Breakups and Shakeups…
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
I’m writing this on a Philippines Airlines jet from Manila to Shanghai, after taking a mighty fine week off from work. This was the first real holiday I’ve had since going back to work in March, and it left me with some interesting feelings which I’ll get into a bit later on in this posting.
The week before my holiday was busy, as usual – one of my projects, in which I was originally supposed to play a spot role, heated up, and it looks like I’ll need to play a major role and even step in as project leader in a few weeks. Hmmm. Lots of 3-hour meetings – including with market research vendors, my favorite – late night calls, and slides to write and read. I do think I know how to live well, but sometime you’d be hard-pressed to believe it…
Even tasks that should be viewed as neutral, at the very least – like doing my monthly expense report, which is a prerequisite for getting reimbursed for travel expenses – are a major chore. As my vacation loomed, it struck me that taking off a week every 2 months is probably the right balance. I get four weeks off plus the Xmas holiday, so every 2 months is not exactly workable – but I do plan to take my holidays (unlike in the old days, where I never seemed to have the time to break free), and take them on a regular basis. For a guy who had 3 years off, I think that’s entirely reasonable. I’ve had a glimpse at a very different way of living and spending the day…and I remain acutely aware that the other lifestyle is still an option, and perhaps a viable one given improving economic prospects.
Read a great New Yorker article on travel across Siberia, by Ian Frazier. Reminded me of my own sojourn across that wild land, on the Trans-Sib a bit over a year ago. That was a lifetime memory and reading Frazier’s story brought back memories of the earthiness and sense of adventure I sensed and felt while in that part of Russia. When I get back to the office tomorrow, I suspect there’ll be another edition of the New Yorker waiting for me, with the second/concluding part of the article. How I love to read…
Speaking of which, I think I’m holding off on the Kindle purchase for the time being. It can’t receive wireless downloads outside the US, and that’s a major feature for me. When they deal with that, I’ll go out and buy one, but until then I’ll make do with paper.
Bought a few stocks last week – a mix of sectors and geographical plays. Hopefully we’re not about to double-dip…in any event, now that I have cash coming in, I can take some risks and buy at valuations that should look like steals a few years down the road, if not sooner. Oh, for that crystal ball…
A couple days before I took off for vacation, I sold a case to a global client looking to expand in China. I was happy about that, and the timing was good – while I’ve been back at work for 5 or so month now, I’ve only been in China for a couple months, and I was feeling a slight pang of guilt. No more. And I need to be on the lookout for this sentiment – I’ve been working hard and deserve a break. I wonder where this feeling comes from…I mean, I’m not Lutheran.
Had dinner with our top project leader after work one night – we went to a good Italian place near the office. Was actually looking forward to something more interesting, but that was convenient and we had a very good chat. I think my being on the ground in Shanghai is helping him develop – we don’t have enough senior presence here, everyone’s traveling all the time, and I’m the most stable senior resource around. Funny, that.
That was a prime topic of our conversation, and we decided to get me more involved in the fabric of the office. So on Friday we had an office lunch at a nice Sichuanese place near the office, and I set up a training session for a couple weeks down the road – given the attention on costs these days, things like training have been reined in. Let’s see how these various efforts go – maybe I’m adding more value than I expected to.
Friday was a crazy day – last day before heading off to the Philippines, and lots to do. Had a morning call to continue prepping for an upcoming client meeting…did a few other things, then we had the office lunch…finally I had to race back to the office to meet 3 prospective new executive assistants before going to the airport. All 3 of the candidates were solid, I was pleased about that. Despite there being a plethora of available labor in China, you really do need to look hard to find the right people, and the goalposts are constantly shifting. I was so pressed for time that I did the final interview in a car en route to Pudong Airport – the young lady lives in Pudong so this was actually a good option for her. I’ve done interviews and meetings in cars and trains en route to various airports around the world, and it’s definitely an option when there aren’t any stable alternatives. The chat was pretty enjoyable, she was quite charming and it certainly beat reading dozens of slides during the hour-long ride.
Flew to Manila, checked into a hotel in Makati City, and had dinner with a friend. I was in Manila for a long weekend to take care of some errands and see a couple friends, including a lass I’d met some time before and who’d also be in town that weekend. We wound up hanging out together most of the weekend, and that was good fun. We walked around the gigantic SM Mall of Asia and had lunch at Fish Company, a place I often visit when in town…watched random TV shows, including a tribute to Cory Aquino from her daughter Kris (a bit melodramatic, but hey), dinner at a superb Vietnamese-fusion place called Aquaknox, and finally some karaoke at Platinum KTV in Makati City.
