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1801 Miles: Yellowstone National Park
It’s four in the afternoon and I’m in the middle of a large forest clearing, shivering to the bone. I’m with dozens of visitors looking at Old Faithful geyser – calm as of this moment – inside Yellowstone Park, the world’s first national park and one of the largest in the U.S. The sky is…
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1408 Miles: Black Hills
Early the next morning we head to the Black Hills in South Dakota, a large patch of mountains just off the border with Wyoming. Before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, South Dakota was the home of Sioux American Indian tribes and this bit of history comes alive at the Crazy Horse Memorial, a yet incomplete…
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741 Miles: Arches National Park
Utah – that famed state of red rocks jutting out of great expanses of sand being grilled under a scorching sun that hangs above a cloudless blue sky. This is the land Archaic peoples have called home for millennia, before Puebloan, Fremont and Ute people took over as they scourged for food. Here, water, extreme…
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Cruising the Alaska Panhandle
It feels very much like any morning in a hotel. I get out of my bed, wash my face, and prepare to go to the breakfast buffet. As I close our room’s door, an Indonesian housecleaner walks by. “Good morning!” he greets. Stuffing the door card in my pocket, I greet him back. But as…
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Vancouver: B.C. Days
I’m walking along a sidewalk on a clear morning with Tita Marie. It’s a bit early in the morning so except for a few early risers, the streets are still on the verge of coming to life. A tattoo-covered girl is about to open her inking parlor. “Welcome to Vancouver,” she greets us. “You know, you picked…
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Mt. Pinatubo Trek: A Firsthand Experience with a Local Guide
“And now we walk,” Wilson says, jumping from the back of the 4×4 truck where he is seated. Our vehicle is on a wide clearing, parked with other 4x4s. The passengers of the other vehicles are slowly getting down as well. It’s a beautiful morning and the early rays of the sun have arrived. Occasional…
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Singapore: Evening Stroll
We’re sauntering along the bridge between Sentosa and VivoCity on an overcast afternoon. Ships are docked at the nearby harbor. A group of teenage girls are with their tummies on the floor trying to take their picture with the ocean as the background. They’re all giggling, a very much different display from the deadpan expression…
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Phuket: Afternoon Ride
I gingerly climb onto the elephant and snuggle into the seat precariously perched on the creature’s back. Abie follows suit, aided by our driver who’s one of those masterfully guiding tourists on an elephant ride along a path on a hill. A young lady ties a loose strap on either side of our seat, acting…
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Kuala Lumpur: Morning Drive
It’s a little after breakfast on a cloudy morning. We’re standing just outside the gates of Port Kelang a few kilometers from Kuala Lumpur, trying to seal a deal with taxi drivers to whisk us off to the Malaysian capital. The ashen sky isn’t providing much help in livening up the aura at the port,…
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Madrid: Victory Party with the Red Fury
As the capital of the nation that once colonized the Philippines, Filipinos will certainly discover an immediate connection with madrileños, whether it be the predisposition for fiestas and naps (siesta!) or the number of Spanish words that has assimilated to the Filipino lexicon. And while Filipinos probably won’t embrace football as much as the rest of…
The Tourist Gaze
A Traveling Outsider Looking In
The Tourist Gaze 