MIKEWEEK/Bulletin 210

Travels to Bangkok, Musings on Middle East and Return of the "QOW"

Quote of the Week: “What do you mean Bush “thinking?”

It was 25 years ago, that the People Power Revolution toppled the Marcos regime in the Philippines, so this is an interesting vantage point to watch the freedom movement ride the rails from the home of one Middle Eastern tyrant to the next.

I penned this update the last week in February, after a brief visit to Bangkok where we covered a good deal of ground in our three days. I can relate the experience best by comparison to Manila, the only other Asian city I know. Bangkok is to Manila as Atlanta is to New Orleans. In Bangkok, the king assures that the trains are clean and run on time, the traffic while snarled actually obeys most traffic laws, like driving in one lane at a time—whereas Manila traffic is more like the start of the Indy 500 with drivers scrambling for any opening they see, no matter how slight.

Vince and I got to see several fine temples. We took in an evening show that explains the mythical empire of Siam in a giant stage production that near Vegas in its proportions. We were treated to a “free tour” which had a wonderful beginning, but ended with stops at several shops (which was clearly the reason the tour was free).

The whole trip was done on a shoestring, we stayed at a hotel off the beaten path, but it had a nice pool. We stayed in what amounted to a suite and the dinner special was 50 baht (about a buck and a quarter). Instead of the dinner canal cruise, we took the express water taxi which was 20 baht versus 75 bucks.

Following the DAB's advice, we did a lot of our travel by SkyTrain and in fact we found a great on-line resource for touring Bangkok via the local transit system.

We also made our way to the local version of Christopher Street, which is friendly and well kept, and a couple blocks over the Bangkok version of Bourbon Street, where hawkers kept grabbing Vince by the shoulder and pulling him into the doorway for a sneak peek of the stage show. We had several free transfers in the hotel van, and the driver kept trying to take us to a strip show involving a ping pong ball—in fact ping pong seemed to comprise about 50 percent of the words he could speak in English.

So like, Atlanta, Bangkok is organized, efficient, but also a little stern. Whereas Manila has some of that Red Beans and Rice on Monday laid back, easy going feel, where the service is friendly and even sincere. Admittedly, the fact that about 80 percent of folks in the Philippines speak some English is probably a big factor—the percentage in Bangkok felt like around 20%--tops.

The Quote of the Week is back this Bulletin, after long last.It comes in response to a message I sent to family, regarding my take on the turmoil in Libya—which we have been following best we could from Bangkok (free wireless internet is a rare commodity there).

In my message home I wrote:

Wonder if "W" Bush is walking around thinking he started this crashing of dominoes in the Middle East? The NY Times said absolutely not--but one can imagine this will be fodder for debate in years ahead. Being as it is mostly Muslim States with little love for us that are in revolt (and we backed most of the thug dictators who they are ousting), my first blush take is the Times got it right.

It was Dad who penned the above Quote of the Week, in response to my Middle East observation.

Street Hockey Update: The Longman team had to play on, without my stick in the annual street hockey match against the Lyon family and various classmates from Long Island (circa 1978). Brother Bill reports the Longman clan got back on track this year with a victory. Am certain the Pizza at Christiano’s tasted a whole lot better after the match with the victory in hand.

Will send a an update shortly on the final week in Manila. And am looking for an alternate way to post more photos. Flickr set up a way to post through Gmail, but then SUDDENLY dropped that service, so the photos I posted earlier are no accessible…Heck of a job, Flickr! Working on alternate ways of making them accessible on the web.

MIKEWEEK BULLETIN 209

Sadie Christened, Jon & Mae Married (again) Mike & Vince reunited, Keith Richards Life, Many Photos and more...

Manila, Philippines — Your humble reporter was able to flee New York’s dreadful winter and reunite with Vincent in the Philippines for what is to be my longest stay in his country yet. I guess I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, because not one, but two fellow air passengers asked me where to go, when we landed in Tokyo, for the stopover on the way to Manila.

Milestones: Many were in the works this trip and the first happened only a day after my arrival when we all headed to a grotto in a local church for the baptism of Sadie, who is the daughter of Vincent’s sister Mae. She endured the ceremony with amazing grace and her older sister had great fun, running back and forth through the little cave the church set aside for family baptisms.

