just a thought

If we're tired of being asked questions, perhaps it's because we failed to give clear and precise instructions. Just as it is imperative to answer (even to questions we'd rather sweep under the rug), it is equally necessary to spare one another from constant second-guessing. State all intentions and interrogations clearly. We are not psychics.

goodbye, buster

This morning, I received news from home that Buster passed away. He would have turned six on August 6, 2020.

I was in Bohol over the weekend, and just a few hours before heading to the pier to return to Dumaguete, I noticed him lying in his bed, unwell. He was the shy type, but this time he was just suddenly too quiet, too still. Sat next to him and repeated his name, and he would slowly lift his head, answer me with a soft, feeble sound. Long, slow blinks and all. Offered him water, but he only lowered his head toward the bowl and never drank, as if still trying to be the obedient boy he always was. Then, very slowly, he walked away, turned his back to me, and faced the garden, as though telling me to not see him like that.

Before I left Bohol, I asked my sisters to take him to the vet. Arrived in Dumaguete last Tuesday night uneasy and heavy with worry. Kept asking for updates the following day. His vitals did not improve. Today, February 19, he is gone.

Now, who will I sing my Bebe Buster song to? When will I ever hear my mother say, “Bus-ter-teeeer!” with that unmistakable delight whenever you gently wandered into the room? Who will my sister look for as you playfully hid under the dining table? Where will we see those ice-blue galaxies in your eyes again?

Dear Buster, my last image of you is that afternoon before I left—your back turned, weak and in pain. But today, I choose to remember you differently: resting on a pile of leaves in the garden, your favorite, facing the early morning sun, just as I would always find you whenever I came home, with the light catching your fur, turning it the brightest of whites, glowing, as if our days were blessed by your presence.

Buster, we will miss you so much. 💟

[ more photos here ]

fragile things at dib bangkok

Dib, its name drawn from the Thai word for “raw” or “authentic,” grew out of a long-held dream of Petch Osathanugrah, the late father of Chang. A collector, musician, and heir to an energy-drink empire, Osathanugrah spent nearly four decades assembling a collection of more than a thousand works from across the globe, alongside an equally enduring desire to one day build a museum where these pieces could finally breathe in public. Eventually, the Dib International Contemporary Art Museum was realized. 

Among the works we encountered on February 7, one stayed with us long after leaving the gallery. It was “Incubate” by the Indian artist Subodh Gupta. It features a stack of twenty-five oversized eggs made from stainless steel kitchen utensils, beneath five elaborate chandeliers. The materials are unmistakably domestic and humble but are arranged in a way that feels tense and loaded. As one friend puts it, it feels like our ordinary working-class lives are always beneath or at the service of the elite and opulent. 

All of this is housed in The Chapel, a cone-shaped, acoustically engineered space appended to the main structure. From the outside, it looks like a tower of a power plant. But inside, it is a vessel for something even more powerful and profound.

[ more photos here ] 

who watches the watchmen?

I was standing by the roadside when a police car pulled over nearby. What caught my eye was the marking “Donated by: PMSC.” All-new Tamaraw pa ha. I’d always been told that government agencies and officials are discouraged from accepting donations. Out of curiosity, I Googled it.

PMSC turns out to be Philippine Mining Service Corporation, a mining firm that, according to its own website, “pioneered the production of quality dolomite in the Philippines” and became a major supplier to Japan and other parts of Asia.

That carries a lot of weight.

Knowing the country’s long and painful history—where police forces have often been deployed against Indigenous communities defending ancestral lands, and against farmers and residents resisting displacement by mining, logging, agribusiness, and large-scale development—this was unsettling. It blurs lines that should remain clear.

Who watches the watchmen?

round and round at dib bangkok

Last year, on December 20, a renovated 1980s warehouse in Ekkamai, Bangkok opened its doors to the public as the Dib International Contemporary Art Museum, or more commonly known as Dib Bangkok.

