The food crisis: Inside a Filipino home

Even in the dark I could tell the house was humble.

A woman stood cooking before an open fire outside of the home. A pile of different types of wood were stacked nearby. Children played nearby. A woman stood fixing her bike.

Poverty screamed at me from everywhere.

A friendly 20-year-old Filipino named Patrick had invited me to meet his family. I had asked the family I was staying with in Lucap (near Alaminos or 100 Islands National Park) if Patrick was a good guy. They said I would be safe to go with him.

While the family is very poor, they are rich in family. The entire Nisperos family lives within one block of each other, including uncles, grandparents, brothers and sisters.

The family invited me in and sat me down at the dinner table in front of a pile of egg plant, rice and shrimp. I was overwhelmed by their generosity.

"Make yourself at home," one of Patrick's uncles told me. "Act natural."

I have found Filipinos are the most hospitable people in the world. Although this family did not have much to give, they still freely offered me an entire meal meant for at least four people.

First, I washed my hand in a jug of water. I was told to use my right hand to eat.

The egg plant was fried. I was instructed to dip the vegetable into a sauce made of salted fish and tomatoes. Then I had to scoop the rice along with the egg plant in one hand.

While I ate Aunt Ceceila told me about the conditions of her family.

"This family is very poor, but it is rich in family," she said. I agreed. All around me were Aunts, Uncles, cousins eager to help me learn about their culture and family.

We discussed the conditions of Filipinos in Hong Kong. We both agreed that Hong Kong people mistreated Filipinos.

I could hardly shove down the pile of high quality rice in front of me. They had prepared the very best for me.

I listened as she explained the impact of the rising cost of rice. The family had to pay higher prices

From my conversations with people, I have discovered that the price of rice has risen in the Philippines from about $20 pisos (pronounced pesos) to $30 -- an increase that has mainly impacted the poor.

As I traveled to Lucap by bus I noticed the abundance of rice in the fields. I could not understand why rice cost so much in the Philippines when there was so much of it.

From my informal interviews with the locals I have come to understand these factors:

• High population growth due to a lack of family planning (impact of Catholicism)
• Government corruption
• Rice exports and imports that earn money for a select few

I have not interviewed official sources, but this is the view of the Filipino people on why the price of rice is so high.

Back in the Nisperos home I found I could not finish the massive plate of rice, but I managed to eat all of the egg plant and shrimp.

Riding the Jeepney

Twenty minutes had passed. My patience was starting to wear thin.

I was stuck outside of Baguio City at Tam-awan Village.

The rain poured down in a torrent. I waved for taxis flying by. No one stopped.

Finally, I turned to a local and asked where I could find the jeepneys to town (The Philippines' unofficial public transportation system).

A five minute walk up the road toward town was the answer.

I hiked up in the rain. Although I was surrounded by poorly built houses on the muddy hills, I found the view beautiful. Dark and white clouds were in the distance. I could just make out the South China Sea.

I heard a diesel engine coming from behind. I turned. Nope. Just a truck full of garbage.

I kept trudging on. The rain lightened. I began to enjoy the view more and more.

I crossed the road to look at a hill full of colorful slum houses. I reached for my camera. Suddenly, I heard a rumble from behind. A jeepney was trudging up the hill.

I ran out into the road. It couldn't miss me. The driver came to a stop and I hopped into the back next to an old man.

I passed up the $7.50 piso fare and sighed with my camera still in hand. I never did get to snap that photo.

Swimming with sharks

Alone in the middle of a corral reef I popped my head up to readjust my mask. Water had almost completely filled the goggles I had rented for the day.

At least 10 islands came into my view.

While traveling in the Philippines, I decided to celebrate my college graduation with a trip to Alaminos' 100 Islands National Park.

The boatman, Rody, I had hired for the day was waiting in his boat "Mercy" at a make-shift dock not too far away. (See his contact details below.)

I fixed my mask and plunged back under the warm water.

Different types of colorful corral and fish met my eyes. I looked up and saw something gray and quick move in the distance just out of my view. I looked again. A small grey reef shark was swimming not 20 yards away from me.

I fought to stay calm. I was not too far from Corral Island. I swam calmly toward it.

I sat on the island completely alone for about 20 minutes. I was a 200 yard swim from the boat and the platform.

I knew the shark was not dangerous. Still, a shark is a shark.

I gathered my courage and headed out to snorkle one more time. The reef was too incredible to ignore.

About 20 minutes later, I felt safe and calm. No sharks were in sight, until I looked to my right.

