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Fond Farewell To Pre-School Nomadism

33 countries under her teeny crocheted belt. Some people think that, for her age, it ain’t nothing but a number. Sure, she can’t remember all the country names (and never correctly pronounced most of them). She can’t remember the tens of airports she passed through (though the memory lingers briefly for she’s got a photographic…

Photo Essay: Ai Pelo Prison Museum, East Timor

The early afternoon sun was beating down on our grubby car as we made our way back to the capital. It was already our second day in East Timor yet our bodies were still adjusting to the climate of its hostile summer. Hubby and I were weary from the heat (our three-year-old Luna looked unfazed…

Maubara Fort, East Timor: Stories Between The Cracks

On the back of a detour sign was a brightly painted “Salamat po!” (‘thank you’ in Tagalog) which the hubby noticed as he glanced back at the cloud of dust our speeding cab produced. We found two more similar signs along the under-construction highway, an evident indication of the Filipino workers’ presence on this side…

Case Of The Missing Mermaid Ariel Carry On

Pandemonium around the belt. It was quite unsettling. And there’s only one in Dili’s teensy Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport. My daughter Luna and I stood in confusion while the hubby fought his way through the ferocious crowd to fish out our luggage. Everyone seemed to be in a rush even though there was no…

Backpacking Timor Leste (East Timor)

Unspoilt natural resources. Nonexistent skyscrapers. Grieving aged walls. Palm-fringed sandy shores. Beachside bars minus Bob Marley clichés. Unadulterated fresh seafood on the grill. Pink sunsets. Mikrolets. Dusk-colored leathery skin. Genuine smiles. Malaria. U.S. dollars. UN workers.  The Democratic Republic of Timor Leste is Southeast Asia’s youngest. Like my home country the Philippines, it is further…

2012 Year-Ender/World-Ender

Ahhh… 2012. You are an ebullient homage to wanderlust. Frankly, I am quite obsessed with your ruffled months. In fact it’s almost midnight and amid that end-of-the-world hullabaloo, here I am fondly sewing a patchwork of idyllic imagery to commemorate your flamboyance and purport. Now this may seem like a pathetic way of exiting the…

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