Beijing and on my way home

I caught the 11 hour train ride to Beijing from Shanghai. I had the lower bunk and shared my compartment with 2 Chinese women and a Chinese man. No late night sharing of stories because I was the only English speaking person. They were very helpful and kind to me when I had to store my luggage and settle in. I had trouble getting to sleep which was a problem because the lights were switched on as we came into the train station at 6 AM. I had only about 4 hours sleep and I was heading into a large city with some instructions on how to take the subway and walk to my small hotel. It was also raining at the time which unbeknownst to me was a good thing because would comment in the coming days how clear the air was after the rain. I got to my hotel okay and quickly made friends with some people at the hotel: Charlie, an oil and gas manager from Calgary; Colin, a Scottish English as a second language teacher in Beijing, and Maggie, a Chinese student from Dalian, China. We went out to breakfast which was dumplings and an oatmeal like soup for about a $1. During the breakfast I got instructions to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Sqare which are within walking distance of each other. They had suggested I take a cab but I decided to walk. By walking I discovered the difference between how close something can seem on a map and the reality of the distance on the ground. Not having slept much I was getting tired by the time I got to the Forbidden City which was becoming more like the Forbidding City because it is so large in scale and I was diminishing in energy. Once I started walking from one section of the city to the next I felt more energized. I had seen the movie "the Last Emperor" which is the story of the last emperor who left the grounds in I believe in 1924. He had been established as the emperor at the age of 3. The buildings and space are overwhelming and it is hard to capture in pictures because the scale is so large. There are 8700 rooms and the overall space it covers is some other phenenomal number. Let's just say it is very big. Some of the buildings are under renovations which is true of many parts of Beijing due to the Olympics coming in August. When I visited the Forbidden City, as well as the artifacts on display at the Shanghai, it brought home the understanding of China as a huge empire which is beginning to recapture its former prominence. The amount of energy and determination it would take to make this palace a reality is truly remarkable. The Chinese are into having the biggest palace on earth (the Forbidden City) , the largest public square in the world (Tiananamen Square) in addition to the largest population etc. The square and palace are within easy walking distance, you walk out of the city practically into the square. After I walked around the square I took four subway stops to the Silk market because I wanted to get started on buying some stuff which I had left until Beijing because I did not want to be carrying gifts across the country. I walked into the market and bumped into Charlie from the hotel. I hadn't planned on it but I already began buying and haggling that afternoon. I had my tailored Australian cashmere wool suit ordered before I left and had pretty well decided what my purchases would be the next time I was going to be there.
The next day I woke up early and went on the 10 kilometer hike of the Great Wall. It didn't start out well because the bus was overbooked and our driver was trying to get 5 of us into a car about the size of a Honda Accord. We refused and so we had to wait around for an hour and a half. Then we spent 3 hours getting to where we would begin our hike because we were not going to the most visited site which is generally just a short hike, look and see, and then back home. Ours was 6 hours round trip plus a 4 hour walk because the wall is not a flat walk but the wall reflects the up and down terrain it is built on. We walked past 30 of those outposts you see in the picture. It was great not only because of the wall but also because of the cleaner countryside air and it was a nice warm day despite the fact we were in higher elevation. I walked with my trip companions a Dutch couple and an English couple. I was the lonely guy on his own but of course I am never lonely because the fellow travellers are quite friendly and there is never a shortage of things to talk about whether it is our native countries, what we are experiencing in the present,or where else we have been in our travels up until this point. The walk was good exercise and I have a good understanding of the again impressive achievement of creating a barrier of this immensity. A little humour was provided when someone had written in black "Made in China" on the wall.
The next day I went back to the Silk market and perfected my haggling skills. Just as I was getting good at it I was done buying what I needed. It is fun to engage in the haggling but it can be time consuming and draining. Afterwards I went up to the Temple of Heaven with Charlie who had gone to the market with me. The Temple of Heaven is like a huge park in Beijing and a respite from the traffic, people, and noise of Beijing. It is the religious shrines where offerings to the gods had been made for centuries. Not nearly as large as the Forbidden City ,which is the home and political administration of the Emperor, this temple had a long history archeologists having found evidence of sacrifices being conducted 5500 hundred years ago at this site.
I went out and had Peking duck that night plus visited a night club in the infamous Houhai Lake area. The next morning I got up and took a cab to look at the Olympic site. It was a little disappointing because you cannot get to close to the buildings but nonetheless it was an impressive amount of interesting architecture going into the main structures.
There is so much more I could have done in Beijing if I had time and yet I was ready to go home after being away on my own for 10 and a half weeks. I felt I had done what I had set out to do in terms of the 3 and half weeks I had to see China and Thailand. I had enjoyed myself with the nice balance of seeing some interesting places like Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ko Phangnan, Yangshuo, Shanghai, and Beijing plus doing the activities of hiking, biking, snorkeling, scuba diving, moped riding, and conversing with people from different countries all over the world. I was ready to go and see my family and friends.

