Farewell Manila

Monday, January 18, 2016

Leaving Manila:

     Another fitful night—probably brought on by the stress of leaving in the morning. I awake at 7. 15 am and take a shower, pack up my bags and get down for breakfast. I meet Gerald Mullins again and he was seated at a table with a Mike Anderson who had served as an American diplomat in the Far East for decades before retiring and settling in Washington DC. We continue our conversation of last night and at a very leisurely pace, I enjoy a filling breakfast of omlettes, fresh fruit and coffee and take my leave.

     I have arranged to have the hotel’s taxi pick me up at 11. 30 am for a 1.00 pm drop off at the airport for 3.00 pm flight. But speaking with the gentlemen at my table, I am persuaded to call for it half an hour earlier at 11.00—which I do. Traffic is insane and there are no guarantees when one will reach.  I say goodbye to everyone and return to my room, lock up my cases and call Reception to have the bell boy take them to the lobby. I wait in the lobby for about 20 minutes and my car arrives and, as luck would have it, we have no traffic at all and reach the airport in exactly 20 minutes! I have three full hours at the airport to wait until my flight for Bangkok departs. It is a good time to catch up on my blogging and I do just that. Manila airport is not at all impressive and I find a quiet seat in front of a fan as it is awfully hot. My flight is announced on time and I leave for Bangkok on Philippine Airlines. It is a very comfortable flight and I am in Bangkok in three hours. There is a three hour layover there as I connect to an Air-India flight where I am delighted to be upgraded to Business Class on a four hour haul. Nothing could be more comfortable and I am pampered and treated like royalty with a glass of champagne for starters and the most delicious Indian dinner of tiger prawns served Thai style.

            I arrive at Bombay airport at 11. 15 pm , clear Immigration and am out in half an hour. My transport picks me up and drops me home to my Dad’s place in Bombay and I am all set then for another week in the city of my birth.

     Thanks for following me on this armchair journey. I feel blessed at the end of every trip about the amount of traveling I seem to be doing and the number of places to which I have been going. Until my next trip, bye for now.       

 

 

 

 

Making the Most of a Last Day in Manila: Intramurros, Chinese Cemetery, Ayala Museum

January 17, 2016
Making the Most of the Last Day in Manila

     I have had a fairly fitful night with an unnecessary intrusion at 2.00 am when someone began shouting outside my door loud enough to wake me up, then knocking it and saying something in a foreign language. I am shaken and alarmed and yell back, "Hello, what is it?" The knocking stops, the person mutters something and leaves. My heart is beating really fast when the phone in my room rings. I wonder if I should pick up the receiver. When I do, it is the guy at Reception apologizing and telling me that I was awoken by mistake and that it was another room and other occupants the party was seeking. I get back to sleep but adrenalin keeps me on tenterhooks 

Brekkie and Off to Mass:

     I awake at 7. 30 am far too early for my own good, not having had adequate sleep. Still, I make it to the Lobby Dining Room for a substantial breakfast of an omlette, fresh fruit and coffee and then ask for a taxi to take me to the Manila Hotel. I am supposed to meet my colleague Jessica at 9. 30 am, but I am a tad too early and roam around the hotel instead, getting money changed from American dollars to Filipino pesos and using the Business Center to charge my phone.

     At 9. 30, I am in the lobby, connecting with Jessica, and then walking towards Intramurros, the old quarter, to get to the Church of San Augustin where we are supposed to attend the 10.00 am Mass. Only when we get there, we find that there is a wedding on. The couple is kneeling at the altar of the 9.00 am Mass and probably because there was a wedding at the 8.00 am Mass as well--I have never seen so many bridal couples in so short a time as in Manila-- the 9.00 am Mass started late. We have arrived just before the Offertory begins and we take our places in the beautifully decorated church. Having reached in time for the most important part of the Mass and having had a chance to take Communion, we do not think it is necessary to start 10.00 am Mass all over again--especially as we find that it is 10.20 and the 10.00 am Mass hasn't yet begun! After Mass, the photographer choreographs all wedding portraits against the backdrop of the altar regardless of the fact that it is well past time for the 10.00 am Mass and the congregation is waiting outside to enter. Were they in the States, the whole bridal party would have been shooed off right after Mass ended! I know that in India IST (Indian Standard Time) has come to mean Indian Stretchable Time; but here in the Philippines, time is infinitely more flexible.

 Walking Around Intramurros with Jessica:

     There is much bustling activity outside the church as wedding parties dominate the plaza. We decide to use our presence in church to stroll around the quarter and take in some of its Spanish ambience. Horse-drawn carriages (called Kalesas) pass by us frequently and add to the atmospheric nature of the quarter. But right past one of the bylanes, we are in a very poverty-stricken area with slums just as in Bombay, street children running around and beggars asking for alms. Manila, like Bombay, is a city of contrasts and through the rest of the day I will discover just how obvious these binaries are.    

Off to the National Museum of the Filipino People by Cycle Rickshaw:

     Yesterday, in the coach when we had passed by the National Museum of the Filipino People, I had thought that I would like to return. Jessica preferred to return to the Manila Hotel to prepare for an Awards Ceremony Luncheon at 12 noon. With about two hours to play with, I find a cycle rickshaw pass by me and I ask the man if he will take me to the National Museum. I know that it ought to cost me no more than 25 to 30 pesos. But he asks me for 100 and since he is an old and very poor man, I agree although I feel guilty throughout the ride that an elderly man is giving me a ride. Still. I try to quell my guilt by focusing on the fact that I have probably contributed to his ability to eat that day and we move on. It is about a 15 minute cycle ride to the museum and he deposits me there as arranged. He pedals the bicycle--I sit in a little cavity at the side--like a side car on a motorbike! It is an odd ride and a very unusual expereince.

     My guide book tells me that I ought to get to this museum to see the excavated Treasures of the San Diego, a 15th century Spanish galleon that went down in Manila Bay, thanks to the idiocy and lack of experience and sea-faring knowledge of its Captain Morga. In war with a Dutch ship, Morga made all the wrong decisions and led his crew to death and his ship to destruction. It lay at the bottom of the ocean until the 1960s when it was pulled up.

    While there aren't many great treasures really in the museum what was interesting to me was a whole lot of information about the Spanish galleon trade from China and the Spice Islands (modern-day Indonesia) through the Philippine islands and on to the West. Through a series of wonderful paintings, this history is well-recorded and since I am designing a course that deals with this theme, I found it especially helpful. Of the treasures themselves, there was a fine collection of jars--gigantic urns really used as ballast when filled with oil and water. These were made in China, Thailand (then known as Siam), and the Philippines. Beautifully assembled together, they make a stunning display. There are also male gold jewelry (belt buckles, for instance) and artifacts and, most interestingly, a real coconut and a large number of real hazelnuts that were removed intact from the wreck. There is also a whole gallery devoted to the blue and white China that was produced in China and that the ship was carrying as part of its cargo. From ginger jars to plates, there were a variety of items and they occupy two whole rooms. The ship's anchor as well as the navigational instruments used to steer the ship on the high seas were also recovered from the wreckage and they are a part of the main exhibits. It is worth getting to this museum only to see this section, especially if one is interested in aspects of Renaissance maritime trade in the Indies.

      I hailed a passing taxi on the street, after spending over an hour in the museum and made my way to Manila Hotel to witness the award-distribution ceremony held during one of the magnificent buffet lunches that have been a part of this conference. Awards were given to the most active chapters of the East-West Center Alumni Associations that are spread all over the world. A few short speeches accompanied this formal part of the event. Lunch was delicious and plentiful, as usual, and while I am sorely tempted by all these goodies, I am dreading the impact on my waistline and cannot wait to get back to normal eating again.

