Six Years Old!

I think there is great relief that the siege of Bangkok is over and that there is  the prospect of normal life  resuming. Concerns remain, however, about how The Redshirts will show their heads next time as they must do inevitably. This situation is by no means over.

I do believe the final trashing of Bangkok has done grave damage to the standing of The Redshirts. In short they have lost all credibility. I am prepared to concede that they had done astonishingly well in capturing international support and a very generous and sympathetic reception from the international meejia. For me it is straightforward: they always were a front for Thaksin Shinawatra and basically I am not prepared to give them any credibility because of that. We need to rid our politics of corruption. Sure there are huge structural issues facing Thailand and many other countries but I am not sure that thieves and crooks are best placed to initiate the necessary programmes of reform.

If we were to move to another country close to my heart, The Philippines, I have heard a number of people say that any politician who takes on the small group of interests which controls The Philippines, will be assassinated. And boy, the Philippines needs restructuring and levelling out more than any other place I have visited with the exception of Myanmar.

Enough, I am a visitor here, an alien to be precise! It is none of my business! Let me just say I enjoy living here, I like the general approach to most things, I like the people, I like Buddhism, and I wouldn't want political upheaval to threaten my future here. In short I don't want to have to move somewhere else, especially back to the UK of that unholy and unspeakable alliance!

We are now back to work and Benedict has started attending a nursery. I have to say I am pleased Ben is  doing this and he does not appear to be suffering. No reports of tears and crying fits. He does pick up germs and bugs and that is our only concern. He's been running a temperature over the last 24 hours with some diarrhoea but he seems to be coming through it. He has top teeth, he's got plenty of sounds, almost walking......an unbelievable story of growth and development and he just gives me hours of happiness. He's not perfect......he broke Luna's mobile phone and mummy is not best pleased!

I have been able to start playing golf again due to a timetable change. I have agreed to teach some classes on a Saturday and I get Monday off in lieu. I leapt at this opportunity and so I am getting into golf shape again.

I am happy to say all is well and for those of you in the know I celebrate my sixth birthday on Wednesday 26th May ...... yeah 51 going on 6. Thanks for the love and support.

Blood

How sad that there is bloodshed and loss of life in Bangkok as it appears that the government is trying to end the Red Shirt protest. What the protests have meant is that the economic life of Bangkok has come to a grinding halt. I don't understand the Reds' stated aim of democracy and the ensuing damage their action has caused to the economy. Is big business and retail opposed to democracy? Clearly not but they are paying a huge price. I hasten to add that much as I like shopping in Siam Paragon I am no fan of big business!

I feel sad for genuine Red shirts and I have no doubt that there are many present in Bangkok with the noblest of intentions. But say the Red shirts succeed and out goes the current Prime Minister and we have a snap election and in comes a Thaksin front which no doubt will immediately pardon their man......what will happen then? I don't think this will happen but if it does I have no doubt we will see more bloodshed than we have seen to date. Thaksin has a well documented track record of using extra-judicial killing to eliminate people who are perceived as  a danger. It's not just that Thaksin has sticky fingers, he's the real deal, a genuine recidivist and he has no problems about using terror.

So this is a very sad situation and I hope the government resolves it with a minimum of bloodshed. I have to say that where we live in Ratchaburi it is business as usual, life goes on, though people are paying close attention to events in Bangkok. I get a sense here that the locals have very little support for the Red Shirts: they don't regard the Red Shirts as real Thais as most of them have their roots in the North-East, in Isaan. Some feel the government should have acted much more decisively at an earlier stage.

Here is a picture of Mr Surin and his durian pitch in Ratchaburi. This guy works hard!

Benedict aka Daeng

Our little boy started at nursery yesterday morning. As with most things he took it all in his stride and when we came to pick him up at midday Benedict was sound asleep. Hadn't so much as shed a tear. He has an official nickname, Daeng, which means "Red"in Thai. I calculate the cost of this nursery care is 3% of our income, ( 6 days a week from 07:30h to 17:00h). Now, back home in Blighty people pay 50% + of their income for this type of service. Another reason why we are not likely to be moving any time soon.

Benedict stood upright unaided and unsupported for 5 seconds yesterday and it is inevitable that his first steps are imminent. He is in great form recently passing the 10 month mark.

There are many other reasons why we like it here in Thailand. It is the durian season: smells of hell, tastes of heaven. If you travelled in Asia you might have seen the signs forbidding it in aircraft and hotels. Large prickly fruit. In fact it will do you a major mischief if it falls on you. I think it is absolutely scrummy and eat it most days.

I am back at work in our new school building. Too early to say but I have agreed to teach on Saturdays and have Monday as a day off. This means I can start playing golf again.

