Wanderlust Heaven!

Last week’s entry ran a bit longer than anticipated. I never quite know how long these things will run…I just sit down with my e-notes and crank away. Some weeks are more interesting than others; some weeks I’m more switched-on to write than others. At least I hope I provide a respite from work and obligations…

Finished reading Iron Council by China Mieville (what a name). As mentioned earlier, the guy is a literary god and I highly recommend his stuff, starting with Perdido Street Station. The books aren’t easy reads – you need to leaf back to refresh your memory from time to time, as the plots and characters are intricate. But I’m certain that Mieville will be a name to watch, so get on board now.

Last night in Bantayan/Santa Fe. Had a slight earache…feared a reprise of my Goan full-blown earache, so stayed out of the water and joined happy hour early on. Santa Fe has one of the many floating bars in this country – Puerto Galera and Malapascua have ‘em too. They’re a bit corny – remind me of the TV show Fantasy Island, for some reason – but are actually a good laugh. This version has the usual design, foreign layabouts, and fetching barmaids – dressed in pirate outfits. The tide was low by 5 p.m. and I didn’t need to swim to the bar – I just walked out there, didn’t even get my t-shirt wet. Drank more than expected there – stayed a couple hours, then went back to my room to shower, change, and segue to the next spot.

Which was the Blue Bear Ice Bar, which I had visited a couple nights before. The girls from the floating bar had gone there too – we had agreed to rendezvous at 8 p.m. The best thing about this place is the owner – a wild Norwegian named Andy who spends half his year in Santa Fe, half in Sweden’s Lappland region. I guess he likes to be off the grid. The fellow absolutely loves 60s/70s classic rock…while we drank (and he served up a few freebies, as he did on my previous visit) he cranked up a series of classics, including:

-Tight Connection to My Heart and Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – two of my favorite Bob Dylan tracks.

-Love Me Two Times – The Doors – don’t hear many Doors tunes over here, they’re a bit too dark for the Filipinos, methinks. But the sparse lyrics and underlying passion, as opposed to complexity and forced cleverness, really hit home for me. I’m no music critic, but I love how Jim’s voice just wills the rhythm and cadence of their songs. ‘When You’re Strange’ was also played.

-Various Allman Brothers classics – again, not the usual Filipino pop fare. I forget the name of the specific song, but one of their hits has the lyrics ‘on my way to New Orleans this morning,’ brought back some great old memories of heading down to New Orleans, pre-Katrina, for 3 consecutive Mardi Gras blow-outs. I’ve got some specific memories jotted down somewhere, but the one that comes to mind right now is sitting with my old friend Alan in a bar – Tipitina’s? – drinking beer, then spitting it several feet into the other’s mouth. Classy. And I also remember being in Paddy O’Brien’s, drinking a hurricane, sitting in a chair next to my Tufts friend Adam, playing air guitar to Red Barchetta by Rush. I’m not sure I’m presenting a sophisticated picture of myself here, but this is who I am, people.

-Strange Brew, Cream – I think the last time I heard this track I was in a tiny bar called Mac, in Hiroshima. There’s not much room in there, but the owners/bartenders have lined the walls behind the bar with thousands of CDs and they take requests. Sat there on a couple occasions for hours and hours…

-Come on Baby Light My Fire – not The Doors version, but Jose Feliciano’s. And it wasn’t half-bad. I think it was recorded in ’72, not long after the original.

You get the picture. We sat there for a few hours, soaking in the classics and having fun with Andy. Here’s a pic of the man himself, creating joie de vivre for his customers…

After that, we piled onto a few vehicles and drove out some ways to a rural ‘disco,’ actually a basketball court converted into an impromptu dance floor for the night. Very Filipino experience. We found a few stools and ordered drinks right away, and it got ugly pretty quickly. Here’s what I mean:

Did a bit of dancing, but mostly stared. At some point in the evening there was a beauty contest…then a singing contest, both judged by the audience. Went back to the hotel around 2 a.m. and fell asleep within 20 seconds.

Left the next day for Cebu, to spend the weekend there. Didn’t know it till I reached Cebu, but the previous morning there had been a shooting/shooting attempt right on the grounds of Budyong, the very resort I used in Santa Fe. The story is still hazy, but apparently some lads attempted to get into the resort (either from beach side or road side gate) and a guard shot at them. Might have been related to the upcoming elections. No one seems to have a clue. But I hadn’t heard a thing about it while in Santa Fe, and just found out by reading the Cebu City newspaper. Random.