Going on More Sightseeing Adventures:

     During lunch, I happened to be seated with the Filipino contingent--a lovely group of men and women who graduated from the East-West Center in the 1960s and are now prominent citizens of their country and very distinguished at that. They were warmly welcoming of me and were very inclusive during the ceremony. I was able to glean a lot of tourist information from them. Mainly I told them that following the advice of my guide books (Lonely Planet and others), I wanted to get to the Chinese Cemetery and to the Ayala Museum and to get back to my hotel for a shower and a change and then return to Manila Hotel by 6. 30 pm for our last Gala Aloha Dinner and Talent Evening. They marveled at my energy and told me that basically the only way to get there was by taxi and that since it was a Sunday, there was a possibility that I might be able to cover both venues through the afternoon. So off I went. But first I needed to find a taxi.

A Word About Manila's Public Transport:

     So, at this stage, a comment on Manila's Public Transport would be in order. Basically, it is non-existent and neither is it a walking or walkable city. It is vast, sprawling and, like Bombay, runs in a north-south pattern with several scores of miles linking the two portions. Our hotels were in the middle of the city, the Chinese Cemetery was in the north and the Ayala Museum was in an area known as Makati, even further north. There are no buses and a very sporadic light-rail train system that might as well not be there, I'm told.

     Local people pile into a vehicle called a Jeepney--a strange sort of Jeep (which, apparently, is a relic of American occupation of the islands). About 12 people fit into it, six on each side facing each other. I suppose you would need to tell the drive where you wish to go and he finds a route that caters to all his passengers. It would have been an interesting cultural experience to take it, had I a companion. Being alone, I simply did not feel comfortable getting into one. Left with the only choice, I needed to hail a cab. Cabs are very cheap by American standards, but there is this one problem. Once you get into a taxi, you will simply sit there for God Knows how long--for traffic is insane. Luckily, all cabs are air-conditioned. So if you are patient and not in a hurry to get somewhere, taxis kind of work.

     So, a taxi it was for me. Again, luckily, all the drivers speak fairly good English and most of them are honest. They do not try to spin your around just to keep the meter going. I managed to find a taxi through the concierge at the Manila Hotel. He turned out to be a Born Again Christian--so for the duration of a very long ride, I was subject to his attempts at converting me to his faith! Not exactly what I had bargained for! Still, he was taking me towards my destination--so I could endure his spiel. Also, he knew how to get to these tourist venues and he took the shortest routes to get to them.

Exploring the Chinese Cemetery:

     A cemetery, you say? Why? A Chinese one? Why? Why?

    Well, Lonely Planet had extolled the virtues of this one and made it sound like one of the world's most unique experiences. I was game to give it a shot. We reached it in about half an hour and for the payment of 100 pesos, I was allowed inside.

     The Chinese are a very wealthy community in The Philippines--mainly traders and businessmen. They believe in sending their dead off to the next life in style and in creating mausoleums for them that are worthy of their earthly status. So what you see in this place is a little township--almost like a residential suburb inside a gated community with streets running in a neat grid pattern. The family of each deceased person buys a sort of vault--each like a little cottage in a terraced housing project--complete with marble steps leading to ornate wrought iron gates that are decorated with Chinese motifs, lucky lions, curving rectilinear roof lines, urns, flower vases, etc. Some of these vaults are air-conditioned, have basins with hot and cold running water and I am told even flush toilets (in case, the dead get caught short on their way to the next world!) The vaults are interspersed with various houses of worship--Buddhist, Taoist, Christian (there were several chapels). I simply could not believe what I was seeing. Needless to say, I took many pictures and did not linger too long as it was oppressively hot outside my air-conditioned vehicle. The gates of one of the vaults were open and two Chinese women were tending to the raised altar-like graves inside. I asked permission to take pictures of it and they graciously granted it. Inside, I found black and white pictures (probably from the 1950s) of a man and woman on the wall above their altar-mausoleums. The ladies were changing the flowers inside and putting fresh ones with fresh water into ornate vases. I am guessing they were the daughters of the deceased. I found the entire operation very moving indeed and, were I not so uncomfortably hot, I'd have stayed longer to witness their rituals. As it was, I returned to the car and told my driver (who had waited for me while I toured around and took pictures) to take me on to the next venue--the Ayala Museum.

     I was really glad I made the effort to get to the Chinese Cemetery. I do not believe I will see anything like this anywhere else in the world. It was a wonderful lesson in cultural studies--a living museum, if you will, of Chinese customs in the Philippines.

Off to See the Ayala Museum and Exploring Makati:

     Back in the taxi, my driver continued to fight traffic to get me to the next venue I wished to explore--the Ayala Museum. The Ayalas are a noteworthy, billionaire Filipino family--the equivalent of the Rockefellers in the US or the Ambanis in India. They made their money in mall-development and then went into real estate development of commercial property. Manila's newest neighborhoods that go by the names of Greenbelt 1 to Greenbelt 5 are entirely their doing. In the process, they have become wealthy as Croesus and turned towards art collecting and creating a museum to display their collection. The Ayala Museum is the result.

     One of the Ayala family creations is the neighborhood of new Makati--an area that leads you to believe you have left Manila behind and entered London's Canary Wharf, Bombay's Bandra-Kurla Complex or the Hiranandani Estate in Powai or San Francisco's Financial District. This is the other face of the Philippines--one that is lurching towards the mid-21st century at breakneck speed, thanks to Globalization. Naturally, it has created two segments of the population--the fiercely upwardly-mobile that live in high-rise air-conditioned apartment buildings (as do Bombay's nouveau riche) while the poorest have been left far behind, not even daring to step into these upscale neighborhoods. I was really glad I took the time and trouble to come out to Makati--to see for myself the designer stores, the trendy coffee shops and wine bars, the discos and clubs that cater to the young of this city that work by night as call center attendants and spend their days drinking, smoking and blowing up the money they earn working for American corporations as telephone support staff. Meanwhile, in the skyscrapers themselves, multi-national corporations work in glass paned, climate-controlled offices and I did pass by the Peninsula Hotel Manila and the Shangri-La Hotel in this area. These five-star hotels cater directly to the international financial community.

Exploring the Ayala Museum:

     Eventually, I did get to the Ayala Museum and it amazed me that for a private air-conditioned taxi ride that provided a driver that stayed the course with me through my stops for over an hour and a half, I paid no more than US$6! Taxis are an incredible bargain in this city and although we often sat in traffic that actually put me to sleep (I dozed off after my gigantic lunch), we did get to our destination.

     The driver drove away and I hurried to the Main Reception Desk, manned by a crew of very smart young men and women who looked like college undergrads. They honored my Metropolitan Museum ID card and gave me free entry into the museum after telling me that staff of all museums, world-wide, are allowed inside free of charge. I told them that I had about an hour and half to spend in the museum and wondered if they could tell me which highlights I should not miss.

     They directed me immediately to the fourth floor to see the Pre-Colonial Gold Treasures of the Philippines which would have been a great exhibit but for the fact that most of the items were on loan to a museum in New York at the moment--perhaps I will see it when I get back home. The few items that were there were good. Seeing this exhibit was preceded by a ten minute film that explains how these items were made--might have been worth my while if they had all been there.

     The second area they had directed me to was the second floor where the entire history of the Philippines has been depicted in a huge diorama consisting of about 75 windows or vignettes that detail pre-historic times to the present. It was a wonderful introduction to the country and having taken Carlos' tour yesterday, it was like a refresher course, in visual terms, for me. You need a lot more time to do this exhibit justice and I hurried through it and was very pleased to bump into an American couple who were also attending my conference. They too intended to get back by taxi by 5.00 pm and I asked if I could share their cab--to which they readily agreed.

