Into the Mountains of Negros: Motorbike Travel Through the Philippines
He filled an old rum bottle with raw honey, pouring it slow from a plastic cup over a red basin while the spring water ran turquoise behind him. I handed him the pesos and tucked it in my bag. Twenty minutes later, still dripping from the spring, a local spotted the bottle and started laughing. He thought I'd been swimming drunk. I showed him the honey. He laughed harder. The road provides the moments you never thought to script.
Cebu to Negros by Motorbike: Why I Almost Wrote Off Dumaguete and Why I Was Wrong
I pulled over near a rusted van and a man working in his yard. Helmet still on. Engine off. Hand out. Somewhere up in these highlands was Casaroro Falls and I had no idea how close or how far. He looked at my hand, then at me, then back up the road and pointed. No shared language needed. The universal gesture of a stranger helping a stranger find his way. That transaction, wordless and generous and completely human, is why I ride.
One Scooter, One Suitcase, and No Plan: Motorbike Travel Through the Philippines at 56
I didn't plan to end up here. The road just opened up into it. A thousand people, serious money changing hands, and roosters being walked to the pit like prizefighters. I don't agree with it. But I'm not here to change anyone's culture. I'm here to understand it. That's a different thing entirely.