Edition 00
Begin

Be·gin / v: to proceed to perform the first or earliest part of some action; to come into existence; to originate; be the originator of

Coming Soon

Discover stories

Latest articles

Continuous Journey

The Portuguese Fish Route: Part I

Azure. It may be that the word is associated with visuality, a perceivable speckle among the spectrum of light; yet within it, just sometimes and specifically somewhere, can there be diluted in it streaks of murky feelings. From the line where the celestial and rippling blues meet, a yearning to explore beyond the horizon; amidst […]

Location At Glance

Hotel Adriatic, Rovinj

Pardon the existential question but: what exactly is a wall for? To most, its main function is to partition for whatever purposes behind the wall: to isolate, to privatise; to barricade, to separate and expel. Still, for the space they do enclose, walls also serve as the canvas – and define the character of a cavity, for […]

Focus On Ingredient

Smoked meats, Ummera Smokehouse

The lore of how our ancestors invented food smoking will, sadly, forever stay unwritten and untold. We can’t hope to retrace this technique to its accidental cavemen discoverers – or relive their excitement, though some primal dancing and howling at each other weren’t much to miss out on. What we can relate to is the first taste, […]

Madrid: Centre stage of the Spanish cuisine

The Spanish tortilla is absolutely ubiquitous in Madrid; in fact, I had it four times within a week alone. The first one I sank my teeth into came suffocating in clingfilm. At the conference centre cafetería, I must have taken pity on it as I rescued it amidst its fellow inmates in the display fridge. By […]

Angeles: An education in Filipino cuisine

The first things that arrived on the table were the deep-fried pastries. From their appearance, my palate jumped to conclusion of what it would taste: crackling on the teeth as they break through a brittle encasement, a filling of curried, starchy vegetables would come oozing out, heavy on Indian spices and perhaps interspersed with green peas or minced […]

The Hague: Eurasian fervour of Tong Tong Fair

What had me hooked first was the fluttering of folding fans. They batted like eyelids, catching my attention as I entered the Culture Pavilion with their flickering movements, balanced delicately on fingertips; they swirled, dipped and soared, in fluid synchrony with their dancing wielders, looking as though they were an extension of their bodies than a […]

Focus On Ingredient

Coconut oil, The Farm at San Benito

I’ve never quite forgotten the smell of burning coconuts; during my travels in some of Vanuatu’s remote islands, where villages were installed with community furnaces, it was the incinerating copra that I detected in the air: an intoxicating, caramelising sweetness, sticking to my nostrils like molten honey. There was no such aroma in the coconut workshop […]

Travel Thinking

On travelling with chronic suffering

“Oh no, not again.” Two bites into the main course and the all-too-familiar sensation punched my stomach. Like how we rehearsed it, I commanded my muscles to tense and suppress the abdominal simmer. No use. The fizzling was violent like seismic activity inside me; the invisible fist, now an unclenched paw, was scraping against my gut inner lining. The containment strategy […]

Maglie: Palatal awakening of Mercatino del Gusto

Arriving in Maglie was to walk into a lurid dream state. The August sunlight, reflecting on the limestones and alabaster, glazed a mist-like filter over my eyes; in this hallucinogenic translucence, Giorgio and I happened upon a cafe and brought our deckchairs under an umbrella – even in its shade, the heat was overpowering, senses-dulling. What […]

My recipe for flying on planes

My housemate Robert had just returned from a weekend trip to Rome with his girlfriend. Before their holiday, he rather ceremoniously announced in a Facebook status his companion’s chosen form of entertainment on the plane: “She’s bought girl’s colouring books to take on the flight to Rome next week.” As I conspired with my head to […]

Popular Culture

Adventure Sports

Why I went to The Philippines

Even after not seeing him since seven years ago, I anticipated the punchline in Willy's joke

Even after not seeing him since seven years ago, I instinctively anticipated the punchline in Willy’s story. “There was a Filipino couple who went to Madrid. They found a restaurant that serves bull meat after they’re killed by the matador. You know, the one who kills the bull in bullfighting? So the Filipinos ate the […]

Legacy articles

Travel Thinking

On travelling with chronic suffering

“Oh no, not again.” Two bites into the main course and the all-too-familiar sensation punched my stomach. Like how we rehearsed it, I commanded my muscles to tense and suppress the abdominal simmer. No use. The fizzling was violent like seismic activity inside me; the invisible fist, now an unclenched paw, was scraping against my gut inner lining. The containment strategy […]

My recipe for flying on planes

My housemate Robert had just returned from a weekend trip to Rome with his girlfriend. Before their holiday, he rather ceremoniously announced in a Facebook status his companion’s chosen form of entertainment on the plane: “She’s bought girl’s colouring books to take on the flight to Rome next week.” As I conspired with my head to […]

Chiang Mai: The plight of the elephants

Before being rescued from captivity, the elephants endured a lifetime of brutality. We visit the sanctuary in Chiang Mai that not only provides close encounters with these gentle beasts, but also seeks to educate visitors on the horrors of animal abuse – and a more benevolent way of elephant tourism

Location At Glance

Hotel Adriatic, Rovinj

Pardon the existential question but: what exactly is a wall for? To most, its main function is to partition for whatever purposes behind the wall: to isolate, to privatise; to barricade, to separate and expel. Still, for the space they do enclose, walls also serve as the canvas – and define the character of a cavity, for […]

The Hague: Eurasian fervour of Tong Tong Fair

What had me hooked first was the fluttering of folding fans. They batted like eyelids, catching my attention as I entered the Culture Pavilion with their flickering movements, balanced delicately on fingertips; they swirled, dipped and soared, in fluid synchrony with their dancing wielders, looking as though they were an extension of their bodies than a […]

Madrid: Centre stage of the Spanish cuisine

The Spanish tortilla is absolutely ubiquitous in Madrid; in fact, I had it four times within a week alone. The first one I sank my teeth into came suffocating in clingfilm. At the conference centre cafetería, I must have taken pity on it as I rescued it amidst its fellow inmates in the display fridge. By […]