The political situation here appears to be settling down which is welcome. I am also watching the UK news featuring the new Conservative/ Lib-Dem alliance. I am amazed they think they can get it together. What do I know!? 

Looks like we might see big rain here today as it is very cloudy and windy. It remains around the 40º C mark, very, very hot.

These Days....

I went into Bangkok on Thursday to meet a friend and everything seemed to be peaceful, suggesting a return to normal. Sadly two police officers were then killed Friday night and once more the peace, so to speak, is a delicate one.

Back in Blighty the mother of parliaments hasn't managed to create a new government following Thursday's general election. I suspect we are going to see Gordon Brown's enforced resignation followed by a Labour-Liberal Democrat-Nationalist-Green-Alliance government. I feel sorry for Gordon Brown and I have no doubt that many see this as an opportunity to settle old scores with him. The media are suggesting that the pressure is on to make some sort of announcement today before the world markets start trading Monday.

Here it is baking hot around 40º C which is the hottest temperature I have ever lived in. As I write the temperature at 20:00h is 32.5º C! We are living in the bedroom with fans and A/C, and I am still sweating as is Benedict. Yesterday I went bird watching at a nearby reservoir which covers a fairly large area of land: there has been an amazing loss of water over the last 4 weeks. We badly need rain which is forecast as the rainy season's arrival is imminent. Let's hope it comes this week otherwise we will have serious problems.

I am back to work tomorrow but fortunately no students for this week. So I can get organised this week and ready for children next week. I must say I have had a pleasant and very welcome break.

The British General Election

Thanks to the BBC and by virtue of being 6 hours ahead of the UK together with still being on holiday, we are enjoying great coverage of the cattle trading prior to the formation of the next British government. I remember 1974 when Britain last had a hung parliament though my memories are more of the personalities than their policies..... Ted Heath, Harold Wilson & Jeremy Thorpe. I must add that here in Thailand it is baking hot and the mercury today in Ratchaburi tipped 38º C, that is over 100º Fahrenheit. I managed to play golf this morning and it became uncomfortably hot and sticky as we progressed.

Back to the UK election, I don't think anyone really knows what is going to happen. The incumbent Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has impressed me. Clearly Labour support rallied in the final days of the campaign because he wasn't supposed to be still in the game at this stage of proceedings. I must confess to being a fan and a Labour supporter. I support the level playing field that Labour advocates in respect of health and education: no one should be disadvantaged on either count.

I find it hard to believe that the Liberal Democrats will throw their lot in with The Conservatives. They are hardly happy bedfellows and I cannot see The Conservatives agreeing to electoral reform. Whatever it is fascinating political theatre and it is fantastic to have it piped into my air-conditioned bedroom. Who really knows where this is going.

Back Home In Thailand

Great to be back home and to be able to sleep in our own bed. I don't think I have ever had an easier or quicker passage through the airport or in crossing Bangkok to get home. We got a cab home and I have to say the driver was great and the price was right.

Our final night in Manila was characterised by the refusal of most taxi drivers to use the meter so
the choices were either stay in, walk, use jeepneys or pay. We ended up staying in Parañaque City and I don't think jeepneys or walking were options so I decided to pay but had a lot of fun. Some driver would give me a price, say three hundred pesos to drive you round the corner, and I would say : what about five hundred? The driver would look confused, so I would say : ok six hundred then? They would smile and I would say : ok seven hundred at which they would open the door and I would turn away from the car pointing my finger at my rear. Pretty pathetic on my part really but shame on the hack drivers of Manila.

Of course being home means a huge variety of fruit, spicy food, abundant ice and ready cold drinks all at cheap cost. Yesterday I ate durian, mangostein, mango,and pomelo. Neither our electricity nor our water has been turned off since we got here! Good uninterrupted internet connection too! More importantly what a joy to return to find our home and car untouched and not really to have to give too much consideration to our personal safety.

This morning we dined on stewed pork leg and rice, served with a beautiful stock sauce and a clear soup. Heavenly, delicious and cheap. Served with a smile and no special price. Benedict is running about creating havoc pulling out DVDs and books. Nice for him to be able to play with his toys.

I should add that I saw a chiropractor in Manila who sorted out my spine. Very expensive but very effective! It's a bit like paying someone to thump you but it works and other than a little local tenderness my pain has gone.  So much so that I am thinking of playing golf tomorrow.

Good to be back though I want to say I really enjoyed The Philippines and will definitely be back for more.

