Ferdz Decena

The Twin Bed room at Yabami Bed and Breakfast To be away from the town center for about 1.5km isn’t always a bad thing. For those familiar with Sagada, the nippy weather, the balmy sights of pine trees and mountains are one of the few reasons people escape to this charming highland town. But the growing popularity of this mountain town has lead to a bit noisy stay at the town proper. Finding Yabami Bed and Breakfast at Mabbay was a good thing. A small family-run in with large rooms by the roadside and lush view of pine trees at their backyard.

The artistic “A”, a World Vision sponsored child paired with me during the day’s activities He was soft-spoken, quiet and reserved. For a child of 10, his slim frame made him look younger and smaller. He would constantly cover up his board while drawing, not letting anyone see his work but I could see this kid has talent. For a young age his drawings have forms and its wonderfully styled. He seems to love art and its written all over his skin – literally. Once he finished he jumps over to his friends, smiling to look at their works. He has a quiet enthusiasm in him. I’ll call him “A”, one of the 15 sponsored child from World Vision at a school we visited in Zambales. We were there to spend time with the kids before handing them their World Vision Noche Buena Gift packs.

Crumpler The Squid in Red and in compact form I have a packable jacket, a packable pants and it’s no surprise I now have a packable stow-away bag in the form of Crumpler The Squid . I got lucky enough to win this new product by just following CrumplerPH on twitter (which you should do too!) so I wasn’t expecting much about it. I’ve had a couple of Crumplers already like their old 3 Million Dollar Camera Bag and had the Customary Barge Backpack for a while, so I can attest to the quality of the brand along with their spunky designs. I took The Squid to my recent trip to the cool highlands of Sagada to test how tough this sack is on actual travel.

A page from the North Sulawesi Story on PAL Mabuhay Nov 2012 Issue If you happen to be flying Philippine Airlines this month of November 2012, do check out their latest Mabuhay Magazine onboard. I got a short two-page story there on our brief stint in North Sulawesi , Indonesia. It’s a very interesting place covering Bunaken Island, Manado and Tomohon. Look for the article “The North Side Wonders” , below are the photos they used for the article.