Reaping the Benefits

I write to you this afternoon from the comfort of my lovely foldout couch. Yes, folks, I made it back to Manila in one piece!

When I left off, I had just spent three weeks in Indonesia. Moving onto Thailand, I landed in Bangkok on a Monday afternoon. A city 30-some years ahead of Manila, Bangkok is sleek, fast-pace and energetic. With two days of pedal-to-the-metal, camera totting, map searching tourism, I only saw a very brief glimpse into this complex culture. Most of my siteseeing involved wats (Buddhist temples). The dizzying gleam of the reds, greens, black, and gold, the large-than-life Buddhas, the robe-clad monks. Even the most modest proved intricate and fascinating.

On my last night in the city, I met a few Peace Corp volunteers who were in Bangkok for vacation. Eating the street food and hearing about their experiences helped to peal away at the facade the Thai so carefully put up. It also deepened my respect for the goals and accomplishments of the Peace Corps, whose flagship program started in Thailand 50 years ago.

The following morning I hopped on a 6AM train to the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Armed with some advice I read online, I managed to escape the visa scam the Thais have going on their side of the border (Victory!).  A train, two tuk tuks, multiple immigration lines, and a cramped bus later, I made it to Siem Reap around 5 PM. 11 hours to travel 250 miles? Let’s count that as a success as well…

It was Thanksgiving and I was staying at a hostel run by a few Americans. While I didn’t manage to get any turkey, we did celebrate in style (read: rice, beer pong, and a dance party). My plan had been to leave for Phnom Penh by mid-day Saturday, but I decided to put it off a day.

Instead I headed to Angkor Wat (literally 10 minutes away) to explore the temples. The largest Hindu temple complex in the world, it dates back to the 12th century.

I first visited the most famous and largest, Angkor Wat but then moved onto the temple Ta Prohm, used in the movie “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.” It may be one of the coolest places I’ve seen on this trip (man, that list is getting long…!). In the afternoon, our hostel took 15 of us on a boat trip to the floating river and onto Tonle Sap Lake – the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. The floating river is a bit touristy, with young kids floating in boats trying to get you to buy things or take a picture with their snake for a price. But swimming in the lake and watching the sunset from the boat was definitely worthwhile. Ending the day with a trip to the night market, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

The rest of the week became a running joke, as I kept putting off my trip to Phnom Penh. “I need a bed for one just more night” I would tell the front desk girls. I just felt really at home in Siem Reap. No surprise, I never made it to the capital and flew out of “the Reap” Thursday night.

Yesterday was my first introduction at the WHO. I won’t go into it now, but it looks like this is going to be an intense two months…More details to come J

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season. Manila is decked out in lights, fake pine trees and holiday cheer, not to mention 90 degree heat!

Bali Hai

"There are 84 families that make up our family" Aji tells me. That would explain why everyone I've met is either a cousin, uncle or nephew. "The Brahmans used to have multiple wives. That's become too expensive." Ha touché. Aji introduces me to family member after family member at the subdued Balinese wedding reception. Each has the same reaction: Mira? I bear a striking resemblance to my cousin. Or so I'm told, we still haven't met. When they realize I'm not Mira, either because of my blue eyes or lack of a distinguishing tattoo, the questions pour out. "She's your niece?" they ask Aji Gusky. No one knew his wife Karen had a sister with kids. Until July, Karen and Gusky didn't know either.

When I found out I was coming to Southeast Asia, I decided to look up my mom's half sister in Bali. The two grew up separate, meeting only once many years ago. Karen backpacked to Indonesia after college, met a Balinese man and made a life for herself there. So how to find her? I did what anyone my generation would do - I googled her. I had no idea what I'd find. Part of me thought I may just end up wandering around Bali asking for the white woman, no not Liz Gilbert, who'd married a Brahman. That much I knew. But of course Google wins again. Search 'Karen Waddell Bali' and you find her food blog "Kitchen Insurgency," her company Bali Good Food's website, and quite a few (praising) reviews. I shot off an email saying hello from her niece in CA and hey do you want to grab coffee when I drop into Bali. The response? Utter exuberance.

