Some ran­dom mus­ings derived from a recent out of town trip in the North:

• Any­one who thinks the Caleruega chapel in Tagay­tay is the only one of its kind should visit churches in the Ilo­cos Region. Since many parishes in the North were run by the Domini­cans, many churches there are also made up of red bricks
• PAGASA and inter­na­tional weather bureaus have warned of another impend­ing typhoon. But we never found rain: only the bright sun­light every­where, and the cool breeze of the night.
• We passed through many towns that were in the news dur­ing the ram­page of typhoon Peping/Melor. No, there were no floods. But it’s alarm­ing to find that many, many river­banks have been eroded, as if the rivers widened by a meter. Mean­while, busi­ness as usual…
• The best place to get your healthy dose of ban­gus is still in Dagu­pan. ‘Nuff said
• Spot­ted ABS-CBN’s Abner Mer­cado on a stopover on the way home. He’s a big, hefty guy but sans the kef­fiyeh shawl. He was on the phone for the most part; it looked like he was already dis­cussing his next assign­ment just as he was already return­ing to newsroom.
• SM is going to open another mall in the provinces???