horizon perfekt

Hidden Treasures of Catanduanes

Posted on May 5, 2009

The following article is an unedited version of a commissioned feature I wrote for this month’s issue of SMILE, the in-flight magazine of Cebu Pacific Air. You may browse the magazine online at http://www.cebusmile.com Sun and rain battled for undivided attention, as I looked out from the observatory tower of the PAG-ASA Weather Station—a structure that curiously looked like something out of The Jetsons—desolately perched above the rolling rainforest of the island’s foggy mountain range. In a matter of minutesRead More→

Higantes Festival (Angono, Rizal)

Posted on April 12, 2009

Religious revelry and local fanfare characterize most festivals in the Philippine islands. One such festive celebration occurs a stone’s throw away from Metro Manila. Every November 23, the lakeside town of Angono in Rizal province wakes up to a big and bright celebration in honor of the town’s patron, St. Clement. The “higante” tradition of Angono began last century, when the town was a Spanish hacienda. The hacienda owners concerned about costs prohibited all celebrations except for one annual fiesta.Read More→

Cebu Provincial Capitol

Posted on February 5, 2009

Having passed by this government building growing up, I have often overlooked the beauty of its dignified dome, Ionic columns and golden statues of draped figures that encompass one of the best preserved colonial buildings in the country from the American occupation.  Designed by Juan Arellano, the Filipino architect best known for Manila’s Metropolitan Theater and Post Office Building, the gleaming white neo-classical seat of the provincial government of Cebu was constructed from 1937 and inaugurated a year later by CommonwealthRead More→

Mount Pinatubo (Capas, Tarlac)

Posted on January 27, 2009

As we worked our way through the ashen gullies of Mount Pinatubo’s shoulder, I admired the signs of rebirth underway: the steady stream of water that skipped over horsetails, tadpoles and pumice stones painted with sulphur and iron; the moss, thickets and tree ferns carpeting the ravines beneath distant avian cawing; and Aeta children keenly observing our ascent into the gaping cerulean mouth of Apo Namallari– the almighty god of this sacred mountain, whose pyroclastic power the world witnessed duringRead More→

Sky Experience Adventure (Crown Regency Hotel & Towers)

Posted on January 8, 2009

What I love about Cebu is that every time I come home, the place has always something new to offer: a new mall, new restaurant, new hangout, new beach hideaway, and new friends. No wonder travelers simply can’t get enough of the Queen City of the South, making Cebu the most visited city in the country. Long before Ferdinand Magellan set foot on the island in 1521, this settlement was already a bustling outpost for a slew of Chinese, Thai,Read More→

Good Night, Bangkok

Posted on January 5, 2009

At the height of Bangkok’s anti-government protests that shut down the airports late November, I was given no choice but to spend the remainder of my second visit to this vibrant city gleefully basking in its wonderful fluorescent glow. Very eager to test the slow shutter speeds of my Horizon Perfekt, I wandered the ‘City of Angels’ camera-armed to discover a glimmering labyrinth as amazing at night as it is under the midday sun. As news of the local pandemoniumRead More→