I saw a larger reef shark swimming around a school of fish. I looked to my left and saw another one circling not too far from me.

My heart jumped, but I remained calm. The sharks were circling the fish. I decided not to get in the way of lunch and turned to swim away. I looked back a couple of time, but saw nothing but blue ocean.

On my way, I looked down and saw at least 20 giant clams on the bottom. I wanted to linger, but felt it was better to get out of the water. I could handle one shark, not two, even if they were harmless.

I swam safely to the dock, a little winded. The swim seemed longer than the first time I had done it. Maybe I wasn't as calm as I thought I was.

TRAVEL RECOMMENDATION

I had met Rody by chance through his nephew Marlin, a motto taxi man. (The easiest way to get around in the Philippines is to hire a motto.)

I decided to travel the Philippines without a guide book, completely alone. I came in with no set itinerary.

The best part about having no set plans is the interaction with the locals. I am dependent on them.

That's how I met Rody. Taking a five hour bus from Manila to Alaminos, I arrived not knowing where to stay, the price range or where the tourist information center was.

The minute I exited a group of motto-drivers flocked to me. One young man with good English asked me if I wanted to go to the islands.

For $80 pisos ($2 USD), he agreed to help me find a hotel, a boatman and something to eat. I hopped on board a little apprehensive. I had heard stories of tourists who never returned after taxi rides.

Marlin seemed honest. He spoke directly to me without looking shifty or apprehensive.

He told me he was taking me to his uncle who was a boatman.

For $800 pisos (the going rate) I hired Rody. I rented snorkel equipment from a man named Boots at Lucap park for $250 pisos.

The hotel had a bucket shower, but was half the price of any other room in town at $500 pisos. The family looked after my safety and helped me to get to know the locals.

CONTACT RODY FOR A DAY OF ISLAND HOPPING AT:

Rodolfo "Rody" Tuazon. Lucap Blvd. City of Alaminos, Pangasinan. PHONE: 639289838393

Manila's slums

Free housing, free electricity and no taxes -- That's how migrants living in Manila's slums live.

No plumbing, little policing and very few jobs also make up the life of squatters living in Manila.

Walking through the streets, I could not help but be drawn to the slum areas. People slept on the streets.

A monument commemorating the colonial tie between Spanish Mexico and the Philippines was obscured by hanging laundry.

Later that day, I was walking along the streets with a Filipino named Michelle who I had met a few hours earlier.

Michelle had graduated from college a year ago with a degree in physics, and was working on passing her exit exams before getting a job.

Unlike many Filipinos, Michelle explained that she wanted to stay in her country rather than work abroad.

In the United States, many Filipino women work as nurses, housekeepers and an assortment of other jobs.

Michelle had dedicated her life to making the Philippines better by becoming a teacher.

As we were walking I noticed a few children sitting on the street. I told her it broke my heart to see the children in the street.

"That is how desperate our situation is here," Michelle told me. She began to tell me of her experience in the slums.

Michelle had been out walking when she saw a little boy who covered in fifth and looked very hungry.

He had asked her for money. She decided to buy him lunch instead.

She explained that buying the lunch was in vain as a group of big boys came and stole the little boy's lunch.

"They beat him," she said. Her eyes were a little glassy.

I asked her what she said.

"Nothing. They were very big," she said.

I could hear the pain in her voice and understood why she could not leave. She cared too much.

Adventuring in the Philippines

I'm currently traveling through the Philippines without an itinerary, taking things as they come.

Manila is large, crowded, insane, but full of incredibly nice people. I've already made several friends.

Now I'm in 100 islands for a day at the beach.

Expect more posts soon. The Internet access is sporadic.

Chinese voices of moderation on Tibet

Conversation bounced around the table, a mix of Mandrin, Cantonese and English at Jashan, an Indian restaurant on Hong Kong Island in SoHo.

Over rounds of mango lassi, a yogurt drink with mango juice, the Chinese mainland students all around me were speaking excitedly in Chinese.

I watched their faces trying to figure out what they were talking about. Then one of the students turned to me and asked,

"Have you heard about the 'heart' China name changes on MSN?"

For me, the most embarrassing part of being an American abroad has to be when a local asks questions about a recent news event -- and I have no idea what they are talking about.

Even though I read the local newspapers, the New York Times online and other news outlets daily, I still miss out on some key events once in awhile.

I replied politely that I did not.

The students informed me (and I confirmed through the South China Morning Post) that overnight millions of Chinese changed their MSN instant messaging names by adding a heart and the word China.

This latest round of nationalism is in response to world-wide protest about the Olympics as the torch circles the world.

