Now/here no/where woman

We only got to attend the last day of Lit Out Loud, the Manila International Literary Festival. I give you my favorite sound bites from a fine day of being literally starstruck! "Fame is a mask that eats the face behind it." -- Vikas Swarup, author of Q&A, said this to a fawning fan who asked him what it was like to be famous. Tarush! "Let's mess about in the kitchen. We'll come up with something." -- spoken by Mita Kapur, author of the newly published F-Word, which is about -- you guessed it: Food. "Writing from Asia is very, very HOT," said David Parker, chairman of the board of the Man Asian Literary Prize. Got that? We are HOT.

Mountain biking isn't always about getting a workout, biting through technical trail sections, ripping down gnarly slopes, upping the ante, and getting that unrivaled adrenaline rush. (Although most of the time it is!) Sometimes, the pleasures of mountain biking are as uncomplicated as cycling slowly through Baguio's quiet, unpolluted streets lined with old and empty houses, finding your way to a roadside carinderia that serves delicious Malaysian dishes at just a little more than carinderia prices, and stopping for a hearty lunch. And then you cycle -- still full and slow -- to the nearest trail and wend your way through the roots, mud, and rocks like you have all the time in the world to pedal and appreciate the way the afternoon light is wafting through the trees and throwing shafts of gold and dappled shadows on everything. Yup, you got it folks, this is yet another unabashed declaration of my love for saddle time.

1. Good friends, warm hugs, hearty laughter. 2. Hearty meals. 3. Fresh air. 4. Biting cold. 5. Mountains, mountains, mountains. 6. Elders. 7. Pinikpikan with tapuy. 8. The comfort of ritual. 9. Aged etag. 10. Beautiful pottery. 11. Croissants and sour dough bread. 12. The best-tasting ripe tomatoes ever. 13. Wild mushrooms. 14. Wild berries. 15. Wild rides.