So — we had spent the morning in Gangnam and a couple of hours in Ewha Womans University, and in the later afternoon I was dragging my husband to our last stop for the day — the Seoul World Cup Park. The Haneul Park stands on what used to be a landfill up to the early 90s. Massive… Continue reading The Haneul Park: How to turn a landfill into a tourist spot
…and by this, I don’t mean getting a brochure on course requirements or inquiring on enrollment for foreign nationals (although of course, you can totally do that). I mean, go to a university and sightsee, and envy the students a bit because they’re young and their school is lovely. As for us, we (I) decided to… Continue reading You should visit a university when you’re in Seoul
Day 2 Itinerary Notes Train from Anguk Sta. (Line 3), transfer at Seoul Natl Univ. of Education (Line 2) to Seolleung Sta., exit 8 walk for some five minutes along Seolleung-ro to the entrance to Seonjeongneung, the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty see the burial mounds of the Joseon kings and queen take a… Continue reading Half a Day in Gangnam
My students were on semestral break, and so it was the perfect time for their teacher to go frolicking among the trees bursting with autumn foliage in South Korea. The truth, though, was that I’d planned our trip to Seoul almost a year in advance (thank you, AirAsia sales) because that was around the time I… Continue reading Six Days of Seoul Searching: An Itinerary and Guide
It was three in the morning. Power was out, and the air inside our room was getting suffocating. I, however, dared not open the window. I’d been up awake for more than a couple of hours, watching the branches of a mango tree in the yard get whipped in all directions by Typhoon Noul/Dodong’s signal… Continue reading Batanes after a storm, and some musings on traveling
I just love how unique place names in Batanes are and how they make you pout your lips as they create sounds and stresses you never realized existed in a Filipino language: Kayvaluganan. Mahatao. Imnajbu. Ivana. The last place, which you pronounce with the stress in the first syllable (EE-va-na), is the last of the five (out… Continue reading A Tour of South Batan, Part Three: Ivana
Brgy. Imnajbu (pronounced im-nah-boo) in the municipality of Uyugan has a very cool name and one of the smallest populations in the Philippines — just over 100 people! Its rugged landscape is captivating, especially more so the day we went there, what with a signal no. 4 typhoon coming. Imnajbu has a lot of claims to fame for… Continue reading A Tour of South Batan, Part 2: Uyugan
Unlike the previous two days, when the sky had been as blue as any Philippine summer sky could be, our third day in Batanes foreboded rain. Signal no. 2 had been forecast the day before as typhoon Noul/Dodong was about to make landfall in northeastern Luzon. It was quite the perfect day, though, for touring: the overcast… Continue reading A Tour of South Batan, Part 1: Mahatao
Perilous roads make for grand views. It’s true for the Cordilleras; it’s also true for Sabtang. The southernmost part of Sabtang that we were able to reach during our tour was Brgy. Chavayan. Like Brgy. Savidug, it has traditional stone houses nestled between Sabtang’s green slopes and rugged coastline. Here, we were able to have… Continue reading Sabtang Island, Part 3: Morong Beach, and more on the vakul
When you tour Sabtang Island, you actually see only the eastern side of the island, one that is near the coast. After visiting the stone houses of Savidug, we took a long road to our next destination. Along the way, we stopped by a limestone kiln — essentially a hole in limestone-rich ground. They light the makeshift kiln up… Continue reading Sabtang Island, Part 2: On the way to the Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint
Ang Lakwatserang Guro 