The Urban Roamer

QCX: Appreciating Quezon City Anew

November 29, 2015November 26, 2015 by The Urban Roamer

The Urban Roamer has long been a supporter of efforts to showcase and educate local history and culture, sharing the belief that one would be able to better appreciate national history and culture through learning and understanding local history and culture.

While other provinces, cities, and towns have made laudable efforts to promote the learning of local history and culture, sadly not much attention has been given in promoting the history and culture of Metropolitan Manila, to be specific that of the cities and town comprising this region. Something that can be attributed to the fact that such local identities are obscured by national identity being the capital of the country.

Nevertheless, there are bright spots to see in this situation, notable among them is the effort of the Quezon City Government to build a place where everyone can learn more about the city through its newly-opened museum, the QCX.

Kamuning Bakery and Cafe: Come On In At A Beloved Neighborhood Bakery

November 24, 2015 by The Urban Roamer

Right at that heart of Barangay Kamuning, part of the old Quezon City, lies what is perhaps now the most famous bakery in the city, and undeniably one of the country’s most famous bakeries that is not a bakeshop chain. It has gotten a lot of buzz in recent years thanks to heavy social media promotion. (more on that in a bit) So much that some, mainly from those who have been there, are skeptical about the hype being generated.

But here at the Urban Roamer, we go beyond the hype and check things for ourselves. So today,we shall be checking out the Kamuning Bakery and Cafe and see what it has to offer, beyond the buzz it has created.

APEC 2015: A Postscript

November 21, 2015 by The Urban Roamer

It was an interesting week here in Metro Manila as the metropolis was host to one of the most high-profile international summits to be held here, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

As was explained here in a previous post, the APEC summit is an annual event in which 21 economic leaders converge to talk about various economic issues, as well as other matters that affect the Asia-Pacific region.

the 21 APEC economic leaders in their traditional family photo with the barong as attire (photo courtesy of GMA)

This year’s summit is an interesting one, not only in the light of the US-China relations and China’s moves in the region that is causing worry, (something I touched upon in that aforementioned post) but also in light of what happened in Paris a few days before the summit in which terrorists said to be belonging to the group ISIS/ISIL stormed different venues in the city and killed hundreds in the process.

And as the days went on during the summit, there was that lingering fear that Manila would suffer a such terrorist attack that would endanger the lives of the people in the metropolis, and especially the delegates in the city for the APEC summit. Thankfully, such an attack did not happen.

Komikon 2015: Showcasing The Komiks

November 16, 2015 by The Urban Roamer

As preparations for APEC 2015 are in full gear, something else was happening in the metropolis that was flocked by Filipino pop culture addicts and local comic aficionados alike.

I am talking about Komikon 2015, the most prominent annual event dedicated to Philippine comics (AKA komiks) industry. And the Urban Roamer was there to check it out!