a blog by Julia Escano
Eighteen months. That’s how long it’s been since these photos were taken. Too long ago, to be honest. I’d much rather be back here now, staring out the Shinkansen window at the blazing countryside, seeing the face Japan takes for late Spring.
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“It should be here somewhere.” Sandy slowed to a crawl on Highway 4, looking for an abandoned logging road that should take us to our campsite by Lake Kennedy. According to the internet, it was a few kilometers before the Tofino-Ucluelet Junction, yet we had already reached the junction and turned around. We never saw…
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I opened my eyes to rolling green rice fields. Our bus wove through the quilted landscape of terraced paddies as the sun’s pale yellow rays lightly kissed the mountain face. Inside the murmur of awakening softly buzzed, but was quickly blanketed by the quiet of the Sapa dawn.
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We’re at the heart of summer in the Philippines, and with temperatures averaging 39 degrees C a day (hotter than freakin body temperature!), it’s no surprise my mind is getting slowly fried. All I’m consumed with now is thoughts of the ocean, or the cool mountains, or anywhere away from the searing city, longing for…
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Travel is never complete without the people you cross paths with along the way. They infuse your experience with a different kind of soul, a depth, and a dynamism nothing else could fulfill. However pretty or rotten a place is, it’s always a smile across the street from a local or a shared memory with…
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Please don’t let my long-winded rants and run-on sentences fool you; I’m quite a decent writer (when I need to be).
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There were quirky AirBnBs with the most “Portland” of hosts, dubious motels reeking of detergent and disinfectant, middle-of-nowhere diners serving giant plates for one, and no shortage of jaw-dropping vistas.
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In a nutshell, I’ve moved continents.
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It was less a story than a prayer. For this place that had seized me to remain pure, to become constant, so that I could return one day and find its place in my heart still intact.
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It’s a piece on the rich, varied, and sometimes disjointed textures of my home, Manila, and how this has come to define me as a traveler and a citizen of a global world. Read it here.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on it too. Leave it at the comments section below.
They went on for kilometers, appearing at every turn, dip, and rise on the road. There were dozens of them, standing like sentinels against the sea.
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We stood at the back of a jeep and clung on for dear life as it nosedived into steep slopes and bounced around the rolling terrain. All the while, sand flew around us and caked us in a thin layer of sand-sweat icing.
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Grand old Spanish buildings sit side by side with tacky contemporary storefronts. Display windows feature random assortments of Chinese products, while street vendors roll carts piled high with produce. And the sea of people penetrates every cranny.
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This is a collection of photos taken around BC and a few in Alberta, Canada between the 17th of April, 2016 and the 2nd of April, 2017. During that time I made a total of four visits, coincidentally one for each season of the year, and stayed for six months all told.
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Just like Japan, and most other developed countries, I love how South Korea could straddle both their history and their progress while letting both sides of their identity shine. During my visit, I was able to see many chapters of their story as well as the different personalities they took on over time.
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By the time we arrived in Myeongdong, where we stayed for the duration of the trip, it was early evening. The sun had been gone for hours, and the breeze still a constant. After five steps from the station, I wanted out.
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Life as a Tumbleweed 