What worthwhile traveling am I doing?

Asia
March 30th 2010

Published: March 30th 2010

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Swampjungle

Filipino Hotel

This was my place in the mountains of Luzon.

Do something worthwhile! Frank, are you a worthless piece of shit!?

“Why don't you do something worthwhile with your travels?” she demanded. Young tourist from Japan demands more of my life! It is late night and we are at a latin dance club in Bangkok, Thailand. The incident made me think, I did not attempt to defend myself.

So here it is... What I have been doing before the japanese lady danced the Salsa with me.

In Thailand, Land of Smiles

Thailand girl orphan, 22, living on a small rural island, a third year student at a mainland university, 2 hours away from her home by ferry. She ran out of money for her next semester so I helped her with cash and bought her clothes (she had only 2 changes of clothes which were ragged) a backpack (she was using grocery bags) and even some make up. She never put on the make up while I was visiting her since it was too valuable. Next time I see her I will apply it to her myself.

Thai lady, 35, with a small child. She works as a bar girl. She is very chubby and

Filipino Karaoke

Inside the shack this was my singing group

dark skinned, the fattest bar girl in the town so she gets no customers. She is a cleaning lady and a waitress for the other bar girls. Bar girls have a quota of drinks that they must sell each month or they are fined on a per drink not sold basis. Pia is exempted because she gets up early each day and cleans the fairly large bar.

Bar girls get 2 days off per month working a 10 hour day. No holidays. I decided to ask her out when I saw her because she seemed very friendly. She was very nice to me and was thrilled because she gets credit for dating me since I have to pay the bar to take her, even on her off hours. I also bought drinks which was the first time in 6 months since she started work, that she got credit for selling drinks.

In The Philippine Islands, One of the most corrupt nations on earth

Filipino girl, 25, with a boy, 4 and a girl 1. She is short, 4 foot 11 inches, pleasently chubby, baby face, living on the Philippine island of Luzon. Everybody is taller and

Filipino Queen

Queenie is to my left and this is her birthday party, 12 years old.

smarter than her but she is always smiling. Actually she is
not that dumb when you consider that she speaks both her native Tagalog and English. I wish I could speak 2 languages.

I gave the cash to get a job in South Korea at a U.S. Air Force base as a bar girl. For her it pays well enough to send her parents money to care for her children and it is safe, she does not have to be a prostitute (which is often the
only option).

Filipino girl, 22. Great singer and stage performer. I gave her cash to get a job
as a singer in South Korea. South Korea is one of the few places hiring foriegn workers from poor countries.

Filipino lady 37, breadwinner in her family, family leader. She supports her parents and her brothers family (wife + 3 children) with her rice farm that she bought with money she earned in Hong Kong (her relatives work the farm). Because of weather problems lately, (Climate change?) some of the crops have been partial failures. I gave her money to buy seed and fertilizer to plant the 2009 summer crop but a

Filipino Student

needed money to continue in college. I helped with the next semester.

typhoon destroyed much of it. In some parts of the Philippines all of the crops were destroyed. Luckily she has land in areas 6 hours drive apart so that the crop in the south was destroyed but the crop in the north had partial damage. They have only enough crop to eat but not enough to sell to buy more seed and fertilizer for the next crop.

A common problem, banks are unwilling now to mortgage farm land. I gave her money to go to Hong Kong where relatives offered to help her get a job to raise money for her crops. They found an opportunity in China for her so I gave the money for a Chinese Visa.

Cambodia, The Killing Fields

Cambodian lady, 36, with one very shy child, 4 and one baby. It took 4 days before either little girls let me pick them up without crying and screaming. After the 4 year old got used to me she would crawl into bed with me at night and rough house with me. She thinks she could beat me up. I don't think her mother had seen her laugh with anybody before, mom got kind

Filipino Transport

I bought this truck to use on the rice farm where I stayed in the mountains of Luzon Island in the Philippines

of jealous. Her house in Cambodia is on stilts because of flooding during rainy season. The extended family lives in the same block and come to her house everyday to make and eat supper. She is the only one in the family with a fridge which I bought for her in Phenom Phen.

I took a group of 9 Cambodian children for ice cream when I visited the village in the jungle. They never had ice cream before I was told. I have a photo of them making a mess of their faces. The big treat at the local park for the kids is fried crickets which they seem to like. I tried the fried female tarantula spider with eggs inside, not that great a taste. I could not refuse since it was selected especially for me. Tried a few other fried bugs but I would not go back for seconds.

I took these children to the beach in Cambodia which was a 12 hour ride, I rented a 12 passenger van which we stuffed 18 people since the parents came along. First and probably last time to the beach for these people of the Khmer Tribe.

Filipinos in the water

I took a bunch of filipino kids to a seaside pool where we had a great time. The kids supplied the karaoke stuff.

I could not bring myself to visit the Killing Fields even when a taxi driver offered that they were a short drive.