I listened as the students around the table, who wished to remain unnamed, debated with the MSN name changes.

One student explained how she argued with her boyfriend because she thought it was silly. While she does not believe in Tibetan independence, she also does not believe in showing nationalism so blatantly.

Another student expressed concern over the name changes. He told me he found the name changes unhelpful.

"The two sides need to listen to one another," he said.

I could not agree more. The entire table discussed how both sides do not understand each other, leading to conflict. (A Chinese student who stood up for moderation at Duke University received death threats recently.)

Heated rhetoric between the Chinese government and what seems to be the rest of the world (Japan criticized China today), has not improved Tibetan human rights. The Chinese are not listening. The west is not listening.

Voices of moderation need to stand up and bring China and the West to the table. Finger pointing through the media is not changing the situation.

* Image taken from MSN China urges users to 'love' Beijing Olympics.

Discovery of the week: Novelist Gao Xingjian

Novelist Gao Xingjian has made "the list."

I have been compiling a post college graduation reading list for all the books I have discovered in the past five years.

Soul Mountain and One Man's Bible are two of his novels that I plan to read.

The 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature novelist, dramatist, literary critic, poet, painter and stage and film director has a fascinating life story. Born in Ganzhou China in the 1940s, he was sent to work in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution.

He has been recognized by the Swedish Academy for his "universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity."

I'm hoping that means he translates well into English.

The next stage: Traveling alone

You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;

I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.

As the peach blossom which flows downstream and is gone into the unknown,

I have a world apart that is not among men.

-Li Po

Li Po, a Chinese poet from the 8th century, captures the beauty of solitude.

I stumbled across this poem while researching a paper on 18th century Chinese and English gardens.

One week from now I will be traveling alone in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). Of the two-and-a-half weeks I will travel, at least five of those days will be spent in solitude.

Finally, I have time to read, to think, to write, to be. No obligations. No deadlines. Just being free of care.

I will venture into the unknown. I will still be "among men" (as Li Po wrote) on my trip. Yet I will be reflecting on life as a college graduate. Yep, I finish my undergraduate education as soon as I hand in three more papers.

Another stage of life is beginning.

(Read more of Li Po's poems here.)

Is the media wrong about Tibet?

AS PRINTED IN THE WHITWORTHIAN:

Unfair, biased, one-sided, sensational, inaccurate.

My mainland Chinese classmates have used those words to depict American (and European) media coverage of the Tibetan riots in March.

As the world erupts in protest over Tibet, I can't help but pause and take a closer look. Read more from Jessica about Tibet here.

My Chinese classmates are not the only ones with a negative view of western media coverage.

During my post-graduate Cross-Cultural Negotiation class two weeks ago, the professor played this You Tube video made by an overseas Chinese student about Tibet:



Some words popped into my head: Nationalistic, amateurish, sensational, inaccurate and unfair. Some of the points I could agree with, but other parts seemed too dramatic.

My classmates had a different reaction. Applause erupted from the classroom when the video ended. Some students even stood up.

As the room quieted, all eyes fell on me – the only non-Chinese student in the class. The professor intervened and asked us to analyze the video.

Almost every student agreed that the video was not only 100 percent true, but very convincing. I tried to put aside my skepticism and listen.

One student stood and explained a point of view I had not heard before:

• Tibet has been part of China for almost a thousand years starting in the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century (when Genghis Khan was conquering the world). Many Chinese point out this is before many nations critical of China were even founded.


• The Tibetan struggle for independence is part of a long separation movement to splinter China.


• The Dalai Lama is a terrorist who threatens the national security of China.


• China spends millions of dollars building Tibet's infrastructure every year.

Even I have to admit that China's influence on Tibet has not been all bad. Before the Chinese intervened during the 1930s, Tibet was a slave society. (Well, slavery was also in China during this time.)

When I told my friends I wanted to travel to Tibet when it opened in May, they warned me to not go. (It turns out it won't be open in time before I return to the Untied States.)

"You might be harmed by the terrorists," one of my friends told me. I was incredulous. Terrorists?

The issue of national security is what legitimates China's brutal crackdown on the riots. In fact, my friends found that China's response was inadequate and should have been harsher.

To me it's clear that both sides do not believe each other. The current rhetoric in western media is not changing China's actions toward Tibet. Instead, the chaos is only creating a larger disconnect. No one is listening to each other.

While I do not believe everything that comes form the mouth of the Chinese media or government, I have come to recognize that even the western media can be unfair to China. I'm not going to spend the rest of this article discrediting Chinese claims about Tibet.