Shanghai

Shanghai
I arrived in Shanghai at 2:30 P.M., after a 22 hour train ride. The East Asia hotel is located on East Nanking Rd. which is really not unlike Times Square in New York. Lots of neon lights and people plus many shops and restaurants. I went out the first night and walked the Bund which is the area on the Huangpu River where British and French had many of their offices and banks at the turn of the century. There is a cross section of architectural styles in the construction of the buildings. Many of them also have interesting interiors such as elaborately painted ceilings and walls. The Bund is on one side of the river and Pudong the business area of Shanghai is on the other. I did not visit the Pudong section but I did take some great pictures of it from the Puxie or Bund side of the river. I later walked back to my hotel for the night.
The next day I tried to reach the nephew of Jerie, a counselor in Manila, whose nephew is a psychologist in Shanghai. Unfortunately it did not work but I still had a meeting set up with Lucy Wang and her associates regarding the setting up of a career counseling program here in Shanghai. My impression from communicating with people across China is career counseling ought to be offered because there are many economic and social changes which are affecting people’s work lives and choices.
I was fortunate to have 2 Americans from Seattle in my compartment. Most likely the only English speakers in my car. Susan and Brian had been travelling for 12 months around the world and have 2 months to go before they go home. They have been to Europe, Africa (hiked to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro with 8 porters and a guide), and Asia just having come from Viet Nam where they had met up with Susan's mother who was an escapee from Viet Nam 33 years ago with her one year old daughter Susan. They had spent 2 months there travelling all over Viet Nam. The train ride went quickly because we had a lot to talk about. Throughout the 1500 kilometre train ride when I looked out the window I always saw someone tilling the land or walking somewhere. The houses looked well kept, often concrete formed with tile roofs. Many of them were 2 stories. China looked prosperous without a parcel of land that was not being put to some sort of use. Not many trees along the way which is probably why they like Guilin/Yangshuo so much because of the lush vegetation.
I was lucky to have booked a hotel which was right on Nanking Rd. which is the centre of the old city or Puxi area of Shanghai. It was like stepping out onto Times Square when I left my hotel. I spent the 3 days there going to the Shanghai Museum (my one museum stop on this trip but one of the best museums in China with lots of displays of ancient pottery, statues, and interesting displays of the ethnic minorities in China with their clothing and various accoutrements), seeing the YuYuan gardens which is a preserved 16 century royal garden, and in addition the evidence of the often European and American presence in Shanghai. This was demonstrated on the Bund which is a long string of unique buildings along the Huangpu River developed by the Europeans and Americans which reflect the different architectural structures at the time they were built like art deco, roccoco etc. There is also and area called the French Concession which has a very European feel to it with many trees lining the streets and more European style restaurants with menus in English. We avoided these restaurants when we went there because they were more expensive and I did not go to China to eat lasagna.
What I did go to China for was the hot pot which we had on a side street off the Yunnan food st. The hot pot is this medal cylinder with hot coals in it which sits in the middle of this wok like metal container. It heats up the water and you throw in whatever food you have purchased to be cooked. We had slices of chicken, tofu, mushrooms etc. When they were cooked we would each fish out our food and put it on our rice. Very fresh and lots of fun plus we washed it down with TsingTao beer. I found the beer very good throughout Asia very good but I did not drink any wine or spirits except when we drank cognac with Yi's parents in Foshan. I also ate off vendors on the street which I did not do in the Philippines and Thailand but I thought I am coming to the end of my trip so I can take a risk. I never did get sick except a little towards the last day or so but I just lost my appetite, nothing major. In Shanghai I would get fish balls, tofu, dumplings, and potato pancakes with a fried egg for practically nothing. I was also always buying fresh fruit off the vendors no matter where I was. Food is an important part of everyday life for the Chinese and so it is fun participating it in with them. When it comes to drinks its different. They think it is bad to drink things cold so when you ask for milk or water it will be warm or hot. In fact someone told me in the summer if they see a Westerner giving their kids a cold drink they think it is child abuse and want to take it away from the child.
Of course one of the safety things you need to do is watch out you don't slip on some phlegm when walking down the street. I think with the air pollution I wanted to start spitting but the Chinese have something about mucous like it is bad to have any in their body or at least the males seem to think this. They begin to retrieve some from the inner bowels of their bodies and make this huge grrrhhhup sound which I would have liked to have caught on tape. And of course just spit it on the sidewalk. Sometimes I would see someone slip slide sideways and I know it was someone slipping on a fresh gob on the sidewalk. Supposedly there is a public health campaign to get them to curtail this activity until after the Olympics.
Shanghai is where I got back into the art of haggling. I had done it years ago when I imported clothing from Guatemala so I was out of practice for almost 30 years. I watched Brian in Shanghai and Charlie a Canadian in Beijing and learned again the art of relationship building. In haggling it isn't about the cheap price but the time and effort you have to engage with the seller. The better the relationship the better the price. One of the telling signs of how well you have haggled is after the product is bought if you if they offer you their card that means they are happy at what you bought if for and if you have to ask for their card they are saying you got a good price and I don't want to see your friends and probaly not you again because you cost me too much. So much for the relationship.
I ended up buying sunglasses , dvds, and a tennis racket off these guys from Nanking Rd. who we decided to follow up with. I had been approached by 30,000 guys to buy a watch but Brian and I decided to look at some dvds these guys were selling. We thought they'd have some in the alley instead they led us to a store which had a false door which revolved and there were 3 storeys full of jackets, shoes, dvds, watches, other jewellery. Everything is a knockoff and about 20% of the going North American price. The ironic part is it is illegal in China although throughout Asia it is Chinese products which are sold everywhere and must be condoned by the gov't in order to be made in such quantities.
So after 3 and a half days it was on to Beijing. I am going to catch an 11 hour overnight train to Beijing. I will probably not get as lucky as I did with the first train with great companions like Brian and Susan.

Yangshuo Mountain Retreat

The day after my bike riding I hired a guide to take me to some of the old sections of a few small cities based on the advice of an English woman who had done it the day before I arrived. The guide is the father of a young woman who works at the retreat and has "brittle bone" disease which is like a form of osteoporosis but happens from birth. They have very porous bones and as a result do not grow properly and their bones break easily. Often they are bed ridden from a young age and may never walk. Angel is such a person and works at the front desk of the hotel. She is about 2 ft tall and cannot walk or stand. She speaks English very well and is obviously very intelligent. I wanted to help by hiring the father and it would include a visit to her 500 year old village on the Li River and meet her family. The father met me and we saw some villages as agreed. I paid for his bus ticket and I paid for lunch which was not discussed beforehand but I was okay with in addition to the fee I was paying him. The part I had trouble with was toward the end of the day I took a short boat ride to the village and saw Angel and her family. When I got off the boat the boat operator asked for an excessive amount for the short boat ride. I could only conclude that the father was in collusion with the boat owner. I spoke to other people and they shared my hunches. I told them it was excessive but rather than make a scene I paid it but it left a bad taste in my mouth. The father is taking advantage of the situation but the family has had to cope with a lot. I would rather they just be straight with me about the costs rather than the deception. Otherwise it was an interesting day. Bill Clinton had been to their village and their home over 10 years ago and they had huge pictures in the living room to prove it.
The next morning I went on the bike again for a few hours thru the small villages along the Yulong River. I was glad once again that the rain had not come and I had the chance to see some different areas of the valley. Later in the day I left for the train station to start my 22 hour train ride to Shanghai with a little trepidation wondering who will be my compartment companions.
Well I ended up getting lucky because my companions were Susan and Brian from Seattle who are in the last 2 months of a 14 month trip around the world . They were in their 30's and had left managment positions to do this dream trip. They have spent months in Europe then went from Egypt down to South Africa hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro and going on a safari in the process. They then went to India, Thailand, and had spent 2 months in Viet Nam where Susan's family is from. Her mother and her had escaped when she was 1 year old. Her mother's family was originally from South China. Her mother has one sister who still lives in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) who Susan and Brian stayed with when they were there. Anyways we shared stories and the 22 hours went by quickly. We had brought some fruit and bread with us so we did not even go to the dining car. The train provides a huge thermos of hot water with which we made noodles we bought in the station plus coffee and tea we had brought with us. It was quite a smoothe train ride.
I am now in a hotel room on East Nanjing Rd. in the heart of the commercial district of Shanghai. It is like being on Times Square in N.Y. although it has quieted down after 11 P.M. I had to upgrade my hotel room because the less expensive one smelled of smoke. People smoke a lot here and anywhere they want. In the next couple of days I am to meet a graduate of the G.B.C. program who lives here in Shanghai with her husband. They had only lived in Canada a little over a year. She has been in communication with us in our program regarding starting a similar program in Shanghai. I am looking forward to the next few days here as my trip winds down.