The Island of Hispaniola, Haiti and The Dominican Republic

5 year old girl from Haiti, paid for her to go to school, walked her to school every day while I was in the Dominican Rebublic and gave her mother, from Haiti, money for school so that she could stop prostitution. I gave money to her brother, a tile installer, to dole out to her to make sure she used the money wisely. I rented a place for her to stay instead of living in a shack.

I bought musical instruments for her brother to form a Bachata Band which is now famous among the locals so that these people from Haiti could earn some money at night.

Fiji

The Fiji Islands are pricey as most isolated islands must be because they have to import things like cars and building materials.

But I had a great time as can been seen in the photos. I was there for New Year's and supplied the food for a village party, called a LOVO, because the

Filipino Toilet

This is the shower room and comode, nice view of rice fields and mountains.

cooking is done underground.

How do I get to meet the local people in Third world countries?

I concentrate on getting into social stituations. I spend time in my hotel only for sleeping. I make every meal a social opportunity. If I eat in restaurants I pick ones that have counter service, sometimes the only choice is a bar that sells food. I will pick a place that has a counter where I can meet people over places that have better or cheaper food where I have to sit at a table. I pick places to eat that have many customers.

I initiate conversations. Often people would like to coverse with someone new but are too shy to start the talking. I always assume that somebody within earshot is open to conversing. It is often true. I just shrug off disapointments.

I avoid talking to too many agressive people. The most aggressive ones are the ones out to get your money. It is better to start a conversation with somebody you have to cajole into speaking than someone is trying to get your attention. but after awhile you get to know who is shy but actually

Filipino Waitress

Helped her get a job in South Korea by American Air Force base.

trying to overcome their shyness by initiating a conversation. While in Guadalhara, Mexico, I was sitting at a taco stand at 1:00 AM and a girl came up to me and started singing. Then she sat down next to me and asked me how she did. She said she was doing a college project to overcome her shyness by trying to entertain strangers. She showed me her project papers, but they were in Spanish which I am not too fluent in.

In learning another language after you learn to say hello then learn the numbers. If you learn nothing else you will find it very useful to understand the numbers because you have to pay for things and negotiate to buy stuff.

Got Macho?

Being manly in Mexico seemed to be important, but not so in Thailand. In Thailand you see many men carrying handbags very similar to the ones that women carry. Hair styles for men that can afford it are feminine and many men do not make any effort to act manly. There is a high percentage of men who have had an operation to change into a woman.

How Dangerous are the Places

Filipino Waitress

Helping her get a job in South Korea. She is in training.

I have Visited?

While I was on the Island of Mindanao in the Philippines, rebels were going door to door recruiting. The people that I spoke to there instructed me where I could and could not go. Since then there have been horrific killings on that island. I can not reccomend travel there. I had also visited the Island of Mindoro in the Phillipines and there have been killings there since then as well. Don't go. In the northern part of the Island of Luzon where I had gone mountian climbing I was told that politicians resolved differences by killing.

I had experienced a magnitude 5.1 earthquake on Mindanao while there but it just make the pictures on the walls sway quite a bit and felt like I was sitting on jelly.

Thailand has experienced many poliical upheavals while I was there. I got the last flight to Phuket before the protesters shut down the airport. I was turned away at the zoo because there was suspected protester activity there. I missed a bus because of political activity. But I never felt in danger or badly inconvenieced. I have had a great time despite the unrest.

Thailand Buddies

They served my breakfast and hung out on my fron porch.

I came across a huge python while mountain climbing in the Philippines but two hunting dogs had just killed it. I met the hunters seconds later and they took the python home to eat.

There was a volcano glowing red at night that I could see from my hotel window in Bali, Indonesia. There were mild earthquakes coming from the volcanic activity but there was no warning of imminent danger.

How to take primitive outdoor shower

First you have to get over being shy about being naked where people can watch you. You have to heat a bucket of water over a fire. Then you bring it into the toilet area and pour it into a very large tank of cold water. There was a 50 gallon drum next to the main water supply tank where I could mix just the right amount of hot and cold water. You take a bucket and pour the warmed up water over you to get wet. Then soap up. Then with a wash cloth and a bucket of water wash and rinse. Nice to do this at sunrise or sunset to see the rice fields and mountains change color. I

Thai Mom-Waitress

could also see fish ponds and water buffalo. Got to ride a water buffalo, great fun. Also you can see the pig pens from your shower and watch the pigs watch you.

Thailand Wedding

In the farmland of Thailand a wedding takes two days. The first day is mostly preparation but also socializing. It is a Buddist ceremony so you are probably not familiar with what you are supposed to do. The guests know that you don't know so everybody is very helpful to make sure you participate properly and that you have a good time. One ceremony has everybody tying yellow string around each others wrists. You will be given string and shown how to do it. You make sure you put string around the wrists of the bride and groom. I don't know the significance of this but apparently the string is blessed by a Buddist monk and is ment to bring you good luck I think.