On February 7, had the chance to visit this expansive museum. The experience begins even before stepping inside any of the galleries. Scattered across the courtyard is Pars pro Toto (2020), a work by the Polish-German artist Alicja Kwade. She created these eleven natural stone spheres that, depending on where you stand, appear either as oversized marbles or as planets suspended in a solar system. To me, they look like ancient alien debris.

The work forms part of the museum’s inaugural exhibition, "(In)visible Presence,” which invites viewers to reflect on perception and the underlying structures that shape how we experience and interpret reality.

[ more photos here ]

happy birthday, pa!

Travelled back home in Bohol to celebrate a trio of birthday celebrants today, February 15—our dear father and my two pamangkins, Kylie and Hansoy. The kids aren’t home with us this time, but they’re very much present in spirit. 

My wish remains the same, that we stay healthy, inside and out, and that we hold on to the truth that peace of mind is worth far more than all the world’s riches combined. I truly believe in that.

[ more photos here ]

happy valentine's!

The ladies of the house, getting their flowers. Happy Valentine’s Day to the women who hold our homes—and practically our lives—together. Thanks to the pamangkins for the beautiful gift.

[ more photos here ]

this saturday looks beautiful and lovely

 

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louis vuitton visionary journeys, part 2

The third section of the Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys exhibition in four parts is called Icons. It highlights pieces shaped by other designers. This  seamlessly flows into the fourth and last section Collaborations, which celebrates partnerships with artists like Yayoi Kusama. 

That part, especially, felt serendipitous because just two days earlier I had encountered an original Yayoi Kusama painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok. It felt like she was following me around the city! The journey ends with a free souvenir from the museum to take home.

That day, February 6, reminded me all this was an entirely foreign world for me. What felt oddly familiar, though, was the persistence to create, to go against the unimaginative, and how history can turn something as ordinary as a traveler’s bag into one of the world’s most luxurious objects.

[ more photos here ]

coffee, tea, or...

Just the right dose of coffee at Pieces Café & Bed in Song Wat Road, Bangkok, Thailand to power through a long, long day. A welcome bonus that this might be one of the best cups I’ve had so far this year. 

[ more photos here ]

louis vuitton visionary journeys, part 1

Last February 6, after the hubbub at Song Wat Road, my K-pop-fanatic friends happily disappeared into a G Dragon Übermensch merch wonderland and a VR concert. I went to the nearby Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys instead, an exhibition unfolding in four parts.

Here are its first two parts. It opens with Trunkscape, a tunnel made of 96 classic LV trunks, the very object that started it all. This is followed by the segment Origins, which traces the brand from 1854 to the evolution of its now-familiar monograms, bags, luggage, and couture. On a separate occasion, because LV locks were long marketed as “unpickable,” I learned that the brand once invited the famous magician and escape artist Harry Houdini to break one open. He declined.

No matter how effective that marketing is, I still have zero plans of buying a bag worth half a million pesos. 

[ more photos here ]

long in song wat

Lost, but not really. Tucked near the Chao Phraya River, Song Wat Road feels like a place learning how to live in the present without letting go of nostalgia. The old buildings are still there, worn and dignified, now sharing space with what’s modern and on the rise. Murals, graffiti, and small exhibits appear almost by accident, quietly surprising you as you walk along this historical street.

There is definitely an argument about gentrification here. But if this is one way of nurturing local creativity while keeping centuries of history intact, then this kind of change feels more than welcome, I guess. 

[ more photos here ]

food trip, street-style

Just wandered through Song Wat Road and its web of alleys leading to cafés, galleries, boutique shops, and restaurants tucked into old, weathered houses.

And the food. Let’s talk about the food. Thailand rarely disappoints the palate. Tried the buns and shumai from Michelin-recognized Gu Long Bao, coffee from Goútes, and so much more. And there’s the street food in between, of course. Going home at 75 kilograms is no longer a joke.

[ more photos here ]