Picture Feature(d): Hacienda San Benito

Excerpt from “Escape to the Country” by Ces Rodriguez for SEAIR InFlight June-July 2010

“Our house for the stay was not the bahay kubo I expected, but a model unit built all by its lonesome on the empty field. But this was a property still in the development stage, so we were happy to bunk in the modern storybook house: the roof thatched in nipa, the structure finished in a happy salmon color. Best of all, wall-to-wall windows and front-and-back second floor balconies made for good ventilation, with fresh breeze coming in from the mountains and across the empty lots.”

Above: This model unit has rainwater tanks for flushing toilets and watering plants and keeps cool with good ventilation

Above: InFlight's June-July Cover story page. Designed and layout by Jocas A. See

“The Terraza overlooked a slope of coffee seedlings to one side and tiers of cultivated vetiver grass on another. With roots snaking to a depth of up to three meters, vetiver resembles the sharp-edged wild talahib or kans grass. The farm intends to use vetiver to pave the walkways in other areas San Benito will open eventually.

Above: Hacienda's vetiver grass that will be used in paving walkways of other areas of the farm, a more eco approach

Above: InFlight's June-July Cover story spread page. Designed and layout by Jocas A. See

“Early the next day, we visited the organic vegetable farm, inexplicably blocked from view by a wraparound tarp. Underneath the nettings, we found romaine lettuce ready to be harvested and Lilliputian strawberries being nursed in pots. Beneath open skies, yellowish cucumbers hid behind leaves and a farmhand pulled out a low shrub where peanuts clung to earth-encrusted roots. I cracked open one and was surprised by a sweetness and crunch that reminded me of singkamas or jicamas.”

Above: InFlight writer Ces showing some of the farm's organically grown veggies she handpicked for her salad

Above: InFlight's June-July Cover story page. Designed and layout by Jocas A. See

“You could request the staff to serve you a salad fresh off the vegetable patch and dress it with the farm’s bottled cider honey…

There are other things you can do on the farm: feed the more docile female ostriches (seven kilos of kangkong or swamp cabbage consumed per bird per day), sample their eggs (P750 for an unfertilized egg scrambles enough for eight people), hop on a calesa for a clop around the hacienda or ride the horses that freely roam the grounds. These can be arranged upon request. Trained farm workers are there to assist anytime.”

Above: Pure honey gathered from the apiary right within the farm's premises

Above: Ostrich feeding

Above: InFlight's June-July Cover story spread page. Designed and layout by Jocas A. See

To read the full story and other travel features, call: +632 840.2802 to subscribe a copy.

Picture Feature(d): Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort & Spa

Excerpt from “Eco Resorts” by Monica De Leon for SEAIR InFlight June-July 2010

“The resort uses only energy-saving light bulbs, has installed water restrictors to conserve water, has sewage treatment facilities, uses biodegradable cleaning materials, and uses less harmful refrigerants in the kitchen’s refrigerators and chillers. The resort also invested in a desalination plant that allows brine water to go back to the sea, while converting salt-free water to a potable one. Employees segregate waste, separating recyclables, join regular coastal and dive cleanups and coral recovery programs, and engage in the “Bike to work” program.”

Above: Shangri-La Mactan’s deluxe seaside view room

Above: InFlight's June-July InRoom page. Designed and layout by Jocas A. See

To read the full story and other travel features, call: +632 840.2802 to subscribe a copy.

InFlight June-July 2010

Excerpt from the note of SEAIR InFlight Editor:

“This is our first green issue, although for a few years now SEAIR InFlight has been featuring environmental issues and news in our special InTune section (see pages 25 to 28).

Organic food, canvas shopping bags, and recycling are no longer posh affairs, but rather an everyday concern. Our cover story on pages 46 to 57 showcases this new green residence called Hacienda San Benito, which focuses on the glories of simple living — fresh air, tending to your organic farm, and enjoying the country life. And come to think of it, if you do tend to your own veggies in your garden or farm, then you don’t need as much packaged foodstuff and reduce all that plastic choking up our seas and earth.”