On Sunday at breakfast I heard a song that I always hear while in the RP, with lyrics like “and I can’t get you out of my dreams.” I’ve never been able to find out who sings this song, but I asked a waitress and she told me straightaway, ‘Sitti Navarro,’ who’s a Filipina singer. Not sure if she wrote the song, but she sings the version I always hear, and later that day I picked up a copy of the song. Check that box. That’s a great thing about the RP, there’s always music on, some of it is seriously classic stuff, other songs are modern and catchy.
My lady friend had to catch a bus home that afternoon, so I was now entirely free. Walked over the the Power Plant Mall to look around, malling is a good way to spend a couple hours when it’s hot out. I wanted to see if the British India shop had anything good, and to grab a bite. While wandering out to the mall, I had a pathetic moment – my Teva got caught in some sort of grating, and I took a major spill. No wounds, except to my pride, but my Teva was somewhat mangled, and I got up rueing the likelihood of a ruined Teva. Where would I find another pair nearby, and even if I did, it would probably set me back US$50-80. Ugh. At least I didn’t have a broken bone or scrape, the fall was out of the blue and I could have hurt myself.
I changed to my loafers, and went to the mall. Soon after getting there, I noticed a little shop called Mr. Quickie, which specialized in shoe repair. Hmmm. I took a look at some of their output and decided they could probably fix my Teva. Went back to the hotel, got the Teva, and brought it to the mall. They looked at it and told me to return in a few hours. That sounded promising – in the RP, the smallest things take hours, so Mr. Quickie was looking downright blazing.
Went to a few bookshops looking for “The Tesseract,” by Alex Garland of “The Beach” fame. This was his second novel, and is a crime thriller set in, where else, Maniller. Supposedly quite good…but of course, no RP bookshop seems to have it in stock. And I doubt it’s selling out, it’s quite old by now, they probably just don’t bother carrying it. I guess I’ll just order it the old-fashioned way – on Amazon.com. But it would have been good to read it in Manila, right now.
Took a wonderful nap – the perfect thing to do on a very hot and/or very rainy day here. I really miss this option from my sabbatical. Then I got up, read for a bit, and went for a decent run – although the heat really wore me out. Showered and went back to the mall, where I fetched my nicely repaired Teva and handed over the equivalent of US$1.40. I love this place. But let’s see how the shoe holds up, appearances here are often deceiving…
Had dinner that night at Ziggurat, a Middle Eastern-themed place in Makati that I’ve seen many times but never visited. Had a decent plate of hummus and then a mixed kebab/kofte platter – not exceptional, but pretty good for Manila, and a welcome change from the usual RP fare. After that, hit a couple bars, didn’t stay out too late as was flying to Cebu the next morning.
Got up with nary a headache, packed up, and went to the airport. Was looking forward to spending a couple lazy days in Cebu before moving on to Dumaguete, an old fave of mine where I’d see some friends. Got to Cebu and checked into Holiday Plaza Hotel, an old dependable, right n ear Fuente Osmena. This area is full of life and I like staying around here. Lots of lodging options, I’ve got 3-4 I tend to juggle.
Spent an hour or so tracking down a ferry ticket to Dumaguete…all the usual places no longer carry these. Finally found a place not 20 meters from my hotel, around the back – hopefully they’ll be around for a while, every time I’m in Cebu I seem to waste time finding a place to buy the ticket. I could go down to the port itself, but that’s a real pain. At one of the travel agents I checkout out (unsuccessfully), they’re a local agent for FedEx, and they have a sign on the wall with the countries to which they can’t deliver: Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, I think Iran, and a couple others. Talk about the axis of evil…
Tried to find the Garland book here too, but no success. Sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and punt…
Took another nap, then went for a good but hard run at the Cebu City Sports Center, an oval track down the road a bit. Sweated my poisons out and went back to the hotel to cool off and shower. Walked over to El Gecko, a great little resto-bar owned by Briton Mark, whom I met at a wedding in Cebu a couple years ago (man, the time flies). He’s selling the place – has been trying for a year now – for 3 million Pesos, about US$60K. Not sure if that’s a good price or not – but while having a San Miguel there the thought crossed my mind that this might be a nice little biz. Of course, there are the usual restaurant-related nightmares – staff stealing from you, having to spend every night there, getting fat/drunk, etc. etc. But at least the place isn’t a startup, and it’s usually got at least a few customers in there. I probably won’t bother with this, but it did make me think.