Checked into the Holiday Plaza, my Cebu mainstay. My US mail was waiting for me there, and included about a thousand magazines that would constitute my reading for the next few weeks. Did a bit of yoga to stretch my back, then went down to Our Place, where I hoped to run into Duncan the mad Scot, whom I’d met at Our Place last year. He wasn’t yet there when I arrived, but my early arrival ensured me a good seat right at the rectangular bar, a seat with a back and armrests. The only other guy sitting there was an American I hadn’t met, a large-ish fellow dressed in a ragged white t-shirt. He seemed a bit off – and he wasn’t drunk, having just woken up.

I found out later that he comes from a wealthy family and he’s the exiled black sheep. Anyway…he held some annoying political views, much like Steve’s from last week. This one went on about the all-pervasive US government, about its criminal handling of the Branch Davidian operation, and about how Timothy McVeigh might’ve gone too far, but that blowing up a federal building that didn’t have scores of women and children might be OK.

I suppose it’s semi-logical to come across these sorts of people and views out there. After all, if they thought the US was perfect they’d live there, right? But as I mentioned last week, their presence here concerns me – doesn’t really help us with street-level diplomacy and education. My response to this week’s oddball was that anyone who disagreed with the government’s handling of the Waco operation (which was a certified fiasco, to be sure) should have taken it up with the courts. Might not send the same message, and might not have the same impact, but it would be noticed.

Trolling the Internet the next morning, noticed that the Catholic Church just decided to ‘end’ the concept of limbo. Oh goody. Now all those (particularly infants) who died before being baptized don’t need to wander forever in the ethereal mists. But I don’t think the Church is getting any faster at these sorts of decisions. Where are they on the Galileo bit?

Spent four days in Cebu this time round. Visited a few places I’d meant to on previous visits. And managed to combine these with a couple of dates. The first date was with a friend of a friend – we met at SM Mall, I asked her where she wanted to have lunch, and she said Jollibee’s, right where we were standing. How original. Jollibee’s is the Filipino version of McD’s, and has the usual burgers/fries/rice/fried chicken assortment. The place was mobbed and a real nightmare for ordering and sitting. But she wanted to eat so, so we did – I had four other options in mind, but kept my mouth shut. Quite possibly the cheapest date I’ve ever had – in fact, it was by far the cheapest. I spent less than US$4 on the lunch. We chatted, she was cute and sweet, but very demure. We had a couple hours after that, so went up to the Chinese Taoist Temple in the ‘Beverly Hills’ section of Cebu. I’d never been up there and wanted to see it. Very nice place – sizeable Buddhist/Taoist complex in the hills above Cebu City, with a few tourists like us wandering around. And the neighborhood was cool – many of the city’s wealthy Chinese-Filipino (Chinoy) families reside there, or are reputed to. Well worth a trip.

Next day, visited a couple ‘resto-bars’ that I’d heard about, in the Banilad section of town. One, Sandtrap, is where the Cebu Hash House Harriers meet each week – I’ve still to join that group. Sandtrap is a large place – inside and outside bar/restaurant, with a swimming pool and tennis courts. Not quite sure who owns what, but it’s a nice setup. After lunch there, walked over to Badger’s, a British pub down the street. Also a good place for a drink/lunch. Then checked out the Gaisano Country Mall, nearby, before heading back to the hotel.

That night, had a date with a cutie who tended bar at one of my fave spots. Had met her 10 or so days before, during my previous Cebu stop-off. Went to the Wineshop, an establishment I’d passed many times, never stopping in because I thought it was just another retail shop. It’s much more – an upscale Spanish restaurant, with a solid range of wines (very drinkable house red for only 70 pesos) and music on weekends. I brought the bartender here, and we polished off some good tapas – chorizo, garlic chicken, pulpo (octopus), and patatas bravas – with of course a couple bottles of red. Much more expensive than the Jollibee’s date…but you get what you pay for. Courting a woman with wine is preferable to doing so with rice and fried chicken. Lunch dates are all right, but tend to be too self-contained. So this was more enjoyable. And that’s all I’m saying for now.

Had another day/night in Cebu, and took care of a few matters. Plowed through a back copy of The New Yorker, double issue from Feb 19/26 – good article in there about the TV show 24, the only show I watch. The article was about the show’s rightwing nutjob creator, and about how the depiction of torture on the show spills over into actual interrogation techniques used by the US armed forced. Wonderful. The Army has actually sent people to the set of 24 and spoken/pleaded with the producers to change their portrayal of torture…but no promises were made. The show, after all, appeals to the uber-patriots in the Bush Admin. (apparently Lynn Cheney is a huge fan – what a surprise) and money talks. Stay tuned and see what happens. In any event, as I’ve written many times before, articles like these are why I love The New Yorker – if you don’t read it, give it a try.

