All Hallows' Even

My favorite holiday. When The Boys were little I used to spend hours and hours creating their little costumes - I have bragging rights on the fact that My Boys had the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes ever, designed and hand-crafted by me. I'm pretty sure that that piece of trivia is only significant to me. Dad would take them trick or treating while I would delight in answering the door and seeing all the little kids in their costumes. Sometimes I would dress up too. Magical times.

My most memorable (!) Halloween night was in Ottawa when we lived in the Maple Ridge townhouses. That October 31st was amazingly balmy for Ottawa - really really warm (October 31st is NEVER warm in Ottawa). My neighbor Denise and I set up lawn chairs outside between the houses and her husband Vaughan started feeding us martinis as we doled out the candy. We stayed out there quite late, enjoying the warm night, sipping endless martinis.

God, it was awful the next morning. I haven't had a martini since.

Happy Halloween.

These images are from the brilliant miniature artists Jodi and Richard Creager. These figures are no more than 6 inches tall. http://www.creagers.com/

Home Alone Part 2

It's been almost 3 weeks since my news blackout began and I felt better literally from day one. Much better. Last night I was flipping channels and couldn't help but see a news scroll along the bottom of the screen. An explosion. I quickly went by. Some people are mad at some other people somewhere and families are suffering. That's all I need to know.

It's been a very creative time as well, planning my next projects. Lots of dreaming, both asleep and awake.

Last weekend I went downtown with some friends for lunch and on the way back I recognized that we were driving along the same streets where we had been stuck on that horrible night (Trip from Hell). It was good for me to see it again - dry, in sunshine, with people living, not just trying to survive on that dark and stormy night. Helps to put those memories in their proper place - as memories.

I rediscovered some fabulous music hidden in too many CD's. Virginia Rodriguez, a Brazilian singer with the voice of an angel. Angelique Kidjo, who I hadn't listened to enough until now. I also created a new playlist in honor of being Home Alone - Those Jazzy Blues Gals - old favorites (Billie, Lena, Nina, Etta, Ruth Brown, Koko Taylor) along with (for me) a new one, Ruthie Foster, recommended by Bonnie Raitt on a radio interview I heard recently.

The movies have been great as well.

 

 

 

And, for a little light entertainment:

I think I've seen Apocalypse Now maybe 15 times since it first came out, but most of the time I stop at the end of the river voyage. I always thought the Marlon Brando section of the film was nonsense, that it seemed there were 2 different films, and when I read about the making of the film, indeed I was right. Brando ruined the film with his "creative input" that Coppola couldn't manage at that time. I always thought he (Brando) was overrated anyway.

I've been pressing the delete button a lot, literally. My computer keeps nattering at me that my hard drive is full, so I've been getting rid of some of the 7000 photos I have on it. Here's a few that remind me of the Viet Nam trip.

On the streets of Hanoi, there are streets that are totally devoted to one type of product. For example, there may be block after block of mostly small paint stores or appliance stores or whatever, all clustered together.. Near our hotel there was a street with many stores carrying nothing but jeans, with  half mannequins spilling out into the sidewalk. I laughed at the sight of these teeny little jeans for teeny little people - so small they didn't even fit the little mannequins. I didn't, ahem, shop there.

Everything they say about Hanoi traffic is true. There are SO many motorcycles. Streets are crowded with them and sidewalks are bike parking lots. Street lights and stop signs appear to be only suggestions, and crossing a street as a pedestrian is an art form. The trick seems to be - once committed, DON'T STOP. The bikes will go around you (you hope) but heaven help you (and the traffic behind the approaching bike) if you stop. At least that's the theory. A friend of mine who was there 15 years ago said at that time it was a similar scene but they were all bicycles. If all these people ever one day upgrade to cars, that will be the end of Hanoi.

Every trip has to have its ewwwwgh, dare ya,  food moment. Here's a plate of grilled sparrows:

We took a day trip to a place where you rented a boat (and boat rower) for a trip down a river with beautiful karst scenery. During the trip you travel through three underground caverns.

Oh shit, there's a mountain on top of our heads!

A little Stevie and Mikey at the temple pond.

Speaking of Viet Nam, I've spent many hours arranging our Christmas trip - back to Viet Nam. This time we will spend 8 or 9 days in the center part of the country at Hoi An, and then will return to Hanoi for a few days at New Year's. Number 2 Son is coming to join us, so Happy Christmas to me!


Earlier Home Alone post.

Spirit House

The Spirit House has arrived.