Guilin and the Liang River

I took the train to Guangzhou and caught a plane to Guilin which is about 300 miles northwest of Guangzhou. Guilin is suppose to the most beautiful place in China and Yangshou (my destination the next day) is suppose to be the most beautiful place in Guilin. Guilin did not seem so beautiful at night. It seem like another somewhat chaotic city with many people, cars, mopeds, trucks, and bikes everywhere going in all kinds of directions. Also there are no street lights or sidewalks so everyone is in the shadows. I did get to a restaurant where I could order a la carte in small portions otherwise I would be ordering one thing which is made to be shared with 4 or5 other people. People do not eat alone in China or order individually but in a group sharing generally although it is changing because McDonald's is McDonald's although with a Chinese slant. I actually liked the coffee they served in the main floor of my hotel in Guangzhou. So I did get to eat my lonely little dinner amongst a sea of group oriented people. In fact I was able to find a small dish of strawberries and cherry tomatoes which was a treat. I had some chicken but this can means all parts of the chicken which can be a little crunchy.
The next day I got on a bus with a group of other Westerners and quickly struck up a conversation with Tom from Birmingham who is a film and TV producer who use to work for the BBC but now freelances. As a result of freelancing he is able to take chunks of time off. He was travelling with the couple in front of us, Tom and Sarah, also from Birmingham. Sarah looked liked a female version of Hugh Grant. They had very soft English accents. They were my companions on the way down the Li or Liang river which flows through the karst countryside. These large rounded mountains which have interesting shapes. Also the area is quite lush with trees and other forms of vegetation which is unique in China. There are lots of Chinese tourists here. The trip was pleasant with a decent meal and we bought tickets to the performance "Impressions" which is set on the Li River at night with over 600 performers. It is directed by Zhang Yimou of Raise the Red Lantern fame and other movies. It was quite a show because he used the darkness like a curtain, closing off scenes with fadeaways into the darkness and on the other hand he introduced scenes with vivid shocks of red or used lighting in a provocative manner. It was only 70 minutes long but it told the love story which has its origins in local legends and included many of their characteristics such as the women have hair which is 2 metres long etc. What was different was that the Chinese talk through the whole performance. And I don't mean low voices I am talking like its a party. The whole performance had the audience conversation as a backdrop. The other surprise was the lack of applause at the end. A very lukewarm response and they got up immediately and filed out although the performers were mostly still looking at the audience. We were blown away by the performance so it was kind of confusing. Of course how could they appreciate it because they were talking to each other throughn the whole performance! Anyways I was glad I went.
The next day it rained and I did some errands and met the Birmingham people for dinner. The following day I took a bike ride through the Yulong River valley which is close to where I am staying at the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat. It is owned by an American and there are corporate training and teambuilding kinds of activities held here. I rode my bike from 9 in the morning until after 6 P.M. and boy was I sore the next day. But it was a great day because I saw a lot of the countryside and many different villages along the way. I got lost again but I asked for directions from Crad and Phoebe who set me straight and then asked me to join them and their guide as they biked. They had studied English in University and so they could converse with me quite easily. I spent about 4 hours with them riding, going on a short boat cruise, and having lunch. I asked lots of questions especially about their work, their parent's work, and how they saw their future. I left them as they were going into the water caves. I have seen caves in U.S. west so I do not need to see more. I went on biking for another 4 hours just taking in the countryside.

Hong Kong

I did a 24 hour whirlwind tour of Hong Kong. I managed to go up the Victoria Peak Tram which has a view of the Hong Kong harbour. At the beginning of the Tram it has a newspaper clipping from a newspaper describing the British fighting the Japanese (referred to as the "Japs"). It would have been quite a scene because it is quite steep. Hard to imagine the difference in the times. As I was crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong I was thinking about how my impression for many years of Hong Kong was "junks" live in boats in the harbour. I walked up and down Nathan Rd. which is a famous shopping area in Kowloon. I also had some street food: fish balls and waffles. Not together but they did offset each other nicely. I stayed at the infamous Chenking Mansions which is a building block with about 50 different guest houses of questionable value. I thought for one night I could tolerate it so I took it but it was small. The place was another illustration of how in China there are many people working from all over the world. I met many Indians on the elevator but also people from the Middle East and Africa. I was on the 15th floor so I saw everyone get on and get off as I went up or down. I really did not want to spend too much time there knowing I am going to be in Shanghai and Beijing for a week.

Thailand

I am in China so I cannot read my blog so I am not sure where this left off. My mantra from Dik my scuba instructor which was "Breath deeply, just relax" paid off in the coming days. Thailand was a little fraught with risk partly to due to me and partly due to what I was doing. I was driving a moped around the island. I was very cautious but more so because I saw how many people were walking around with bandages on their knees or ugly scrapes on their hands and elbows due to falling off their bikes. When I was preparing for scuba diving I was warned it can lead to an embolism etc but very unlikely and I expressed some concern and Dik said "you drove here on a moped here didn't you, that is a lot more dangerous than scuba diving". So I survived riding around although I did run out of about 20 meters passed a gas station so I was able to roll my bike into the station. The gas gauge was not working properly. Then of course I attempted to walk to the top of the highest peak in Ko Phangnan and got lost in the process (in the jungle!) but I did find my way out with a trusty dog I picked up on the way and who stayed with me till I got to a village outside of the national park. I had to walk quite a ways because I was a far ways from where my moped was parked. I ended up hitchiking and got a ride on the back of a motorcycle to the nearest big town where I caught a cab back to my moped. So I thought on my last day I had survived some possible difficulties as I leave my hotel. I ask for my passport back from the owner because I had been cautious enough to ask him to put it in their safe. Aun, the owner, gives it to me and I go on to catch my boat and then the airport where I have a few hours to kill before my flight. I go to check my stuff in and present my passport and the airline person says this is not you and I look at it and its E.J. who is an ex-paratrooper from Saratoga Springs N.Y. who was staying at the hotel. So then it becomes a mad scramble to reach the hotel on the other island and hopefully recover my passport in time for the flight. At first I was unable to reach anyone at the hotel and I begin to think this will screw up my next days flight to Hong Kong etc. Then I remember "Breathe deeply and relax " and eventually it did work out. I contact the hotel and Aun agrees to bring it as he is very apologetic. Of course I have another customer's passport which I am sure they would not appreciate knowing it was on another island. Aun has to take a speedboat over stormy waters to bring it to me and he makes it in about an hour before my flight. So my time on the islands ends with a jarring event and I am able to leave unscathed.
It is not to say I did not commit any faux pas. One being one day I look up in the hotel and I see a picture of a man and woman, he has on a pair of dark, small, round sunglasses and she has a 1920's ironed looking haircut. It looks like it was taken at least 60 years ago but I just say spontaneously to Auna the co-owner "Oh is that a picture of you" meaning to be flattering although I know the picture is dated. She gives me a strange look and responds "No its the King and Queen!?!". Auna is offended I would compare the Queen to her a mere commoner. The King is very popular and there are pictures of him everywhere except they are usually more formal and at a later age. He's in his eighties. You can never ever say anything negative about the royalty. I have to be careful when I am trying to be nice.

In Ko Phangan

Well I have been on the island for seven days now and so I return to Bangkok this evening and then on to Hong Kong tomorrow. I liked the snorkeling so much I decided to take an introduction to scuba diving. I had to learn some basics and take a short quiz before I got into the water with Dik my instructor from Holland. He was a good teacher. He did not mind repeating things especially since I could not have my hearing aid on in the water. We went over some basic skills: how to descend, equalize etc before we proceeded into shallow water and then into about 27 ft of water eventually. It is so much better than snorkeling because you are really amongst the fish as you can do while snorkeling if you dive down for a minute or so. The coral was amazing and I saw many schools of fish and other marine life. I am glad I did it because now I know I would like to get certified in this area when I get back to Canada. My training here counts towards my certification in scuba diving. It has been raining here but it tends to rain and then clear and then rain again. The locals are commenting how this is unusal this time of year because generally the weather is less unsettled. As a result the water is not as clear as it normally is but it is still unworldly under water. I am just about to do some more snorkeling before I leave this afternoon so I will sign off for now.