One of Vincent’s great Aunts tells me, Filipinos eat five times a day, and like New Orleans, much of the day and any celebration revolves around food. After the holy event, we all repaired to a wonderful restaurant called ADARNA which served historically correct food and like Antoine’s and Arnaud’s in New Orleans—even maintains private rooms-one dedicated to carnival, decked out with old carnival announcements and Filipino carnival gowns; while the second is reserved for stars of local stage and screen.

Next up on the agenda, was Mount Pinatubo. Bulletin readers, with very ample grey matter will recall on our first visit, we mounted very small horses to climb the Taal Volcano.

Apparently, climbing a volcano is one of the things visitors are supposed to do, so this time we tackled Pinatubo. No horses this time. Instead, an intestine juggling ride across rocky terrain and streams until you got to the base of the Mountain and started climbing.

With Vince and me for this journey, were Jon—Mae’s soon to be re-wed husband, his parents: Margo and Chappy, and Jon’s brother and best-man—Josh. Once there Jon’s family swam the waters of the crater and then we began the long trek on foot and jiggling 4x4 back to civilization.

A day or two later, we all awoke at 3AM to head to the resort island of Boracay (pronounce-Bah-rock-cai) for Jon and Mae’s wedding. Careful bulletin readers already know that your correspondent stood witness to Jon and Mae’s civil wedding, at the Bronx courthouse some years ago.

This was to be the big deal wedding for family and friends. Thankfully, the Vince’s family had just started a taxi business, and we were able to commandeer a small fleet of the taxi cabs to whisk us all to the airport.

We flew Air Philippines to Boracay, a small airline which I heartily recommend. Actually we flew to a lovely little town called Kalibo, and then took a ferry to Boracay where we all crammed into a small van, whose roofline was clearly designed for small Filipino’s; meaning people who stand five feet or shorter. It was a funny ride to our budget friendly digs, aka The Boracay Hideaway Gran Prix Hotel.

The rooms were clean, the staff helpful and cheery and what the heck, breakfast was thrown in for good measure. The Rehearsal dinner took place right on Boracay’s main beach, which is highly acclaimed worldwide and Vincent’s favorite. Because the average guest was traveling ten thousand miles plus, the wedding party was limited to about 45 people---which turned out to be a wonderful size, because we all ended up having a bit of time to spend with one another.

As one would expect, for such a milestone event, Jon and Mae stayed, and the ceremony itself was held at somewhat more elaborate digs than our hideaway hotel—it took place at Shangri-La Boracay. Jon and Mae had honored me with the roll of being emcee for the reception, so Vince and I were around for the behind the scenes, regal treatment of Mae and her entourage as they were made ready for the wedding.

The ceremony itself was lovely—presided over by a local mayor, whose grasp of English contained certain gaps, so he referred to Sadie—as SAAA-DEE and Jon as JUN-na-thon. I was half expecting him to make mincemeat of Marriage, like the character in the Mel Brooks movie who keeps saying---Maa—wige. After the mayor resealed the deal for Jon and Mae, there were cocktails on the beach and extraordinary group of local fire dancers that featured a rather stellar drag queen.

Filipinos like to joke about most everything, and since I did not know any local jokes, I decided the best way to get a laugh as emcee, was to try to throw a few Filipino phrases into my commentary. I am still not sure whether it was my awful pronunciation, or the way I looked in the local wedding garb-the Barong; but, I can report that I was able to spark a few chuckles during the course of the evening.

Dinner took place in the grand ballroom, followed by dancing, where Vince was instrumental in tearing up the carpet. The next morning we all enjoyed swims on Shangri La’s secluded beach.

PHOTOS: You can see lots more photos of the trip---to date---at www.flickr.com/mlcliff (BTW...flickr has this annoying habit of loading everything backwards, so you will see the wedding first and the beginning of the trip first—someday I will find the time to get them in order. For now, what the heck, use your vivid imaginations).

Short Takes: We are in and out of internet contact here, so just go the news Hosni Fled Egypt. I think my short line was two weeks…which seems to have just about panned out right. We did not get to watch the Superbowl for breakfast—turns out the local satellite company put it on a pay channel this year, so we had to content ourselves with occasional updates via internet. Fox did not even stream the game on its own website…not a fair more for those of us in the Asian sticks.

Current Reading: Keith Richard’s Life…a Dad pick, doled out to all Longman brothers at Christmas. Well worth the read, and as dad comments, he really explains the whole process and art of making music.