Yes, Tibetans are being treated unfairly. But this is an issue that plagues all of China.

Han Chinese culture, the dominate ethnicity in China, dominates the landscape. All ethnic minorities, including Tibetans, are experiencing a breakdown of culture as mainstream Chinese culture stifles them.

Beijing's policy has been to assimilate non-Han people into Chinese culture. The result is that most of these minorities have lost some of their heritage.

Journalist Edward A. Gargan wrote in his 2002 book "The River’s Tale: A Year on the Mekong":

“Once a year, in the spring, China's rubber stamp parliament allows a few delegates decked out in the colorful costumes of near-extinct ethnic peoples into the Great Hall of the People. Smiles are bountiful, Chinese television cameras hover lovingly over the panoply of diversity, and when the parliament ends its theater, the museum doors, so to speak, close for another year.”

Gargan, who lived in Asia for 20 years, travels though Southwest China, which houses most of China's over 40 different minorities. He chronicles the demise of these distinct cultures due toBeijing's policies.

One mainlander, Michelle, told me that she believes the Chinese government has helped the ethnic people to raise their standard of living. She said she did not know much about these people's culture.

I have found that most Chinese look at the central government's display of ethnic people once a year and assume all is well.

Yet most ethnic minorities standard of living is below the Han Chinese. This disparity in wealth often creates frustration within these communities, just like in Tibet.

To me, Tibet is part of this narrative: The loss of unique cultures through assimilation.

In my eyes, until the world decides to stand up for all of China's ethnic minorities, the media's coverage of Tibet will continue to be incomplete.

Biking in the Hue countryside

Hopping on a bike rented for less than $1 USD, I had no idea where I would end up that day ...

Read more about my bike ride through the Hue countryside here.

Remnants of the war

Last week, Peter from Santa Cruz asked:

Question: Do you see visible damage from the war, or is everything rebuilt? Are there barracks style buildings, etc. left over from that time period?

The answer to your question is both yes and no. The "visible" damage from the war is more discreet. Remnants from that period dot the landscape. These remnants have faded into the background.

Here is a slide show of my trip to the old Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where U.S. bombs rained down constantly starting in 1968 to force the Northern government to peace talks. The government in Hanoi started rebuilding historically important sites, like the DMZ, in 2002.

I only visited two major cities in Vietnam: Saigon* in the south and Hue in central Vietnam.

Saigon has boomed in recent years. The city's bustling congestion and make-shift housing reflect this growth.

Hue (a world heritage site) is the cultural center of Vietnam, hosting the Imperial City where Emperor Bao Dai lived until he abdicated his throne to the Viet Minh in 1949.

In both cities I saw the lingering effects of war.

The airport
When flying into Ho Chi Minh's main airport, the layout reflected a military style air field. The buildings were built low to the ground. Several concrete hangars remained in place, reminding me of the layout of U.S. military bases I have seen in Southern California.

I do not know if those hangars were from the Vietnam War, but they looked old enough.

Agent Orange
I saw disfigured people all over Saigon. People with humps on their backs, mangled arms and other deformities most likely were the sons and daughters of civilians and soldiers exposed to the chemical Agent Orange used by the United States as a defoliant.

At the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, an entire exhibit showed the lasting effects of the war including fetuses with horrible deformities.

Outside of the museum, many old men with missing legs beg on the streets. These men are most likely the victims of mine explosions. Mines still litter the countryside in Vietnam, left over from decades of war.

I saw Vietnamese signs throughout the DMZ zone warning locals to watch out for unexploded munitions and mines. This remains a threat in parts of Vietnam to this day.

Bomb craters
When walking through the Viet Minh tunnels just north of the DMZ zone, our guide pointed out several large craters in the ground. When restoring the tunnels, the government had left some of the craters to show the severity of the bombing.

Other than that area, I did not notice any other remnants. I was told by a local that some damage can still be seen off the main highway in the more rural areas.

The Imperial City
Inside the Imperial City in Hue, the Citadel where the Nguyen dynasty lived until abdicating the throne to Ho Chi Minh in 1949, is undergoing major renovation.

Parts of the city (built in 1802) lay in ruins -- left over from the Tet Offensive in 1968. During the Offensive, the city was mortared and rocketed by the Northern Army.

Parts of the city still lie in ruins, making exploration very interesting.

Have any questions about my trip to Vietnam? Write a comment or send an e-mail to jdavis08@gmail.com. Check back for more photos soon.

*I call Ho Chi Minh Saigon, because that is what all the locals call the city.