     Before leaving the museum, the three of us stepped into the lovely gardens that hold changing sculptural exhibitions. It reminded me very much of the beautiful gardens of the Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles that I had explored last summer. Filled with koi (Chinese goldfish), the pond was a huge drew for children. Meanwhile, the Ayala Museum sits bang in the center of designer stores, coffee shops, etc. and get this, a church! In fact, Mass was going on as we passed by and since the church was very modern with gardens around it, the faithful had spilled out onto the green lawns and were listening to Mass in the midst of worshippers of Mammon. It was all very peculiar indeed.          

Back to my Hotel:

     We had a lovely conversation en route to our hotel. The couple, Richard and Rae, had met at the East-West Center in the 1960s as Grad students. They were both practicing lawyers in Honolulu, Hawai'i, working in their own law firm. They had one son in Los Angeles and had arrived in Manila from Australia where they had attended the wedding of their son's friend. They were very easy conversationalists and we had a sparkling exchange that was a lot of fun. About 40 minutes later, they dropped me off at my hotel before driving off to theirs.

     I raced through a shower and a change and then requested the concierge to get me a taxi to the Manila Hotel. I was there in under ten minutes and hastened off to the Maynila Ballrom for the Grand Finale Gala Dinner of our conference where I had the chance to reunite with many of the new friends I have made over the past three days. I sat with Jessica and Mary and a few other people and had a really enjoyable evening. Needless to say, the buffet dinner once again left me feeling stuffed just looking at it and the talent provided on stage offered a range of abilities--some performers were good and some, well...let us say they earned full marks for lacking stage fright!

    At the end of the evening, after all the Thank-Yous were said, and table prizes were won, there was a lovely 'Aloha Oe' Song sung with all participants holding hands and forming two  huge leis as we sang the words. It was a touching goodbye and then the dancing began and we were all on the floor boogeying!

    It had been an incredible experience and I was very glad that I had juggled so effectively my attendance at some of the main sessions of the conference with exploration of the city and an examination of its most note-worthy monuments and museums. Since I do not believe I will ever return to Manila (although never say never), I was very glad I made the most of every moment in this city. Perhaps one ought to see other parts of the Philippines--its beautiful rural and natural wonders, for instance--but I was not unhappy with what I had seen and the brave attempts I made, despite many transport inconveniences and the unmitigated heat--to see the place.

            On the chartered shuttle coach back to my hotel, I meet a very nice elderly gentleman named Gerald Mullins from Wisconsin who was a career educationist, did his Ph.D. in Asian Studies from the EWC in the 1950 or 60s and has come to the conference with the idea of reuniting with his classmates. He was a very interesting conversationalist and I had a lovely ride back to our hotel together with him.

     Tomorrow, I shall rise at leisure, have breakfast and get ready for my departure to Bombay via Bangkok. 

     Until tomorrow.... 

 

 

My Presentation at the Conference and Half Day Tour of Old Manila

Saturday, January16, 2016

Up and Awake:
     I am still keeping Indian time so jetlag continues to keep me fast asleep in the small hours of the morning. I awoke without setting an alarm for 7. 15 am, washed and went down for breakfast in the lobby of Lotus Garden Hotel which was basically a repeat of yesterday--omlette with ham and pineapple, coffee, fresh fruit. I hop into the Shuttle Bus at 8.45 am that takes us to the Manila Hotel, our conference venue and am there by 9.00 in time to listen to a plenary session on nations that are troubled by issues of terrorism. I learn a lot about the recruitment of young people by ISIS from countries like Indonesia. There is a session about the Muslims of the Philippines--Islam reached this nation before Christianity did. Hence, in the south of the country, Islam is a very vigorous presence and most of its practitioners are farmers. The Q&A session that followed was predictably contentious but did not get too uncomfortable. A Coffee break followed--little fruit tarts were served with it and they were both very welcome as I started to have serious nervous pangs in preparation for my session which followed at 11.00 am.

Making My Presentation:
     My presentation was at 11.00 am and by 10. 45, I was up in the room in which it was to be held. I met the Chairperson, Channay Sak-Humphrey from the University of Hawai'i, and the three other panelists of which one was from China and two others from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.  There were about 30 people in the audience and several walked in and out as the presentations continued. I was the second presenter and, as often happens, once I got to the podium, my nerves calmed down and I was quite confident as it progressed. I got quite a few laughs as I had inserted several jokes into my talk and since I was speaking directly to the audience rather than reading from a paper, it seemed somehow rather more interactive than most conference presentations are. The other participants used Powerpoint--I did not as I still believe that it can be very distracting.
     At the end of the presentations, there were questions and I had a few addressed to me. I have to say that overall I felt the audience were able to relate to a lot of what I said about preparing American students for jobs in the Asian work place by acculturating them to Oriental social expectations and norms. When the session ended at 12. 30, in time for another one of our humongous lunches, I had the great pleasure of being seated with a man who attended my session. We were able to continue our discussion during lunch and it was while I was eating that another couple came up to me. They too had attended my presentation. The man introduced himself to be as the Director of the International Education Program at Hong Kong Baptist University and he gave me his card and invited me to come to his university and give a series of talks on the subject I had covered. I was really and truly gratified and thanked him very sincerely. It might definitely be something I would consider doing in the next year.
     Lunch was finished by 1. 30 pm --another buffet affair with an abundance of dishes and really tempting desserts. And then it was time for those of us who had signed up for the sight-seeing tours to go out into the lobby to meet our tour guides and board our respective coaches.  Three different tours had been offered: Old Manila, Modern Manila and Technological Advances in Manila. Being the history buff I am, I had chosen the Old Manila Tour and since there were about 100 of us on this tour, we had three coaches that followed each other as we departed at 1. 45 pm.

On ATour of Old Manila:
     The tour guide on our coach was called Tom. He introduced himself and told us that our tour would begin at the National Museum where we'd be met by another guide who would give us a Highlights Tour. As it turned out, he led the driver to the wrong place--to the National Museum of the Filipino People (the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology) when, in fact, he was supposed to take us across the street to the National Museum of Fine Arts. Needless to say, I was thrilled that we ended up in the Fine Arts Museum where we spent the next hour.

Manila's National Museum of Fine Arts:
     Our guide at the Museum was a very young boy who turned out to be amazingly competent for his age. He had his work cut out for him as he had to introduce us to the museum's highlights in one hour. There were two floors and he started at the ground floor with two monumental paintings in a single room--one on the Assassination of Governor-General Bustamente by Hidalgo--a really huge painting with the most dramatic realism as to be deeply stirring. It depicts a very historic event in Filipino history (the murder of the Spanish Governor-General who was sent by the King of Spain to find out what the Catholic Friars were doing in the Philippines and to report to him. When Bustamente found out that the friars were a corrupt bunch and when he attempted to set them right, they murdered him in cold blood together with his son who tried to defend him. Did I mention that these were Catholic priests?) Well...
     The second painting is by Juan Luna, considered one of the greatest classical painters of the country. He studied Art in Paris during the mid-19th century and painted the Spoliarium, a depiction of the manner in which slaughtered gladiators and their remains were treated in the Roman Colisseum after their fights with wild animals. This painting won the first place in the Art Exhibition in Madrid and made Luna a celebrated name. The Filipinos are justly proud of him and on the upper floors of the museum, there are a vast number of examples from his repertoire--all of which I found very appealing.
     The tour then took us to the upper floors where we saw more contemporary works in the Cubist style--vast series of them that were spread out over several galleries that encompass the lives of the people and their history. We also saw sculpture and although the guide moved quickly, it was a very good introduction to these artists and their contribution to the cultural life of the country.
     Finally, the tour ended with a visit to the main room which was once occupied by the Senate of the Nation. It had marvelous bas-relief carvings on the crown moldings at the top that depicted international figures that have contributed to Law and Legal Studies. I found this room and their artistic achievement quite stunning.
     Our tour ended and we re-boarded the bus and made our way to the most historic part of Manila known as Intramurros--which, in Spanish, means 'Within The Walls'. Indeed, we passed through extraordinarily thick stone walls of the city--apparently built of baked volcanic ash--and entered the area know as Fort Santiago ('Fort St. James' in Spanish). Incidentally, the patron saint of the Philippines is the Virgin Mary.
    
