When I was young, my only idea of Belgium was Christelle Roelandts. The year was 1994. And my interest in Belgium began. Christelle Roelandts and 1994? Miss Universe 1994 was held in Manila, Philippines. Christelle Roelandts was Miss Belgium and she was one of my favorites. Unfortunately, she did not make it – not even…
Paghahanap kay Miss B (Finding Miss B)
In 2009, I won my first Carlos Palanca Award for Literature (Full Length Play). In 2010, the University of the Philippines Press accepted the play for publication. In 2011, the play was finally published (my first book came out, yehey!). Below is the preface/introduction of Miss Dulce Extranjera o ang Paghahanap kay Miss B (University…
Performing Catholicism, Performing Ambivalence
In 2003, I was admitted to the master’s program (theatre arts) of the UP Diliman Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts of the College of Arts and Letters. My thesis was on the nailing ritual in Cutud in the province of Pampanga. The nailing ritual was not my original research plan. I initially wanted to…
Mythology, Cosmology and Tourism in Play: The Barong and Kris Dance in Bali
Bali, an island in the Indonesian Archipelago, is a tourist haven among adventure seekers, cultural enthusiasts, and nature-lovers. As a traveler, Bali is one of the many places in the world listed in my bucket list. My obsession and fascination with UNESCO World Heritage Sites made me want to visit Bali since the inclusion of…
Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Four Days: Day 3 and Day 4 in Beijing (Part 2 of 2)
In the previous post, I talked about the Forbidden City experience and how we wasted time waiting for two other participants of the group tour. As a consequence, we needed to skip the shopping activity at a posh Beijing street, which street-name I forget. At the same time, we needed to adjust the alotted time…
Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Four Days: Day 3 and Day 4 in Beijing (Part 1 of 2)
The third day, 23 December, the temperature continued to drop. We were warned the night before that the temperature would reach up to -7 degrees. Jayson even asked everyone to wear our warmest clothes. The itinerary of the day began at the Tiananmen Square, a city square in the center of Beijing named after Tiananmen…
Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Four Days: Day 2 in Beijing
After the tour on our first day, Jayson dropped us off at the hotel: Ease Cloud Hotel. When the agency (Royal Kites Tours and Travels) announced that we would be staying at Ease Cloud, instinctively, I googled it and read some reviews. Relatively, Ease Cloud Hotel is a new hotel. This means, there are only…
Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Four Days: Day 1 in Beijing
On 21 December 2018, my colleagues, my friends and my partner traveled to Beijing, China on a tour package. Our flight back to Manila was on the 24th of December, with high hopes of making it for the noche buena or the midnight Christmas meal on our respective homes. The original expected time of arrival…
Le Grand-Place, Brussels: Place Making is Community Making
When my book Performing Catholicism (UP Press, 2016) was chosen by the National Book Development Board to be part of the official book launch event of the Philippine Pavilion at the Frankfurt International Book Fair in 2016, I made sure to do a side trip to Brussels. Besides, the transportation system in this European region (i.e….
The Legacy of the Nguyen Dynasty: Hué Imperial City and Thien Mu Pagoda
Earlier, I wrote two posts about our wonderful experience in Hue! The focus of the earlier posts was the Royal Tombs of the Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty. In the first post, I talked about Minh Mang’s and Khai Dinh’s. In particular, Minh Mang’s was impressive due to the man-made lake fringed with pine trees….
Tanghal Kultura 