General Satos City, Mindanao, Philippines Sept 7, 2026 Pushing south to the end pf Luzon, the Austronesians trickled through to the Visayas, island-hopping their way to the large island of Mindanao. They also spread west into present day Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Kalimantan. Ah! The similarities in customs with the Kankanaey that I noticed in … More To Land’s End
Baguio, Philippines Sept 4, 2026 The plan is to go to Kabayan next, home to the Kalanguya tribe but it is not on any direct bus route and logistics are not that simple. Hoping to get transport from Baguio I head there. The fitful sunshine I had in Banaue is history and it pours as … More Storms, Floods and a Delightful Surprise
Banaue, Philippines Sept 1, 2026 The rice fields and terraces are all very pretty but what are the origins of the Ifugao traditions? The questions nagged at me and small Banaue museum seemed an obvious place to begin. It is not so much a museum as a storehouse of items collected by Henry Otley Beyer … More In Search of Ifugao Traditions
Banaue, Philippines Aug 30, 2026 There are rice terraces carved out from the mountain slopes everywhere in these provinces, seen in snatches as the jeepney jolts along the winding roads. But as I approach Banaue, the vista opens up. Broad stretches stagger up the hillsides like stepping stones, the contours following that of the hill. … More Rice Terraces of the Ifugao
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
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 