Tried to track down a diving case for my Sony camera. Have been meaning to take care of this for a while, but I move slowly on annoying tasks. Went to numerous outlets, included a Sony Store in the SM Mall. Finally discovered that the only model made for my camera protects the camera to a maximum of 10 feet underwater. Shit – that won’t do. So I’m either stuck with buying a new camera – and I love my current model – or not taking underwater shots. Think I’ll dither over the decision for a few more months, by then my camera might break…

Took a look at a new condo complex, Club Ultima, that’s going up near the city center, Fuente Osmena (Osmena Fountain – the mayor, of course, is an Osmena. There’s also a major boulevard called Osmena Blvd.). Nice flats – and very reasonably priced, for us foreigners. Might have to pick one up, but they won’t be completed till 2009 or so. We’ll see. Another decision to dither over.

Stopped into Our Place for dinner that night. Place was pretty dead, so walked down the street for a nightcap afterward. Went into a bar called Tina’s, a place with a fairly seedy rep – wanted to see it for myself. Had a beer, sat there, chatted with the bargirls, and noticed on the bar, under a sign that called out ‘Bell-Ringers,’ the name of the Swedish fellow Thomas – the man who never returned, a story I mentioned in last week’s post. ‘Bell Ringers’ referred to a common practice in the RP, at least in Cebu, wherein a customer rings the bell above the bar and then must buy a round of drinks for all the customers. In return, he’s honored in some way, sometimes with his (or her, theoretically) name on the wall. I had to laugh – felt like I was on the trail of the mysterious Thomas, tracking him across the sordid drinking holes of Cebu, and perhaps onward to Europe, Africa, whatever. Might be a good story, but doesn’t sound that enjoyable. And I could probably find him easily, somewhere in Sweden, if I really tried. Random.

Hit the sack at midnight. Had a 6 a.m. ferry to Dumaguete next day. There are 2 companies plying this route – and both depart Cebu at 6 a.m. daily. Wonderful. That’s real choice for you. And you need to be there 45 mins beforehand, to check in. Ugh. I had to frame the situation as a character-builder and suck it up.

My cabbie en route to the ferry proclaimed, not without pride, that ‘the Philippines is #1 country in corruption.’ Being #1 in something is important to the human psyche. And he just might be right…

Diligent readers will recall that I visited Dumaguete for a few days back in July 2006…as well as once before some years ago. It’s a lovely little seaside city, has approx. 100,000 souls but feels much smaller than that. Relaxed, mellow, but with a few things to do – diving, bars, and of course the ubiquitous Filipino cockpit for cockfights. I had a great time last year and wanted to spend more time here – to dive with my friend Mike, who owns a new diveshop in town, and to escape from the dark underbellies of Manila and Cebu and devote more time to writing, yoga, and perhaps even brushing up on my Japanese language skills. That’s the plan, anyway.

Got off the ferry around 10 a.m., took a trike over to Plaza Maria Luisa, a solid little place right in town. En route the trike driver offered to procure girls for me….which I suppose is better than proposing to procure boys. I smiled and said maybe later. I was being nice, as I expect to see him around repeatedly…but now I’m sure he’ll bother me about that when our paths next cross.

Checked in and walked over to Coco Amigos for a bite. I watched the World Cup final there last year, at 2 a.m., and still recall the moment when it became clear that Zinedane Zidane had heat-butted Matterazzi, setting in motion the process of losing the match.

After that, walked over to Mike’s diveshop to say hi. He looks about the same, despite starting up his own business in the Philippines – not a relaxing experience. Hair’s a bit longer, a bit more gray, but all in all he looks good and we’re going diving this weekend. He just became a father, but has been through that before and is taking it in stride.

Got a copy of a national newspaper – read about the deaths of Boris Yeltsin and David Halberstam. Interesting juxtaposition. Recalled the August 1991 coup in the Soviet Union and Yeltsin’s brave exploits – fat man on a tank in Moscow. But that fat man (also an alcoholic of the highest order) also deserves a huge amount of credit for a) almost single-handedly stopping that coup, and b) peacefully winding down the Soviet Union and freeing its various republics with almost zero bloodshed – no mean feat. Imagine if the coup had worked and the USSR had hung on for decades, limping along, perhaps with a spike in oil revenues now and then, but basically an old, tired beast. And imagine the Baltics, Kazakhstan and other territories trying to break away – that wouldn’t have been pretty. The reality, including Chechnya, hasn’t been either, but I think none of us would argue that things have gone remarkably well. Let’s see about the next 5-10 years.

