April 2, 2011
Zean Villongco’s childhood may seem a far-cry from his tag as an adventurer. Growing up excessively protected, Zean spent most of his younger years indoors where he dove into reading and learning through books. Come college, things took a complete turnaround. This was the start of a lifestyle that would also become his passion and advocacy.
A jack-of-all-trades, Zean carries an array of professional experience–from being a marine biologist and researcher, to photographer and financial adviser. Today he is a web designer and developer, but his passion remains in adventure travel and exploration.
Zean has had the opportunity to travel to many places within the Philippines and live with various local communities, far from the confines and comfort of modern city lifestyle. He has then turned his experiences and skills into tools for communicating stories about people, society, and the planet.
A freelance SCUBA diving instructor, Zean spends most weekends trekking up mountains, rock climbing, free diving, and surfing.
In this Greater Good Philippines interview, Zean talks about defining purpose and pursuing ones passion. He also touches on the challenges of adventure travel and the prospects of adventure tourism in the country.
Listen to or read this interview and find out more about Zean Villongco–adventure traveler and storyteller.
What do you do currently?
Currently, I am working as a web designer and web developer. I am currently holding the position as Creative Director at Primesoft Philippines Inc. On the side I do personal and freelance projects as well, same thing with web design and web development for various personal clients.
Can you run us through your career, from the start up to where you are now?
I started off in environmental conservation. I started with a desk job for an environmental NGO doing paper work and secretarial jobs. When I took up diving I then switched my career to marine conservation. That was when I put more focus on being a marine biologist. I was a marine biologist full-time. I was working in the Visayas doing field work, conducting coral reef surveys, fish population surveys and all of that. Those were the most formative of my career years. I have learned a lot during that time I have lived in an island, I have lived within a local community. It was quite an adventure for me. Then after a while, after working for several years in environment conservation, I then tried to pursue other careers. I came back to Manila doing odd jobs. I became a photographer and writer. I went into performing arts. I did all sorts of unusual stuff as well. Then I also tried out more conventional jobs, more corporate types of jobs. I also became a financial adviser for a very brief period of time. Later on, I became very passionate about producing outlets of all of the things, all of the life learnings that I have had–that’s my photography and writing–I was looking for an outlet for all of these things. This is when I became interested in web design and web development because I have always wanted to express that creative energy of mine. I would have to say that web design is a very good marriage of creativity as well as of technology, which I am also very much interested in. I have really devoured all the things that I could learn about web design and development until that’s where I am right now.
You seem to be a quick learner if that’s the case. You mentioned you were a financial adviser for a short period of time and then web design. Did you have any formal training in these things?
All of the things that I know are all self-taught. From photography to web development and web design, all of those were self-taught. All of the languages that I speak as well are all self-taught.
You are part of Uncharted Philippines, will you talk about the company a little bit?
The company is a brainchild of Leo Cuesta, a friend of mine. He is also an org mate of mine in AMCI Mountaineering Club. It’s really his corporation and my only involvement is that I develop the website for him. I am also a part incorporator of the company. Basically what Uncharted Philippines is all about is it wants to promote the Philippines as an adventure tourism destination. What it tries to do is seek out those really unknown destinations here in the Philippines and promote it to tourists be it foreign or local but focusing mainly on really unknown destinations–those destinations that are really off the beaten track. For the itinerary of these tours, what we try to do is focus not more on the conventional sight-seeing type of activities but more on activities where the traveler gets to be more engaged with his environment and even the local community. We try to incorporate some cultural immersion as well in to the various tours that Uncharted Philippines offers.
You and Leo are batchmates in AMCI?
No. Leo was a year ahead of me. He was batch 2006. I was batch 2007. Coincidentally, Leo and I came from the same school. We share the same alma mater basically.
I’m guessing your outdoor experience goes way ahead of your AMCI days. How did your foray in to the outdoors come about? Who influenced you?
I guess my forays in to outdoors and adventure were really–it probably was an outcome of a repressed childhood. back when I was a kid, I never really had the opportunity to play outside the house much. My life back then was very secluded. It was only later on during my college days when I started joining different organizations that I have become very interested in to the point of being passionate about going out and exploring what’s out there. My interest and passion for the outdoors are really rooted back to my college years when I first joined an outdoor recreation group. I remember it was back in 1995 when I did my first mountain hike or trek. That was in Famy. I remember after that climb I was miserably ill. But somehow that touched something inside of me until… it just started the ball rolling from then on.
According to your bio you planned to be a doctor when you were younger. What made you shift careers?
