Wanderlust Heaven!

Decided to switch on the TV the other night. I usually avoid the television – both because the content usually stinks and because if I have the time to watch TV, I steer myself towards more productive pursuits – e.g., sleeping, exercising, studying Japanese, etc. But once in a while I want to let my mind chew some cud and wallow around, and TV is the way to go. Surfed the channels for a few minutes and came upon a replay of the 1976 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, Game 5, between my beloved Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, a franchise long in the wilderness, but with scattered periods of success (i.e., 1976 and 2007). The replay was already well along, into the third quarter, and the game was very close.

I was only 9 years old when the game was actually played, in 1976, but I was sufficiently mature then to have known the names and watched the games, and seeing this one again now brought back some fantastic memories. And confirmed again that the 1970s were a decade of temporary global insanity. Cleveland’s coach, Bill Fitch, who later coached Boston, was decked out in a pink blazer with a plaid shirt. Several of the players had serious afros. And when the camera panned to the audience, it was like watching a Brady Bunch episode. Comparing the average Boston Garden crowd in 1976 vs. one in 2007, you’d be shocked – most of the fans nowadays are corporate drones and wealthy season ticketholders, whereas 20-30 years ago, ‘normal’ people went to the games. My father made the prescient move to pick up two season tickets in 1979, right before/when Larry Bird came aboard. And we went to loads of games over the next 10+ years, watching the team win three championships and building a library of sports memories that’ll be hard to surpass anytime soon.

I recall the folks sitting around us back in the early 1980s – there were professionals, sure, but a cab driver sat in front of us and there were blue-collar fans all around. Not so today. And the noise levels and team loyalty have dropped off, as you’d predict. Oh well.

The following probably won’t mean much to non-fans, but I feel the need to delve into the cobwebs of memory and mention a few names from the 1976 game. Dave Cowens…Tommy Heinsohn, coaching the Celts…the well-traveled and unsung Charlie Scott, who made a great dipsy-doo move in the lane in the 3rd quarter…white boy Steve Kuberski, unathletic but effective…Jim Ard, a black guy with a white (?) name…and, of course, the aged but incomparable John Havlicek, whom I once met in Virginia through my business school friend Meredith.

Heinsohn argued with the referees and was thrown out of the game, replaced by the very mortal John Killilea. Team president and icon Red Auerback (R.I.P.) was in the stands wearing a plaid jacket. The Boston Garden parquet floor shone brightly. Don Nelson, now the Golden State coach and a renowned hoops genius, stumbled around but hit a few big shots and free throws. And Paul Silas, another unsung but highly effective player, won the game for us with an offensive rebound/tap-in. The Celts always seemed to win the big games back then.

What else…the radio announcer, Johnny Most, showed up for the postgame analysis. Perhaps the most distinctive voice in the world. Brent Musburger was the TV broadcaster. And Datsun had an ad during the game. Remember Datsun?

Found an Internet site called Boxxet. It’s a ramshackle site apparently dedicated to being a clearinghouse of information on certain topics. Basketball teams are included, and there are some grainy but captivating old Celtics videos from the 1976 Finals, from the 1986 Finals, etc. Check out the site – you might find some stuff of interest…

Went back to Cebu last Thursday evening, to take care of a few errands and to see the aforementioned Date #2 again (N.B. Date #2 refers to the second of two young women I was dallying with in Cebu – not to the # of dates we’d had). As I checked in for the ferry, I thought about the 15 peso terminal fee. It’s only about 33 US cents, but for many of the locals, it’s not a throwaway sum and I can imagine it poses a real barrier to ever leaving Negros island, at least for Cebu Island. There are cheaper ways to cross the waters, but still this helps explain why so many folks here have never visited Cebu or even left the island. And the story is repeated all round the RP, I’m sure. Loads of people travel between islands to see friends and family…but lots of others are so strapped they never leave their little village or local metro area. The thought humbled me – I dash up to Cebu whenever I feel like it…

Took Date #2 to Ratsky’s that night. Ratsky’s is a smooth place in the Ayala Mall, with live music and a decent menu. The bands were OK, but only played 70s hits (the biggies) and the latest top 20 tracks – nothing more provocative, nothing original. Way too poppy – but you get that here. Filipinos are real pop fiends and they do a nice job re-creating the hits, but you have to search for original stuff, which does exist in some smaller venues. Anyway, I endured a couple hours at Ratsky’s and that was enough.

