Why I Blog

Good day dear Reader.

My name is Ishmael F. Ahab and welcome to my blog!

Before the Eastern Sunset, or BTES for short, is my online companion since 2007. This blog began out of boredom during my internship in a non-governmental organization (NGO). Initially, BTES was just a sounding board of my emo thoughts. Now, after realizing that no reader wants to read my emotional rants BTES is a full-pledged personal-travel blog that chronicles my adventures in the Philippines and beyond.

Here are the topics that you will expect to see on this blog:

Travel posts – I travel a LOT. I have been to interesting places in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. I posted about beaches, mountains, historical places, nature parks and even mundane places. I even got the chance to travel outside of the country.

Churches – I love Catholic churches. The presence of an old church indicates that the town is also an old one. That's why I always make sure to visit a church in my travels. These structures serve as time capsules, which make them must see places for people interested in history like me.

Food – Eating is another passion of mine. I love tasting food, be it in a restaurant or a turo-turo. Blogging about food is already a part of my routine that My Beloved Wife knows that I have to take photos first before we eat. Oh, I'm also a newbie cook so I post about my cookery some of the times.

Catholic Faith – I'm a Catholic and I'm not afraid to profess it online. So you may read some of my thoughts about Catholicism on BTES.

Wedding Prep - I posted about our adventures as we prepared for our wedding day so as to help soon-to-be-wed couples in their once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Others – I pepper BTES with posts on various topics from time to time. I write about Philippine politics, the pro-life advocacy, books I read, movies I watched, personal drama and other things that interest me.

Where do I go from here?

Before the Eastern Sunset is a work in progress.

It is like a clay that is pounded, molded and then set on a potter's wheel to be shaped by my hands.

I don't know how it will look like in the end or if there is a final shape for this blog. However, I have some plans on how to shape BTES in the near future.

I plan to talk about the Filipino culture and the many aspects that are connected to it. I also plan to throw in some history to complete the picture of the things that I saw during my travels.

These are my plans for now and I do hope that you are still there, dear Reader, when I implement these plans. You can expect to read more about my adventures because I intend to write until the sunset of my life comes.