Regular readers will probably recognize many/most of the places I mention in this posting, from my many previous visits to the RP. I hope I don’t sound like a broken record, and that you actually find the constant themes vaguely reassuring…the Gentle Dragon does have his routines, even if they’re far-flung and difficult to detect in any given month or two…
Tuesday morning I got up pretty early, had a client call which went pretty well. After that, a free day – bought a couple newspapers, had a coffee, went to the Ayala Center to walk around and also see godlike chiropractor and emerging friend Dr. Pardis, a Montanan who has done wonders for my back over the past 2-3 years. A real find…I’ve seriously considered flying to Cebu just to see him in my worst times of pain. I’m feeling fine right now, but 4-5 weeks ago, while afflicted with the seafood heebee-jeebies, I also had bad low back pain and was in a crap state and mood for a while. I really do need to get into a regular yoga routine, but that would, of course, mean not looking at email compulsively upon rising in the morning. In my current business that might constitute malpractice…
Took another nap – absolutely glorious. Got up and did some emailing, then went for another run. Showered, then visited the Silver Dollar Bar, a classic place in Cebu. The usual scene – panting expats and lovely local dancing ladies. I like a dose of this now and then. Had some funny conversations with the dancers, then left as happy hour was shutting down to get some dinner. Decided to go to nearby Larsian, an outdoors BBQ “arena” with 25 or so individual BBQ vendors competing to stuff your gut. Larsian is one of Cebu’s real draws and unique aspects – not something most tourists ever see, but I think there’s a lot in Cebu that’s not immediately apparent to visitors, most of whom just pass through en route to the various Visayan jewels like Negros, Malapascua, Bohol, etc. Cebu yields up her charms quite slowly, over time – and I’ve now spent enough time there to get a solid sense of the place and its charms. That’s why I keep returning, gentle readers…
Had the usual fare at Larsian – chicken, pork skewers, a bit of chorizo. Strongly considered some fish, but last time I opted for that I had an unfortunate experience which, shall we say, involved difficulty in properly digesting the fish oils. I’ll leave it at that. It’s sad, because the fish is generally delicious – I just don’t want to be afraid to fart for the next 2-3 days. “Freedom to far” – that should be in the Bill of Rights, don’t you think? Much more relevant and useful than the right to bear arms, methinks.
On Wednesday morning I got up at dawn – ugh – and went to the ferry. It departs at 6 a.m., I always wonder why I go for this as opposed to the Ceres bus or a more DIY approach which involves 3-4 different rides/small boats. The ferry is the most straightforward – you just buy your ticket and you takes your ride – but 6 a.m. is brutal, and it’s more $$ than the other options. I kicked myself as I got up at 4:45 a.m. and struggled to shower and pack. Made it just as the ferry was boarding – then we were delayed 15-20 minutes anyway. Typical. I really do need to go a different way next time – it’s just that the bus times aren’t always clear, and the DIY approach can also involve major delays. That said, the ferry can often be late (particularly on the way back to Cebu), so no option is bulletproof.
Got into Dumaguete, a real little jewel of a city. Friend Steve wasn’t there, he was in the States with his family for a few months, his usual rainy season/winter routine. And friend Mike, diveshop owner, was coming back in a couple days from California. I checked into new Hotel Nicanor, booked for me by Christine, a young woman I’d met last time in Dumaguete and with whom I’ve been in frequent contact since. We both thought it would be good to see each other again and see if there was anything there.
Walked around for a while, then collapsed for a few hours – the early morning had really done a number on me. I slept for a good 3 hours – well beyond nap territory and into real sleep. Got up and met Christine and her friend Bibi at the diveshop, where we ate dinner. Then we had a coffee at Cafe Antonio, a newish place, and finally we went up to Hayahay, for the weekly Reggae Night, one of the city’s institutions. Fun night, the band was terrific – not really reggae, more bossa nova (and they played “The Impression that I Get” by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, a great track)…but I didn’t feel much of a connection with Christine, and that wasn’t much of a surprise. Most of our phone calls had been one-way (i.e., me doing 80% of the talking), and while I was jazzed to come back to Dumaguete, it was as much to hang out, dive, and see friend Mike as it was to see her. But I decided not to make any hasty decisions, and at midnight, when the band finished up, we all went back into town, and I went to my hotel, saying goodnight to the girls. Christine is a good girl and knows people at the hotel, so she couldn’t easily sneak up to my room. And anyway, we weren’t anywhere near that stage yet, at least not as far as I could see.
I snuck out for a couple beers at WhyNot Disco, just to get back in the swing of things. It was rocking fairly hard…I just took it all in and then retreated to my hotel to chill.
