• Checked Out

    A Tale of Two Book Warehouse Sale Events

    August seems to be a favorite month for bookstores here to do their book sale events. Not sure why it’s so. In any case, these events and next month’s Manila International Book Fair mark a particular season here that time of the year that bibliophiles look forward to each year. And make no mistake there, bibliophiles are not a small, insignificant demographic. A visit to these events would elicit at least a surprise and a realization just how much of underrated sector is the bibliophile sector. And actually, the Urban Roamer did just that: a visit to the two major book sale events happening this month.

  • Site Announcement

    Six Years and Still Roaming…

    Just like that, it has been already 6 years since I first started the Urban Roamer. It’s no exaggeration to say I never expected to see what started out as a simple, inconsequential (as I thought then) venture would go this long and this far. And now that the Urban Roamer is 6 years old and counting, my work on this little “venture” is now the longest job tenure I have ever held in my life. And that says something, I suppose.

  • Transportation

    Here Comes the Beep Card and Other Mass Transit News

    After some delay and glitches along the way, the much-await tap-and-ride reloadable transport card for the Metro Manila mass transit system, the beep card, was finally unveiled to the public last July 20 on a trial run basis. The beep card is envisioned to be the sole ticketing system to be used for all of Metro Manila’s mass transit lines: Lines 1, 2, and 3 and future lines. It is also envisioned to be a system that other modes of transport like buses could use, not to mention as a mode of payment for stores. Much like how Hong Kong’s Octopus card and Singapore’s ez-link card are used besides train ticketing.…