Discovering Fort Santiago:
     Fort Santiago is the very heart of Intramurros and is a lovely sprawling space filled with greenery, tall tropical trees and lilting fountains. The general history of the place was explained to us and then we were told to await the arrival of a young Filipino man named Carlos Cedran who has gained a sterling reputation in these parts as an actor who gives walking tours for which one has to sign up well in advance as they fill us very quickly. We were fortunate then to have been able to get him to take us on a walking tour of the area.
    The idea is simply that he presents a multi-faceted act that includes a rather brilliant monologue based on a script that he has probably written himself. It is a very witty script and includes a great deal of humor. He acts, he sings, he shouts, he dances, he laughs, he mimes. Meanwhile, he literally 'walks' you through the history of the country by taking you from one section to the next of the Fort,wearing various hats and using various portable props to boost his performance.
     He is irreverent about everything and spares no one. He begins in 1521 with the arrival of the first Spaniard Ferdinand Magellan on his circumnavigation of the globe--he was eventually killed in the Philippines--and the role of Lepgazpi which gave rise to the Spanish Galleon trade. From there he moved on to  rebellion against the Spaniards especially by Jose Rizal who wrote anti-Spanish novels such as Noli Mi Tangere and was imprisoned and executed for his pains. He is considered the national hero of the Philippines and there is a national monument to him in a park that is named after him, Rizal Park, which is very close to our hotel and which we pass by each day. His remains are now interred at the base of this monument. The monologue then moved on to the 400 years under Spanish rule when the country is said to have lived in a convent. This Christianization of the nation has made it the third largest Catholic country in the world after Brazil and Mexico--and probably the most devout.
    The act then moves on to talk about the arrival of the Americans especially the role played by General MacArthur. I learned that it ended with the near-destruction of Manila by the Japanese who attacked the city at the same time that they attacked Pearl Harbor. Hence, almost all of Manila today is a post-World War II reconstruction. The Americans brought rock and roll and jazz, modern electricity and appliances and public school education--which is why although the Philippines was never a British colony, English is spoken here very widely (not Spanish). Eventually, the Filipinos got their independence from the Americans and asserted their own identity despite a history marked by bloody wars and insurgency.
      Carlos ended his act at the Church of San Augustin, the oldest church in East Asia which is still standing and was spared destruction by war bombs. The city also has the oldest university in the East, UST or the University of San Thomas which was founded by the Jesuits in the early 1500s--which makes it older than Harvard. Saturday evening mass was going on by the time we arrived there --together with wedding nuptials--and we could not enter. I decided I would go there for Sunday Mass tomorrow.

Finishing with a Halo-Halo:
     Needless to say, I was thrilled that Carlos finished his tour with a Halo-Halo (which literally means Mix-Mix) at a very cute period restaurant where he used the national dessert to talk about the inter-racial mixing that has occurred in this country amongst the Chinese, Spanish and Americans resulting in a mestizo or population of mixed racial descent. He pointed out why there is no such thing as pure Filipino blood and why all the Filipinos look slightly different--different shades of skin, differing prominence of slanting eyes, etc. It was all very interesting and this bit of the act was accompanied by the consumption of a Halo-Halo that was served to each of us as we made ourselves comfortable on seats in a typical Spanish hacienda sort of inner courtyard garden attached to a restaurant that serves traditional Filipino food.
     Overall, Carlos' act was marvelous and I thought we were very fortunate to catch it--although it lasted almost three hours, we did not find it too taxing (and there were some very elderly people among us). We piled back into our buses at which point I hooked up with Jessica, a Professor at the University of Oklahoma, whom I have just gotten to know. She mentioned that she too would like to go to Mass at the San Augustin Church and we made plans to meet at 9. 30 am tomorrow in the lobby of the Manila Hotel.
                  
A La Carte Dinner at Ilang-Ilang Restaurant:
     Meanwhile, because our conference did not include dinner this evening, I joined Jessica and another delegate from San Diego named Claire to have dinner at one of the restaurants attached to the Manila Hotel. I decided to try something typically Filipino and ended up with a vast dish of thick rice noodles with pork and shrimp which was flavored with a small sour lime called Kalamassi and Chinese chili sauce. It was okay--nothing to shout about. Best of all was the opportunity to interact and get to know other delegates and get their impressions of the Convention, the walking tour and their work as scholars.

Back to my Hotel to Bed:
 I left my friends still at dinner at about 9.00 pm and asked the concierge at the Manila Hotel to get me a taxi that then took me back to my hotel where I went straight to my room, had a shower and to bed. It had been a long but very fruitful day and I was quite pleased to sink under the covers and go straight to sleep.
     Until Tomorrow....     
              
        

Mabuhay Manila! Getting to Know The Philippines Through the Manila Conference

Friday, January 15, 2016
Getting to Know The Philippines through the Manila Conference

The first thing I have discovered about Manila is how to pronounce it. It is Ma-nee-la. That's how all the local people say it and that's how I will say it too from now on. Also, I have learned that the word for Hullo in Tigalo (the local lingo) is Mahubay!

I awoke late--about 8. 00 am. which is late by my Morning Person standards. Since breakfast is only served till 10.00 am, I decide I need to shower and get to the restaurant in the Lotus Garden Hotel (in which I am staying) for breakfast. Right from there, I intend to get the concierge to hail me a taxi to take me to the Manila Hotel where my conference in being held.

Buffet Breakfast at the Lotus Garden Hotel:
The hotel's buffet breakfast is more than adequate. There are cornflakes and bran flakes for starters--but I pass them up as I am trying to stay low-carb. I pass by an omlette-making station and decide that I will have one with The Works. I order it and go along to take a look at the other dishes. There are pancakes with maple syrup and all sorts of brunch dishes--fish with onion sauce, chicken adobo which is very good, bacon, hash browns, cooked rice and salad at one end with fresh fruit. I settle down with coffee and, in a bit, by omeltte arrives. I add some bacon to it and have myself a very nice brekkie, thanks.

Arriving at the Manila Hotel for the Conference:
Getting a cab is another story. The poor concierge has about 4 people ahead of me who have asked him for a cab. I wait for a good 20 minutes before he manages to find me one. I am at the hotel about 10 minutes later. The Manila Hotel is the Big Daddy of them all--the equivalent of the grand old Asian hotels of yore. Think Taj Mahal Hotel Bombay and you get the idea--they are of the same vintage. This one too was built in 1911. It is all marble foyer, glittering chandelier, fresh flower arrangements. We have practically taken of the hotel--we are over 400 delegates from all over the world (mainly Asian nations) and our events are spread out all over the hotel throughout the day.

I catch the last bit of one of the sessions. I have completely missed the Welcome Remarks, but I have no regrets. I was wiped out last night and deserved my lie-in. I pick up my 'kit'--it is substantial (a laptop bag, a very nice bright blue folder with a matching credit card holder --from the Philippines Tourism folk--a really well brought out program, a wonderful book of abstracts, a pen, a map of Metro Manila, two packets of dried cranberries for snacking!) I am directed to another desk to pick up my pass for the half-day sight-seeing tour of Old Manila for which I have signed up and which will take place tomorrow afternoon.They have thought of everything and I am very impressed. I catch about 15 minutes of a session on Philippines' cultural dance traditions and the attempts to incorporate it into school curricula.

     There is a brief coffee break but I am too stuffed to take a sip. I join many of the participants at two sessions on Filipino Dances--one is a Duck Dance which is particularly nice. Another is a stick Dance (like the Gujarati Garba). There is another dance which is performed with fans. I am fast realizing the Filipino culture has tons of dances. We are invited to learn some of the steps and many participants go forwards. About 20 minutes later, I go to another room where there is a demonstration on traditional Filipino musical instruments. All very interesting and a very nice way to break the ice and get to the more scholarly aspects of the program.