I guess my main motivation back then for becoming a doctor was that I was very much interested in discovering things. I remember back when I was a kid, I was only five years old and I was already reading encyclopaedias and trying to learn as many scientific things as I can. Learning and discovery are an inherent part of my nature. I love learning new things. I remember back then I was asked by a doctor, “So what do you want to be when you grow up?” I just gave a vague response that I wanted to be a scientist without really knowing specifically what I would be doing as a scientist but I guess what I really wanted to say back then was that I wanted to do something wherein I could constantly learn something new. That was the very root of all things. That’s also, I guess, the very root of my motivations for doing all these things that I do. I just want to constantly learn and discover something new.
How do you manage your time between all your activities–from your work to your hobbies?
It’s really quite a juggling act to manage all of these things. I just try to do all of my tasks as efficiently and proficiently as I can. In the office, whatever task or work I have for the day I just try to execute it as efficiently and proficiently as possible. I try to maintain good work ethics. I try to uphold that in myself. I try to do a very good job so that I don’t get any flak from my superiors. I use that sort of as my ammo to get good grades for any of these that I would like to request. It basically all boils down to proper time management and proper work ethics.
Are there any activities that you haven’t tried and want to engage in?
Still a lot. I still would like to try out caving and spelunking, technical diving, extreme sports, wherein I will be hanging in the air or free-falling, sky diving, bungee jumping, wing suiting…all those stuff. And then there are some of my grander aspirations–climb the seven summits if I can, a lot…I still have a lot on my bucket list.
Of all those outdoor activities, what would you consider as the most challenging?
The most challenging… I don’t really consider them to be challenging in such a way that they would be a deterrent for me. I guess the difficulty in doing all these things is finding the time, finding the financial means… these things cost a lot of money as well. I guess those are the main challenges… trying to prepare and find the resources to achieve all these aspirations of mine. I guess one of the most challenging of all these aspirations that I have would probably be those that involves a lot of endurance and mental fortitude particularly long races like The North Face 100. I am also setting my sights on the Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc. It’s a 160-kilometer slog fest through mountain terrains out there in Europe. I also plan a full Iron Man triathlon later on. I guess those would be the more intimidating challenges for me.
Your advocacy is on the environment and indigenous communities. What to you is the importance of conserving these especially the latter–the Filipino culture?
These things are an inherent nature of who we are really and letting these aspects of our identity die, ultimately will come back to us. I guess if we looked at other cultures, they have very strong emotional ties to their culture and that’s what gives them this very strong sense of nationalism. That’s what we Filipinos basically lack. We lack a sense of identity. I guess that’s what’s proving to be a deterrent to our progress. One part of our identity is our culture so if we fail to protect our identity then ultimately we lose that sense of self, of who we are. It’s important for us to touch base with our heritage, with our culture because these are our roots. This is basically where we came from.
There seems to be an irony between tourism and environmental protection because where ever man goes, there seems to be an equal amount of environmental degradation. For Uncharted Philippines, is there a system in place to merge both–environmental protection and tourism?
What we do in Uncharted Philippines is we disclose only limited information. We only describe the destination but do not give out the full information as to how to get there such that independent travelers…in a way we try to make it as difficult as possible for independent travelers to be able to get there by themselves. In a way we are able to limit the number of people who gets there. We also try to make the trips exclusive. For example, a particular trip would require special logistics. We try to source that our. It’s only Uncharted Philippines that is able to source out those logistics requirements so in a way we are able to limit the people who can go on these types of trips.
What is the state of adventure tourism, or what many people call as adventourism, in the country? Where are we now as an adventure destination?
We’re still pretty much way behind most other countries especially when we compare ourselves against first world countries. One, adventure tourism is still not a very popular concept here in the Philippines especially for local tourists. They are not very familiar with the concept of adventure tourism. Their main concept of travel and tourism is still more on the conventional–on the typical destinations; shoppings and all that; sightseeing types of destinations. It’s mostly foreigners from First World countries who are able to appreciate these types of travel. I guess it also has to do with, I don’t know, maybe the socioeconomic status of most people which affects their preferences or perceptions about what travel is. Among the local tourists, those who can afford to travel would be those who have surplus income and some of these people their main preference is more on the ritzy type of travel whereas in First World countries even regular workers would have enough money to be able to travel here in the Philippines and just rough it out. I guess that’s where the disparity lies, why there is that difference in travel preference between people coming from abroad and local tourists.
What are the prospects and what is our potential as an adventure tourism destination?
There are some jewels here in the Philippines—really really nice destinations that we could promote for adventure travel. The only caveat that I see with this is that once a local community for example discovers the potential for tourism of their particular area, what they try to do is they start developing infrastructure, they start developing home stays, hotels to cater to more upscale type of tourism such that the spirit of adventure travel is diluted or is lost. What’s supposed to be an adventure destination becomes another run of the mill type of destination for a lot of travelers. Take for example Boracay, way back then it would probably be a really nice place for adventure. But then people get to see the potential so they start developing all these infrastructure. I guess the thing here is that on the onset, communities or the people should already have an idea as to how they want the place to be developed. It could be developed for adventure travel or for more conventional type of tourism and then just stick with that particular plan. That’s basically what I think.
