Blogs from Asia - page 12812

Pahiyas Festival is a colorful feast in honor of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saints of farmers, as a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. Houses along the old streets of Lucban are artistically decorated with agricultural harvest, and of the very unique highlight of the festival, the "kiping". It is a wafer made up of rice that comes in different colors. The Lucbanons come up in different designs every year, as they showcase their artistic talents in decorating their houses. This year's Festival is so special, as it marked as the very first trip that i joined with the NACCI (Nature Awareness and Conservation Club, Inc.). I was so excited, that i barely slept on Sat night, hahaha. We almost missed the trip, coz we made a buzzer-beater arrival at Shell Edsa at exactly 515am, whoa ... read more

I typed 7 paragraphs about the 3 days in Shimoda and somehow it got erased. Thus, you have been spared the details. Here is a quick synopsis of my few days in Shimoda. Before leaving Tokyo, I went to the Tuskiji fish market at 5am. Then I head via Bullet Train to Shimoda. A crippled man on a bicycle helped me find a Minshuki (japanesse inn). The coastal resort town was quiet this weekend due to cold weather. Shimoda is famous as it is the landing place of Comm. Perry and his fleet on their mission to open trade with Japan (also the site where Russian fleet landed to open trade as well). Sat night I ended up in a cozy restaurant with no menu. The only four customers there were a group of men who ... read more

Singapore eh? Well we didn't do too much slinking but I was curious about Singapore's history and reputation as "the place they don't sell chewing gum". One of the things that has struck me time and time again whilst travelling has been the incredible impact of the British on the modern world. Australia and New Zealand don't bear explaining, but the impact of the British in Asia (in particular) and South America has been very notable. I will not forget the random breaking-down of our bus in northern Peru, and my chat with that chap about the English railway (always with the railways) and the English fort (those too). The explanation given to us in the Edo-Tokyo museum about the modernisation of Japan was fascinating, and the impact of the British in Japan is not to ... read more

It began with the first beads of sweat that formed as I walked out of the Manila Airport and across the street toward big orange sign. “MABUHAY Neha, Amy, and Ginny!” The woman behind the sign, SCALA project Coordinator Sarah Grant, smiles and leads us to the bus terminal. Now, when you throw three Canadian volunteers, their huge backpacks and our project coordinator (nearly fluent in the local language of Tagalog!) together with a bus, Jeepney, tricycle, lots of diesel and no traffic lights you have the makings of my first glimpse of the Philippines. And it is just that - a glimpse. Scratching the surface of a nation that is resilient in all things; rising above a colonial past, widespread poverty and unemployment, corruption, and natural disaster. At once, I found everything intangibly but distinctly ... read more

right first things first. ...pass the pigs score is tanuja 64 david 54. Tanuja continues to cheat. A few things about the hindi language. After one week Tanuja and I are in no doubt that 'there is a black pen on the big book' or indeed that 'my small bag is red'. The word for food is the same as the word for 'man with one eye' and 'she has gone' is similar to 'those are cows'. it's such fun! i've realised that constant updates about what we have learnt at language school will be pretty tedious, so i'll stop. suffice to say we're having almost 4 hours of lessons a day, with another 4 hours of work at home. When you add this up with eating, washing, a bit of reading and 11 hours a ... read more