Eh kumusta naman ang iyong trip sa Helsinki? asked by a colleague. It took me a long time to respond. A part of me would like to say it was traumatic. I wanted to tell her that a group of pickpockets took my wallet and I lost all of my money for the trip, including…
Tag: Travel
Tallinn: From Russian Nobility to Baltic Cultural Identity to a Fairy Tale Wonderland (Part 1 of 2)
In 2022, while preparing my Reykjavik trip for the International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Conference, one lay-over consideration was Helsinki in Finland. The reason: to cross the Baltic Sea and visit Tallinn in Estonia. Why would I want to visit Estonia’s capital city? Because, why not? The historical centre (Old Town) of Tallinn is…
First Day Experience in Helsinki: Escaped the Ordinary?!
Since December 2023, I anticipated the trip to Helsinki. Was I excited? Excited was an understatement. I was super, really super excited. In fact, I was tagged as the trip leader – officially, and a position that I only assume because, why not, I love to travel. Well, technically speaking, I was the official trip…
Corregidor Island: Performance, Cultural Memory, and Heritage (Part 1)
Early this year, I saw an announcement on social media that the Corregidor Island and the other surrounding fortifications along Manila Bay are collectively identified as a potential World Heritage Site (WHS): Corregidor Island and Historic Fortifications of Manila Bay. Interestingly, a few years back, I was wondering why Corregidor was not even considered as…
Somewhere in the Arabian Sea: The Elephanta Caves of India
I mentioned elsewhere that my idea of Mumbai was the Juhu slums as depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire. As I also wrote previously, this perception was demystified when I got a chance to see the city myself and hinted that Mumbai’s charm is peculiarly beautiful because of its furiously chaos-in-order aesthetic. What I…
The Pyramids at Giza, and what we can learn about death
The Great Pyramids at Giza Complex is another highlight of the Holy Land Tour I was part of in December 2022. To describe the pyramids at the complex as “great” is an understatement methinks. They are massive. They are really, really overwhelmingly amazing. Since arriving in Cairo on 9 December, I have been anticipating this…
Forts and Castles in Ghana: The Stories Must Go On (Part 1 of 2)
My expectations about traveling to Ghana were a combination of fear and excitement. I was afraid because of the current socio-political standpoint of the nation’s legal framework against homosexuality which is found in the 2021 Promotion of Appropriate Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill of the country. The bill is set to criminalize the promotion,…
Moses supposes his toes are roses? The Sinai Experience
Finally, I have been to Egypt! I told my friends. Too excited, they anticipated stories about the Sphinx and the Pyramids but instead I recalled my Sinai experience first and thought it would also excite them. Did it excite them? Well, I think it did. From Eilat in Israel, the first Egyptian city to welcome…
En Route Jerusalem: The Bahá’í Gardens in Haifa
On the fifth day of our Holy Land Tour, we left the Northern District for Jerusalem en route the Modern City of Haifa, the Ancient City of Caesarea, and the Village of Eir Karem, our gateway to Jerusalem. For this trip, we went to see the Stella Maris Church on top of Mount Carmel. We…
Walking the Galilee Journeys of Jesus and His Apostles: Kanna / Cana
Kaf’r Kanna, popular in the modern version of the Scriptures as Cana is a small Galilean town in the Northern District of Israel. Christians and Catholic pilgrims and devotees associate this modern village of Cana as the site where Jesus turned water into wine. In the Christian tradition, this is the first miracle that Jesus…
Tanghal Kultura 