On to Thailand

I arrived at Bangkok late on Sunday evening after travelling to Hong Kong from Guangzhou by train. The train ride was pleasant. The train ride was smooth and without event. I looked out the window and I could see all the various factories and apartment buildings between these 2 major cities. The pollution is quite bad in Guangzhou, worse than it was in Manila. In Manila it is caused by the traffic. In Guangzhou it is caused by traffic but also all the factories which are manufacturing products for the whole world. I got sinus problems after about 5 days there and it persisted until I got on the island. Shirley has had it since November and felt some relief when she got to Manila. I got to Bangkok late and got a room at Maxim Inn. I was not too crazy about the hotel or the area so I moved the next day to another area where many backpackers go and so the hotel are less expensive but my room was better. The hotel had a small pool and there was a variety of people staying there. I met Nick a young German who told me about Ko Phangan an island right next to Ko Samui but is less commercialized. So I made plane flight arrangements and tentative hotel plans. I proceeded to Wat Po a Buddhist shrine which hosts the Reclining Buddha which is 150 long and 45 ft high and it really is the Buddha reclining. Quite a different religious connotation from someone hanging on a cross. I took lots of pictures but the art work and buildings are amazing. I decided to get a picture of myself here and recalling my picture taking in Newfoundland where I had come across an iceberg without a camera and got a couple to take my picture after I took theirs and then asked them if they would take a picture of me and send it to me. Which they did. So I ask this couple if they would take my picture and they did and then I offered to take theirs. I detected a German accent and mentioned my name is Schumacher and I am of German descent. I do this with the many Germans I have met in Philippines, China, and now Thailand. He responded with my name is Schumacher too! He proceeds to take out his id to prove it. We have a good laugh and we take some more pictures of us shaking hands. Him and his girlfriend Ulma had a good sense of humour and so we went off to dinner and drank beer like good Germans or something like that.
The next day I flew to Ko Samui and then took a boat to Ko Phangan which is a smaller less commercial island. Everyone rides mopeds and many people are into diving or snorkelling which I do. I went out on a combined snorkelling and diving boat trip and the first place was not a good site. Poor visibilibity and not much coral or fish to see. The second site was great and I spent 1.5 hours snorkelling around. Schools of fish, a wide variety of fish, a beautiful coral. I had a little adventure when I noticed a fish caught in an old abandoned fish net. I tried to free with another snorkeler by tugging on the net. I saw its snout stuck and so as tried to push it out I poked my finger into a spine sticking out and cut my finger plus it stung like a bee sting. The fish was freed and I forgot about the hurt. It was an intereting day. I met people from Switzerland, Belgium, England, Greece, and of course lots of Germans. I got to know Joseph then a bit and more later because he is in the room next to me. He is a Swiss baker who moved to New Zealand 26 years ago and recently sold the bakery he and his wife ran for 26 years. He has an extra house he rents to tourists throughout the year. So now I have a place to go if I go to New Zealand which I have heard many great things about.
Yesterday I hiked up to the highest point on the island and went to a huge beach party here. Today it rained most of the day so here I am on the blog. I was waiting for a day like this.

Visiting Yi's family in Forshan

I keep posting because it continues to rain here and I am concerned I am going to lose what I have written. The meal was great and it was topped off by numerous toast of Hennessey Cognac. Yi's family were as helpful, welcoming, and gracious as he is. I learned Gon Bai which is probably spelled wrong but means delicious in Cantonese. We made our way back to Guangzhou that evening as I had to be up the next day to leave China via Hong Kong to Thailand my next destination for 8 days. My working time had come to an end after 7 weeks and now I would be on my own and on vacation for the next 3 weeks in Thailand and then again in China. I have been fortunate to have had such wonderful hosts for my time in the Philippines and China. It will be interesting to see what it will be like on my own without people looking out for my needs.

More on Guangzhou

It was interesting in Guangzhou because I spent a fair amount of time with Harold who spoke fluent Mandarin. He has been in China close to 27 years in the last 34 years mostly teaching English but also working for a few years as a translator for a Chinese manufacturer in addition to being the Director of the CIIP office in Guangzhou. I spent this week teaching so I did not get to counsel or really even see any of the Chinese clients who use this service. When I was walking around with him we went to the shoemaker and the seamstress who were both set up on the street. I got a new zippern installed on my fleece jacket for less than $3. You can see by the pictures that there is a mixture of the old and new in Guangzhou. Over the course of the week I got to see a lot of the city although at first I just got familiar with the area I was living in. A little further to the east of my hotel when I was out for a walk I discovered it was a combination of Middle Eastern and African cultures. As a result there were ethnic restaurants catering to the groups. This is a big city and it attracts people from around the world. Guangzhou and other cities between here and Hong Kong are the major manufacturers of the products being sold through Walmart and practically everything else that is manufactured. There is a lot of building going on here. The second day I was here Harold and I went to Shamian Island which is really a few small bridges off the mainland but a world of difference. It is very colonial style buildings built at the turn of the century by mostly the British. Very lush and somewhat quiet compared to the rest of the city. At the Starbucks I noticed many North American couples with Chinese babies. At the White Swan hotel many couples coming to China to adopt do it here. I must have seen 50 or 60 couples walking around with their new babies. All girls of course because with the one child per couple policy the girls are given up with the hopes of getting a boy. As a result there are too many young men around which is one of the reasons Yi is planning on immigrating to Canada. He had spent 3 years at St. Mary's University in Halifax, the same school as my niece Lindsey. He loved it there and although he is an only child he plans to emigrate.
The other really interesting thing I did in Guangzhou was go to Yi's family home in Forshan which is about 30 miles from Guangzhou. I got to see a traditional Chinese village where many of the buildings were over 100 years old. This is not like some of the ancient places I will see in China in the coming weeks but it was interesting to see there lifestyle. You could see the hole for the wok in the stone stove which could be seen when you went into the small kitchen. The houses were very close together. We also went to Yi's high school which looked like a small university with about 4,000 students and residences for the students who came from out of town. It was a public high school. The students were out playing sports and so Iwent over and borrowed some paddles and played ping pong on an outdoor court. I had to play ping pong in China! We then went to his parents home which was quite beautiful. It is located in a gated community and there is a nice hotel visitors can stay at. The house was very large, 4 stories with marble floors and balconies on each floor. You can see by the pictures which hopefully get posted how green and pleasant the surroundings are. They had large pools with the colourful Choi fish in them. These are expensive Carp fish which are good luck for the Chinese. We had a great dinner of Peking duck, chicken, and tofu.

Guanzhou, China home to 10 million people

I spent March 1 to 8 in Guangzhou. I went to the Guandong International Hotel for my lodgings. A much different hotel from the Somerset in Manila. This is a much larger hotel, it has 60 floors. I was on the 48th floor. The staff were friendly but not as conversant in English as the Filipino staff were. I had some funny experiences with their misinterpretation of my words. I asked them if the interned was free and they heard the word internet and put me in touch with the internet provided. Then the internet provider had to call them to ask and then called me back to let me know it was free. It was a roundabout way to get an answere. Another time I ask if I could get an ironing board and iron and they said there was none at the front desk. I go to my room and one of the housekeeping staff show up with some additional bath soap. Then I explain to her my need for an iron and a while later she comes back with it.
I had an interesting week in Guangzhou. The staff were very friendly especially Yi Liang who arranged for one of my airline tickets and invited me and the Goldins to meet his family and have dinner. The training went well and each night I was out eating. I went to a Lebanese restaurant, Italian because I wanted a traditional salad and it was the only restaurant I went to on my own. Yi, Harold, and I went to both Northern style restaurant which was quite good I had eel for the first time with eggs. It was delicious plus some duck, tofu, shrimp, and some different types of fish. We also went to Sichuan place which is spicier food and was delicious. Guangzhou which was formerly Canton is known for its cuisine. Many people commented that this area has not culture:art music etc they just love to eat. So I fell in line with the culture and ate my way through the week. We went to a Japanese place and had many different kinds of sushi which I also loved although I had only ate a little of it in Toronto. Drinking the saki probably helped. I also met a Canadian who had been teaching in China for over 20 years currently in the MBA program. I am going to publish this because it is raining in Ko Phangan and the power has gone out about 8 times today.