Couldn’t get a solid read on Date #2, despite a few nights out together. And was getting tired of coming up to Cebu from Dumaguete, given the crappy ferry schedules. So decided to pull the plug on this one, and look around for a better arrangement. Stay tuned.

Spent three nights that trip at Kiwi Lodge. I’d met the owner (who’d bought the hotel from his dad) when I was in Malapascua a few weeks back. And I’d heard good things about this place, particularly that the food was good and the place was friendly. So decided to give it a try, and am happy that I did. When you spend some time in a city like Cebu, and make repeated trips, you get to learn about places like Kiwi Lodge – it’s not a place that does a lot of advertising, but has mostly repeat customers who are intensely loyal.

Lots of characters hang out here – the bar is usually packed with grizzled Cebu veterans. One pencil-thin fellow showed up at 9:30 on Friday morning, when I was sitting there eating breakfast, and proceeded to order a San Miguel and sit there sipping it. I soon left for a few hours, returned at 2 p.m., and he was still there. I found out from the staff that he hadn’t budged all day, except for bio breaks. Impressive. And I later discovered from the owner that this guy used to arrive at 7 a.m., when the restaurant/bar opens, and start drinking then…but the staff finally prevailed on him to start a bit later and avoid being brain-dead by lunchtime. No lack of these fellows around here, I’m afraid to say. I sometimes think I’m a bit too lackadaisical and purposeless…and then I run into one of these and feel like the most goal-oriented man in the world. It’s all relative…

On the ferry up, tried to get rid of some unused computer programs and free up some memory on my laptop. Bad move. Deleted a Mozilla Firefox program that seemed redundant, but wasn’t. And spent much of the next day trying to reverse my error. Finally managed to re-load the program, but the laptop kept freezing up and was sluggish after that. I like to think that I’m computer-savvy, but should be more modest. And my laptop, while a great little piece of machinery, is Italian by nature (Japanese by manufacture). What I mean is that it looks like a Ferrari, but has the temperament of a Fiat. The hard drive is close to full, so I’m always trying to streamline the thing, with unpredictable consequences. Finally decided to defragment the hard drive, which helped somewhat, but I think I’ll get a ‘computer doctor’ to give the laptop a once-over when back in Boston in August.

Heading back to Dumaguete, waiting in the Cebu port, I noticed that there were a few crates belonging to Sulpicio Lines, one of several major shipping companies. Sulpicio has remained in my mind because a Sulpicio ferry (the Dona Paz) back in the late 80s ran into an oil tanker near Mindoro Island, and about 5,000 people died in the accident. The largest peacetime maritime disaster in history – and almost no one knows about it. Unbelievable.

Got back to Dumaguete on Sunday night, the night before Election Day. And all the bars were closed – no booze sold on Sunday or Monday. I understood, but had to laugh. A few years ago I was working with clients in Bangkok, staying at the Shangri-La, and was so busy I didn’t leave the hotel for 4-5 days straight. Finally finished with our meetings, on a Friday night, and was looking forward to blowing off some steam. Then discovered it was either election time or a major holiday, and booze sales were prohibited. Found a couple beers in my minibar, but that was it. Talk about crappy timing…didn’t have time for a single drink in the previous 4 days…

Eleksyon Day…body count was up to about 115 in the run-up. Another 10-15 died on the day itself. About average for the RP. These were just mid-term elections, for local offices and for many of the national Congress and Senate seats. Lots of heated races, assassinations, bribery/vote-buying, intimidation, you name it. One voting place was surrounded by gunmen, who entered, poured gasoline inside, and set it afire. Two volunteers died. Votes are still being counted for the national races, which are essentially a referendum on the record of President Arroyo. When the results are announced, I may ensconce myself in a quiet room for a couple days…

Still, Election Day was anticlimactic, at least for me. No real interest in either side, beyond the usual curiosity in the state of RP democracy itself. Found it depressing that the President and her cronies managed to cram together so many medium/small parties into the ruling coalition that in many districts, there was literally no opposition candidate. Parties here really aren’t built on principles or issues, they’re built on personalities, and when these people go away, so does their party. I won’t complain anymore about our boring old Dem and GOP parties…

Haven’t seen a single necktie worn in Dumaguete in the entire month I’ve been here. Kind of cool.