If we can change our consciousness of what travel is and what other types of travel are available for us or we can offer, there is still a lot. There is a lot of destinations that we can offer.
What would you consider as your most memorable outdoor experience?
My most memorable outdoor experience… a lot really. There is our snow climb in Taiwan, there is diving in Palau. Here in the Philippines I guess the most memorable travel that I have done was when I volunteered for WWF for their humpback whale conservation program. We stayed in the Babuyan…well I stayed at the Babuyan for an entire month living with the communities then I was always out at see where we were constantly doing surveys. We were doing whale population surveys. We were also able to explore a lot of the places in the Babuyan Islands. They’ve got a lot of really nice coves and beaches there…still very pristine. They’ve got amazing cliffs, really beautiful promontories. The entire place was really breath-taking. That was one of my most memorable adventure trips. And also the time that I spent working as a marine biologist back in the Visayas. I stayed in the islands, living with the communities and as I have said those were the most formative years of my career and definitely the most memorable.
When you speak of adventure tourism there are its inherent dangers, has there been any life-threatening experience that you have encountered? What was the most life-threatening?
Yes though not as life-threatening as you would probably here from some travelers. Probably the hairiest adventures that I have had–climbing Mt. Banahaw in the middle of the storm. Also when I was working as a marine biologist in the Visayas, we were out in the middle of the sea. We were supposed to do a night survey and a storm came down upon us. we were just staying in this 20-foot outrigger boat, it was a really small boat. It was just three of us–me, my research assistant who was piloting the boat and a kid who was just accompanying us. It was night. We were stuck in the middle of a storm. We were actually already near a municipal pier and we could have just easily docked there for safe harbour but the thing is docking there at the pier would be more dangerous because the rough waves would easily slam our bangka against the rocks. What our boatman did was he drove us out to the middle of the sea then just anchored us out there–probably several kilometers away from the pier. We still could still see the pier but during that time it was really raining hard that we could not see, visibility was really poor. We had to sleep the entire night out there amidst huge waves. That was probably the most exciting time that I have had outdoors.
Of all the places that you have been to, what would you consider as your most favorite?
My most favorite…there would be a lot. I really can’t say which my favorite is. The most recent that made a very big impression on me was our climb up Mt. Hsuehshan in Taiwan. It was a snow-capped mountain and very very different from the top of climbing that I was used to here in the Philippines. The view there was just really spectacular. I would not mind going back there again and again.
How high is the mountain?
It was only jsut above 3000 meters–3,880 meters above sea level.
Still much higher than any mountain here in the Philippines.
Definitely.
Aside from Mt. Hsueshan some of the more memorable destinations that I went to was Krabi in Thailan. We did some rock climbing there. It’s a huge playgournd for rock climbers. When it comes to diving there is Tubbataha and Palau. Those are my most memorable destinations.
So for anyone interested in mountaineering or scuba diving, what do they need to prepare for and what challenges are they potentially facing?
I guess for any outdoor sport or any adventure activity, first and foremost you have to have that particular mindset or attitude. It’s hard for you to enjoy any outdoor activity if you’re the squeamish type. You also got to be very flexible because hardly does anything go exactly to plan. You have to make room for contingencies. You also have to be able to physical prepare yourself because a lot of these things can also be very physically demanding like mountaineering. You need to put in the effort. If you’re more physically fit, you’d be able to enjoy more the activity. Then there is also the financial side of it. Expect that these things are going to cost. Those are the things that you need to be aware of, have a heads up on.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up here in the Philippines. I grew up in Malabon during most of my childhood years. Then during my teenage years, after my dad died, we lived in Quezon City and that is where we have been living since.
How was childhood to you like? You mentioned earlier that you have a repressed childhood. But it is not all that bad, is it?
Not really. The thing is when I was a kid I have always been wanting to go out, to be able to play outdoors with other kids in the neighborhood but my parents didn’t really let me go out of the house. My life back then as a kid was basically just school, ferrying to and from school, doing my homework. I never really experienced growing up playing outdoors with other kids. I never really had that much experience climbing trees back then but during that time I was very much interested in learning things, different things, discovering new things. I guess there was that particular hunger for discovering things that really boiled up in me during childhood that come college I was able to experience more liberty during that time and that’s when I really broke out and tried to catch up with all of the things that I have always been wanting to do when I was a kid.
How old were you when your father passed away?
My dad died when I was 16.
What role does family play in your life?
Quite a lot.
