Maida's Touch

 

Writing

Maida has been writing for over a decade now, often inspired by food, travel  and culture.  From stalking the exotic balut (duck embryos) vendors in Manila's streets to partaking the fine art of High Tea at the Oriental Bangkok's Author's Lounge to traveling for days to discover the best remote island in the Philippines for surfing to living the old world glamor of the Orient Express, to finding the best hawker cuisine in Singapore, she captures all these golden moments on paper. 

Books


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What begins as an innocent food trip to partake of roti pratas, Hainanese chicken rice, and oyster omelettes turns into a life changing decision. International food and travel writer Maida Pineda captures the thrills, quirks, and adjustments of her big move to Singapore. Her candid and honest story covers everything from the inescapable conversations with cab drivers, to finding a place to rent, and even the arof saving a seat at hawker centres. Through her everyday adventures in this small island, she encounters a diverse mix of expatriates from all over the world, including a photographer, a linguist who speaks eight languages, and a meditation teacher. She tells the story of their lives in this compact country, closely interconnected, where everyone seems to be linked in less than six degrees of separation.-from the back cover of the book: 

Six Degrees of Expatriation: Uncovering the Lives of Expats in Singapore 

Read my adventure along with the stories of other fascinating expats from the US, Canada, Japan, Thailand, Italy, France, New Zealand, India, Australia and the Philippines  in the book.  Released in Singapore, November 2009 and in Manila in 2010. 


It has the special honor of being the first book to be sold in all Starbucks Singapore in July 2010. 


Do's & Don'ts in the Philippines

A Cultural Etiquette guide on the Philippines covering everything from eating adidas in the street (chicken feet, not the shoes) to figuring out where the C.R. is, or why rich socialites need D.I's to make them stand out in the dancefloor, or how to get directions from Filipinos pointing with their mouths, or just understand the complex sublteties of this extremely warm and welcoming culture. 


Writing Samples:

charice.pdf
File Size: 1426 kb
File Type: pdf
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malacca.pdf
File Size: 288 kb
File Type: pdf
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going_vegetarian.pdf
File Size: 267 kb
File Type: pdf
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eo.pdf
File Size: 259 kb
File Type: pdf
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mapping_the_world-pdf.pdf
File Size: 337 kb
File Type: pdf
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smile_magazine-sugarbeach.pdf
File Size: 679 kb
File Type: pdf
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female_magazine-fword.pdf
File Size: 611 kb
File Type: pdf
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appetiteasia_bibingka.pdf
File Size: 206 kb
File Type: pdf
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appetiteasia_balut.pdf
File Size: 171 kb
File Type: pdf
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appetiteasia_insidermanila.pdf
File Size: 330 kb
File Type: pdf
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Articles published in these magazines:

You may reach me at maida@maidastouch.com

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