The Philippines: Part 3: Cebu & Bacolod City

Be Resort and Mactan Island from the wharf

I am not really sure why we stopped off in Cebu but I am glad we did as I was able to meet up with some friends and I also managed a short visit to the bird sanctuary on Olongo Island. As usual our dealings with taxi drivers and others were very unpleasant but here I learned that "Put the fucking meter on!" works fine! We stayed at Be Resort on Mactan Island, next to the Hilton, a very nice hotel but over  twice our normal budget. Other than robbery I am not sure I understand the logic of a taxi driver who says that there will be no customers over there so he proposes to dispense with the meter and charge us three times the normal rate. I told this guy he was in the wrong job! I mean why do they have meters!?

The tricycle taxis on Olongo were trying to charge 120 baht from the ferry to the bird sanctuary, about 7 kms. I apologised for being white, explained there was nothing I could do about it and said I would happily go back to Mactan Island and nobody would earn a peso from me.

Here you have the real problems of developing the Philippine tourist sector. Some of the people tourists are mostly likely to encounter and deal with are often crooked and dishonest. For me it has been the biggest downer of the whole trip.

Anyhow I had a lovely ride down to Boljoon on the south east coast of Cebu and met up with some buddies and we had a fine meal in a German owned restaurant. Cebu looks beautiful and worthy of serious attention. Easy access to Bacolod by air and good links to other locations. Must say I didn't really spend any time in Cebu City.

We hopped over to Bacolod on Thursday morning landing at the new airport and met Luna's father, Boy, her sister Nenen and nephews Jason, John and Paolo. The new airport is operational now and what a difference it makes. Our passage to Sum Ag, Luna's home, was much easier and they have surface the road.

On Friday we went to Nenen's wedding. An interesting ceremony to say the least with the Honourable Judge who presided over the gig telling us what a wonderful institution a civil wedding was in The Philippines because unlike in other jurisdictions only a man and a woman could get married. He was very proud of the fact that in the Philippines a man and man or a woman and a woman could not get married! So homophobia is alive and well in the institutions of this country!

Benedict and his lolo and cousins

Alas I am suffering from some excruciating lower lumber pain and I can only walk with great difficulty. Don't ask me what happened but I have had to cancel my plans and have been holed up in the hotel. It is very comfortable however and the staff are really great. If you ever visit Bacolod stay at the Circle Inn, it really is outstanding. We stayed at another pension with no water and power outages, a friendly cockroach or two and no service. The Circle Inn has everything including a little swimming pool and is clean and tidy and comes in at 20 PHP cheaper at 980 PHP. Highly recommended. The back ache explains why the blog has been updated. Let me assure you I am in real pain here!

The Philippines: Part 2: Palawan

The view from our room in Taytay

In the end it was good to leave the insanity that is Manila behind us and Monday 19^th April we flew in the afternoon to Puerta Princesa in Palawan. This is the long strip of large islands that make the Philippine archipelago's western boundary. Cebu Pacific Air are decidedly unfriendly to small kids. We had a run-in with them while checking in our baggage which was 1.4 kg over the allowed 30 kg for 2 persons. Benedict actually pays a small fee to sit on our laps but is not entitled to any baggage allowance! So we had to lose 1 kg at check-in which we did by transferring some books to our hand baggage. Seemed a rather pointless and silly exercise and surely some one should have seen we had a small child, who inevitably requires additional items and really left the matter there.

I was down because an intended trip to Candaba Marsh to watch birds had fallen through first thing that morning and my planned trip the previous day to Mt Palay-Palay had also been cancelled.

Palawan comes with a growing reputation as a tourist destination: it is a beautiful, largely undeveloped, wilderness surrounded by beautiful turquoise water and white sand. Its main claim to fame, however, is the hostage crisis in 2001 when 20 tourists were taken hostage from a very fancy resort, five of whom and and about 20 Philippine soldiers were subsequently killed as the crisis spiralled out of control. Not exactly what successful tourism needs.

Well it was just fine and dandy to be out of Manila and to be away from its disappointments. We met up with Tonette at the airport and took a tricycle taxi from the airport to our lodgings, the rather disappointing and expensive One Rovers Place. Anyhow it was a pit stop for the night and it was opposite Kinabuch’s Bar & Grill which I highly recommend to you. Not only is the food, including crocodile steaks, excellent but the company also is fine; we bumped into Roy, an English expat, and his family who we subsequently met up with on a couple of occasions during our stay in Palawan.

Roy and many of the locals confirm that Puerto Princesa  has grown out of all proportion over the last few years. I don’t know, it struck me as still a pleasant, laid back and relaxing place. Charming when compared with Manila. We also met up with a couple of fellow teachers from Ratchaburi, Gladys and Joseph. Gladys is a local. Always good to get local advice.

