I just wanted to link you all to my latest project blog.
“Balikbayan” is a Filipino word referring to an individual who lives outside the Philippines returning for a visit. It is a composite word comprising of the word ‘balik’ meaning ‘to return’ and ‘bayan’ meaning ‘country,’ ‘community,’ ‘village,’ or ‘my house.’ (more…)








![one of the countless numbers of Jesi paraded around the festival. Like last year there were a few deaths from heart attacks resulting from the crush of over two million devotees.]](http://i2.photoblog.com/photos4/46209-1201270859-4-l.jpg)
24/10/2008
The Stink of Travel
Posted by alexfelipe under Balikbayan Stories, Commentary, World | Tags: backpacking, farmers, indonesia, java, peasants, semarang, travel, travellers, treeplanting, western privilege, yogyakarta |1 Comment
*** This is another old piece of writing from my big Asia wander way back in 2001-2003. I was working as an ESL school in Yogya, Indonesia at the time I wrote this. I was a kid just out of school looking for something that I couldn’t properly articulate, and thus couldn’t grasp. It was on this 2.5 year wander that I eventually picked up a camera for the first time.***
Monday 17 December, 2002
The girl who sat next to me on the bus to Semarang had the aura of one that worked in the fields of Java. It was not the way she dressed, nor anything else she carried that gave me that impression. It was her smell. (more…)