     In a little while, it is time for lunch and there is a feast awaiting us. I meet a number of folks--all strangers but all very friendly. I sit at the 'India' table where I meet an interesting father-son team from Chennai, another guy from Chandigarh and pretty soon, the contingent from Bangladesh join us. The food is sumptuous--so many courses, a little bit of everything for everyone. There is soup served at our tables (Pumpkin Soup, really good), bread rolls and butter and then the buffet service is open and I am piling my plate and thinking this had better stop soon or else none of my clothes will fit me.

The President of the Philippines Hath Spoken:
     After lunch, we are instructed to get ready for the arrival of the President of the Philippines,. Benigno Aquino. He seems a nice enough guy and he is not late! This is a relief as I dreaded being kept waiting as might have been the case if I were in India. He gives a very brief speech but it is sensible and not clichéd. The US Ambassador to the Philippines is also present and he offers to give participants a chance to visit the US Embassy if they would like to get there. The President's address lasts about 12 minutes and then he is off.

I decide to hail a taxi (the cost is about US$1) and I return to my hotel for a rest. I unpack, get myself organized and take a nap and I feel extraordinarily refreshed.  After about a two hour break, I change and dress in slightly better clothing and return to the Manila Hotel by cab for our Welcome Dinner--this is preceded by a ton of Filipino dances--there is no end to them, it would seem. Beer and Iced Tea are served at our tables, and then there is soup (pumpkin again) and bread rolls with butter. After the dances and the speeches are done, the food stations are open for service and I find myself overwhelmed once again by the quality and the quantity of the food. Best of all, I get to taste Beef Rendang, which is a Malaysian curry of which I became aware only very recently when doing some research on the spice routes for a new course I am designing. It was absolutely delicious and I can see why it is so well-acclaimed. There are also loads of wonderful seafood and I am eating tons of shrimp of various sizes and mussels and calamari--amazing.

Getting Acquainted with Halo-Halo:
Best part of all, I get introduced to the most delicious dessert in the Philippines. It is known as halo-halo which means Mix-Mix. I am taught by those in the know how to assemble it. I am led to a table laden with a number of large bowls holding a lot of brightly colored items that are completely unfamiliar to me--they turn out to be preserved fruit including cherries. I am told to place a little bit of each of these things in the bottom of a bowl. They turn out to be red (azuki) beans, yellow beans, stringed coconut, gelatinized coconut water, a mash of purple sweet potato. Next I am told to pile on a lot of shaved ice on these items--which I do. Finally I am instructed to pour cream (from a pitcher) or ice-cream over the shaved ice. You are supposed to get to your seat and mix the whole concoction together and then spoon it into your mouth. I have never tasted any thing quite so unexpectedly delicious! I am absolutely delighted with it. And I am determined to have it many more times before I leave this place. There are also chocolate profiteroles (not great) and something called Ubi Ice-cream (which is a mauve ice-cream of ambiguous flavor, not very appealing).

A Reunion with Llew's Former Colleague:
At 8. 45, the formal Welcome Dinner is over and I move to the Main lobby to meet a former colleague of Llew named Andrea who is heading to the hotel to meet me. I am not tired (having gotten my second wind) and I am looking forward to seeing her again (we had last met at our place in Southport when she had visited us). She arrives at about 9.30 and although I am stuffed, she insists that we go to one of the restaurants in the hotel called Ilang-Ilang for a coffee.

It is great to see her again--she looks vivacious and happy at four months pregnant. We sit down with decaff coffee and two Filipino desserts which she insists on ordering so that I can taste them. One is called Puto Budong--it is rolls of purple sticky rice on which you sprinkle brown sugar, cheese and grated coconut. I neither cared for the texture nor the taste of it. The second dessert, Bibica--which sounded like the Portuguese-Goan Bibique--was nothing like the Bibica I know from Goa. This too is garnished with coconut. No, these were nothing to write home about, but I think Halo-Halo was awesome and I will have it again anytime if given half a chance.

Andrea gave me a ride back to my hotel before pushing off home. It was after 11.00 when I got back to my room and, to my disappointment I found my room so noisy from a club/bar on the adjacent street where music was simply blaring. I had heard this sound the previous night too but since it was much softer then, I did not make a fuss. This volume was too much to endure and I immediately called Reception and asked to have my room changed. They agreed immediately and moved me into  a super deluxe room for one night. Tomorrow, they will move me into another room that is on the other side of the hotel far from the club. The bell boy moved me to another room in a jiffy and I have to commend the hotel on their willingness to oblige me and the speed with which it was all accomplished.

My new room is huge and very quiet--heavenly. Needless to say, all I did was hit my bed as soon as I entered my room. I will deal with packing up and leaving my bags in Move Out condition tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...                     

Riding Hong Kong's Unique Public Transport. Plus Museum of History

Thursday, January 14, 2016
Covering Hong Kong's Last Bits and Bobs:

    Since I had a 5. 30 pm flight from Hong Kong to Manila in The Philippines, I set my alarm for 8.00 am to leave me enough time to pack, have breakfast and finish the last bits and bobs of Hong Kong that I had left undone. As it turned out, I awoke without my alarm by 7. 30 and got an even earlier start. It was a fitful night's sleep and I did not feel rested when I awoke.
     Half an hour later, I had washed and dressed and gone down to brekkie. I chose the Hong Kong Breakfast--scrambled eggs (which were my choice--it usually comes with a fried egg), toast and butter, a giant bowl of soup that had elbow pasta and mushrooms in it. Having tried all three breakfasts at the Youth Hostel, I can say that the tastiest was the Chinese one with a huge bowl of very flavorful congee and two pork momos.
     Back in my room, I locked my case, stripped my bed (as instructed) and took my bed (including my duvet cover) and bath linen downstairs. Any place that offers impeccably clean down duvets to its guests with individual covers that are changed each time sheets are changed is simply a miracle to me. I could not have had this luxury even had I opted for a pricey hotel--which is one of the reasons why I still think youth hostels world-wide are simply the best value for money (if one is traveling alone). I checked out, stashed my case in the Left Luggage Locker and was off. I would pick it up at the end of the morning's rambles en route to the airport.
    
Racing to use Hong Kong's Unique Forms of Public Transport:
     I had three items on my agenda for the morning and I knew I had to race through them all as I set myself the goal of returning to the hostel by 1. 30 to pick up my case and leave for the airport. I wanted to use all of Hong Kong's unique forms of public transport. Having used the excellent Metro (Underground) system and the double-decker bus system (a legacy of British colonial rule), I headed to the Sham Tsui Po Metro station to make my way to Central so that I could get to the famous Star Ferry Terminal to ride it across what was once called Victoria Harbor.
     Since I had my bearings well, I found the closest way to get to the Metro station. I bought a single ticket from a dispensing machine (as I am running out of money on my Octopus card and since you can only load the card in multiples of HKD 50 and I am leaving today, it made no sense to do so).  I was at Central in ten minutes and having taken instructions of the Youth Hostel receptionist, I followed signs to the Star Ferry Terminal.

Getting to the Star Ferry Terminal:
     Since my hostel is located on the island of Kowloon (known simply as Kowloon), I was going to make the Ferry Crossing to Hong Kong Island. The Harbor is simply like a wide river and the crossing take about 12 minutes; but it is one of the most spectacular crossings in the world as you head towards a concrete jungle that features the work of some of the world's most talented architects such as I.M. Pei and Norman Foster. Also the Star Ferry is legendary--having been the one and only crossing between these two spots for centuries. For of the price of a coffee today (HKD 2.50), you board one of the most antiquated navigational systems in the world--the assistants still pull the ferries in to anchor them with long poles with hooks at the ends of them!
     Because Hong Kong is such a well-planned city, you do not need to get on the streets at all once you get off the Metro at Tsim Tsa Tsui. For a good deal of time you walk underground past some of the most amazing underground stations I have ever seen--filled with shops, restaurants, bakeries, etc. When you emerge upstairs, you are opposite the iconic Peninsula Hotel (which I had entered last night). You go past it and head towards the famed Clock Tower which is another old relic from the past.

