Postcards from Fragrant Harbour (3 of 4)

21.

Heaven descended upon us like the Niagara that afternoon in Ocean Park. We bought the fancy plastic raincoats. We headed for the aviary, but the trail had transformed into a pool, so we sought shelter in Whiskers Theater, just in time for the sea lion show. This was when they showed us how they train the sea lions: Teach a trick, let it do the trick, give it a treat. They tried the technique on the poor kid.

22.

The Chinese alligator: second best animal in Ocean Park (after the octopus).

23.

The rain dispersed the hordes of Chinese tourists, sending them scurrying towards their buses. We virtually had the park to ourselves then (that's what it felt like, but feelings can be deceiving). Imagine the rides without the lines! An eagle and the Pacific Pier lighthouse were harbingers of good fortune.

24.

We ate at Maxim's in Hong Kong City Hall on our last day. During the absurd wait (I don't think the place ever runs out of customers), I paid the City Hall theater a visit--well, just the outside of it. Hong Kong Repertory Theater calls this place home, which reminds me of our Repertory Philippines in Onstage Greenbelt 1 (and I wish they'd do "Pippin" next year).

25.

Cosette, Fantine and Eponine sing in Cantonese!

26.

While looking for Hollywood Road, which we ironically had no problem getting to during our first day, the Hong Kong Fringe Club looked inviting (maybe because I was thinking of "Defending the Caveman").

27.

The massive Abercrombie and Fitch in Central. For art lovers, the walls. For everyone else, the model. Half-naked at work, more fun in Hong Kong.

28.

The strangest photo shoot ever, at apm, a mall in Kwun Tong (near what used to be Kai Tak Airport), where most of the outlet stores were closed during Labor Day (surprise!).

29.

Evening shopping in Mongkok! It was like Little Manila there. But the standouts had to be this store full of cats, and sidewalk octopus (fried and breaded). I bet if we just looked hard enough, there'd have been steamed horse dumplings or hammerhead shark ramen as well.

30.

Night views of Hong Kong's four tallest skyscrapers! Clockwise from top left: Bank of China Tower (4th), Two International Finance Center (2nd), International Commerce Center (tallest), and Central Plaza (3rd).

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'Forgetfulness: A Series'

As mentioned last January, my poem, "Forgetfulness: A Series," was accepted for publication in the 2013 Bacopa Literary Review, which is based in Gainesville, Florida. The Review was released last month, and I still haven't received my contributor's copy (they initially sent it to Iloilo, Philipines [sic]). [Update, June 29: My copy's finally here!] The writers, as stated in the website, come from India to Ireland, Canada to the Chuvash Republic, Indonesia to Nigeria.

https://writersalliance.org/bacopa-literary-review/bacopa-literary-review-back-issues/

*     *     *     *     *

i.

Tell me again of that city we built
with only the mud and stone that filled the garden
behind our house. It was beautiful, yes? How the buildings
spiralled to the sky with blatant ambition, how their windows
reflected the light coming from the stars, seeming to create
towers of fire visibly burning from a thousand miles.
I remember the chimney with its red brick,
the front door pavement chipping away on the edges,
the moss that colored the white-washed walls
perpetually wet with rain and sprinkler water.
I remember the morning views from our bedroom, how the clouds
would seem to glide past the shrubbery thriving on the terrace.
Those were cold mornings, weren't they? How we'd shiver
in bed, layer our bodies with blankets bought fifteen years ago
in some flea market in Bangkok. Good times, I remember.

ii.

Remember, grandmother says, the stories you once knew
by heart. But my grandmother is fast fading away,
too eager, it seems, to take her shadow's place on the wooden floor.

Her sly lips no longer part as often, no longer spill the secrets
she kept from the ten thousand people she'd met in her life. She only
    sleeps
to the gentle sway of her rocking chair, only speaks in her dreams.

Remember youth. Remember running down endless leaf-laden trails,
spending nights in haunted woods, waking to mornings filled with
    singing
from a hundred curious animals. How you stood on a cliff

gazing longingly at the bluish blur of a distant castle. Those days
were the best of your life, when adventure not merely consisted
of midnight trips to the bathroom or boiling water in the kitchen,

but much more, much farther. Substance comes to those
whose age deserves it - but my grandmother, who sits silent
on her rocking chair, never had a voyager's soul, nor a hunter's heart.

iii.

Think only of one thing, of something that will make you remember:
the gifts, the boxes of jewellery, the bouquets that cost a fortune.
The meanings we crafted for our words, the pictures we painted with
    our sentences.
Think of the tender kisses we planted on each other's neck, of our
    hands
searching the maps of our bodies for islands lost forever in the ocean
of skin-draped flesh. Afternoons standing on the balcony, a naked
    embrace
displayed before the sea and the sunset. Good times, I remember.