Work: The news service which is my main gig, has been most supportive of my reunion with Vince..even though it means five weeks away from the states. I turned my first story this weekend, and expect to turn several more over the course of the trip. I have co-producers at the ready, should a story come in that requires a quick turn-around, while I am working long distance, on stories where there is enough advance warning, that I can work around the 13 hour time change to New York and 15 hour difference with Nevada…Yikes!

Bulletin 208/Holiday Greetings/From CPW..Bridgetown...and Beyond

I pen this Bulletin from dad’s desk overlooking Central Park on a sunny, brisk, Christmas Eve.

We celebrated Christmas a week early this year, after much juggling of schedules around work, Nick and Julie’s team sports practices, and commitments to other extended families—that was the weekend we could all be together.

One highlight of the weekend was a game of baseball trivia, where in order to make up for dad’s vast knowledge of the sport, the rest of us were allowed to offer “Seinfeld Clues” to help each other deduce a possible answer. As dad is one of the few New Yorkers to have barely seen two Seinfeld episodes, this evened the playing field somewhat, but dad and Matty still emerged the victors—with dad naming some obscure players from the 30’s and 40’s to close out the match. The game was tough enough it even had a category that involved knowledge of “famous baseball umpires”, which seems an unlikely combination of words.

Bill and Nick placed second, based on their combined knowledge of baseball and Seinfeld, while Julie and I came in a few squares behind in last place. Julie now knows to pick me as a teamate for NFL trivia rather than MLB.

I just finished saying hello to Vincent and his family (via SKYPE Video) in Manila where they just returned from Christmas Eve Mass. I will be headed back to the Philippines at the end of January for the wedding of Vincent’s Sister Mae….this wedding puts the icing on the cake of Jon and Mae’s civil marriage which I stood witness for in the Bronx. I have cleared things with my boss to work long distance, and after the wedding celebration, I will work from Manila for the month of February.

Vince has picked up more work in the Philippines. He is still doing contract work for a San Francisco research group, and he is also setting up an outsourcing company at the request of another former New York employer. The goal remains finding a company to sponsor his return to the U-S of A. That may happen with the San Francisco company, but they are going through a reorganization at the present and aren’t ready to make those kinds of moves right now.

As for our condo, our wonderful tenants asked if they could keep renting our place until September. The timing sounded about right, so we gave them the green light. Meantime, I have been sticking with my plan to spend at least a week of every month, someplace other than dad’s apartment.

Earlier this fall, my longtime Tulane Pal Bob alerted me to a 300 dollar round trip fare JFK to Barbados—where he is currently working as a media consultant. So I grabbed the fare, loaded my work gear, and spent the week working out of his office and finally getting to see his island. Bob had come to visit us on St Martin back when we were in college, and I had been planning to visit him one year when he was back in Barbados…and some 30 odd years later we finally got it done.

The headline photo for this Bulletin is Bob (aka the Dabs) and I at the Kensington Cricket Oval in Bridgetown, where I viewed my first ever Cricket match this fall..

One of Bob’s better heeled clients is Sandy Lane, the resort you may recall as the place Tiger Woods rented (as in every room) for his ill-fated wedding. I tagged along for one of Bob’s grueling assignments—the morning Sandy Hill took delivery of two new Rolls Royce Phantoms.

It was the morning I was set to depart back home to JFK…and in the old days, Bob probably could have swung a ride for me to the airport, but those days are long gone.

Heck, it turns out Sandy Lane charges its own guests three hundred bucks for the airport run in the Rolls. And you know what, the mega-wealthy folks they cater to, seem happy enough to pay it.

There is much to be grateful for as we near the end of 2010. My family and friends are in good health, work has been steady, and Vince and I have found ways to say hello to each other every day even when we are miles apart.

This Skype thing is really simple and amazing for those of you who have not tried it. I am conservative about making technology changes, and kept my old landline the first two months I had Skype—but the sound quality is excellent, so good in fact, that I know do all of my work on Skype—and that means I have to drag around about half as much equipment when I take my work on the road.

For 2011 I already have one trip planned to visit David and Ruth Pardoe at their lovely home on Joy Hill in Huntington Massachusetts. Dave just turned 93, so there is plenty of cause to celebrate. He was my political science teacher and Ruth was the librarian at Syosset High—my school. They are wonderful friends and I will be up there in a couple weeks. And then, sometime this spring, I hope to get down to New Orleans. The HBO series Treme made my heart ache for my favorite city and real home, so I want to take at least a month and spend it there this spring.

Merry Christmas 2010 and All the Best in 2011!