Got up early again the next day, this time to go diving at Sumillon Island with Mike’s #2, Marlon, and a couple other foreigners – Mark the Aussie and Daniel the kraut, with his Pinay girlfriend (or whatever). Marlon had decided on Wednesday afternoon (while I was slumbering) that we’d be diving Sumillon, a full day that involved hour-long rides to and fro the island, and 3 dives while there. I was up for it, but really wouldn’t have minded a later start, I was getting sick of early starts. But I was in, this was really the only day I had blocked off/available for diving, and I’d be damned if I’d come all the way there without diving. Diving is a true antidote to big city living and I was in sore need of some of that.
The day was, as they tend to be, superb. The sun was shining – not a certainty in this season – and the seas were flat. We were all excited to be spending the day diving, the excitement was palpable as we drove out there on the bangka boat. Not many better ways to spend a sunny day, methinks.
The diving itself was good, not spectacular…we didn’t see any reef sharks, just one angel ray and a couple giant turtles. But the coral walls were colorful and massive, and it was just good to be in a different zone. And we had a good little group – Mark in particular is a very good guy, he’s in the process of buying some land in Dumaguete and moving there in the medium-term. I’ve met some good folks there, maybe I should get a piece of land in Duma or Cebu and stake a bit of a claim as well. Not sure about how real estate values will go there, but I suspect they’ll rise as the place gets more popular with both locals and expats…
I’d given some laundry to the hotel that morning before diving…now, when I returned to the hotel, it still wasn’t ready. Not that big a deal, I was going to snooze a bit – diving makes me tired, always. But my laundry load was big, and without getting that back I had no pants to wear out that night. This became a bit of an ordeal, no one at the hotel seemed to be able to give me a straight story. The laundry will be here in 15 minutes…we had to send it out and we don’t know where the boy is…etc. etc. I was too concerned they’d lost my stuff to sleep, so I did a few emails and watched the tube. No news. I finally called them, they said the stuff would be here in an hour. I laid down and slept…and around an hour later, there was my laundry. Hallelujah. I swear in countries like the RP, you don’t want to let your stuff out of your sight. What should be a simple operation turns into an anxiety-filled episode…
Wanted to try out a newish resto called Casablanca – supposedly a very nice Euro-style brasserie or something along those lines. I called Christine, we decided to meet there around 9:15. That gave me a bit of time, I wandered over to the Honeycomb Sports Bar, where I’d had a few laughs and made some nice friendships over the years. But the place was dark and closed…it had shut down 6 months back or so, not long after my last visit. Bummer…I’d really liked this little, modest place. I walked around the corner and got a seat at another bar associated with the Honeycomb – I imagine this place soaked up most of the Sports Bar’s former clientele. Had a couple beers, then took a trike to Casablanca.
It’s about time a place like this opened up in Dumaguete – very classy and civilized. I had a glass of red and perused the menu while waiting for Christine, who showed up around 9:30. We chatted for a while, ordered some starters (greek salad and bruschetta, both more than serviceable), and decided on mains. I had a chicken dish…Christine at first wanted to order adobo, the national dish of the RP, but I asked her to try something else…ordering adobo in a place like this is like ordering a plain hamburger at Morton’s. I wasn’t feeling any better about my connection with Christine, she’s very nice but I didn’t feel any spark whatsoever.
We had talked about going to nearby Siquijor Island the next day, and staying overnight – I was generally in favor of that, hadn’t been there and it’s supposed to be a great island. Plus this approach would force things with Christine and I, afterward we’d really know if we were compatible or not. But during dinner Christine mentioned that her mother wanted her to bring her friend along – probably not an outrageous condition, given that I was a relative unknown. But I just wasn’t into that – I didn’t feel like allocating a precious vacation day to chaperoning two chicks around and having to listen to their inside jokes. I told her I needed to think about it, and we talked about other things. Finished dinner, and walked outside. Christine wanted to know about Siquijor the next day – I came out and gave her the lowdown. I wasn’t excited about the “new” Siquijor plan…I wasn’t feeling terrific compatibility between us…and that she should probably find a local guy and not some far-off foreigner who might seem exciting but would be flaky (i.e., me). She seemed to take that advice calmly, said OK, and said she had to go. I suspected she would be holding up less well in a few minutes, but I put her in a trike and off she went.