Postcards from Fragrant Harbour (2 of 4)

11.

The happiest place on Earth never gets old. The happiest man on Earth would look into the Mirror of Erised and see only himself, exactly as he is. Because it shows our deepest desires, like a slice of Fantine's pie for Bamatabois. Fact: Disneyland Hong Kong is the smallest in the world, but you already know that.  

12.

My first trip to Disneyland in 2007, I found The Festival of the Lion King enchanting and The Golden Mickeys rapturous. Not this time. The former  has become a sloppy, floppy song-and-dance cycle inundated with overindulgent props and cheap acrobatics for the easy-to-please. Simba was girlier than Nala, and the singing was devoid of life. The latter was a more consistent show, but I didn't like the Quasimodo; Bebe the host was a hottie though. And the Mainlanders beside me had terrible halitosis.

13.

Facade of "It's a Small World," or the dolls exhibit. Different zones with pediatric mannequins dolled up according to region - Africa, China, Rainforest (which is to say, the regional divisions don't even make sense). The titular children's song plays in different languages as one rides a motorized Westernized banca down the chlorinated waterway. If you reach the end without passing out from an auditory overdose of the song, you get a prize.

14.

We had this hotel guide book that I swallowed start to finish as a kid, and one of those featured for Hong Kong was the South Pacific Hotel!

15.
First time in Hong Kong, we stayed in the Park Lane [right]. Second time, we did The Wesley, which is now the OZO Wesley. I was with adults, who are theoretically more difficult to travel with. 

16.

I loved "Iron Man 3," but haven't seen the first two, so don't take my word for it. But the wit! And arrogant Robert Downey Jr.! And Ben Kingsley! Honestly, this film was enough to wash away the muck of last year's "Avengers."

17.

I'm immature this way. Tagalog speakers rejoice!

18.

One of the competitions MTG Philippines joins is the Po Leung Kuk Primary Mathematics World Contest. I don't know if this is the place,  but I got a bit giddy upon seeing this. Maths used to be a huge part of my nerdy life, because "the limit does not exist!"

19.

Ocean Park is almost unrecognizable after seven years! There is now just one mega-aquarium, which is really much better and more convenient. Lobsters in action! Octopus! (Thus, one of my dreams was fulfilled.) Hammerhead shark!

20.

There used to be just two giant pandas in Ocean Park. Now there's at least five of them. Plus the smaller reds. These two pandas made blankets of bamboo for themselves, which must be how they do things in animal bum world. However, you have to feel sorry for anyone or anything that poops balls of undigested plant matter.

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Postcards from Fragrant Harbour (1 of 4)

1.

A hazy sunrise farewell to Mt. Arayat, bastion of Kapampangan communists. We flew an AirAsia A320 on the morning of April 28 and returned to Clark via a similar aircraft four days later. 

2.

To see two Air France 777s in an Asian airport is simply the stuff Hollywood happy endings are made of. Back in 2000, seven-year-old me was so thrilled to finally see an Air France (an ever reliable A340-300), he wished he could just spend the rest of that week in Manila on the elevated road to NAIA's Terminal 2 departures. Silly child had the wispiest concept of "nightmare."

3.

A third trip to Hong Kong did nothing whatsoever to diminish the grandeur of Tsing Ma Bridge, the world's largest rail-and-road suspension bridge. Photos were taken from the public bus that dropped us off at Wan Chai fire station. 

4.

Living space in Hong Kong is as precious as safe drinking water in Bangalore (maybe not). Doesn't change the fact, however, that life on a mountainous island ain't easy. The Vela Hotel in Causeway Bay is one of the lesser known yet equally reliable places for tourists on a budget.

5.

Crossing a street in Hong Kong (which translates to "Fragrant Harbour").

6.
Sunday afternoon crowd at the Peak Tram station in Central. Push, shove, and occasionally forget there is a line for a more involving experience.

7.
So... this was what we paid for: Almost zero visibility and fog to bathe our faces. [3rd photo] Towards the latter half of our visit, it became virtually impossible to see anything.

8.
Victoria Peak is also known as Mt. Austin. People live on this mountain. If you own a house hereabouts, you have to be rich--there's a $1.8 billion property along Barker Road, for starters.

9.
Shopping in Central! [Right] The Center is Hong Kong's 5th tallest skyscraper. Neon light bars make it look like a chameleonic peacock.