Goodbye to Manila

Well it is actually March 7 and I am on Kho Phangan island in Thailand but I am going to record my experiences from memory. I was unable to access the blogspot in China, I guess it is being censored. I left Manila on March 1 after having spent 43 days there. I had gotten quite used to being there with my various routines of going to the gym which was rarely used by others at the hotel although there were a few regulars like Yossi a Japanese businessman I always shared a few comments with. The buffet breakfast was also excellent and my room was comfortable. I said goodbye to the other counsellors and staff on Friday. They presented me with some food and a t-shirt with Manila written on it. I gave them cards and some books which were work related. I had gotten to know all of them quite well. I had met Jeri's and Kit's spouses, Kit's aunt, her brother also plus many of her close friends in Laoag. I got a few pictures of the staff and myself leading a group at the office. I enjoyed my time there and believe I made a valuable contribution to their organization. The last week there Harold and Shirley Goldin had come to visit for a week and I went to Hong Kong plus on to Guangzhou when I left. They are both American although Harold is also Canadian and spent some time growing up in Windsor. Shirley is from Baltimore. They met on Vista project in the inner city of Baltimore. Shirley is an African American and Harold is Jewish so it makes for interesting mix of religions and race. So now I knew who I was going to be working with for one week with when I got Guangzhou. Harold is the director of the China office in Guangzhou. I was going to be providing counselling training for 4 days when I got there.

North to Laoag

I went to Laoag in North Luzon with Kit one of the counsellors at CIIP. This is the town where she is from so she takes whoever comes from Canada to visit with her to get a sense of a rural area in the Philippines and a chance for her to visit friends and extended family. Laoag is situated on the South China Sea about an hour flight north of Manila. We flew up on Friday evening where Rhoda, her friend who is a professor at the local college, picked us up. I was dropped off at the Fort Illocandia Resort where most of the people there were Korean or Taiwanese. The Taiwanese come for the gambling casino. Many Koreans come to the Philippines because it is inexpensive and they can practice their English. The grounds were beautiful as you can see from the picture and the food was okay but the price was right for less than $50.00 a night including a buffet breakfast.
To put the trip in perspective there was good news and bad news. The beauty contest judging did not happen and Kit did not exactly explain why but some other people I met who were aware of "The Fiesta" in Laoag said the only beauty contestants left to be judged by the weekend were the transvetites which they said were pretty good and you may not detect they were men dressed as women. Despite its pervasive Catholicism they seem to be okay with the men dressing like women. The good news is I got to play tennis, go snorkeling with a marine biologist, go body surfing on another beautiful beach, and see some interesting places along the way. I was picked up on Saturday morning by Kit's brother-in -law who proceeded to take me to the Ferdinand Marcos museum where Marcos' preserved body is supposedly lying in state ( I think it is wax) in an air conditioned mausoleum like a shrine to his political exploits despite the fact he was overthrown and it is generally accepted he stole a small fortune from the country. He was dictator for 15 years from 1972-1987. There was no eerie music which I told was normally played. There were quite a few young students wandering around. He is from this area and his son is the governor of the province here. We saw an old church then eventually made our way to Saud beach where I went swimming and body surfing. The waves were strong and crashed a little too close to the beach as I was getting dragged along the sand by the waves at the end of the ride. Afterwards we went to visit Kit's ancestral home and her 88 year old aunt who lives there with her maid. She was very frail but could speak English still despite it being her second language. The day was beautiful and I also got a chance to play tennis later with 3 other Filipinos which was arranged by Kit's friend Jaime. We played on a public court and I had fun. 2 of them were in their 20's and one was an adolescent. My partner played well except he had on flip flops and at the end of the game I found out it was all he could afford. Before I left on Sunday I ended up giving him my racket and tennis shoes which I was thinking I was going to give them away because I didn't want to carry them all over China. He was happy to receive them and I was happy to give them to him.
The next day we went to Currimao where we met some other friends Kit had made at the college.Willy had taught at the college for the last 26 years and agreed to go snorkeling with me because the diving group he was leading had been delayed until the afternoon as it was too windy where they were going to dive. So I got to follow him around in about 15-20 ft of water where there was some pretty interesting coral reef and exotic fish. We stopped a few times and he would talk about what is happening to the reef as a result of climate change. The reef is deteriorating because the sea is becoming warmer and due to the pollution of additional shipping in the area. He said he had actually trained some local politicans in diving so they could experience the underwater world and as a result they are willing to act to take steps to reduce the pollution in the sensitive areas. I burned my back again as I did in Boracay because I forget my back is exposed while my head is facing down in the water viewing all the sea life. Afterwards we went on a 3 hour ride into the mountains to visit a priest friend of Kit's who lives in an area where there is no bridge so we had to take a little boat to cross the river. The picture I am showing is upstairs in his rectory. We had a very filling lunch and you can see the driver, his friends, two friends of Kit's who also wanted to see the priest, Kit and Father Gil. The church and grounds were well maintained although the area was not very well off due to the isolation of having to take a ferry to get there. It was an interesting trip.

Another side of Manila

On Saturday evening I met Tom Lee who is a cousin of Melinda, Mike Pucci's Chinese American girlfriend from San Francisco. Tom was born in the Manila but moved to California when he was 15 and lived there and other places until he was 50. He returned to Manila with his mother who wanted to live the end of her life there. He is divorced with 4 children. He had served with the U.S. Navy for 7 years and then worked in various companies related to Silicon Valley before returning to the Philippines. Now he lives "with the poor" in the Guadeloupe Viejo district of Manila where he runs co-operative business making soap, sausages, and other things while providing a bank of computers for people in the neighborhood in his living room. I went out with him on Saturday night and he showed me a few bars, one was a Japanese style karaoke bar and another was a salsa bar run by one of his friends. I met him the next day and we wandered the back streets not far from where I live to his district which was quite a contrast. I live in the high end high rises of Makati city and he is in a barrio like area where the jeepney drivers, those ex US jeeps and lookalikes, live. I took some pictures on the way there. A couple are of the back streets where the diner was right on the street and the other is a family eating out on the street. The street is more like a back lane. Another picture is of a make shift building where a new apartment building is going up. The makeshift building is where the workers live while they are working on the small apartment. Another picture of the manicured lawns is not 300 yards from the other area of people on the street. It is Rockwell and you could have dropped the shopping mall down from any suburban area in North America with Banana Republic, Office Depot, The Gap etc. There is not much distance between these areas but its clear who belongs where. There is usually lots of security around an area like this one. We kept walking but nightfall happens quickly here and by the time I got to his neighborhood it was dark. I took some pictures at the Church, which was built in 1645, where there were a group of kids running around who became particularly animated once I pulled my camera out. It was not clear if they were waiting for their parents or just kids on the loose from the immediate neighborhood. I got a movie of them but I am having difficulty getting it posted. The last picture is with Tom and his girlfriend Celestine in their kitchen after we just had dinner. The main dish was the chicken sausages they make and sell to hotels and restaurants. Tom says he provides about 10 jobs to people who may otherwise have difficulty making a living. Afterwards I took a "tut tut" which is a small motorcycle pulling a sidecar. We were going up and down the hills and I didn't think a few times that he was going to have enough compression in the engine to make it. He left me off in a transition area between the old section and the newer highrises and office buildings of the my hotel area. He turned around and went to where we had come from. I returned to the safe but somewhat deserted business district leaving behind the small back lanes full of people and the goings on of people going about their daily business.

