Hong Kong duck and Macau

Miniature vesion of mega duck. Not the same.

So I don't know if any of you have heard of the giant rubber duck that one day decided to leave the tepid waters of its bathtub, spread its wings and travel the world, but this duck is my hero. Seriously. The artist as well of course. What an ingenious idea. And since I'm on this side of the world, I thought, "hey, why not pop over to Hong Kong for the weekend and see this amazing duck"? So I did. In fact, my whole family did. The four of us bought tickets and flew 1hr 20min from Manila to Hong Kong to see the giant rubber duck that graces Victoria Harbour's waters. And what happens? The same day we arrive, some giant asshole decides to take all of their impotent rage out on a poor innocent duck and stab him mercilessly until he is reduced to a sad deflated version of his former self.

Mega sad face.

Well, since the duck was down for "maintenance" we did other things instead like rediscover the family roots and meet up with relatives we didn't even know we had. Which was fun. I like meeting cool relatives who are just as adventurous and full of life. They enjoy laughing just as much as the next person. Tim Chiu is one such relative, my mother's cousin on my grandmother's side, who lives in Macau. Usually I wouldn't recommend visiting Macau for all its glamorous and shiny casinos, but I would recommend it if you went to visit Tim and his version of the city. Old Macau is beautiful and historic, full of interesting alleys, old, run-down sky scrapers, humid and wet.

Cousins and Inti with bamboo stick

I may not be painting the most appealing images, but the beauty of Macau, is that if you really take the time, you will discover the historic Portuguese influence on the development of the city. The street signs are made of white and blue tiles. Detailed iron work decorates the old apartment buildings that tower over the old quarter. In the middle of the city, you'll find a surprisingly large park, carefully hidden away into the side of the mountain. At the top of this mountain, you will come across a tiny church and lighthouse combo and 360 view of the city. The two buildings are very simple, with minimal decorations, but the amount of care and effort that has been put into preserving these two buildings is impressive. I wish more people cared about historic buildings.

Run down the forrested mountain, leaping over waist-high white walls that line the city's paths, and you'll find your way to St. Paul's ruin, another impressive colonial gate like structure in the old quarter. Worth the walk, especially if you still have enough energy to march up another hill past the historic museum to wander around the old fortress. Picture another old concrete, mossy structure, with overhanging trees and vines, and giant canons. Very peaceful compared to St. Paul's.

There are more adventures to write about, but I will leave it here for now. I have to pack for Phillipine adventures in Butuan, my next destination.

Chinese-Portuguese fusion

A typical day in Manila

“Ebany?”
“Yes?”
“Are you ok?”
“Yes?”
“What are you doing up there?”

Mom peers round the doorframe with a sleepy/perplexed look of concern on her face.  I do believe there are stranger things than finding your 25 year old daughter perched on a bathroom sink in the middle of the night, hunched over a laptop and manically typing away, curly ringlets galore. I quite literally have an afro right now, it’s that humid.

“Writing.”
“Ok, well don’t kill yourself with any electrical appliances.”
“Ok.”

And so starts the narration of my day.

I have been struggling to come up with a suitable topic to introduce the Philippines, which has proved to be more difficult than expected. Somehow, I’m finding it a challenge to gear myself up enough to write about shopping malls and bad traffic with enthusiasm. So I’m going to write about myself. And my day. And the most exciting thing that has happened since I ARRIVED HERE. Which is…drumroll please…the arrival of my little sister, Inti and thus the promise of countless hours of entertainment. Finally.

I’m telling you, it does not take that many visits to malls (supermarkets included) to fill up my shopping quota for the year.

So what does a typical day in Manila constitute?

9:00am – Wake up drenched in sweat. Fanny about for 15 minutes trying to disentangle self from bedding. Hair looks AWESOME. Drink water.

10am – Yoga followed by much needed hydration and shower.

11am – Make breakfast for self. Sweat lots. Half an hour later mom comes into kitchen asking “What’s for lunch?” Make lunch for parental unit.

12-2pm – Hottest hour of the day. Will hide in coolest, darkest room to do computer work, usually the tiled bathroom or the floor. Needy cat finds me and decides to make sure as much of its fur as possible sticks to the human. This is not very difficult for him and very annoying.

2:30pm – Mom rushes into deep dark cavern yelling something along the lines of “We’re late! We have to go!” Before I can say “Wh-”, I am rushed half-ready, already thirsty and hungry into an impatient car. Hair not so awesome.

2:40-3:40pm – Stuck in traffic.

3:50-5pm – The supermarket/mall experience.

5-6pm – Rush hour traffic.

6pm – Arrive home starving, needing immediate hydration. Unload car and run away to dark cavern before Mom looks at me and says “What’s for dinner?” Sometimes this is unsuccessful and I end up making dinner.

7pm – Dinner

8pm-10pm – Collapse on sofa exhausted after a day of nothingness. Computer time.

11pm – Shower, and bed.

11pm-1am - Lie in bed wide awake sweating, wondering why I can't fall asleep.

2am - Sleep.

Repeat this everyday for two weeks.  Such fun! Tomorrow we’re going to China to rediscover the family roots, so will keep you posted on any adventures.

Welcome to the Philippines

It's feels good to be back in Asia. In fact, it feels great to be back in Asia. I don't even know where to start. The heat, the colours, the flavours, the high contrasts, the people, the fruit. There's something about the combination of sticky tropical heat, muggy days, and tropical fruit that appeals to me greatly. Today for example, is a horribly humid day, completely overcast and muggy, and yes, I woke up completely cabin-feverish and sticky, but that feeling evaporated as soon as I stepped outside to be surrounded by green. There are so many plants, so many edible ones as well. Even though stepping outside does not necessarily mean stepping into fresher air, the green surroundings offer such a relief for your eyes, that everything just seems fresher. At least that's how it works for me, but I like green.

So yeah, I'm in Asia, more specifically in Manila, the Philippines. More to come.

Adios amigos

I have now left El Salvador to return to the cold temperatures of Europe. It is time to face the world again so I will probably disappear from this blog for a few months. In the meantime, I leave you with two lovely collages and a link to a new and exciting project/blog currently being conducted by my mother to trace and uncover my family's Chinese/Mexican heritage. The blog is written in Spanish, but it has lot of old pictures as well as information about the start of globalization and the mixing of cultures way back in the 16th Century.

buscandoalabuelo.blogspot.com

Hasta luego!

Roaring beast in the night

How I love earthquakes. The quiet roar of approaching tremors like a silent beast in the night announcing its impending arrival. The roar of an earthquake is not something you immediately notice in the daytime. Perhaps you are more preoccupied about buildings falling down around you and crushing you to smithereens. At night however, in a blissful dream like state their arrival is almost magical.

We had two earthquakes last weekend, at a magnitude of 4.5 - strong enough to raise people from their slumber but not strong enough to raise the alarm. The first one was a quick but tremulous jab to the ribs, the second, like I said, a stealthy roaring beast attacking in the night. Granted, I was half-asleep and it is very likely that my dream-like state has affected my perception of the tremors, but after the initial alarm the trembling earth rocked the population back to sleep with a friendly good bye.