Travel Photos & Musings By Nathan W. Allen
Singapore’s city buses are made in the U.K. and Germany (Mercedes Benz), and their public transportation system is quite efficient & affordable. A few of these sleek buses are double deckers, and provide a spectacular view as you ride through the city. I did what any self respecting photographer would do when presented with scenes...
They say “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Well, the ones below tell quite a story! The Philippines was sooo stunning…I probably took 100k photos traveling there. Out of all those shots, I chose the best 15 Philippines photos to showcase the country’s true beauty: FYI: Any of these images can be ordered online, framed...
(If you haven’t read why I was declared “Officially Unwelcome” in the Philippines, you might want to start by clicking here.) I’m Nathan Allen – a “Philippine Advocate”, according to the national media. I have spent a total of 3 years exploring and documenting the beauty of the Philippines, and I consider it a great...
That time I (Nathan Allen) was declared persona non grata in the Philippines… 2015 was officially known as “Visit the Philippines Year”. This is ironic, because it was the year that a few Manila airport employees started planting bullets in luggage to extort money from tourists. It was also the year I ended up all...
Follow-Up: My “Open Letter” Explained – By Nathan Allen “The Truth Hurts…But Less if it’s Coming From YOU” Here is the link to the original letter, as a young Filipino on Twitter shared it: “When truth feels better told by somebody else – A FOREIGN BLOGGER’S LETTER TO THE PHILIPPINES“ Why do many people accept...
(January 2021 Update: This “letter to the Philippines” was written 7 years ago. I have not been back to the country for quite a while, so I’m not sure how much of this still applies. Hopefully less of the negative and more of the positive:) Anyhow…just something to keep in mind as you read it...
As an adult, English is one of the hardest languages to learn…or so I’ve heard. It was my primary language since birth, so I never realized just how frustrating and challenging it can be. Silent letters, same spelling but different pronunciation…etc. Living in the Philippines for a few years helped me to realize that sometimes,...
(*Back in 2014, a Polish Travel Blogger named Agnes wrote an article about how disgusted she was by Filipino food. It went massively viral, and angered many Filipinos around the world. In my response below, I suggested that she wrote it just to generate web traffic. If so, her plan worked perfectly.) To counter it,...
After a year living in the country, I listed some ways that my travels in the Philippines changed me for good. 1. The Philippines Taught Me To Make Peace With Death “IF IT’S MY TIME, IT’S MY TIME” OK, now that I have your attention, let me explain: I had a 55 year old Pinoy friend...
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area – seemingly, one of the least racist places in the U.S. It was so tolerant and diverse that when I moved to New York City, my barber was shocked to hear me mention that the city’s “lack of diversity” disappointed me. Sure, New York is diverse,...