Found out that the former head of Monitor Group in Asia-Pacific is moving on, to a PE firm based in Tokyo. I always knew he was into PE/banking, but was still surprised to hear he’s leaving the firm. Hard to imagine Monitor in Asia without him. Also heard that a few Boston-based stalwarts had gone over to Fidelity. Seems a season of changes for Monitor…and wonder what the ‘real story’ is. Certainly appears that the firm has reduced its cost structure, and probably cleared some deadwood in doing so – but am less clear on implications for profitability. Anyway, may try to attend a farewell party for the aforementioned Asia head in mid-June, especially if it’s held in Cebu. Would be good to see the old boys again and catch up on things.

Have felt very busy over the past couple weeks. It’s mostly my doing…still haven’t learned to truly relax. Between studying for my scuba courses (and doing the actual dives), running up to Cebu every week, planning upcoming trips around the RP post-Dumaguete, exercising, and trying to ramp up my writing and language study, the days go by like bullets. Have decided to forgo any attempt to pick up the guitar again until I reach Goa, where my musician friend Josh should be able to humor me with a few lessons. Am I overly neurotic? Probably…but it beats sitting around getting drunk by noon (usually).

Noticed that the low battery indicator on my 3-month old dive watch was lit. Wonderful. The battery is supposed to last for a year, at least, depending on how much diving you do. I’d done about 35 dives thus far, nowhere near the endurance I expected from the battery. The indicator had come on once before, during a dive in Boracay, when we’d gone down very fast, quite deep. But I thought/hoped at the time that it was just a glitch. Now the issue was popping up again and I was concerned, given that I’m in the middle of a couple scuab courses. Kept looking at the watch over the course of Monday/Tuesday – no change. Wasn’t diving till Thursday. Decided to scamper up, again, to Cebu, to deal with this. Was pissed that the indicator didn’t come on a couple days before, when I was in Cebu. Torture.

Getting dive computer batteries replaced isn’t child’s play; it’s severe anxiety, as you come to depend on the computer underwater. You need to locate a battery, first – and then the actual replacement includes a cleaning and potential O-ring replacement, so a pro should do the job. Ideally, you deal with this matter no more than annually. Called Scuba World in Cebu – probably the best diveshop there. They said they’d send the watch up to their flagship in Manila (where I bought the thing). Would take a week or so. I didn’t like the idea of sending a US$450 watch via mail around the RP, nor the weeklong delay – could the Manila shop send a battery to the Cebu shop? They asked me to call back.

An hour later I did…and they said they had a battery already in Cebu. Bingo. No idea why this wasn’t mentioned when I first called, but I didn’t moan about it, I just asked them to save it for me. Decided to rush up to Cebu that night and do the job on Wednesday, then come back to Dumaguete straightaway so I could dive Thursday. Back when I was working at Monitor, I had many of these last-minute, overnight trips. Around 2000-01, I was doing 2 redeyes a week between Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Not easy on the bod, but it was exciting and at times I felt a sort of mad exhilaration in the travels. This Cebu trip was small-scale and fairly easy, but I was reminded of the old days and the surprisingly fun challenge of an overnighter.

First, of course, I had to prep in the bar, in this case the Honeycomb Sports Bar, home of several comely barmaids. I was planning to take the midnight Cokaliong freighter, which reaches Cebu at 6 a.m. Drank in the bar from 9-11 p.m., got my pack and dive watch, and walked to the port to get my ticket and board the ship. But the ship was fully booked. Ugh. Had considered buying my ticket a few hours beforehand, but decided that there was no way a Tuesday midnight boat to Cebu would be sold out. It was right after the election, so that may have been a factor – anyway, my bad. Talked to 3 random locals at the ticket office, Mark, Mark and Patrick, they were also screwed, and they told me about a bus at 4 a.m. the next day. Decided to go for that. Oh well. Starting walking back to the hotel, to try to get a few hours sleep. The 3 lads sped off on a motorbike. In 2 minutes, one of the Marks came back and gave me a ride to the hotel. Quite cool. Went to my room and slept till 3:15 a.m. As I fell asleep I briefly considered the absurdity of it all…

Got on the 4 a.m. bus. Turned out to be an aircon bus that went to Tampi, then the bus and passengers all got on a ferry to Cebu Island, at which point the road journey continued. Pretty good system…except that at the Dumaguete Bus Station there was a mad rush for seats on the bus. More passengers than seats…I bulled in there and got one. Those without seats were given plastic seats to use in the aisle…that worked pretty well and we shoved off. One of the Marks (not the one who gave me the ride) got on late – he was stuck with an aisle seat. We glanced at each other but didn’t say much – 4 a.m. is not the hour for conversation. Although my father arises at 4:20 every day to work out. Ugh…

Short ride to Tampi. Sun was rising as we took the ferry to Cebu Island. Should have taken some photos but forgot my camera. Then 3-hour bus ride to Cebu City. Uneventful. Went straightaway to Scuba World. They replaced my battery in 10 minutes. Done. Incredible. Needed to get moving soon to return to Dumaguete, given that it was now around 10 a.m. and had 6 or so hours return trip. First, went to the Internet café and took care of some matters. Next, had a quick call with my Manila contact, the former Finance Minister, with whom I discussed some business issues. Then raced over to the bus terminal to retrace my steps. Whew.

Got back without any issues. The trip was the stuff of adventure – not something I want to do often, but once in a while it’s fun. And it reminded me that I need to prepare better and to avoid hurrying. But the dive watch was in order and I could do my remaining dives without worrying that the thing would conk out underwater and force me to end a dive prematurely…

Got back to my hotel. Was planning to go to Reggae Night at Hayahay Bar with Steve at 10 p.m. Lay down for a 2-hour nap…turned into a 4-hour nap. Got up – called Steve, who had gotten a room at the same hotel. No answer. Went to his room, knocked – no answer. Hopped on my motorbike and went to Hayahay – no Steve, but ran into a couple people I knew and we drank a few beers and listened to the music. Ate some fatty foods and had a good time. Was happy to be done with the crazy Cebu trip. Having lots of things – particularly electronics – can create complexities and come to dominate your life. Not sure what I can do about my situation, but I want to think about it…

At the bar that night, got some change from the waitress, including a very ratty 20 peso bill. Made me think of my time in Burma, where the merest wrinkle in a US dollar bill meant rejection. I mentioned the pathetic tale of a traveler at Rangoon Airport having a hissy fit because her $10 bill, meant for departure tax, was wrinkly and thus rejected, and she had no more $. I had traded $10s with her and solved that problem. Funny how the Burmese insist on perfect bills – probably because each bill is so valuable that it’s like treasure, and they need to be able to trade it. It’s certainly not because they’re rich and can pick and choose. But in the RP, anything is fine – some of the bills are barely held together and they look like they were fished out of a toilet. Wonderful.

Thinking of Burma reminded me that if I want to return there later this year, and I might, I need to Google myself such that I can see if the intersection of my Slog and my name mark me as a bad egg in the eyes of the Burmese government. I’ve heard they Google visa applicants – obviously I passed the test last year, but have written extensively, and highly critically, about the country and junta since, and want to be sure I’m ‘clean’ if visiting again. Of course, that probably means ‘cleaning’ this very paragraph. Don’t worry, though – all self-censorship will be temporary. Gotta do it at least a week before applying for the visa, as Google caches blogs and refreshes these caches weekly. At least I think that’s how it works – any readers know about this?

Have read the recent editions of Time and Newsweek. What ever happened to the third in the group, US News & World Report? Anyway, I find these mags have some decent content – certainly better than the RP newspapers. And there are always a few good hotel, travel and website ideas. But the style of the stories is way too pithy for me – they seem to follow the same journalistic style, which mandates starting the story with a led/factoid/sentiment and then closing the story with the same. Sort of like a standup comedy act – the good ones usually have a bookend theme. But I get sick of this approach in magazine pieces, at least when they’re the rule rather than the exception. I threw away the mags so can’t provide a specific example, but just pick one up and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

That’s it for now. When we meet again, I expect to have finished up my dive courses and be a certified Advanced Open Water Diver/Enriched Air Diver. Some of you might be thinking about various ways to enrich air…and I wouldn’t have the faintest idea what you mean. Over & out.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 5:58 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.