10.
Nightcap for our first day: a rather slummy alley.

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LAST: Postscript to That Hong Kong Trip

An Affair and an Inheritance

I'm putting this here for safekeeping: The speech that won 2nd place in the English Speaking Union Search for the Philippine Representative to the International Public Speaking Competition in London, February 9, 2013 at the UP School of Economics. The theme was "A house divided by itself cannot stand." Lenard Robles (UP Diliman) won first place and represented the country in London two weeks ago; third place went to Arman Ghodsinia of Philippine Science High School - Main campus. 

*     *     *     *     * 

Allow me to tell you a family secret: My uncle had an affair.  

It wasn’t about the premarital sex, no. It was about whom he had sex with.

See, I’m the fourth generation of a highly traditional Chinese family in the Philippines, and for families like mine, purity of marriage and manner remains an all-important matter. You’ve often heard the saying “The Chinese must only marry the Chinese,” but in fact, it’s not just an issue of blood and lineage. It’s mainly about the preservation of tradition.

Explains why our parents and grandparents are so protective, so silently concerned with the company we young ones keep. It’s evident in the everyday language. You get a girlfriend, the first question is: “Huan-na a si lan-nang?” Filipino or Chinese? You get too liberal, too loud, and you are labelled “huan-na te” – literally, Filipino in manner.

For the generations before mine, our traditions are as much a way of life as they are a window to the past, a lasting link – perhaps the only remaining link – to the so-called ancestral motherland. 

In this sense, then, it can be said that tradition is the greatest inheritance of a people. What we get from the past, we learn from, and in so doing, get to know ourselves a little better – what kind of people we come from, what kind of people we should be.

What, then, do we make of such an inheritance, when it is also a cause for strife?

In this 21^st century society, much has been said about tolerance, acceptance, respect; yet, deep within, we still harbor prejudices. Black and White. Christian and Muslim. Chinese and Filipino. Apparently, our traditions still play a huge part in the way we think and look at other people.

It is for this very reason that to most Filipinos, we are still the “chekwas” who control this country’s economy. That every one of us is a math genius, and within the genius lives a miser. None of that is 100% truth of course. For future reference, contact my calculus teacher. 

The question now is: Do we continue to let tradition be our master, or do we altogether forget about it and forge on as globalized citizens of this “borderless” society?

Maybe the answer is neither.

Maybe, what we should aspire for, and truly work for, is to one day be able to live in harmony despite our varying traditions.

In the words of Rodgers and Hammerstein, to create something new, we must first love what is old. Let us learn from our traditions, let us celebrate our differences – because only then can we have the building blocks to make a truly borderless society.

Today, both Filipinos and Chinese call the Philippines home. Yet, if we remain silent slaves to our traditions, this home – this house of 7,107 islands – simply won’t stand. Now look around you: If we can become a city that celebrates the new year twice; if we can close down entire roads and pave the way for lion and dragon dancers; if, tomorrow, Filipinos can feast on siomai and dumplings as much as the Chinese devour plates of lechon, then perhaps… we’re on to something. So, who wants tikoy?

My father once provided quite the simplistic scenario: Imagine yourself with your classy, intelligent, rich, but Filipino wife. Imagine yourselves in our family reunion. Everyone’s talking in Chinese. And then there’s your wife, out of place.

Well, maybe she doesn’t have to be out of place. My one greatest hope is that someday, people like her won’t ever have to be out of place with people like me. Because really, Chinese, Filipino – what’s the difference?

Thank you, xiexie, maraming salamat po!

*     *     *     *     *

NOTE 1 Some parts were (semi-)fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Lots of it, actually.

NOTE 2 The judges for the finals: Germaine Chuabio (winner of the Philippine Finals 2011, Top 6 in London), Gian Dapul (international winner in London 2008), Dr. Wendell Capili and Krip Yuson (of the Palanca Awards), Dr. Marlu Vilches (president of ESU Philippines), Former Ambassador Cesar Bautista, and Claire Jiao (of BusinessWorld).

NOTE 3 Germaine, Gian, Lenard, and I all belong to the batch that graduated from high school in 2009. 

NOTE 4 Hands down, the most thrilling public speaking contest I've participated in since embarking on this "career" (winning 3rd place in the Rotary Club's Voice of Our Youth division level in 2006). Came so, so, so close to seeing Ben Whishaw and Dame Judi in Peter and Alice, Helen Mirren in The Audience, and the Olivier-winning adaptation of Haddon's Curious Incident, but it was a damn good fight and well worth it. 

NOTE 5 Here is my speech from last year's competition, where both Lenard and I also got into the Top 6.