All stories

From El Nido to Coron with Big Dream Boatman

Sidemen – The Gentle Soul of Bali Between mountains and rice fields, Sidemen breathes in quiet rhythm. Rain drifts across the valley, then sunlight returns, soft and golden. At the morning market, voices rise with laughter and the scent of spices. Temples, fields and daily life blend into one gentle harmony. Here, time slows, hearts open, and stillness feels like home. 🌿

A Balinese Wedding – Love and Rituals in Harmony Under the warm morning sun, we witnessed a Balinese wedding filled with color, incense and grace. Offerings of fruit and flowers, prayers whispered in rhythm, the groom cutting a paper to release bad luck, each gesture a symbol of balance and renewal. There was laughter, music and endless kindness. In Bali, love is not only between two people, it flows through the community, the temple, the air itself.

Batang Ai Longhouse – Life Shared Under One Roof Deep in the Borneo rainforest, 29 families live together under one long roof — sharing laughter, stories, and silence. We slept on wooden floors, danced to tribal drums, and woke to the sound of roosters and rain. It wasn’t luxury — it was life, honest and unfiltered. Here, community isn’t a concept. It’s a heartbeat.

Deep in the heart of Borneo lies Mulu, a place where the earth still breathes. We walked through misty rainforest trails, climbed endless steps, and watched millions of bats dance across the sky. We met the Penan people, drifted through caves of wind and water, and laughed beneath the monsoon rain. Here, time slows down, you’re not just in the rainforest, you become part of it.

The road to the Danum Valley begins long before you reach the forest.It starts with the hum of the early morning — the alarm at 5:15 a.m., coffee in hand, and the long, bumpy ride through endless rows of palm plantations.

If there’s one thing that keeps surprising me about Manila, it’s how comfortably the city holds contradictions, noise and stillness, chaos and calm, toughness and tenderness.And nowhere is that balance more visible than in the people themselves. The beauty of being both In the Philippines, masculinity looks different.Men laugh freely, hug their friends, sing love songs in public.They take care with how they look, hair perfectly styled, eyebrows shaped, a trace of perfume th

Manila has many faces. Some are loud and glittering; others are quiet, hidden, waiting to be seen. But nowhere does the soul of this city feel more human, or more fragile, than in the North Cemetery , where the living and the dead share the same streets. A city within the city Behind the gates, you don’t just find tombs, you find homes. Families live here, some for generations, in small shacks built between marble crypts and cement walls. Laundry hangs from crosses, flowers b

Beyond the stone walls of Intramuros, the city hums with another kind of life, louder, faster, and full of flavor. Here, the smell of grilled meat mixes with diesel fumes, the hiss of frying woks fills the air, and laughter drifts out of narrow alleyways lined with red lanterns. If Intramuros is Manila’s soul, Binondo is its beating heart, rhythmic, chaotic, and deliciously alive. Binondo – The World’s Oldest Chinatown Founded in 1594, Binondo was once home to Chinese trader

Most travelers skip Manila.They fly straight to the islands, chasing turquoise water and whitesands.But those who linger a little longer discover a city that speaks in layers: of faith, resilience, and memory.A city with scars, stories, and soul. Today, I wander through Intramuros , the old walled heart of Manila, where time slows down, and history still lingers in every stone, scent, and echo. San Agustin Church – Faith carved in time The heavy wooden doors of San Agustin Ch