And the love and warmth have just kept coming. Aunt Karen and Aji (uncle) Gusky as they are affectionately known now invited me to stay with them. What had been planned as a week trip has turned into 3 weeks. I really may be living a dream. A lovely house in Sanur with a pool, Internet, A/C, and a beach. Two maids and a driver. Delicious food at one of their 5 restaurants. A three-night stay at their pristine inn in Ubud where the beds really are the most comfortable in Asia. Hindu temples galore. A week in the Gilis getting scuba certified. And family. Lots and lots of incredible, welcoming, generous family. Not to mention Aunt Karen is great! One of the most accomplished and yet down-to-earth beings I've ever met.

Needless to say my time here has been perfect. I leave on Monday for Cambodia via Bangkok but I'll be back in Bali for Christmas with family :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Please enjoy some extra turkey and fixins for me.

A Sigh of Relief

First off, let me apologize to anyone who was concerned about my whereabouts this past week. But let me back track a minute and I will explain…

It’s been a wild, yet oddly calm few weeks. Having returned from Guimaras, I had about 10 days in Manila filled with serious paper writing, important interviews, visits from friends and of course, excessive relaxation. My Wednesday afternoon consisted of a debate between hitting up the open market, taking a swim in my (albeit small) rooftop pool, or just continuing to hang out at Friendly’s, maybe popping open a San Mig (I managed two of the three). It’s moments like those when I stop and wonder what my friends at home must be doing, thinking Oh yes, wisely you chose.

But you’ve got to work hard to relax hard. Saturday night I met my professor and some of her Japanese counterparts to catch a 4:30AM flight down to Negros Occidental, one of the larger islands south of Luzon. It was only upon arrival that I discovered we actually had nowhere to be until the next morning. My frustration however was fleeting – we happened to catch the last day of the Masskara festival in the capital city, Bacolod.

Thirty years ago, Negros Occidental had fallen on hard times, and the “City of Smiling People” found it difficult to live up to their name. The sugar cane production was doing poorly, Bacolodnons were out of work and to top it all off, a vessel with the mayor’s whole family on it sank. The city donned bright, smiling masks and paraded the streets to mourn the family and to show the world they could smile in the face of adversity. The festival has since grown into a 2-week event filled with costumes, dancing, and celebration. If there is one thing I respect most about Filipinos, it is their positive attitude in the face of even the bleakest circumstances.

The next morning we headed to Calatrava to a region where schistosomiasis (snail disease) is endemic. Crammed into the back of an old, covered pickup as we drove along a butt-numbing dirt road in the midst of a typhoon to a distant village in order to collect stool samples, I asked myself (not for the first time) what in the in the hell am I doing here? A question which is usually followed by I could seriously go for a burrito right about now and the occasional who really DID kill Roger Rabbit?

The first day of collection was long. I smeared stool samples back at our guesthouse until well after midnight. The following four days were a blur of long drives, local introductions, interviews on cultural practices, data collection, and lots and lots of rice.

Friday morning I finally checked my email to find multiple messages wondering where in the hell I was. Once I communicated I was safe, several emails caught my attention. First – GIANTS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!! Can’t believe I missed an epic end of the series against the Cardinals but it feels like a miraculous repeat of two years ago when I was in Ghana. Secondly I landed an internship with the WHO!!! But…I have to miss Christmas because the internship is slated for December/ January. Looks like it will be a belated celebration this year.

For now, I’m headed to Bali for a week, with a huge relieved smile on my face, ready to meet Aunt Karen. I head back to Manila next Saturday and will give myself a few days before heading out to spend November traveling SE Asia. Look out for the next exciting posts – I promise they’ll be memorable J

The Rum Diaries

It's a typical night at Friendly's. A hypnotic drum circle is led by Bob, who's not surprisingly dressed in his tie-die Bob Marley shirt. Two empty bottles of Tanduay rum sit on the far table, another being passed around the group. Smoke is blown by the fan and half-filled packs of cigarettes litter the table. Several dozen travelers, most from Western Europe and Australia, mingle on the terrace, intermixed with the usual Filipino crew. The Matrix in on the flat screen in the background. In an hour or two, Maki will lead the group to the local bar Penguin to enjoy some live music and consume a few super submarines (a pint of the strong lager with a shot of tequila in the bottom). If we're lucky, we'll make it home before the sun starts to come up. 

