Hammock

Ferry Ride

Surigao

It was midday. One fellow rigged a hammock in the middle of the ship’s view deck who wrapped himself in and then, fell asleep. Then the rain came. We huddled close to the ship’s overhanging upper deck but our eyes were glued at the now dripping hammock. Alerted by the admiring crowd, the fellow’s friend ran to his recue, shook him silly and ran back, but he didn’t wake up, so back he went again. This time his friend yanked the hammock, he fell on the floor, and they both ran towards the cheering crowd!

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About A Shirt

Zamboanga

Philippines

I bought a shirt for Dad on his birthday. It was one size bigger, which means my size, and which means, I really bought it for myself! I was hoping he would just be happy I gave a present and then hand it back to me for being too big. But he didn’t. He brought it to his friend and had it adjusted, tailored-fit for him. It has become his favorite shirt ever since. Though proud he liked it, I was a little embarrassed for my selfishness. So be careful with what you give, the recipient might like it.

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Winged

Torrijos

South of Manila

Approaching the end of their lives, termites produce wings, and fly….

The sun already started to set when they came in droves overwhelming the forest. They were everywhere, in our food, our drinks, necks and ears. We swatted and slapped and smacked and ran around, but there was no escaping the pesky little fliers! We looked up and saw birds circling around trees on mountaintops before dive-bombing in midair to catch the wood nibblers. It was sheer pandemonium in the skies! After an hour or so of frenzied flying, their wings fall out, then dropped on the ground, dead.

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Chopsticks

Hong-Ik University

Korea

Diah had strong convictions on not eating pork while Sharaan absolutely shun beef as both meats were prohibited by the edict of their respective religions. At the dinner table, slices of pork and beef were grilled in the same sizzling hot plate. And since this was a Korean restaurant we used chopsticks, but we didn’t know how to use it, so morsels of beef and pork were flying all over the place! Diah and Sharaan were stunned but not us who found it wickedly amusing. “No worries” I said while carefully picking the errant morsels then plopped them to my mouth….

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Hurting The Foot

Korean Autumn

Seoul

I twisted my ankle after that Tae Kwon Do session with Sundong so I was limping back to the cabin. As they sipped tea, Arirang was playing in the background, a very popular Korean folk song where the girl wished for the boy to hurt his foot so he can’t go away and leave her.

Victoria looked at my foot and beamed knowingly. “Did you wish for this?” I asked. But she pretended not to hear. Instead, she turned away and poured more tea....

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Water!

Water Witching

Zamboanga, Philippines

The chicken farm building needs to sit on a windy bluff. A water source is needed down the valley below, but we cannot just dig a hole and hope to find spring.

An old man came with sticks, circled the area, went up and down the hill with L-shaped sticks on his armpits. He started pacing slowly until he zeroed-in on a spot and the sticks stuck to his chest like a steady red light on an electronic locator. “Water!” he exclaimed. We dug a hole, water gushed up, and that well has served 10,000 chickens for 8 years now.
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And God Said Let There Be Higgs Boson!

Large Hadron Collider

CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Once there was the atom, smallest particle, indivisible. That simple. Then came electrons and protons. But colliding protons produced something else, much tinier particles of matter called the Higgs Boson, also known by its controversial name - The God Particle. It is the Holy Grail of science. Its discovery is hard evidence of The Big Bang theory of creation. “You must be pretty excited to be working with these geniuses of science Diah.” “Oh no!” she said. “Imagine Einsteins with the hair and all, grouchy and constipated for lack of sleep? And I worked in the kitchen not the lab….” 
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The Lions Of Tsavo

Tsavo

Kenya

“My great-great-great—great-grand-uncle survived these attacks….”  Menka narrated amidst sighs. There is a region in Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway called Tsavo, which means a place of slaughter. Back in the day, caravans of Arab slavers on the way to Zanzibar left dead captives here to be eaten by lions, the most notorious being The Ghost And The Darkness told in The Man-eaters of Tsavo about two lions attacking workers building the railroad bridge in 1898. “So, your great-great-great—great-grand-uncle helped build the bridge?” I asked. Menka said, “No. At the time, he lived in Tsavo….”
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The Spy

Office Depot

Pasadena

My wife came in first while I stayed in the car to fix my daughter’s car seat. Store clerks here sport black uniforms and miniature communication gadgets. As I hurriedly came in, three of them peeped thru long rows of display stands on the other end. I felt like a spy walking into a trap. One of them approached and said, “What brought you to Office Depot sir?” Without missing a beat I replied, “My wife?”
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Parking Slot

Foothill Boulevard

La Crescenta

A cart was blocking half of the way in, when an elderly came out of the car beside the parking slot and took it away. She leaned towards me and said, “An old woman left it there.” I said, It’s all right, I understand.” She went back to her car, backed away and left. What a gracious old lady, I thought to myself. Then I brought the cart back in the store. “She didn’t get away with it, did she? The parking clerk said. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Well, she was the one who left the cart there…..”