Seeing Manila

On Saturday Ting, her formal name is Cecilia Rodrigues, and her daughter, Bettina, took me around Manila. It originally was simply an offer to help me buy fresh water pearls but then it became you should see more of Manila. Ting is one of the counsellors. She lived in Newmarket with her husband for four years before returning because her husband was expected to take over the family business. He was an investment manager in Canada so they are very middle class but are considering returning to Canada, probably Vancouver, more for social and political reasons rather than economic. I have spoken to other Filipinos who will not be that much more better off financially in Canada but for the education, safety, and stability for their children they want to come to Canada. What they give up is everyone has maids, drivers etc. The underclass are cheap to employ and so everyone has them. They feel unsure of the political and social environment not as much now but what it will be like in the future. They are pessimistic. Anyways Ting took to the Green Hills shopping area which was like a flea market in a large building. In fact I think it was a flea market in a large building. There was probably 5000 stalls in the building selling handbags, t shirts, shoes you name it and we went to the area where all the jewelry was being sold. After bargaining with a few we got a very good deal from a family of Muslim Filipinos who are from the south of the country. The part which distinguished them were the women wearing scarves on their heads.

Of course we had a driver because Ting did not drive. I always find this out afterwards and of course I have to volunteer to pay and I end up paying for most of it. Now I know if anyone offers to take me somewhere it is going to cost but then if you saw the way they drive you would want a driver too. I am beginning to notice that there are few women drivers. It is far too aggressive for women drivers or most women drivers. We then went to the Antipolo which is a huge church on the outskirts of Manila. It is the church for travellers so it was appropriate. We ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant area not unlike Granville Island except no water. The water around Manila is very polluted so being by the water is not a great idea. I think you have to get pretty far away from Manila before anyone thinks about swimming in it. We then went and saw 3 different universities 2 were private Catholic and one public university. Ateneo is the more modern Catholic and had nice grounds. It is the one with trees and a picture of Ting and Bettina. The picture of me posing as the human version of the Freedom of Man is at the University of the Philippines which is seen as a sometimes radical university, all the intelligent poor kids go there. The other private school is University of Santo Tomas which is an old university which is the one with the huge door. It had bullet holes from when the Japanese stormed it in wwII. It also was home to about 10,000 U.S. soldiers being held prisoner after MacArtur left in 1942.

We next went through Chinatown. The Chinese as elsewhere have humble stores but the children are driving brand new expensive cars. They are part of the business and professional class as in other south east asia countries. Finally we went to the Mall of Asia owned by Shoemart which is owned by the Chinese meaning Taiwan Chinese. It was the biggest mall I have ever seen and it is supposedly the biggest in Asia although Dubai is building a bigger one supposedly. What I cannot capture on film is how noisy it is. It was like Disneyland but actually closer to Chucky Cheese in volume. Of course we came for the sunset but naturally it was cloudy so it was not too good. The sun was out a little but it is suppose to be a great sunset if it clear just like most cities which are very polluted are known for. Missing it reminded me of staying up all night on Haliakila volcano in Maui waiting for the sunrise which would come up over the other Hawaiian islands only to have cloud cover. Hard to plan great sunrises or sunsets, they seem to just happen.

Boracay: the queen of the beaches in the Philippines

Well this place beat the volcano by a long shot. I took an hour flight on a plane which had seen better days and then a ferry over to the island. On the boat I met three sisters who were from Saskatoon originally. Crystal taught English in Taipai,Taiwan and Angela and Natasha were visiting from Calgary and Saskatoon. At the terminal we met a woman who led us to her hotel which ended up being very clean and reasonable. I also met there Pierre from Montreal and Susan from Calgary who also teach English but just outside Guangzhou where I will be working when I get to China. They have been in China for some time so they gave me some tips on where to stay in Hong Kong plus their impressions of life in China. Besides teaching English they are both artists who were creating some interesting sketches and drawings of the people and geography of Boracay. Pierre had worked for Statistics Canada so my comment was "It sounds like you wanted to stop being a mandarin and learn how to speak Mandarin". Well he thought it was funny.

Later when we went to a restaurant and I repeated how Pierre had said back at the hotel that he had not met any Canadians before us the people in the next table shouted "We are" which started another series of conversations. I ended up getting more information of where to stay in Guilin. This is an area north of Guangzhou which is supposedly one of the most scenic areas in China. Later many of us went down to the "Red Pirate" where I had earlier borrowed flippers off Joey the owner after I had asked directions to the coral reef which was not far from the beach. He would not accept payment and when I returned them he invited me and whomever to a beach party that night. He reminded me of a Native Canadian with long black hair and high cheekbones. Very friendly and we ended up having a good time there that night with a live band on the beach and fire dancing which is a long pole with fire on both ends which is twirled around in a not fashion not unlike majorettes except of course it is on fire on both ends and is about three times as long.

The next day I got up early because if I didn't I would not be able to go snorkeling for the day on a boat and it was my last full day on the island. So I got up and the boat took us to about to about 3 different sites over 6 hours, a buffet laid out on the beach with chicken kebabs, shrimp, beer, vegetables etc , a trip all the way around the island for $15. I heard all about Filipino life from Wayne from Edmonton who is married to a Filiopino woman. The water was crystal clear and the one site was full of all kinds of tropical fish. It is preserved in the sense fisherman and not allowed in the area. It is right by Crocodile island which does look like a crocodile laying in wait. Overall I had a great time and of course everyone you meet his on their best behaviour. I also met Germans, Dutch, American, and English people besides the Canadians.
One of the best features of the island as far as I was concerned was the lack of cars on the island. Although it is commercialized and has changed greatly in the last few years according to people who had been there 5 or 6 years earlier there was a nice feel to it because you walk up and down this sandy path past the hotels, restaurants, stalls, bars, and various massage parlours. I imagine in a few years they will create a cement sidewalk which will take away some of the ambience of the island. Hopefully they will keep the town street a few blocks from the beach the way it is now. No cars to dodge and no constant honking was a relief for few days. The picture I have posted with a sign on it says "Do not open the door while the plane is in motion" and the door to plane was right outside the door with the sign.

Bruce and the Volcano

On Saturday at 6:30 A.M. I set out for Lake Taal which is about 80Km. from Manila but takes about 1.5 hours to get there because of the dense traffic in Manila even this early on a Saturday morning and also because once you get off the highway it slows down due to all the different kinds of traffic such as cyclists, various size motorized two and three wheelers, and people walking on the roads. One thing I noticed and had forgotten about is how close people live to the road once you get out of the city. I was often concerned for the pedestrians especially the children who seem so close to the road. You get to see how everyone lives because its right there before your eyes. On the way out of Manila many of the houses were basically shacks so there are some clear cut differences in the way people live in this city and country as there are everywhere. I found myself wondering what a typical day was for the people I noticed as we drove by.
This lake is one of the sights listed in the book "1,000 places you have to see before you die". The other one in the Philippines is the rice terraces of Benaue but it takes about 8 hours to get there so the pictures in the guide books will have to do. So our trip to Lake Taal is to consist of me taking the boat, hiking up the mountain, and then I meet one of the counsellors, Kit, and actually a client of the CIIP in Manila. Nita is a vetenarian in Lake Taal and as a result knows a lot of people who have cats and dogs. You will see the group sitting at the picnic table in a very lush coffee place which was full of birds in cages and of course people. I then went with Danny who was the guide arranged by Boyer and Nita who are the clients from Lake Taal. Danny, Boyer and I proceeded to the lake. It tooks us awhile to wind our way in Boyer's car down to the lake. You see pictures of the boat we took and some of the other boats going across the lake. I was almost hoping I had bought a life jacket because the one they gave us would probably not keep a 4 year old afloat. On the other hand the trip was not that long, the weather was fine, and the wind was not too strong so I felt confident we would make it to the volcano. Once we got there I was giving some hard sales pitches on everything from drinks to horses. I noticed on the way up all the Europeans/North Americans were hiking and the Koreans were on horseback. The hike was not too steep but you did have to stay alert so as to not be trampled by the Koreans on horseback. Actually they did not ride on their own but were riding double with Filipinos steering. Supposedly the Koreans wanted to build a cable from the mainland to the highland and then build a resort thereby eliminating the treacherous boat ride (not really treacherous, I am exaggerating) and the steep horseback ride. Make it into a sort of Whistler of the Philippines. The island people who number a 1,000 or so and get a livelihood from this would have none of it. So we made our way up and you can see some of the pictures on the way up and from the viewpoint. I am having trouble uploading my movies which are better than the pictures. I hope to have them up soon . Once up there with my guide Danny we walked around. Although I did not need a guide everyone in the Philippines is concerned for my safety and insisted I have a guide. He was very good company. He spoke good English and told me little pieces of news such as when we walked along the path to get a look inside the crater he told me 3 Koreans were swept off the path by a sudden gust of wind and fell into the volcano. Reassuring things like that. As soon as he told me this about 5 Koreans came along the path and were walking like they were in the middle of a road, very quickly with wide steps. He looked at me and said "See what I mean".
Anyways I took lots of pictures which do not due justice to the setting. The volcano was last active in 1965 but because it is still smoldering 2 years ago they stopped letting people take the boat to the little island that is in the lake which is in the volcano which is in a lake. Got that. You can see it in the pictures. Afterwards we went to Sonja's Garden which is a restaurant, spa, and hotel off the beaten track but very busy. We had a great meal then went to the spa and I had a foot spa, a pedicure (I had my first one in Toronto in December and now I want them when I can because I have beat up my feet so much fromplaying tennis. I thought it would be my knees which would give in but it is my feet which need tender loving care.) and a back massage for $15.00. It was good and about 7 P.M. we went back to Manila. Jose our driver did a good job. Yes we have a driver because often Filipinos do not drive long distances and suggest you do not either. When you rent a car they throw the driver in with it. The project director at CIIP has a driver and a car for his 2 children in university and Joel, the maintenance support person also doubles as his driver with his other car. He is considered middle class and everyone who is has hired help. It was a fun trip.
Everything is going well at work. I am now working along side the counsellors counselling the CIIP clients and I presented on Friday an all day workshop to the staff on group counselling techniques and how to do an effective job search process the Canadian way which is different than how it is done in the Philippines. I am looking forward to week 3 although missing everyone back home.

Venturing into the old city of Manila

I decided to go to the old city of Manila although the weather was sunny, cloudy, and scattered showers throughout the day. I took some pictures on the way as we went from the newer part of Metro Manila which is Makati City where I live into Manila and some of the poorer areas of the city on the way to the historic older part of the city. The historic part has a wall surrounding it where the Spanish first established their colony and it was of course protection for the government and their families. There are some old areas and some that were rebuilt from the ruins. The area was bombed out during the war, first by the Japanese and then by the Americans to defeat the Japanese. The whole Gen. MacArthur thing of "I will return". There were 2 older cathedrals both first established in the 1500's but destroyed a few times along the way but the last Cathedral St. Augustine was used for the internment of prisoners of war and was not destroyed in 1945. During the war over 150,00 Filipinos died in Manila often fighting alongside the Americans vs the Japanese. Of course many of them were civilians caught in the crossfire. In the churches historical museum I saw quite a few paintings of the Jesuits who tried to convert the Japanese in Japan getting their heads lopped off for their efforts. I think the Filipinos held some grudges against the Japanese. I saw a wedding taking place in St. Augustine's and at the other church was also a wedding taking place so I was not allowed in. I came on a Sunday because it is the best day to travel in the city but not a great day to try and look inside cathedrals. It was interesting go through the museum part. It reminded me of other countries such as Mexcio, Columbia where the Catholic Church and the Spanish Empire went into convert the locals. In the imagery, statues, and paintings there is a vivid theme of suffering throughout. The Philipines is still a very Catholic country. You cannot obtain a divorce if you were married here and if you go away and get divorced and remarry when you return you could be charged with bigamy because in the eyes of the law you are not legally divorced in the Philipines.
I started to use the camera more and I shot some movies. I wished I would have practiced a little more at home before I came here so I could perfect my technique a little more. My cab driver, Manny, has a wife who has been in Toronto the last 8 months working as a nanny. He hopes to have his children immigrate. His daughter is now training to be a registered nurse and the other daughter is going to university to become a human resources specialist. The Filipinos are considered ideal immigrants because many of them who have attended post-secondary education speak fluent English (or getting close to it), they tend to be co-operative and self effacing, and the country is poor plus they are anxious to leave although a lot of them are well educated.
Back to my historical tour. The first area is Fort Santiago and within it is the Rizal shrine for J.Rizal who is a national hero. He was executed by the Spanish just prior to the Spanish American war. You can see in some of the pictures how hard it was raining at times.

Getting away from the office

On my fifth day we had a meeting in the morning to see how I can best help them improve their service. We created a good collaborative plan which parallels many of the ideas the funders in Ottawa had but is now much more specific. We celebrated by going out for lunch at a restaurant near Manila Bay which is about a half hour from the office. The traffic was not too bad in this city of anywhere from 10 to 13 million (everyone gives me a different figure but it is a lot of people). The restaurant is one of their favorite spots. You pick whatever you want to have and how you want it cooked. I chose a tuna which was grilled but the portion was about 4 times the amount you would get if you asked for a tuna steak in a Canadian restaurant. We all shared the squid, prawns, scallops on a half shell, green mangos (which are tart not like the sweet yellow mangoes I am eating all the time here) and a vegetable dish with green bean, onion, squash, and some other vegetables with a cocoanut sauce which was delicious. I also drank cocoanut juice from the nut which i have done in Hawaii and elsewhere. We also had a delicious clam soup, not a chowder, which had a nice ginger taste to it. Very clean tasting. We spent a lot of time eating and having a good time. As you can see from the pictures this is not a high end restaurant but the food was excellent and the staff very friendly. The staff of the office were there. Jimmy A. who is opposite me is the Project Director who has lived in Canada and the U.S. He is trained as a labour economist and has been involved in Development projects throughout Asia but he is originally from the Philippines. Next to me is Kit, Jeri next to her, and Ting opposite to Jeri. They are the counsellors in the office. Tosca and Joel are the support staff. I have been eating a lot of fish here even for breakfast because there other favorite food is pork which I do not eat. Anyways afterwards we all went back to work later until 5. They are talking about a typhoon coming through, essentially a rainy, windy storm but it is Saturday and it rained some and now the sun is out. If it is nice tomorrow I will either go to the old historical section of Manila or take a trip out of the city. Either way I should have a few more pictures.

Working hard

Well the fourth day on the job. I am learning a new way of counselling using internet resources and moving to an action plan with clients in a single session. I am also sitting in the all day workshops the purpose being to prepare new immigrants to more effectively find work and support in their new country. It is meaningful and gratifying work for the counsellors because the clients are happy to be receiving such help. My role is to provide support, feedback, and suggest improvements to the group and individual counselling process. The counsellors are very receptive and so we have a good working relationship.
While coming back from dinner the other night I saw a sign for a new song " It's in her ear" by the Itchy Worms. I hope it is not any foreshadowing for when I go out into the countryside. Staying in shape not only by frequenting the gym but having to dodge the cars crossing the street. I am now waiting for someone to come along so I can cross with them to use their expertise and use them as a shield of sorts between me and the oncoming cars. The stop signs work like yield sign because it only momentarily slows the cars down. Hopefully I will have more interesting comments by the weekend .

second day on the job

I am going to have to come up with a new title. I did find out more about where the beauty contest is going to be held. It will be in a small city named Laoag on the north west coast of North Luzon. This was the childhood home of the infamous dictator Ferdinand Marcos. I can go visit his embalmed body, if things get slow at the beauty contest, which is laid out on a mattress under some floodlights in the what else but Marcos Museum and Mausoleum. To add to the creepiness supposedly some eerie choral music plays on a continuous loop. There are some good beaches in the area and some terrific cockfighting on Saturday nights at the "cockpit". Sounds like an interesting town. After work I did take a picture of downtown but of course it does not capture the intensity and activity on the street some of which has to do with you cannot hear the noise all around. I will take a little movie to capture it perhaps. I had some delicious Green chicken curry for dinner. I like the clients and the staff at the centre but it does take the better part of the day , starting at 7:30 and fininshing around 5.