It's been a while since I last posted, mainly because for various reasons I was stuck in Manila for 3 weeks and I didn't have much to write about. My nights out don't vary much and pretty much exclusively start at Friendly's. Throw in a biker bar, some videoke, a bout of food poisoning, my purse being stolen, my first acupuncture experience, first mango pizza plus three typhoons and you more or less get an idea of the past month. 

Things started picking up again last week. Part of the program includes a community health financing class, in the form of a study tour. The field instructor and I take 3 mini trips and several local visits to learn how communities approach the rising cost of healthcare. For our first trip, we headed north of Manila to two well performing municipalities. This past week we spent 4 days on Negros Oriental, an island south of Luzon. In our 1991 Manual Toyota truck, we drove hours on rough terrain to visit rural health units and isolated community hospitals. Out in the boonies! (Interestingly, the word "boondocks" comes from the Tagalog word "bundok" meaning mountain). Currently, we're on the island Guimaras for a few days continuing the study tour and enjoying the white sand beaches a bit. Then finally next week I am interviewing a representative of the national health insurance program and visiting an indigenous community. Hands down the best part of the program so far!

And then there's parasitology. The course had a 3-day training a few weeks back, learning how to diagnose common Filipino parasitic diseases like malaria through lab testing. At the end of October I'll be heading back to Negros to test communities for schistosomiasis (the snail disease). Just can't WAIT to spend a week analyzing stool samples...! ;)

Of course my traveling can't only be limited to school trips. Last week, overcome by city fever (and quite possibly the smog), I took an overnight bus north to Banaue. Famous for its 2,000 year old rice terraces created with primitive tools by the Ifuago, Banaue is promoted as a lesson in sustainability. Especially green during the raining season, these terraces are known as the Stairway to Heaven. Incredible and awe-inspiring, it's no surprise that they have been given the coveted distinction of "World Heritage Site." 

10 Things...

I'll bet you didn't know about the Philippines.

It's that time, ladies and gents, after over a month living here. As with every place I visit, here are just a few things I've come to learn about the 'pines.

1. Jeepneys! A leftover from America in World War II, the Filipinos have taken the old jeeps and extended them so that they have two long benches in back. They're an important part of daily life, running specific routes throughout cities and towns. Plus they have awesome paint jobs! Tricycles are also a common form of transportation, especially in smaller towns. Most are a motorcycle with a side car but you'll see a few that are actual bikes.

2. Similar to much of Asia, the Filipinos love their malls. Huge, multi-story complexes, these house the lastest fashions from Estee Lauder to Adidas, an absurd number of fast food restaurants and a movie theater (where tickets to the newest American films are less than $5). Saturday afternoons are often spent just roaming a mall. I've been told part of the reason is the A/C, but regardless this country loves to shop!

3. Don't ask a Filipino the time. For a week I couldn't figure out why I was always running late. Turns out we were going off of a friend's watch that was 10 minutes fast. I've even been at a train station where the clocks next to each other are 20 minutes apart (and both wrong). But given that most Filipino society, especially in the provinces, is unconcerned with time, I guess it's a bit irrelevent.

4. Be prepared to be treated with the utmost politeness. Walking down the street everyone will call out "good morning, ma'am" and "how are you today, ma'am?". There is a formal etiquette that dictates interactions and while Filipinos are very willing to help, they may say yes just out of politeness of the situation.

5. BYOTP

6. They love basketball the way the Ghanaians love their soccer. Kobe jerseys are abundant and the Filipino guys know more about Team USA than I do. The PBA is a league with about 12 teams but they're not regional. Rather they're owned by corporations so they have some great mascots - Rain or Shine, the Texters...Apparently it is similar high school ball (Filipinos are a bit vertically challenged for such a sport).

7. There is no extra tax on alcohol or cigarettes. The local rum, Tanduay, is $2 a bottle and it's damn good stuff. San Mig at the store is about 50 cents a bottle. Even their strong lager, Red Horse, is under a dollar and this ain't no Bud. 

8. Karaoke, or more specifically videoke, is a national favorite. Every night in Manila you'll walk past bar after bar boasting its top-of-the-line set up. It's not just for the teenagers either. This also means that you'll hear some pretty terrible singing being blasted.

9. Lady boys and prostitutes. I guess I knew, but man did I underestimate this one...be careful which massage parlor you choose.