Do you have any siblings?
Yes. I have a younger sister.
Is she also into the outdoors?
No.
Family does play a lot. They reinforce a lot of your motivations for the things that you do. They don’t necessarily have to agree. Whatever they believe in doesn’t necessarily have to coincide with what you believe in but the thing is, regardless whether they are pro or against, they always manage to reinforce what you believe in. For example, my mom always ask me why I do these things and she often times tell me to quit doing all these things and try to live a more normal life, the more it reinforces me to pursue these things, to pursue what I love doing. Family does play a lot.
But has she gone beyond words, (verbal) warning?
Not really. I guess in a way she grew tired of constantly nagging me.
What role does faith play in your life? How do you apply faith in everything that you do?
For me faith plays a lot as well in the things that I do. With all of the travels that I have done, all the adventures that I have taken, the most memorable ones in a lot of ways they became very memorable because they somehow manage to touch something spiritual in me. I remember the first time that I went up Mt. Pulag. I can remember standing atop the summit and I was just surrounded with this huge sea of clouds and for me during that time was the closest that I have been to touching the face of God. Those trips that have made a very huge impact in me always reinforce that spiritual side of me. It strengthened my belief in a higher power and also my belief in humanity. Especially during the most difficult trips that I have had, I had to rely on others even on complete strangers and somehow putting my trust on complete strangers paid off and it also strengthened my belief that there is always that inherent good. So yes, it strengthened my belief in a higher power; it strengthened my belief in humanity.
What would you consider as your purpose and passion in life and what is the importance of following you passion? That’s what you did earlier on in your career, right?
I have always believed that life is not really a matter of following a purpose but rather it’s a journey of self-definition, you define for yourself what your purpose is. No one can really tell you what your purpose is… you define that as you go along the way. I guess in my life I just managed to find what the things are that I really love doing and I believe that as the defining dimensions, the defining aspects of my life. Somehow I have managed to define for myself what I believe would be my purpose in life and that would be to inspire and influence people. I have always seen myself as a storyteller. I have always wanted to convey and share my experiences with other hoping that they would be able to pick up some lesson from these things. That’s basically how I have defined my life so far as it is.
What has been your greatest challenge and how did you overcome it?
The greatest challenges would be to overcome those negativities coming from myself and from others. ”That’s impossible. You can’t do that. That’s way out of your league”. Those were probably the most challenging things that I have always faced. For example, this is just way to expensive but somehow if i really want it that bad I somehow always manage to find ways to be able to go on that trip. Or way back then when I was a teenage, I was already watching triathlons and I would tell myself these guys are super human. I could not possibly aspire to do these things they were doing and somehow, lo and behold, I have already managed to do several triathlons and I am looking forward to doing my first Iron Man and I am aspiring to do all these other races as well. The main challenges that I face were those negativities coming from myself and others.
What would you consider as your greatest achievement so far?
I guess being where I am right now. I consider where I am right now as a huge achievement. In hindsight I have always wanted to be a doctor. I have always thought that pursuing the more conventional life would be a hallmark of success for me–having a nice car, keeping up with the norms of other people as to what being successful means. That has been what I was aspiring for when I was a kid but then something changed along the way and I have taken a far different path and I have managed to thrive in it. For me that has probably been my greatest success–being able to break free from the norm and find happiness in it.
What are your plans in the near future?
In the near future I plan to do bigger adventures and hopefully be able to start ticking off some items on my ultimate adventure bucket list.
Can you run us through some of those items?
One would be to climb all the seven summits. This November we’re planning a trip to climb Aconcagua, that’s the highest peak in South America. Then hopefully for next year, I plan to do the Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc, that’s 160 kilometers running through Mont-Blanc in France. Be able to do a full Iron Man triathlon later on and what else? Those are just a few of the things that I could think of at the top of my list.
How about Uncharted Philippines?
For Uncharted Philippines right now Leo is developing or trying to come up with more tours, newer ones, more off the beaten tracks. That’s basically what we’re trying to come up with, more adventure destinations.
If there is one message out of all that has been discussed in our interview that you would like to give to our readers, what would that message be?
Don’t be afraid to pursue your passions. To live without passion or to live without dream really is not worth really living. Passions and dreams are really the things that keep you going. It’s something that keeps you going. In a way it gives your life definition. Don’t be afraid to stick it out on a limb and pursue something that you really love despite all the negativities that you face from others or even from yourself.
How can people get in touch with Zean Villongco and Uncharted Philippines? Maybe they would want to try out adventure tourism or avail of your services. They can check out my website. That’s ZeanVillongco.com and UnchartedPhilippines.com. Check out those websites. Other contact details are there as well.
Any last words?
Like what I said, don’t be afraid to pursue your passions.