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Nurse Beatriz

Managua
Nicaragua

Beatriz is from Nicaragua and today she was my nurse for medical exam. “When, I arrived, I had, zero English.” She said in a heavy accent. “Filipinos, are lucky, to learn, English, in school.” She now made a tourniquet on my right arm for TB test. The needle had to be inserted just underneath the skin but Beatriz did it a little too shallow the liquid oozed out in a spray to her scrub uniform. “Oh, I’m sorry, the medicine, jump out a little, just a little, we do it, again.... In Nicaragua, we, only speak, Spanish.... blah blah blah….” 
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Invisible Monkeys

Marinduque

South of Manila

This was a deserted mangrove-forest island fabled for hundreds of monkeys, and today we were going to give it a visit hoping the mischievous monkeys will show up as the local fishermen say they would. For food, we only brought rice. “We can just catch fish there for grilling.” they said. It sounded really exciting, and we did catch some fish, except that they were as big as our fingers. It turned out that all they want was drink booze. And the monkeys? One of the fishermen said, “It’s the first time ever - not one showed up!”

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It Floats!

Mactan Island

Philippines

“Are you sure it’s going to float?” I teased. He said, “Hai! Hai! Im sure, you’ll see.” For days on end, he cut lumber and planed and sanded then fitted the pieces together to make an outrigger speedboat, the smallest I’ve ever seen. Then he applied paint and sanded again. “Sanding again makes it smooth.” he said. Then he added more paint. “The small dimensions make it fit perfectly to the stern of my sailboat.” “A sailboat? For how much?” “It's a catamaran. I just made it.” “Are you a naval architect?” “Ah no, I just like sailing….”
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The Slap

Sete
South of France

“Jun what’s the name of the Vietnamese girl?” I said, “Phuc.” “How do you spell that?” “P-H-U-C” I said. “Can I ask her, how do you spell your name Phuc, F-U-C-K?” I said, “You wouldn’t dare man.” Oscar grinned and said, “Wanna bet?” “Ok 1 Euro, I said. So off he went to the dance floor and sashayed his way to Phuc. So there they were, taking turns shouting at each other’s ears, and he did ask the F-U-C-K question! As he grinned from ear to ear I tossed him the coin extremely disappointed he didn’t get the slap….
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Dracula

Transylvania

Romania, Eastern Europe

Harvard educated Dan is from Romania but works for prominent politicians in Washington D.C. We’ve worked together in the Philippines in 2010 for a candidate in the presidential election. As the campaign went full throttle we watched a newsflash featuring a pregnant woman allegedly blood-sucked dry by a witch with bat wings and flies with only its upper body. I said, “Dan, do you have monster stories like these in your country? “ He said, Are you serious? Haven’t you heard about Count Dracula? I replied, “Yes of course, so?” He said, “Well, Dracula was Romanian!”
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The Gift

Baseline

Cebu

Jo leafed through the Book of Quotations. Every now and then her eyes lit up. Feeling richly generous, I scribbled something on the inside cover before handing it back to her. Here, a keepsake, I said. I sensed just a hint of embarrassment as she beamed in delight to accept it. They say giving is it’s own reward, I think it is, and more - it’s the sense of abundance. And when the gift is received happily - absolute elation, a feeling like no other.
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Oil?

Shiraz

Persia (Iran)

Sepideh lives in Shiraz. She said in Farsi her name means before sunrise and that my name means sweetheart. "So am I a sweetheart?" She smiled and said, "Yes you are, because you always joke around to make me forget my country’s woes…." Woes? Persia is a proud country and rightly so. In its heyday, it controlled the world as much as the Romans did, and the Greeks did in their own time. It gave us Saadi and Rumi. "Now the world perceived my country as evil." She I said. "It’s uranium enrichment, right?" "No." She replied. "It’s oil."
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Fall Colors

Springtime
Glendale

Ah I just miss Autumn....
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Just Sayin

Freeport Area of Bataan
Mariveles

“It’s good for your singing voice.” Mom said as I whisked away ants floating in my glass of milk.

It was a rainy morning. I brought out the coffee and creamer, but somebody forgot to close the lid on the sugar container. As they started complaining, I heard myself echo what mother said many years ago. “Its good for your singing voice!” Yeah, yeah, they chorused. It’s a tall story meant to appease little kids, not whining adults. But somehow it made the ant-rich coffee bearable. And how do you think Mariah Carey got her singing voice ey? Just sayin….
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