Last July when we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand I bought the most beautiful Spirit House in the world and shipped it home to Manila. It finally arrived this month.

Ever since I started travelling in Southeast Asia I have been intrigued by these little houses. Perhaps because they resemble dollhouses and I'm passionate about miniatures. Or perhaps because they are cared for on a daily basis and obviously mean a great deal to those who do care for them. In any event I was determined to have one in our house and went looking for just the right one in Chiang Mai.

You can see Spirit Houses in every garden (sometimes on balconies) of every house or office building or shop or temple in Thailand, and also in Laos and Cambodia. They represent an old practice rooted in the animistic religion that predates the arrival of Buddhism. Old animistic beliefs and practices co-exist with Buddhism today (even here in the Philippines certain old beliefs exist alongside the widespread Catholicism of the country). Apparently, Spirit Houses are shrines placed to provide an appealing shelter for the spirits that inhabit the property, to make them happy so they won't cause problems for the inhabitants. Daily offerings are made to appease these spirits and if you look closely at the Spirit Houses, you will see all kinds of things placed in front of them - food, flowers, incense, candles, water, little statues, cigarettes, wine.

They can be made of wood, stone or concrete. Some are painted beautiful colors. They can be very modest, or very elaborate. Big or small. I've taken many pictures of them walking down the streets of Thailand, Laos or Cambodia.

The idea of house spirits is not unique to Southeast Asia and can be found in many other cultures as well, including in European mythology and practice. I bought ours as art and while I'm not at all sure that potentially malevolent spirits inhabit our 30th floor apartment, nonetheless it doesn't hurt to provide a constant supply of fresh flowers, along with those given to The Elephants and The Buddha (Welcome to the Elephants).

Just in case.

Blackout to Lighten Up

It's been two weeks since that horrible night of the flooding storm and almost a week since we got back from Hanoi. These past days back in Manila have been unsettling for me. I think I'm still getting over the experience and recovery has not been helped by the continuing images of suffering. A second storm hit the Philippines and stuck around for a number of days, though thankfully not in Manila. However, two days ago another part of the province was devastated by flooding and hundreds more people died in landslides. I've heard many personal stories as well. My Tagalog teacher was trapped out that same night we were and the next day ended up in hospital as he suffers from hypertension and had chest pains. Our driver, Lory, literally swam through flooded streets trying to get home - it took him 12 hours, arriving home at 2:00 a.m. and on the way he witnessed a mother and child being swept away, crying out for help. Another friend of my teacher who lives in Marikina, a particularly hard hit part of Metro Manila, was trapped on the roof of his house. His parents were swept away and both of their bodies were found later the following day. Some of my friends' maids have lost their homes and everything in them.

Hundreds of thousands of people are still in shelters with no immediate prospects of resettlement and large areas remain heavily flooded. The columnists are dusting off all manner of studies, some from decades ago, which warned of tragedy to come as a result of building in flood plains, improper drainage systems, effects of millions of squatters living by waterways, garbage clogging drains and esteros and so on. Lots of blame directed at the government and President Gloria which are wildly unpopular anyway. Blah blah blah. One spokesman from the Palace blamed it on "climate change" which is pretty infuriating. How about lack of urban planning + the biggest rainstorm in 40 years.

Oh, one piece of "good" news. The staff at the Shoe Museum in Marikina managed to move Imelda's shoes upstairs to safety.

Unfortunately the many small shoe factories in the city were not so lucky and most were wiped out in the flooding.

Add in the images of all the other countries affected these past couple of weeks - earthquakes, typhoons, floods, tsunamis. Plus throw in the bombings and war zone reports, mayhem and misery. Then, I hear that President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize and I just shake my head. For what, getting elected? He at least has the good grace to say that he is surprised and humbled and doesn't feel he's deserved it. The talking heads are all over that one.

Enough already.

Only one thing to do. News Blackout.

Several years ago, when I took a bit of sabbatical to do another master's at Royal Roads, I had occasion to live by myself for four weeks in Victoria one summer while I did the residency. When I went out there I was feeling disturbed and burnt out from all the news - every morning I'd wake up to the 6:00 news on CBC radio and the very first thing that would seep into consciousness was the daily body count. Unhealthy. I decided that while I was away I would not listen to any news at all - no newspapers, no radio news, no television news, no news websites, nothing. It was great. I listened to a lot of music - found new music on the University of Victoria radio station, listened to oldies on a Seattle station that only broadcast about 2 minutes of news on the hour, which I just turned off. I did my school work, went for walks by the ocean, read and wrote. As it turned out, not only did I not watch any news, I didn't watch any television at all for four weeks.