Tricycle taxis in Taytay

We headed north by shuttle bus the following morning to Taytay. Shuttle bus means an air conditioned minivan. It took about 6 hours with a lunch break. What a drive! The final third was over a road many parts of which were under construction or repair. It was very dusty. I can tell you however that Palawan is a spectacular scenic sort of place and Taytay is a dreamlike, restful place, surrounded by hills and facing a beautiful bay. It really is out of the way and it does not have an ATM nor an internet cafe. We are told this will change soon as massive development is about to begin. 

We stayed for two nights at the Casa Rosa Resort, beautiful cottages, with great views over the bay. Some would be developpers were staying at the resort and I understand they were trying to buy a 500 hectare site. I don't know: I somehow think these types of developments are very perilous as I believe there is a limit to the number of tourists who will visit the Philippines and the basic problem is the tourist experience in this country still leaves much to be desired. I hope this changes because I reckon the Philippines has much to offer, probably even more so than Thailand.

A little boy gets ready in Taytay

I had a great day's birding on nearby Lake Danao, the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines.Read all about it at botab.blogspot.com. (Not yet published!).

This area has a real frontier feel to it and getting about is far from easy. However it really is worth the effort.

The non-A/C bus to El Nido

We then headed south to Puerto Princesa and took the 2:00 pm jeepney to Sabang which is the staging post for Palawan's most famous tourist attraction, the underground river at St Paul's National Park. We had the misfortune, however, to stay in the most awful accommodation. My advice is avoid Green Forest Resort in Sabang at all costs and avoid the people who work there: they will overcharge you for everything. Moreover the rooms are dreadful: electric outages and no running water. They do deliver very cold water from a spring to your room but they tell you this after you have paid your money and really the rooms are not worth 1,100 PHP per night. They attempted to charge us a further 300 PHP for overnight electricity! There is a lady working there who is the fixer - I ended up paying a 100 PHP per kilogramme for laundry when you can get it done in Puerto Princesa for 20 PHP and we were charged 1,000 PHP for an early boat to the park: I suspect 200 - 400 PHP would have been nearer the mark. I am still laughing at the memory of Luna asking her if she could do 1,000 PHP per night. We should have paid about 400 PHP maximum for the room. The resort may well be popular with bird watchers but let me assure you better value and quality is available elsewhere in town. Avoid like the plague!

In fact this resort is a perfect example of why tourist developments are so perilous in this country. This place really should be closed. It doesn't offer a service and exists simply to mug unsuspecting tourists. Unfortunately there are many places like this in the Philippines where it sadly appears that the only objective is to get as much money in as short a period of time as possible. Hopefully the growing volume of critical appraisal, opinion and comment afforded by the internet will expedite the closure of such places

Benedict all aboard for Sabang

Inside the Jeepney

Sabang itself is very beautiful opening out onto the South China Sea with a very pleasant beach which becomes progressively more deserted; beautiful turquoise sea. Highly recommended and there are some fancy hotels on the sea front no doubt with fancy prices but also there are cheap bungalows available too.The best thing here is the food, especially the fish. You can buy fresh whole fish cheaply and then have your hotel cook it for you.

A deserted beach at Sabang

I enjoyed my trip to the underground river but I must say it was nothing spectacular. It has a great billing but it is not The Grand Canyon or The Pyramids. Let me say it is all efficiently organised and safe. However I enjoyed the birds in the park more  and I enjoyed the walk back to Sabang via the jungle. It was hard, hot graft but the reward was being able to strip off and jump into the sea above.

Entrance to underground river

Our trip to Sabang will for ever be associated with the trials and tribulations we endured at Green Forest Resort. I left feeling angry and resentful but as I write just over a week later I am laughing. The truth is I learn so much from these negative experiences so in some respects I must be grateful!

We headed back to Puerto by jeepney and met up with Roy and his family for a gentle evening of food and conversation. Very pleasant indeed with a night in Remari Pension which also houses a caged crested serpent eagle and a blue naped parrot. How sad! The problem is these birds are now consigned to a life in captivity: free them they will be killed by predators because caging them and feeding them means they lose their animal instinct.

Sunday I headed on my own to Narra, south of Puerto for some birding. I have to say this trip fully restored my faith in the Philippines. I was charged the going rate for everything including a 15 PHP tricycle taxi fare. I was forewarned about Abu Sayyef terrorists but all I encountered was happy fishing people and smiling kids. Most of the adults appeared to be somewhat the worse for wear due to the local gin! I stayed in AR Pension where I was charged 600 PHP for a room with uninterrupted electricity, a TV, aircon, a fridge and a hot shower. Wow!

local fishermen taking great interest in my telescope

Back to Puerto Monday and in the evening we met up once more with Roy and his family for dinner at Kinabuch's. Tuesday we flew in the morning to Cebu with Cebu Pacific Airways. Good bye Palawan but I will be back, I hope. This place has much to offer.