48 Hours: The Gypsy Gals Weekend Guide to Baguio City
[note: This is an updated version of our Solo Female Traveler’s Weekend Guide to Baguio City] text by Prime Sarmiento photos by Prime Sarmiento and Avie Olarte Summer time is Baguio time! Baguio 's cool weather and bohemian vibe are one of the things that I miss here now that I'm living...
How I finally learned to let go
Text and photos by Prime Sarmiento [Note: This is my entry to “Your Life-Changing Travel Story” travel writing/blogging contest organized by Wego in partnership with Cebu Pacific Air, the Tourism Promotions Board, and ABS-CBN Choose Philippines.] This is not about a cool weekend escape from Manila's heat. This is not about the...
The Gypsy Gals’ Guide To Binondo
Text and Photos by Prime Sarmiento It's the Lunar New Year, and if ever you're in Manila there's no better place to welcome the Year of the Wooden Horse but in Binondo. And who knows I might bumped into you as I will be probably celebrating New Year's Day there (that or, I will...
Photo Essay: Corregidor
text and photos by Prime Sarmiento I didn't expect that going to Corregidor would be the perfect site for annual family trip. My lil sis ad I were just looking for somewhere close to Manila, not too adventurous but interesting enough for our parents and also something easy on the pocket. We...
Postcard Moment: A year of travels, a year of blessings in 2012
Text and Photos by Prime Sarmiento Sometimes I can’t believe that despite my busy schedule, I still manage to have the time, money and energy to go on working/leisure trips all over the world. I always consider my travels my biggest blessing and my travels in 2012 were full of many things that made...
Human Powered Awesome: An environmental journalist with a sense of purpose*
By Prime Sarmiento (This blog post was written in support of Natalie Sisson’s Human Powered Awesome project**) Environmental journalism is a thankless job. In a country obsessed with politics, basketball and showbiz, reporting on “esoteric” topics like climate change, biodiversity or deforestation, is not the easiest way to persuade people to...
Memories are made of Tikoy: How We Celebrate Chinese New Year in Manila
By Prime Sarmiento (Note: I always wanted to write a travel memoir and this post, which was first published in this blog two years ago, is my way of experimenting with this literary genre. I reposted it – edited, tightened up some sentences, and accompanied the post with some photos. And like before, I...
Quickie: A Solo Female Travelers Weekend Guide to Baguio City
text by Prime Sarmiento photos by Prime and Nina Sarmiento There are so many reasons why you may want to get out of Manila to take that eight hour trip to Baguio. For one, it's probably the best way to escape Manila's heat, dust and grime. Located some 1,500 meters above sea level,...
Mum’s the Word: What this gypsygal learned while traveling with her parents
Text by Prime Sarmiento Photos by Prime and Nina Sarmiento Every year my lil sis and I used part of our savings to give our parents the gift of travel. We usually go somewhere around the Philippines and/or southeast Asia, "educating" them about the joys of experiencing new places. So last month, when...
Ecotourism for the city gal: traveling to Puerto Princesa,Palawan
text and photos by Prime Sarmiento I am a journalist who covers environmental issues as a personal advocacy (and to this end, remains an active member oif the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists, Inc. (PNEJ) . In my own own way, I try to be an eco-conscious consumer. I bring reusable bags to shop, I...
Remembering Luneta
text and photos by Prime Sarmiento This is how I remember Luneta – a park where my our family go to during weekends, where my siblings and I run around the park, take turns in the slide, ride bumpcars. Later, my dad will spread the blanket on the grass and eat some sandwiches...
The Power of Symbols
text by Prime Sarmiento photo by Rhaydz Barcia I spent one weekend planting trees. Ok that’s a bit of an exaggeration. What I actually did was join fellow members of the Philippine Network on Environmental Journalists, Inc. celebrate our first year anniversary by planting a sapling at a mangrove area in Bacacay...
Travels in Intramuros and musings on my spirituality
posted by Prime Sarmiento photos by: Nina Sarmiento (Note: this is the first part of my two-part series on post-modern spirituality) I can't help but reflect about my own spirituality whenever I find myself wandering the Walled City of Intramuros. Intramuros was the political center of the Spanish colonial government in the...
Postcard Moment: Loboc River
photo by Nina Sarmiento