10. You may forget how to use a knife while you're here. They eat with a fork and spoon (the former being used to cut the food and push it around the plate, while the latter you actually eat with). At times this can be a pain but most meat you get at a restaurant is already sliced. I shouldn't be complaining, at least they figured out a sensible way to consume rice.

Two guys, a girl and a horrifying place

Sunday morning I was back in action, this time heading to the central Visayas, to the island of Bohol. Arriving mid-morning I made my way to Alona Beach (on the nearby island of Panglao) where I had a surprisingly easy time finding Allan and Andrew. An afternoon of sunbathing ensued (and the boys' delicate Canadian skin frying...similarly to their bacon I'd imagine). Andrew will tell you the beach wasn't that nice (they just got back from Boracay), but I still insist it's one of the prettiest beach I've been to, you just can't swim. By no means horrifying. The boys had found some delicious BBQ on the island and we tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour. Amazingly we managed to get up in time to catch the tour van headed to Bohol. The island is historically known for being the site of the blood compact between Magellan and the natives. We stopped at a monument, an old Spanish church, a butterfly sanctuary, a small zoo with a python and a river before we finally came to what we were waiting for - the Tarsier Center and the Chocolate Hills. Tarsiers, with their saucer eyes and suction cup fingers, were the inspiration for ET (but a less creepy, more cuddly version). They're nocturnal but we saw a few with their eyes open. The Chocolate Hills are a compilation of over 1200 unusual mounds sculpted from limestone and coral in the middle of the island. It remains a mystery as to how they were actually formed. Pretty bizarre and when they're dry they resemble chocolate drops. I think I found my birth place!

The rest of the week passed alternating beach, reading, cable TV!, entertaining conversation and 40 peso ($1) rum & cokes... And nearly every meal we ended back at Alona Hidden Dream, despite our insistence that the food was just horrifying and it was definitely not the only restaurant in town. The boys, having spent 7+ months traveling SE Asia together, took a hiatus from bickering to crack some American jokes. Poor Toronto won't know what hit it when I come to visit...!

Thursday afternoon we finally made our way to Cebu by ferry. It turned out to be a smaller, dirtier Manila (just horrifying I tell you!) and we decided there was nothing useful here aside from a way to get home. So yesterday I headed back home, back in time for my class this morning. The boys head back up later this week and spend a few more nights in Manila before continuing their trip in Indonesia. It was a great week, but right now I'm wishing I was up at Donner right now to celebrate with Mom and Ryan! I'll be sticking around Manila this week, getting some real work done and getting excited for Chelsea to arrive!

Thanks for all the concern, but we actually didn't even feel the earthquake - I found out about it from Mom!

Tales from the Snail Trail

Once upon a time, in a province ten hours north of the mighty Manila, lived many hardworking Filipinos. This sprawling land, filled with rice terraces and cornfields, just off the Pacific Ocean, had recently fallen victim to the dreaded snail. This black snail, no larger than a grain of rice, was host to the a parasite. Dangerous to humans, the parasite seeps into the skin and causes schistosomiasis – a debilitating disease of the GI tract. In hopes for a master plan to halt the nasty buggers, our team of eight (including 4 Japanese, the oldest of which may or may not be Mr. Miyagi) trekked to Cagayan. We forged our way through the fields and down the valley to seven sites near villages where schisto is endemic. From there we spent hours scrutinizing the tall grass and marshland for these sneaky villans. Collecting over 700 snails from these sites, we hitched up our wagon, headed back to the great school of UPM and analyzed our data, developing program interventions as we went. And the people of Cagayan lived happily ever after…

Well, not entirely true. But it was a very successful trip! And the weather was on our side (I can only imagine doing the backbreaking work we did in the pouring rain). Not to be cocky, but I must say I have become quite the snail detector (my aching body will attest to this). After collecting all our samples, Dr. Leonardo presented our initial findings to the regional, provincial, and municipal health officers and provided suggestions to help prevent human contact with the snails. We spent all of today crushing snails to inspect how many were infected. The sad news was that far more were than we had hoped, including a site that had not been previously. I’m excited though to see how our research will develop into action!

This segment of the journey is completed, but tomorrow begins anew. I fly out to Bohol to meet the Canadian boys – for real this time – and enjoy a few days exploring breathtaking beaches, seeing Tarsiers and of course visiting the Chocolate Hills. So until next time…to infinity and BEYOND!