Credits:
Cover concept by: SEAIR InFlight
Photo by: Jeffrey Sonora
Art direction by: Jocas A. See
Styling by: Waldo J. Villados
Hair & makeup by: Monica De Leon
Modeling by: Larissa Ide
Location: Hacienda San Benito, Lipa, Batangas

To subscribe a copy, call: +632 840.2802

Skewed Observations: Powerbooks on Bicycle Diaries

Welcome to the Battlefield_Man’s new category: Skewed Observations. And what is it all about? Just plain observations. I could say random observations of the things, places, events, actions and anything under the sun that nobody cares to rant about or needs to be called for an attention.

For my first entry, or observation: Powerbooks.

Admittedly, I am not a bookworm. I only read books that interest me — Marketing, Graphic Design, Photography, Classic Literature, such as the works of Edgar Allan Poe, William Blake, Brothers Grimm, Emily Dickinson and Anton Chekov. But lately, I’ve been hooked on reading travel essays — may it be a writer’s chronicles or a collective travel essays — my cup of tea for my late night, extra curricular activity. I find this branch of literary work more aspirational over than fiction and other forms of literary works. And it is quite short to digest.

Upon searching book titles on travel for my future set of latenight read, I came across a page about this new book of David Byrne on the net.

I find the book intriguing — cover design wise. So I flip the virtual Google pages looking for more information about the title until I landed to its official site. Below is a brief description about the book:

“Bicycle Diaries chronicles David’s observations and insights — what he is seeing, whom he is meeting, what he is thinking about — as he pedals through and engages with some of the world’s major cities. In places like Buenos Aires, Istanbul, San Francisco, and London, the focus is more on the musicians and artists he encounters. Politics comes to the fore in cities like Berlin and Manila, while chapters on New York City, and on the landscaped suburban industrial parks and contemporary ruins of such spots as Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Columbus are more concerned with history in the urban landscape.”

(Manila?! Yes. You’ve read it clearly with no typographical error about it.)

Like an opening scenario about a lad who saw his puppy love passes by. I didn’t hesitate to go out and set my quest to look for this book. Where else? Of course in Powerbooks (since it’s near to our place). In case to some who doesn’t know about Powerbooks, this is not a quaint “the shop around the corner” book store of Kathleen Kelly a character played by Meg Ryan — it is one of the major specialty bookstore in the Philippines.

Upon entering the bookstore’s premises, in Robinson’s Place Ermita. I went straight ahead to the travel section where I usually go and look for this kind of read. It was disappointing when I reached down to the shelves and found nothing about the title. At first, I thought the book was not yet for international distribution. So, was the lad who'd got out from the diner to follow his puppy love and when he sharp turned right corner of the street, he lost her.

So, I stood up. Moved two to three steps backward and when I made a turned left, I saw the book. Shimmering bright orange cover. As if it was staring hard at me the whole time. And to my amazed, it was under the sports section! What the… sports section? Said to myself in complete and utterly dismay.

Luckily, there was an extra book free of plastic wrap for customer browsing. I’m hoping that it was just me who got a wrong impression of the book. What I did was searched and scanned the inside pages of the book, looking for something, maybe a passage, a story piece, that will strongly connect, unify or link it to sports other than the word “bicycle” and a pictograph of an pathologically thin man on a bicycle. But none of the pages I browsed was suggesting that this is a sport literature at all.

Since then, it never left my mind and I kept on coming back, just to be sure, to Powerbooks and to its other branches to see if the title is still under sports section. But hope fails. It’s still there — sitting high and mighty.

I just don’t know what Powerbooks was thinking when they categorized and mistakenly placed this book under sports. I think Powerbooks should start “reading” carefully. No offense meant to Powerbooks, but I’ve been meaning to rant about this observation since I saw the book over the net a month ago. Though, this book by David Byrne is an interesting read.

P.S.
Just so you know, I haven’t got the book yet. Just a whooping PhP1,3oo plus (less than US$28) tag price on it. Will wait ’til its price goes down to, at least, US$16 or less.