankanaey
Manila, Philippines Aug 24, 2026 The National Museum of Anthropology has a couple of floors devoted to weaving, textiles and looms, but it is a small section on the first floor that has my eyes pop open. A large chart displays two hypotheses of populating of the Philippines. It is an old chart, since the … More Trail of Jade Earrings
Manila, Philippines Aug 21, 2026 A sprawling city where slick neighborhoods jostle with far humbler ones. Some of the areas are unsavory enough that every local I spoke with told me not to wander around with a camera and to not even take the LRT mass transit. My hackles lay dormant for the most part … More A Kaleidoscope of Manila
Tainan, Taiwan Aug 19, 2026 There are more temples in Tainan than in any other city in Taiwan. Sixteen hundred of them at last count, they come all sizes. Some are sandwiched between apartment buildings and businesses while others stand in isolated grandeur. At the Tiantan Tiangong temple, the Jade Emperor is worshipped using a … More A City of Temples
Kaohsiung, Taiwan Aug 15, 2026 Not visiting Lanyu means I have a few more days left to wander in Taiwan. I had not intended to visit the west coast on this trip but figured I might as well complete the loop back to Taipei. Kaohsiung is next on the itinerary for no other reason than … More Enter the Dragon
Taitung, Taiwan Aug 13, 2026 The Taiwan Museum of Prehistory has a section on Austronesian migration with a large map showing the swathe of these journeys over hundreds and thousands of years. Somewhat child-centric, a few audio-visual displays traces the similarities in origin stories and how some foods like rice and sweet potatoes traveled the … More Dolphin’s Decree
Taitung, Taiwan Aug 10, 2026 Close to the northern edge of Taitung there is an extensive area that was once home to the Peinan tribe. Although the local Puyuma indigenous population call themselves Peinan or Beinan, some anthropologists believe that it is the Paiwan who were the original inhabitants of this site, based on the … More At the Peinan Homeland
Haiduan, Taiwan Aug 9, 2026 “It is a very small place. It is deep in the countryside and there is nothing there” was the discouraging comment I heard from locals in Chisheng which itself is hardly a teeming metropolis. But there was a Bunun cultural center there and I meant to try to get some … More Whispers of the Bunun
Cipuwa, Chishang Township, Taiwan Aug 8, 2026 The Ilisin or Harvest Festival is celebrated by the Amis community, sometimes jointly but more often by each village separately. Outsiders are not always allowed in and even if they are, some of the sacred ceremonies are still off limits. Excited to have finally found a festival nearby, … More At an Ilisin Harvest Festival
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 