It was wonderful. Total news blackout. I found I didn't miss it, didn't need it, didn't want it. The following summer when I went back for the second residency, I did it again.

So, I've decided that for the next three weeks as I'm on my own, I'm shutting it all off. I've discontinued my newspaper subscription and I will not tune in to the usual BBC and CNN broadcasts and will only read the blogs and websites I follow that have nothing to do with news. I've pulled out a bunch of music CD's I haven't listened to in awhile as well as a bunch of movie DVD's I've been meaning to watch. I'm looking forward to a news vacation and a bit of peace. I badly need to heal my rattled soul.

Email me if something happens I really need to know about.

Home Again

We’re back in Manila now after a week in Hanoi. I enjoyed my visit there, but I really wasn’t, shall we say, fully present at all times. We have started to travel with a new netbook and were checking the Philippine weather service site several times a day, watching the approach of the second typhoon and making decisions about cancelling our return flight and going back later. (We did.) Also, we were following the news of the flood victims in the Philippines and as if that wasn’t enough, watching accounts of the extreme damage the storm was subsequently having in Viet Nam (well south of us, it didn’t affect Hanoi). Then I got sick for a few days. Quelle surprise.

Viet Nam tales yet to come. Meanwhile I have come back from the experience with a couple of “Note to Self” items.

Note to Self Number 1. Always take Philippine Airlines out of Manila – never any airline that operates out of Terminal 1. After being stuck in Terminal 1 during the storm, I am determined never to set foot in there again. The building is a complete dump. The airport has three terminals. Terminal 1 which is the old building, Terminal 2 – a newer, more reasonable building, dedicated to Philippine Airlines (which is a pretty good airline) and Terminal 3 – a spanking new, modern facility, the opening of which has been held up in litigation due to a dispute between the contractor and the Philippine government over unpaid bills and other things. This building was by now supposed to have replaced the shithole Terminal 1 but is still not fully operational.

What do I mean by shithole? Well, imagine this, as an example. In the departure area, the ladies’ room has only 3 stalls. There are no toilet seats on the toilets, no hot water coming out of the hot water taps and water floods (there’s that word again) all over the counters. A worker with a filthy mop pushes the dirt and water from one side of the room to the other. This is what it’s like on a good day. Add the chaos and power outages of that Saturday (resulting in NO water in the bathrooms) and I have to say that in two years of living in the Philippines, or for that matter, traveling around Southeast Asia, the worst bathrooms by far are in the International Airport Terminal 1 in Manila. A complete disgrace and embarassment to this country.

Nine hours stuck in that building (that’s before the nine hours stuck in the van) makes me determined never to return.

Note to Self Number 2. Never check luggage. This is really a follow up on previous quest (see Traveling Light post). I’ve become so much better at traveling light but still not there. So, now I have to submerge (oh all this water imagery!) my inner clotheshorse and figure out how to travel with a 15 pound suitcase (economy) or 22 pounds in business class. And believe me, 15 pounds is NOTHING.

If people could have seen me this morning they would have laughed their heads right off. I have been unpacking my stuff from my return last night and weighing every single thing in both my bags on a small kitchen scale. Every toothpaste tube, phone charger, bottle of OPI nail polish, Vanity Fair, camera; every item of clothing, sandals, sun visor – you name it, I know now exactly what everything weighs. My challenge now is to figure out what to eliminate/change/rethink so my bag stays with me while traveling. When my bag went missing on this trip I realized that it wasn’t so bad wearing the same clothes every day (as long as they were washed every night!), and the aggravation factor of worrying about the whole episode was just not worth it.

I plan to take my 15 pounds on a test drive at Christmas (along with a BIG purse), through Terminal 2, to wherever we end up going to.

Oh, by the way, speaking of toilets, waiting around in the Hong Kong airport yesterday we came across a brochure advertising a “concept” restaurant in town. I thought I’d seen it all with the hospital restaurant in Singapore (see Singapore Slings post ), but this really takes the cake. The advertising copy for Modern Toilet restaurant:

 We introduce toilet into dining, an idea of "Food+Toilet" concept breaking the traditional way of dining. Chairs are made of toilet bowls. Food is served in mini toilet bowls, bath tubs, washing basins and urinals! Enjoy your meal in toilet!

Check out these photos I found of the place: