We hired this fine vessel, with a crew of four and Andrew, Matt and I went out to a nearby island to snorkel.

We left the ocean side of Mactan island and went across to a marine nature preserve. It was a fine day and we were pretty exuberant to get out of the dirty air of the city.

The water was amazingly clean and clear and there were plenty of fish to view. There was coral but it was sad. The captain said it would take another 20 years for the coral to really return because before the tourist industry became important they used to dynamite the coral and sell it. Anyway overall it was a really fine day in the water.

The boat guys took us to this so so seafood restaurant where they tried to push us to tourist prices. Most of the tourists who come here are Korean of Japanese who are famous for paying any number named. But we negotiated a fairly priced and pretty good meal. These are pictures of the restaurant, the lovely view out the side, and a picture of our chefs working the wok.

We returned sunburned and happy.

Had to take this little motorcycle cab from the wharf up to the main road to catch a real taxi.

The big Festival

Well it was certainly big. I have never seen anything like it.

For me it started with a dance group at the breakfast buffet.

Near town a lot of families seemed to have come to the many little places where they were cooking meat on sticks on charcoal. The whole day the city smelled like roasting meat. It must be a specialty of the occasion.

Heading into town the people became more and more dense. I cannot imagine how many people were involved in this party but the entire city seemed to be wall to wall.

There was a parade. But it was impossible for me to see much of it. I was unable to connect up with my friends. The crowd was like a rugby scrum and as I finally made it up near the Mango area where I thought they would be I encountered literally thousands of totally drunken revelers singing dancing screaming … and throwing poster paint around. The last is part of this party tradition. I got pretty well decorated and hope my shirt can be saved.

Anyway, it became impossible to move in the crowd … and so I bailed. It took a very long time to escape the crowds and finding no taxis a very long walk home.

The day actually put me into some heavy cultural shock and I had to self medicate with some pork and red wine and a cigar. (I am dead serious saying this). I kept my paint splattered shirt on which the people in the hotel and restaurant seemed to think was great.

January 16

I think that I have already seen enough of this city to last a lifetime.   I am told that the islands of the Philippines are truly spectacular. But Cebu, their second largest city would be rated terrible by most Americans.

These are really nice people. They treat me and seemingly one another very kindly. They are a laughing singing people (known to be the best performers in Asia). I see families literally sitting in dirt with nothing but a few packs and laughing together and enjoying their children.

But their living conditions are very bad.

My nephew Michael took me to a truly beautiful resort out on the ocean side of Mactan island (sorry, forgot camera). And I have found two areas of new investment, nice “modern city”, both of them  a few blocks square. Isolated in a sea of poverty.

Some other parts of the city are OK.

Just a typical 3^rd world country trapped in the vicious cycle of low investment=low productivity=low wealth creation=poor conditions=low investment.

I did not try to point my cell phone camera at people in desperate conditions. There are plenty of them here. But here are some street scenes to give you an idea.

The traffic is horrific. There are strange vehicles like Jeepney busses and motorcycle sidecar cabs. It is very dirty and polluted. There are usually no sidewalks adding to the traffic chaos.

You see everything on the street. Haircuts, pedicures, cooking, washing, grooming. Armed guards with pistols and often sawed off shotguns are at the entrances of any significant buildings. A significant portion of the population is constantly involved in vehicle maintenance.

The few cultural sites I have been able to track down (almost no street signs) are in terrible condition.

And it is hard to stick the camera inside places, but here are a few.

THERE IS A BIG FESTIVAL COMING. Everyone is pretty worked up with anticipation about this. Some set up is already underway .. and here are a few photos. I will try to send more later.

Leaving Taiwan this morning and so thought I would post something. This was a nice stop over to visit with nephew Andrew to get over jet lag.

It is spring in Taiwan. A tropical island.

Stayed at5 his place in the mountains. Here is a view of the building looking toward a National park that starts on the mountain behind.

Walking around a nearby golf course I thought it was pretty nifty that they had a place where you could stop and pray to the golf gods on the back nine.

This is a big cosmopolitan city. They have a really fine subway/mass transit network. Easy to negotiate, clean, fast. We mainly travel around this way.

Went a few times down to the university while Andrew wrapped up his teaching semester.

Mainly ate a lot of good chinese food.   A little lunch.

Here is Andrew and me with one of my favorite dishes, Show Long Bao. We are at the only Chinese restaurant I know with a Michelin star.

These pork dumplings are, for me one of the few dishes in the world that cannot be improved. They are perfect. And this comment is not over the top.

The most notable evening was going up to Danshui, at the mouth of the river to the sea, to join a group of Spanish guys to have some great seafood and various critters. For special meals you always want to get a big group together because then you can order more dishes and everyone has a better meal.

Stopped in this german place and had a beer with them Later.

Last night decided to go to a night market. A very Asian thing that is like a GIANT  mall food court. I see I have to do better with the pictures if this is going to work.   Anyway, the baked open oysters with a chili sauce was the best of many.

Now off to the Phillipines.

January 6, 2015

On the road, travelling pretty lightly loaded.

I usually try to bring plenty of stuff.  Why not be comfortable on the road?  Here is a more typical load from a notable past adventure. Note in the comparison the absence of many truly essential items such as wife, golf clubs, etc.

5AM departure from Bemidji, long layover in Minneapolis and then a 13 hour flight into Tokyo. Delayed into Taipei making it about 32 hours door to door.  But that did include a stop on the way home from the airport for some wuntun and a beer.

The only notable story from the night is about the guitar.  I am travelling with one and it works out interestingly well.  From Bemidji they let me strap it into the open seat beside me.  Out of Minneapolis they let me board early to find an open overhead bin, but it was an old plane and it did not fit, so they stored it for me in the crew’s luggage closet.

In Narita everything works like a swiss (Japanese?) watch.  I gawked around upon arrival, cleaned up a bit and figured out that I needed to take a bus from one terminal to another.  Which ran at posted intervals exactly on time.

Exiting the bus at the other Terminal I was surprised to find a representative of China Air holding a sign with my name on it. She took me to their counter to check that my connection would work smoothly and well and see that I got to the gate easily and without any concern. Issued me a new boarding pass with “a nicer seat”.

At the gate they took my guitar onto the plane and made sure the flight crew was OK with me bringing it into the cabin. Then they brought it all the way back out and asked me to preboard and told me it would fit into an overhead bin. They had checked. I love Asia.

Had a welcome shave and a washup in a sparkling clean rest room. Post this comment which is probably on the edge, but I was asked to tell what it’s like.  One of the simple joys of passing through Narita is the use of a Japanese toilet, which in addition to the functions we are familiar with will also give you an upside down shower.

Could not load this in the bandwidth available on the road. I was experimenting.

So .. it is now morning and I am at Andrew’s place on Wild Dog Mountain.  It is early morning (jet lag) and the mist from the river has obscured the city from view.

Anyway, life is good.  My little coffee maker is out of storage.  Andrew will be up in a few hours and we are going out for the best lunch  I know anywhere.  As Sandie and Lenore might agree.

January 5, 2015

The full moon has flown west toward Asia. And now I am following.

This will be a journey through space AND time. When I arrive I will not only have travelled about 7000 miles west (about 28 percent of the way around the earth), but I will also be 14 hours in Bemidji’s future.

Flying to Europe it is easy to understand TIME ZONES. The further East you go the later it gets and it is very quickly tomorrow.

But flying to Asia is different. The west coast of America is earlier than the rest of us. Hawaii is even earlier. So it would seem that going further west one would encounter yesterday. But instead, landing in Shanghai, Tokyo or Taipei, it is also tomorrow.

Coming back from Asia you often arrive on the west coast before you departed.

This is because out in the middle of the empty Pacific ocean is the mysterious International date line, where time changes by 24 hours. If this line were to pass through an island, on the east of the island it might be noon Tuesday and if so on the west of the island it would be noon Wednesday.

And so Guam is the place where the sun first rises over the USA. And all of us are later in the day.