Getting to The Clock Tower:
     This delightful Clock Tower--an Edwardian relic from the British colonial past--was built in 1910. It was part of the train station on the Kowloon-Canton Line that took passengers from Hong Kong to China. This was one of the lines run by the Orient Express--although its European counterpart is much more famous. When the station building was demolished in the mid-twentieth century, when presumably the railway line was shut down--the Tower was retained and it is a lovely piece and a very warming sight. It is composed of red brick and grey granite and sports a white faced clock at the turreted top.
     I hurried off to the Star Ferry and its fleet of battered green and white boats. You walk along antiquated gang planks and arrive on board and since there were no more than 20 people--almost all of then tourists--when I made the crossing, I had my choice of seats. In the days gone by, before the construction of the metro, I am told the ferry was always filled to capacity with hundreds of Chinese grandmas pushing and shoving to get to the markets on the other side or to get back home with their bags filled with smelly fish and fresh vegetables! Not any more. The Metro is now the way to make the crossing (much faster although far more pricey and completely lacking in ambience).
     It was an overcast hazy day--so I did not get good pictures. But no matter. I enjoyed every second of the sail as I took in the buildings--the curvaceous Hong Kong Convention Center and the towering International Finance Corporation (IFC) Tower which is today Hong Kong's tallest building. These are framed by the Peak which I had climbed yesterday. A very stirring sight indeed and very interesting. 

Making my Way to the Trams:
     Having arrived on Hong Kong Island and having ticked off Ride the Star Ferry from my To-Do List, I headed to wards the Trams. Once again, I did not need to get on the streets. Once you disembark, you arrive at a long Footbridge that somehow manages to wind its way around the great commercial skyscrapers as it skims above the streets. Below you, traffic whizzes past in an extraordinarily organized fashion. You keep walking and taking in the sights of the buildings (now up close and personal) and finally arrive at the descending staircase for the Trams.
     A word about Hong Kong's Trams: Again, they are a relic of the past and one to which Hong Kong's people still cling fiercely. I am old enough to remember boarding trams in the city of Bombay where I was born. As a little girl, I did not live far from what was then known as Mazagoan TT (for Tram Terminus). I can recall boarding them with my Dad and taking them all the way to VT (Victoria Terminus) station. I remember the 'ding-ding' that the driver made by pulling on a bell each time the tram approached a station and to get pedestrians off his tracks.
     I was determined to ride on one of the trams to evoke my own personal history and in taking the Footbridge to Des Voeux Street where the trams run, I somehow found myself in the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel! The staff there were very polite as they led me to the descending staircase to get to the trams. What makes Hong Kong's trams unique is that  they are the world's only double-decker ones. I have ridden trams recently in former Communist Eastern Bloc countries such as Hungary (in Budapest) and in Poland (in Krakow) as well as in Vienna in Austria. But these Hong Kong ones are like stately ladies--they are tall, thin and almost statuesque and they seem to flow or roll along with little mincing steps. They are a true delight to watch as they glide over their tracks in the middle of double-decker buses, taxis, some of the world's most expensive cars, etc.
     I found a tram stop at Pedder Street and waited for about 10 minutes for one going to Kennedy Town (the destinations are clearly marked in the front) and I sailed along Des Voeux Street for about 10 minutes till I arrived at the end of the main skyscrapers. Using my Octopus Card, I paid for my ride as I alighted--it was HKD 2. 50 for the ride (no matter how far you go--same as the cost of the Star Ferry Crossing). These rides have to be some of the world's best bargains. I climbed the spiral staircase (which is at the front and the back) and got to the front center seat for superb photo ops as the city crawled past me. The irony of my situation was not lost on me. Here I was in one of the oldest transport systems in the city passing by some of the most cutting-edge architecture and shops selling the most up-to-the-minute technical and digital devices. This simple pleasure was for me a

absolutely fascinating.

     I then retraced my steps back, and following clearly-marked directions on the streets, returned to the Star Ferry Terminus on the Hong Kong side in order to get back to Kowloon. Thus, I had two lovely sails across the Harbor for less than the cost of a single Metro ride. This time, I was able to get lovely views of the Piers with the buildings framed behind them. Ten minutes later, I was emerging on the island of Kowloon and walking straight towards the next item on my agenda.

The Tsim Tsa Tsui Promendade in Kowloon:
        Getting to the Museum of History, I walked along the famed Promenade to which every tourist rushes for the most all-encompassing views of the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island at the back. It is a beautifully paved and well decorated space, full of contemporary sculpture around the Center for Contemporary Arts. I took the mandatory pictures and hurried off. 

Arriving at the Museum of History:

      By this time in the day, it was about 11. 00 am and I had about two hours to get to the Museum of History. The guide books say that if you have time to see just one museum, it should be this one. It is easily reached past all the other museums in the district, each of which has lovely note-worthy architecture.

     Getting to the Museum meant a long walk of about half an hour from Tsim Tsa Tsui station--although it does not look that far on a map. You follow the underground exit signs and emerge on top. But from there, it was a further walk of about 15 minutes. I wondered if I should abort my mission as I would be left with very little time in the museum at the rate I was going.

Exploring the Museum of History:

      Eventually, I was glad I stayed the course. The Museum has been recently refurbished at the cost of about a billion HKD and the expenditure shows. The biggest attraction is 'The Story of Hong Kong' which consists of 8 galleries that trace its history from the pre-historic period to the take over of the island by the Chinese from the British in 1999. I raced through the earliest bits but then spent a while on the Folk Traditions Gallery which showcases a typical Chinese wedding ceremony as well as a wedding processing--complete with people who take on the persona of dragons, etc. These were grand and very visually stimulating. 
        I then spent about an hour focusing on the Colonial History which is of special academic interest to me. It turns out that the British acquired the islands that comprise Hong Kong as a result of a treaty called the Treaty of Nanking signed with the Chinese in 1845 as a result of war reprisals. You can see a replica of the actual Chinese-drawn Treaty and of the stone column that was formerly in Nanking Cemetery.
      As soon as they acquired the islands, the greedy British had to find some way to equalize the trade imbalance that existed in the passion that their people had developed for tea. They were buying a whole lot of tea from China and had to find a way to get the Chinese to buy something of equal value from them. They hit on opium--grown in British India (in Dacca, now Dhaka in Bangladesh!) and began shipping this to China. In no time at all, the Chinese became badly addicted to the stuff and when attempts were made by them through their local Governor Lin to stop the import of opium into their country by the British, the infamous Opium Wars began. The entire story is told through lovely vignettes in a gallery that is framed by a two-story colonial port building set against old Kowloon Harbor with a British steam boat and an ancient junk sharing space in the water.
        The next most fascinating bit of the museum for me was the reproduction of a typical Hong Kong street in the late 1800s--similar to the street in Victorian London that you go through at the Museum of London. This part comprised a bank, a pawnshop, a typical Chinese grocery, a herbalist's dispensary, a tea shop, etc. It was all brilliantly done and I could have spent hours in this section had I more time. 
       There was also a section on the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong in 1944 during World War II and had I more time, I am sure I would have learned a lot more from it as well. As it was, I merely skimmed through all of it.
        Contemporary Hong Kong of the mid-1900s is represented well too--there is an actual cinema hall that screens films three times a day from that epoch. I sat through one screening for a few minutes before leaving to look at a soda fountain, a modern grocery store, etc. All rather wonderful stuff. The last section showcased items for which Hong Kong became famous in the 20th century--toys, lighting, lanterns and plastics including Thermos flasks which I found very interesting.

