To the Filipino hiker, Mt. Kinabalu isn't as hard the way conventional Filipino mountains are hard. Where Filipino mountains rely on natural trails (a root becomes a step, a branch, your foothold), Mt. Kinabalu is 80% stairs. This means the best way to train for Kota is not exactly to run hills, or to climb… Continue reading Kota: Tips and Tricks (and Stuff I Wish I’d Known)
Tag: 2016
Kota Kinabalu
It’s been more than a week since the Kota Kinabalu experience, otherwise known as that time I stuck with a booking I made one month into the semester because I was already tired of the academic workload. And really, every time I close my eyes, it’s still the chilly air I feel, and the gentle… Continue reading Kota Kinabalu
Great Balancing Act
The end of every year shows Twitter in a flurry of activities: people tweeting about the things they're grateful for; about things they wish they had done, or done better; about lessons they learned or lessons they wish they were taught. On my part, I decided to go on a sharing spree about the good… Continue reading Great Balancing Act
Subterranean
The thing I like best about science is the fact of its humility. Sometimes it tells you things: big things, small things, medium things, and then, when pressed for explanation, it says, "But no one knows why this is so." My favourite manifestation of this is that trivia about ducks. Apparently, according to that magazine… Continue reading Subterranean
24 // Mamba Memories
He was never as good as he was in 2013, or the years before, and anyone who’d say he was still doing great in 2015 would be lying. Today, however, he was phenomenal. — Growing up surrounded by people who think basketball is the best thing since sliced bread exposes you to the sport at… Continue reading 24 // Mamba Memories
Spectre of yesterdays
Act I. Eventually your fingers will be the gauge of your disposition Your knuckles the bearer of your sins. Soldiers have amputated arms, amputated legs. You have translucent skin brought about by wounds which never seem to heal. People would notice how your nails are always trimmed, almost invisible. You tell them it's… Continue reading Spectre of yesterdays
020103
Things have changed. She used to sit alone in restaurants, taking forever to read the carefully laid out menu, digesting each word even before her stomach would do the same to the food she will eventually order. She used to be comfortable with empty tables, with a book only for company. No reason to hurry,… Continue reading 020103
Of women
I was walking to the drugstore at 7 PM that day, the summer sun splashing the sky with vibrant colours of purple, pink, green, blue as it hid behind the faint Sierra Madre mountains, a temporary bid of farewell for the day. I overheard a girl, who was helping her mother sell chicken innards and… Continue reading Of women