First day on the job

Well I arrived at work at 7:30 sharp although due to the time change I had been up since 3:30 and been to the gym when it opened at 6 A.M. I hope this pattern ends sometime soon. I just answered the door for a laundry pickup. Instead of knocking they ring the doorbell and it is loud and sounds like a house doorbell. At the office I sat through an all day session on Canadian labor market, job search techniques, cultural differences etc. Because I am the academic consultant from Canada I was being peppered with all sorts of questions which could all be answered with "depends" but I tried to be definitive although they may be basing their decisions on my information. They are mostly mid level Filipino professionals and today's group are planning on going to Alberta to live. Lots of discussion about the weather. The staff here are very friendly and after some brief discussion about the week's work activities it quickly moved to what I can do to see the country. I have been invited to North Luzon to be a judge in a beauty contest! I will be going to the home town and family of one of the staff who is a gregarious, large boned woman which is a lot of fun. One of the previous female consultants had gone with her to the family stead and had a ball. It should be a look at more traditional Filipino life. I mentioned I wanted to go to Lake Taal and they said they would take me but when I mentioned I want to climb it and go to the lake within the volcano they began to scramble for alternative ways to get me there. Part of their concern is the boat that takes you to the volcano is a little touch and go. Perhaps I will buy a lifejacket for the trip. The other place is Boracay which is an island in the central part of the country that I have heard many people comment on it as being beautiful with great beaches and coral reef.
At lunch I had a chicken fajita which costs a little more than it would in Toronto. This area is the high end of Manila so the food is not cheap unless you buy it off a street vendor. I walked down to the main road of Makati which is like being in Manhattan. The weekend was quiet around here but today I discovered there are a million people walking the streets about three blocks from my hotel. The traffic is crazy here, but not unlike Mexico City or Delhi. You really have to be mindful of the traffic because they take the corners so tight if you stepped off the curb without looking you could get whacked. It's a city of about 11 million with various centres strung out like Los Angeles rather than one downtown core. The jeepney I took a picture of the other day are operated privately, they are a cross between a bus and a cab. They run routes but not on any set schedule. There is virtually no public transportation in this city. The streets are so wide and busy they have walkways built underneath the intersections because you would not get across in a reasonable amount of time. You think you are walking into a subway but there is no subway you just come up on the other side of the street. I will take some pictures tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be observing the counselling sessions which by next week I will be helping out with in addition to facilitating the workshops. Then I am expected to coach and mentor the staff on group and individual counselling skills. It should keep me busy.

Out on the town

Today I moved around the area a little more. Last night I had gone to a small mall and shopped in a grocery store which did not have a great deal of selection. The weather is in the high 20's but it is humid. I today saw that the mall is actually a series of malls called the greenbelt and there is every store you would find in one of our big malls : Banana republic etc. I shopped at a bigger store where I was able to pick up mangoes, papayas, and other fruits . It is pretty, pretty safe around here: there are security guys all around. They are friendly, at least to me, but they even have wand metal detectors which they use as people move from one section of the mall to the next. they never approached me, I guess the older white guy is not deemed a threat. Speaking of older white guys, there are some floating around here often with filippino wives but also younger couples or bunches ofwhite guys probably on vacation. I took some pictures which show my hotel, a look at Makati which is the area of the city I live in, and a park which is a block away. I walked over to where I will be working which is less than a 5 minute stroll from the hotel. So far I find the people very friendly, in one of the guide books some survey had established them as the happiest people on the planet. Why all the security guys? Obviously some people are not happy here.

Long Day's Journey into Night or following the sun around the world

Well I made it! As is usually the case my worst fears were not realized. I was imagining a cramped 20 hour flight but actually it went quickly although I did not sleep at all. At the beginning the flight attendant approached us (me and the filipino guy next to me) to see if we would change with a couple who needed our spot so the baby's basinet could fit the leggy space we had in front of the bulkhead. Fortunately when we moved we got a better space so I was able to stretch my legs the entire trip. This plane had the self selection of movies, music etc so I watched 3 movies: Superbad which was pretty good, Valley of Elah also good, and the Eleventh Hour a documentary on climate change plus I was reading an interesting book called "The Echomakers" which is very engaging. Ironically, one of the characters is based on Oliver Sacks the neurologist, author, and the guy Robin Williams portrayed in the movie Awakenings, he has traveled to Nebraska to observe this guy who is suffering from Capgras syndrome where he thinks people who are closest to him are imposters although they look the same to him etc, and Sacks is talking about lack of sleep when traveling etc which is happening to me because I have slept 5.5 hours since I left Toronto at 10 am and it is Sat afternoon. Anyways you can see I have time to kill because it is pouring rain outside although it is about 30 degrees . Speaking of lack of sleep my first really interesting conversation was this morning at breakfast with a Bosnian doctor who immigrated to the U.S. with his family and now lives in Dubai. He is a rehab specialist and is in the Philipines volunteering to set up a health clinic in a small village in the southern part of the country. He told me he works at a hospital in Dubai, has a small private practice, and works p/t as the doctor for a sports club where they have semi pro basketball club. He said he sleeps on average about 4 to 4.5 hours a night he is so busy. So anyways the trip went well my seatmate was a vet technician who works with animals in research at McGill U. who was going home because his father is ill. He told me a lot about Philipines in between movies. That's the thing about 20 hour flights is you have time for everything. I am learning as I am go because I missed my first great photo op. As we began our descent to Hong Kong I open ed up the blind on the window and there below were the mountains of China with the rugged coastline while my camera was tucked away. The airport sticks out into the ocean because of course there is no room. The other sight is the apartment buildings which look to be 60 stories high and are in rows. They reminded me of huge grain silos except they are people silos. The airport should be called airshoport because it is like Times Square with all the street activiy inside the terminal. Ohare airport is huge but hallways here go on and on and are so huge in width, height and length.
Last night as we came in, Manila fit into the classic third world city with 10 million mode. Lots of cars not following the street markings so everyone is all over the place, its slow driving and the honking of horns is incessant. My hotel is good al first I although at first I was not impressed by the furnishings but actually the bathroom is good and I have a separate kitchenette. I have a good view from the 14th floor of the area called Makati. Now I know what someone meant when they said it was like Vancouver but they were thinking of the West end and all the highrises and the density of the area whereas I was thinking of beaches and parks. Unfortunately it is not on the water but it is a safe area which the staff and my hosts keep reminding me. This morning I had the brunch which is free every morning and it was quite good. They also make good strong coffee which is terrific. Today is a day to stay close by but I will walk over to the office which is 5minutes away. The gym here has pretty new equipment where I had an indepth conversation with the attendant this morning on poisonous snakes in the philipines and he had some good stories which I will not repeat. I will post a not so good picture of Hong Kong at the end of the wing.

Happy New Year

I am writing in my blog for the first time. I am presently preparing for my trip: reading, starting to pack etc. This is a test so I will continue later.