I felt a bit badly afterward, but I’m at the stage of my life where I need to be straight with people, and I didn’t want to lead her on. She’s a lot younger than I am, and I was feeling at times like I was giving her fatherly advice – not a feeling I wanted to have. So I felt like I did the right thing, all things considered. Then again, I’m pretty good at self-rationalizing…
I was exhausted so I just back to the hotel and relaxed. Got a great night’s sleep, slept till 10 a.m., a real rarity these days. Had breakfast at Coco Amigos, with coffee and newspaper. Then I went back to the hotel to do a few emails and read, it was blazing hot outside and I didn’t feel the need to do anything more. I texted Christine and told her that if she wanted to talk, she should let me know. Next thing I knew, there was a knock on the door, I opened it and there stood Christine. Interesting. She came in, we sat on the bed, and talked for a while. I reiterated the things I’d said the night before, she seemed a bit sad but held up OK. Then she wanted to show me pictures on her digital camera, from a school party they’d had the week before. She’d emailed me pics already, right after the party, so I wasn’t sure why she wanted me to see the entire set…but I felt I’d wronged her in some way, or at least let her down, and she is very sweet, so I sat there and watched her camera’s slide show – which went on for at least a half-hour. She told me there was about 100 pics there – there were probably 300. Slight torture, but I grinned and bore it. Then I said I had to go – which was true, I wanted to see Mike at the diveshop, he was back from the States. Christine said bye and left ahead of me – and that was that. Somewhat weird…didn’t feel like closure but I suppose not all things end cleanly.
Turned out Mike was sleeping at home, he’d been in early and would be back at 6. I got some lunch at Lee Super Plaza, then went back to my room to read and relax. At 6 I went back to the diveshop, there was Mike in all his glory. He’s brought back some abalone and dry tip from California, we grilled it up and it was excellent. By far the best abalone I’ve ever had, and they eat a lot of that out here. It’s usually pretty tasteless and rubbery, but Mike grilled it perfectly and it was chewy and tasty. The dry tip was also great – you just can’t easily find good prime beef in the RP. Mark the Aussie was there, and eventually Rudi the German proprietor of DumagueteInfo.com rocked up too. We sat there and ate and talked for a long while, then Mike took his family home and we continued on for a while. Eventually I broke off to go to Why Not, where I saw Rudi again late night. At one point I found myself between two attractive local women in the karaoke room, singing Barry Manilow songs. Not quite sure how that happened, but it was fun at the time. I went over to El Camino Blanco for one more beer, then hit the sack pretty late, around 3 a.m. or so. Good night out. The next afternoon I’d head back to Cebu for one final night, then up to Manila and straight on to Shanghai.
Got up around 10:30 – solid effort. Packed, checked out of Hotel Nicanor, which was just great – a very nice, new, clean aircon room for under US$20/night. Much better than the other options around town. Had lunch at Boston Café, not quite Bostonian fare but had a nice garlic fish, salad and rice and coffee, read the paper and sat there in the chilly room, escaping the brutal heat outside.
Went by the diveshop to spend my last hour or so, Mike was off diving in Dauin, so I did some emails and had a mango shake. Mark turned up, we chatted a bit and then I took a trike to the port. The waiting room was nice and cool – they’d finally installed (or fixed) the aircon, so it was no longer torture. Given that the boat arrived an hour late, I was thankful for these small measures.
Four-hour ride to Cebu. Read the newspaper, they’ve passed a “Cheaper Medicines Law” here and are lowering the prices of critical drugs by up to 50%. Good idea in general, but lots of political posturing. The Pres., Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), loves to get her name’s acronym out there, so in this particular ad they have the slogan “Government-Mandated Access (GMA)”. Give me a break – what cacique bullshit. And in Manila, you see street sweepers wearing shirts with some sort of GMA slogan on the back. It’s all very dictator-like…forget the normal power of the state, it’s all a cult of personality. The problem in her case is that she’s deeply unpopular, so it’s quite pathetic and cheesy.
Got into Cebu, went back to Holiday Plaza. Showered, then went out for a few beers. Went into Papillon Bar, hadn’t been there in years. I used to have a friend who worked there, but she wasn’t there and it seems she left a few months ago. Oh well. Went to a few other places, then went to sleep – had a fairly early morning looming.
Got up at 6, headed to the airport. Managed to grab a quick breakfast at the hotel, that helped me get through the long day of travel, first to Manila, then on to Shanghai. Fairly smooth flights, though – I was somewhat concerned because around 5 a.m. it started to absolutely pour in Cebu, but it had mostly died down by 7 a.m. and I guess it didn’t screw up the flights too much. Wouldn’t have been much fun to hang around the various airports, or miss a flight, but that didn’t happen. So I’m writing this entry in my flat in Shanghai, where I’m about to go out for a run, then get some good Chinese food. Tomorrow I’m back at work…within 3 hours it will probably feel like I had no time off whatsoever. That’s probably not a good thing…although it’s largely my fault, even when I’m on holiday I check emails and take care of critical biz, otherwise the reentry would be far too shocking. So I’m pretty much ready and prepared for the reentry, but already thinking about my next holiday. You’ve gotta have dreams, gentle readers. Over and out.
mbsloney