There is a procession to the wedding place the second morning, where a truck carrying a music system plays loud traditional Thai music while people carry food and fruit and stuff and dance to the wedding place. The

Thai New Year

Don't need to be rich to have fun on New Year's Eve in Bangkok.

Bride and Groom dress up in fancy clothes.

YOu mostly sit on the ground during the ceremony.

During the preperation I was invited to help a group of ladies to peel garlic bulbs for the meal. They were all doing it the slow way and having been a chef, I did it the fast way by hitting the garlic first. I was peeling more than twice as fast as the others but they just continued doing thier way despite seeing how I did it the fast way. Oh well, people don't want to change.

The Best Cities in Asia That I Saw

The very best is Bangkok. But Hong Kong is a close second.

Seoul South Korea was great, there were 8 salsa clubs within walking distance of my hotel but I did not get a chance to check them all out. The two that I went to were great.

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia is very pretty and enough activity for a couple days.

Jakarta, Indonesia was more interesting than I expected, very modern, glitzy section near the Hard Rock Cafe.

Bali was great although not a true city. Bali is the

Thai Wedding

Two day wedding, buddist ceremony. This is the dance phase.

island and Kuta is the city.

Singapore deserves a mention although I did not fully explore the activities there. Great food and shopping. I like the museums.

I like Hanoi, Vietnam bette than Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Hanoi was very charming. Dance clubs opened at 9 in the morning and were crowed all day and night. In Saigon, the popular disco was Apocalypse Now.

DId not like Shanghai, and Macau was only good for a day trip.

Small cities that I liked were Chang Mai in Thailand, also Pattaya and Phuket. Phi Phi Island was the best quiet Island in Thailand.

Phenom Phen in Cambodia was interesting but has a long way to go to be developed.

If you are on a tight budjet, Hong Kong and Singapore are the most expensive of these.

The most economical of the places I went to were Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali, Thailand.
The Philippines is not economical for value received compared to the above.

Borneo was a great sightseeing place and fairly inexpensive.

Weather Report

Although weater patterns are changing, in general in the tropical areas there is mainly a dry season, December

Cambodia Sea

I took Cambodian kids to the sea, 10 hours from the village.

to May, and a wet season, June to November but these vary. I did not find the high heat and humidity all that oppressive. Aircon is available everywhere where you can escape into a bar or coffee shop to cool off.

Full Moon Pary Thailand

Lots of fun. Mostly westerners , thousands show up. Very wide beach. Very well organized. Many places set up along the beach by D.J.s playing all kinds of music. Best to arrive by Speedboat, although you have to wade to shore, maybe in chest level water since the boats don't want to hit bathers.

Medical services on hand if you get sick .

Salsa Dancing

Salsa is danced in every major city. Bangkok, Seoul and Hong Kong every night. Bachata is also popular. Beginner lessons are often free.

Philippines

Why do people go to the Philippines if it is so dangerous? Well, men go to find a wife. Many filipina women speak very good english. Men experienced with relationships with foriegn women realize that the language barrier can be a major problem. Some filipina women sound american
because of the large amercan military presence.

The Girl with

Fiji Lovo

Cooking undergound with hot stones. I supplied the food, the crew supplied the skills.

The Invisible Dog

Mae is a 18 year old girl of the Tingian mountain peoples of the Northern Philippine Islands. She has limited learning ability. Mae is still in grade five with 10 year old classmates.

Mae has an invisible dog. If her dog bites you the pain is excruciating but she can relieve the pain by stroking the place where he bit. All the mountain people are aware of her invisible dog which she inherited. Her grandfather is the only one who has seen the dog. If you try to steal bananas the dog will bite you on the arm which will cause you to freeze in the act until Mae comes to stroke your bite.
Her teacher hesitates to dicipline her because she is afraid of her dog.

Mae is small and frail with a head too big for her body, she looks 11 years old. She comes to my cabin and sweeps the floor, washes my clothes in the river, and waves away the flies off my food while I am eating. A couple of times she has brought me shrimp flavored crackers as a special treat for me. I can't communicate with her

Fiji Party kids

High anticipation for our New Year's Lovo

as she speaks the Tingian language. She always smiles at me when our eyes meet but she is extremely shy as almost all the children here.

House broken Chicken

The chicken that hangs around my cabin (animals are not given names since they will be killed for food) was once part of a brood that was attacked by rats and all killed except for this one. To protect it from harm it was brought into the cabin and raised until adolescence indoors. It now roams around the cabin kitchen since it thinks that that is home because it was raised there. It always goes outside to shit.
Last night when I went to pee at the outhouse I heard a clucking sound. The chicken was roosting for the night on the wall (I am told because the light is best there).

Thailand Music

The Eagles, Hotel California is played by every live band every day. It was a song that I used to like but I can't stand it anymore. American pop music, especially from the 60's and 70's is common. The Karaoke places seldom have songs newer than 20 years old.

Many of the