MOST PEOPLE head to Kobe, Japan just to sample the famous Wagyu beef, but there’s so much more to the capital city of Hyogo Prefecture.

YOU LOVE TRAVELING. You don’t go to just one destination at a time. You are adventurous that way: exploring (or maybe, even doing business) in different cities in different parts of the world at any given time. But then, switching currencies can be such a hassle. Once you get home to the Philippines, you get “bill shock” over the additional charges you had incurred due to multiple conversions from one currency to another.

OKTOBERFEST beer festival which is celebrated in Munich usually from mid-September until the first Sunday of October was first held in 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, eventually Ludwig I, created the festival to celebrate his marriage to Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Ludwig I’s reign may not have lasted long — he abdicated in 1848 amid numerous scandals including overspending, repressive policies, and his many affairs with women including the infamous dancer Lola Montez — but at least Oktoberfest endured and we can continue partying.

ENJOY authentic German cuisine alongside free-flowing German beer and music from a Viennese band at Okada Manila in Parañaque City as they celebrate their “true Bavarian” Octoberfest from September 23-28.

WHITE WINE consumption in the Philippines is still way behind red wine, and this ratio is “guestimated” at a lopsided 25:75 in favor of the reds. We are, however, not alone in this phenomenon as several of our Asian neighbors, including South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and China are also red-wine consumption dominant. Despite our tropical weather and high average temperature, Filipinos still like reds over the more refreshing whites. On the other hand, Australia (to name one country) is still 60% white wine consumption, against only 40% red.

BEING in your 30s means finding a partner, settling down, and having children. Or so they say. The expectations for people this age what Company: A Musical Comedy — the first of three Stephen Sondheim musicals to be staged in Metro Manila this year — revolves around.

IT WAS between two or three in the afternoon in a hotel room in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Vietnamese American writer and professor Viet Thanh Nguyen was preparing for a book reading session at a local bookstore later that day. Everything was calm until a series of notification alerts filled the air.

“NA-PARALYZE AKO (I was paralyzed).”

WHAT can P100 or P50 get you? How about tickets to Balcony 1 or Balcony II for the People’s Gala, Bulawan: CCP 50^th Anniversary Concert, on Sept. 21, 8 p.m., at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo?

AMONG the lots at León Gallery’s The Magnificent September Auction 2018 ares a pair of tampipi, or woven rattan cases, wherein the National Hero Jose Rizal inconspicuously carried his manuscript of the Filipino classic novel Noli Me Tangere.

BLESS US ANYWAY, an exhibit of works by Geraldine Javier, opens on Sept. 14 at the Mo_Space Gallery, alongside Rocelie V. Delfin’s Isla. Delfin’s exhibit features nostalgic drawings of unnamed islands seen from the distance. Both exhibits run until Oct. 13. The gallery is at the 3^rd level of MOs Design, B2 Bonifacio High Street, BGC, Taguig.

VENICE, Italy — Dark drama Joker about the origins of the villainous character won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, while Roman Polanski’s military drama about France’s notorious Dreyfus affair took the runner-up prize.