     About an hour later, I left the museum feeling very glad that I visited it. It provided marvelous context for my visit to the city and the wondrous sights I had seen. I would heartily recommend this as a Must-Do Item for anyone who has more than three days to spend in the city.

Getting Back to the Airport:
        From this point on, it was only a matter of making my way back on the metro to the Youth Hostel, picking up my case and leaving for the airport. I was well in time and on the E 21 bus which takes about an hour to get there.       
        The bus ride was very peaceful as we went along bridges that knit the outlying islands of the New Territories together. In an hour, I was in Terminal 1 and headed to the Cathay Pacific Airlines counter for my flight to Manila--only to discover that it was 45 minutes late. However, I was grateful for the rest as I had walked my feet off over the past three days and I was more than ready to sit down with a sundae and something to read.

     At 6. 30 on, my flight finally left Hong Kong. By then, darkness had fallen over the city and as we took to the skies for the 2 hours flight to Manila, I dozed off. A light snack was served on board and as the time flew, I was in Manila.

Overall Impressions of Hong Kong:

     I was really very glad I finally got to Hong Kong and explored it with some degree of efficiency.  Apart from the main tourist sights such as The Peak and The Central area, I had a chance to get to Macao and to participate in the local life of the people by riding the transportation networks that they use daily.
      I am increasingly realizing, the more I travel, that global exploration is far more than merely seeing the tourist sights--it is, in fact, about experiences. It is about participating in the kind of activity one does not commonly have the chance to experience: in this case, it was the Star Ferry sails across the Harbor and the riding of the double-decker trams.
      I found that Hong Kong Island is a far more modern commercial hub that Kowloon--the spiffy glass and concrete constructions that comprise the world's financial dealings are here. However, in Kowloon, regular residents of Hong Kong go about their business. Here is where the flea markets are: selling all manner of daily items such as fresh fruit and veg, pirated electronics, toys.
      It is a teeming city and I was amazed at how crowded it is. In so many ways, the crowds reminded me of Bombay. I was simply not prepared for this.
      I was also amazed at how little English is spoken here. Even when children go to English schools, their speaking skills are minimal. Given the fact that this was a British colony for more than 150 years, this really surprised me. It was as bad as Japan in terms of trying to ask for or get directions anywhere. When I was in Shanghai, I did not find the city crowded at all (and yet China is the world's most populous country). But Hong Kong...well, let me just say the crowds of were overwhelming.    
       The people also love to shop--they just buy and buy and buy. Every Mom and Pop shop is packed  and doing roaring business. As for the designer stores, there are three Prada shops there and I saw at least six Gucci ones.
       There is a world of difference between the way 'regular' people live (in modest, many-storied apartment buildings, as in India--all studded with air-conditioners) and the way the wealthy live (mainly in sea-facing apartment buildings along the coast that are rented out to the white expatriate banking and trading community). In fact, I am told that Repulse Bay and Stanley through which I had taken a delightful bus drive on my first evening, comprises some of the world's most expensive real estate and is owned by Chinese billionaires who make their money through such investments.
      The city is impeccably clean and the people keep their neighborhood and areas quite spotless. Wares spill out of shops and occupy half the streets that have been turned into shopping plazas.
        As in any big city in the world today, traffic is a hassle as there are simply too many cars everywhere.    
       Smoking is rampant and both genders seem to smoke equally frequently.
       The shops are full of strange-looking food that I could not recognize--all sorts of crackers and dried fruit (a lot of plums). 

       Well, I guess that's what I picked up on my brief visit. I am glad I had a chance to see it all for myself.

Arrival in Manila, Philippines:

       I had been instructed to take a taxi from the airport to my hotel and I was delighted to find that my conference organizers had arranged for me to be picked up and assisted every step of the way--this is the difference between taking a self-arranged holiday and getting to some place on official business! The young man who assisted me at the airport was called Voltaire and in no time at all, I was in a Coupon Taxi and for a flat rate of 530 Filipino pesos (about US$6), I was dropped off at my hotel--the Lotus Garden Hotel in Ermita.
      Needless to say, I was exhausted when I got there and could only just undress and climb into bed having made all wifi connections.
     Until tomorrow....

 

     

 

   

Mucking About In Macao--Like Las Vegas on Ginseng! Plus Victoria Peak

Its All About Macao
Wednesday, January 13, 2016

     Today I felt so much more at home in Hong Kong. Feeling well rested after a good night's sleep and when you have learned the lay of the land, know how to use public transport and have your bearings--all these factor in when you are in a foreign country alone and hope to have a good time.  As it turns out, I was not alone today and for most of the day, I was not in Hong Kong. I was with Nora, my roomie, who was fab company and I spent most of the day in Macao.

     Macao was a Portuguese colony until 1999 when its 100 year lease from China ran out. The colony then became a part of Chinese territory. Most visitors today go there for one reason--gambling! It is the only part of China in which gambling is legal. Hence, loads of people come in from Mainland China precisely to roll the dice. Other visitors (such as myself) go there to imbibe the Portuguese colonial ambience, to get a whiff of the trade that made the Portuguese so wealthy as they used the island as a trading post between China and their colony in India called Goa.

     When I awoke at almost 9.00 am (I am jetlagged and still keeping Indian time), I asked my room-mate, Nora if she wanted to join me on a trip to Macao. She had not intended to get there but readily agreed when she found she had me for company. She rushed through a shower, I got dressed and within half an hour, we were downstairs in the Youth Hostel where Breakfast is included in our tariff. I chose the American brekkie today (scrambled eggs with ham, toast and butter and get this, salad--they must mistake Americans for Japanese--and corn!!! With Coffee, of course). Well and truly fortified for a day of exploration, we left.

     Only we did not realize how far away Macao is from Hong Kong--it is about 65 miles away and we needed to take the Metro to Cheung Wan for the Turbojet Ferry that transports you there in one hour for HKD 341 return trip. We were only able to get tickets for the 11. 45 ferry and off we went. We needed to book return tickets at the same time and we needed to select a time for the return crossing. We decided to get back by the 3. 30 pm ferry which would give us about two and a half hours to see the main sights of Macao. We were cutting it very fine but we had a glorious day and I wanted to make sure we would have time left over so that I could climb up to Victoria Peak.  The views of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Island are good but we did not have window seats--so did not get really great pictures. The crossing was very peaceful as the seas was very calm indeed.

Getting To Know Macao:
      Nora and I decided that the first thing we needed was a map and as we moved towards the Information Desk, a man approached us and thrust one into my hand. It turns out that he was a taxi driver and in the most hilarious English, he explained that he was offering his services. We bargained him down to HKD 700 for two hours of sightseeing--he would take us around and show us the highlights and bring us back to the Ferry Terminal for our 3. 30 pm crossing. Fair enough! We don't know if we got taken for a figurative ride (including a literal one!) but we thought the price was fair and set out.

     On the ride to the sights, we passed by the Equivalent of The Strip in Las Vegas--hotel after gaudy five-star hotel that is stacked with floors of casinos for your gambling pleasure--like Las Vegas on ginseng! I thought I was back in Nevada again. The place was crowded (just like Vegas) with thousands of merry-makers crossing the streets. The hotels are the same as in Las Vegas--The Wynne, MGM Grand, etc. Since this was not our interest, our taxi driver moved on.

