Laziness. Philippines.

Been lazy recently, therefore not much blogging.

I was in the Philippines with Kwun last week. That country still needs wires, and K's got some. We stayed with his uncle in Manila's Chinatown, a grey market currency trader/broker. That Chinatown doesn't smell too good, but people there are friendly enough. The Chinese community speaks Hokkien (a Fujian dialect, also known as Min-nan dialect, and Taiwanese -- plz correct me if I'm not on track), almost the same language spoken in Taiwan. There are at least three generations of 'Fujiannese' there, and no cultural revolution of the likes, so perhaps wealth carried on.

My first 4 days consisted of following K's Uncle arounds. With sharp timing and strong purpose, he avoided being mugged, at same time took us currency trading the old fashioned way, traversing through Manila's alleys and warehouses, via bikes, buses, Honda 4-wheelers, and horse carriages, making every effort to avoid taxis... I felt like mafia/bodyguard, waiting with K for K's uncle while he does his business in local houses such as Equitable PCI Bank. Well... I was missing a big rifle, like the one Mr. Bank Security was carrying.

We ate 4-5 meals a day, which is also apparetnly consistent with Cantonese/HK culture. (As an anecdote, I learnt a long time ago that the optimal number of meals per day is 17, from a health perspective.)

Last 2 days were spent in Cebu, a renowned vacation spot. There were many Koreans in Cebu, dunno why... Rainly, first night was spent 'uptown'; nextday back to Mactan Island (were the airport was). The beach was was divided, each piece is virtually a private back yard of the hotel in closest proximity. I stayed at Tambuli Beach Club, where the beach was lined with seaweed and rocks. A working lifeguard told me be best beach is this one, as it's the 'most natural' -- others like "White Sands" are artificial.

K and I were more fans of Chinese food, rather than Philippino, to be honest. For us, the local taste seemed to be on the salty and sour side -- far side. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our meals, drinks, singers, and the pool. It was at least a vacation from Manila.

Airport security was super tight. I surrendered my newly purchased duct tape, and K his Armani cologne. We were forced to trash (or drink) liquids at 2ndary security. In Manila, there are 3 airports, and rather confusing for us ...

Will add photos.