I do find it humorous that many people give Ronald Reagan so much credit for the fall of the Soviet Union/Communism. He did his part, to be sure, but he was simply near the end of a 40-year chain that stood against Communism. Sure, he talked tough, and boosted military spending (but if you check the figures, you’ll see the Carter got this change going in his last year or so in office), but I’d argue that other world figures and factors played a much more critical role, i.e.:

-Gorbachev – he didn’t mean to unleash the tiger, but glasnost and perestroika did it

-Pope John Paul II – his visits to Poland and exhortations to Solidarity and the people created vital chinks in the Warsaw Pact

-Yeltsin, see above

-Also, the oil price slump of the 80s deprived the USSR of critical revenues and hastened the financial collapse – today we see the opposite picture, with Russia made wealthy through high prices

Enough on that for now.

On David Halberstam: remembered reading, as a kid, a Halberstam book about the Boston Celtics of the late 70s, the team’s decline as several talented players, prominently John Havlicek, retired. Halberstam wrote about Vietnam (he was a correspondent there) and a number of other intriguing topics, and his loss will be felt.

Ate dinner at Mike’s diveshop, which also has a café. Inhaled a chicken burrito – not bad. Traded stories with Mike about travels and adventures. Mike was once married to a woman from Moldova and had some zingers from that land – the poorest in Europe. I told about the time I’d flown from Johannesburg to New York, through Lagos and Brussels. In Lagos, I’d laid over for a night, and had to bribe a thief to give me back my luggage, which he’d taken from the baggage return carousel. In Brussels, I’d eaten a huge plate of frites with mayo near the Grand Place, then picked up a woman in a bar (it was more like she picked me up) and went back to her place before rushing back to the airport to fly to the States. Craziest trip of my life.

Went uptown to Reggae Night at the Hayahay Bar that night. Stayed for just a couple drinks (but no Colt 45s – those are popular here, believe it or not), my back was aching and I was exhausted. Didn’t spend much money – you can go for days here without visiting the ATM – unlike in Manila or Cebu, where the temptations and offerings are far greater. Went back to the hotel, read a bit and listened to a few podcasts on my iPod, including a fascinating PBS interview with Kurt Vonnegut. I read Breakfast of Champions when I was a kid – and thought it was the most bizarre thing I’d read to date. Vonnegut is still quite a freethinking humanist, and his views are still refreshing. He spoke for a while on the Bible and history, and pointed out, in the context of the ‘War on Terror’ that the concept of an eye for an eye/a tooth for a tooth did not come from the Bible (either Old or New Testament), but instead from the codes of Hammurabi of Babylon, whose intention was very likely to limit revenge to only that which was taken from the offended person, and nothing more. In other words, if I killed your cow, you could kill mine – but not two of mine. Not the meaning (or source) usually trumpeted. I recall reading something a few weeks ago about the concept of turning the other cheek – which was from the New Testament and attributed to Jesus Christ. The usual interpretation is that Jesus was counseling patience/forbearance, i.e. if you get hit just ignore it. But the piece I read had a different interpretation – can’t recall quite what it was, probably something around not giving your enemy the satisfaction of knowing he hurt you…or perhaps it was about conserving your assets through a policy of defense and not revenge/offense. Can anyone help me here?

The Vonnegut interview had a few other nuggets, those being:

-He was one of the first Saab dealers in the US, back when Saabs were crappy old clunkers and not ‘yuppie canoes,’ as Vonnegut calls the current models.

-Ray Bradbury teased Vonnegut about the Saab dealership, but Bradbury can’t even drive.

-Vonnegut said that ‘we’re here on earth to fart around.’ Well put.

-I don’t need to tell you what he thinks of the Bush Administration.

This morning I walked around for a bit to clear my head. Negros Island (of which Dumaguete is the capital of the eastern province, Negros Oriental) is a nice island, and was at one time relatively wealthy from its sugar cultivation. Prices collapsed in the 1980s and the place has had a tough time since…but is still relatively well off. Noticed lots of above-ground phone wires and power cords. Makes for a messy vista. Wasn’t surprised to see the aerial chaos – this is the Philippines, after all, and chaos reigns – but it reminded me of something else. That something else crystallized a few minutes later, when I realized that certain Japanese towns and cities have a similar cluttered view. Japanese phone lines are above ground because of earthquake risk. And while the actual streets in the Philippines look very different – old cars (sometimes Japanese) and motorized trikes/cycles abound, instead of sleek new sedans – I’ll bet that Japanese streets in the late 40s and throughout the 50s probably looked a lot like the ones I saw this morning. Does that augur well for the Republic of the Philippines? The economy seems to be picking up…I’m keeping my fingers crossed. But…read in the paper just now that the national Secretary of Justice, Raul Gonzalez, has offered a ‘prize’ to town officials if they get their voters to select the President’s ticket in upcoming elections. It’s not a bribe, says the Sec, it’s like a ‘prize.’ Some things will never change…

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