Largo de Senado:
     The first stop on our agenda was Largo de Senado which is the main administrative square and the center of all Portuguese administration in the colony. Since the city still appears caught up in Christmas celebrations, there were wild decorations all over the place--a stage was set up and every sort of gaudy Chinese-type decoration was in evidence. The buildings, however, are deeply reminiscent of the ones in Lisbon or indeed even in Goa. And the streets sported the names of all my relatives--Da Costa, Rodriguez, Ferreira...there even was an Avenida de Almeida! We passed the Post Office and strolled the length of the quarter, taking in the building of Misericordia and making our way along a black and white cobbled street (similar to the ones I had seen all over Rio de Janeiro in Brazil) to the Church of St. Dominic where we paid a visit. We ended our exploration of the area with a pop into the Senate Building which, in Portuguese colonial times, was the center of all official goings-on. Today, of course, it is an official Chinese building. Charming, antiquated and very beautifully maintained, this area is a show piece for visitors and I must say that the Chinese government is doing a brilliant job keeping it impeccable. Which is far from what I can say about British colonial relics in Bombay!   

The Catholic Cemetery:
     We made a stop at the Catholic Cemetery by mistake as our taxi driver did not understand where to take us when I requested him to take us to the Protestant Cemetery.  Anyway, no harm done. We spent about 15 minutes before I realized we were in the wrong place. The Portuguese last names made it very clear to me that we were in a Catholic cemetery and when we realized our mistake, we returned to the taxi and drove on.

The Ruins of the Church of St. Paul:
     Five minutes later, we were at Macao's primary attraction--the one you see in all the pictures that advertise this tourist venue: it is the Church of St. Paul that was built by the Jesuits when they arrived on their proselytizing mission in China. Built in the mid-1600s, it has a typical Portuguese style church façade (of which there are many in Goa). But in 1835, a fire which was the result of a typhoon, swept through the church and left only its façade--which sits high on a hill and is reached by a tower of stone steps.
     Our driver parked our car and gave us ample time to get to the steps and pose for pictures in front of the facade. It is a five-tiered structure, each of which has a distinct motif which, in many cases, combines Christian and Chinese iconography. For example, at the very top is a dove representing the Holy Spirit, on the next tier is the Infant Jesus surrounded by icons of the Crucifixion, then there is the Virgin Mary assumed into heaven and below that the four evangelists. On the third tier, is a Chinese dragon with Our Lady placed on top of it! There are lucky Chinese lions that form gargoyles at the two opposite ends. It was all totally fascinating and we took a bunch of pictures.
     Next, we walked into the body of the church (or what remains of it) and we saw where the columns that once supported the church stood as well as the tombs of those who were buried in it. There are stairs that lead to the first level, but no visitors are allowed to climb it. Next door, is the Museum of Macao but we had no time to get inside. Its lovely stone-walled structure was very evocative of Western colonization.

A Colonial Artist in The Protestant Cemetery:
     Finally, we managed to convey to our driver where we wanted to go: the Protestant Cemetery has mainly British and some Dutch people buried there as the Portuguese considered them heathens and would not permit them to be buried in hallowed Catholic ground! Hence, they had to create their own cemetery and they did.
     My interest in exploring this cemetery was to get to the burial site of George Chinnery, the British artist who spent most of his life in the colonies--in India and China--painting British officials in the 18th and 19th centuries. In India, the best known portrait he painted was of the Anglo-Indian (then known as Eurasian) children of the British Resident of Hyderabad, James Achilles Kirkpatrick and his Muslim Moghul wife, Khair-u-Nissa. As a scholar of Anglo-Indian Studies, I felt privileged to have seen the painting in the collection of HSBC Bank in London (where it was on exhibition a few years ago). Hence, I am familiar with Chinnery's work and was delighted to be able to see his grave. He died in Macao having also painted portraits of several Portuguese officials.
      
Back on the Ferry:
     So that was it--our visit to Macao was brief but very satisfying indeed. Had I more time in Hong Kong, I would definitely have given it a full day but I was not unhappy with the time we spent there and the tour we got. Nor was I unhappy with the taxi driver who did the best he could for us in the limited time at our disposal. True to his word, he dropped us off at the ferry terminal for the 3.30 pm sailing. We did have to clear Immigration at both ends but we turned out to be early and the conductors allowed us to board the 3. 15 ferry which dropped us off at Hong Kong Island at 4. 15.

Off to Victoria Peak:
     My next port of call was one of Hong Kong's highlights--Victoria Peak (named for the erstwhile monarch), but now that the British no longer own Hong Kong, it is simply called The Peak. Nora had covered it yesterday and so she left in search of the Museum of History (which is free on Wednesdays). We parted company with plans to re-unite at 7.00 pm in the Lobby of the Peninsula Hotel so that we could explore the Temple Street Night Market later in the day.
      Accordingly, we took the Metro to Central where I went in search of the Bus Terminus while she went to the museum. The No. 15 bus goes straight to The Peak and after a stunning 45 minute bus ride that took me ever higher past some of the most beautiful residential skyscrapers, we were at the Peak.
     My brother Roger had advised me to get there later in the day so that I would get some glimpses of Hong Kong by daylight and then a completely different look once the lights came on. No one could have given me better advice. It was brilliant. I got great views of all of Hong Kong's major islands--Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. After a while, I nipped into the Peak Galleria to use the rest rooms and to use the Free Observation Deck there on Level Three. Frankly, I thought the drive up was far more spectacular than the views from the top--which were a bit too far off for me. Still, it is a venue worth seeing.
     About an hour later, I joined a long but very fast-moving line to take the famous Peak Tram that goes up and down on a one-way journey of 8 minutes. Since I had taken the bus up,  I bought a one-way ticket for the tram for HKD 28 and in about 10 minutes, I was on a tram. Darkness had fallen over the city and the buildings were all visually breathtaking as the lighting on them is anything but ordinary. Most people stay up on the Peak until a little past 8.00 pm, when there is a nightly Light Show. About 45 of Hong Kong's skyscrapers participate in a show that involves dancing, synchronized lights. I did not know about this until a day later or else I would have arranged to meet Nora later. At any rate, it was great to arrive at Central where the tram drops you and walk in the midst of these superbly-illuminated skyscrapers. What a lovely experience!

Off to the Peninsula Hotel:
     Five minutes later, I was in the Metro Station at Central (which, by the way, used to be called Victoria earlier. Similarly, Victoria Harbor is now simply known as Hong Kong Harbor--the Chinese have done a good job wiping off the names of colonial head honchos just as post-colonial India has done). I headed off to Tsim Tsa Tsui Station to walk another ten minutes to get to the Peninsula where Nora was waiting for me in the lobby as we had planned.
     The meeting place was a very fortuitous one as the hotel is one of the great old Asian relics, on par with the Raffles in Singapore or the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. The lobby was beautifully but subtly lit and the lions' heads and the wooden beam work on the ceiling was grandly emphasized. Taking Afternoon Tea in the Lobby there is a tradition but at nearly HKD 400, I am not sure I want to spend so much on a meal I would take alone.

Off to the Temple Street Night Market:
       The Temple Street Nigh Market is also considered one of the highlights of the city. Nora and I realized that we would need to take the Metro again for one stop to Jordan as it was too much to walk to at the end of our long day. We did just that and after hopping off the train, we were at Temple Street in about five minutes.
      Temple Street is nothing to rave about but it is a great place in which to buy el cheapo souvenirs or gifts to take home. It has all the usual kitsch you can expect. I found my postcards of Hong Kong and Macao and I bought a designer bag. For the price I paid, it can only be a knock off, but who knows--neither I nor those who see me holding the bag ever will!
       After strolling about for another half an hour, Nora and I felt it was time to get home to the hostel--it was about 8.30 pm by then. Half an hour later, we were in our room again ready to kick our shoes off and get some much needed rest. I have to say that I made do again with cookies and honey yoghurt for dinner ( as Nora had grabbed a sandwich somewhere earlier) and a very delicious dinner it was too!
      Until tomorrow, when I get to Manila in the Philippines, bye for now....