An Indonesian Paradise

From Manila, Bali is about a 4-hour flight south. One of the 17,000 or so islands that make up the archipelago of Indonesia, Bali is by far the island most visited by tourists in that huge country.


In 2002, one of the Bali bombings took place at Paddy's Pub in Kuta. I'm not sure if this is the same place, but it's the same name, and on the same street (Legian Street).




This sign is posted in the public restroom area at a hotel where I stayed on an island known as Gili Trawangan.


Snorkel-trip lunch break, Gili Islands, east of Bali.


Gili Trawangan is an island east of Bali, in the Nusa Tenggara region of Indonesia. It was one of my favorite places I visited during my month of travel in Indonesia. There are no cars on the island, only bicycles, and horses and buggies.

Heating up in the city

I snapped this photo from my apartment the other day. There are a lot of fires in downtown Manila, and during the 8 months I've lived here I've seen three large ones from my apartment building.

On weekday mornings around 5:15 am I look out the window before doing yoga and see the line of Filippinos across the street waiting to get inside the US Embassy. And how long is the current wait for a US visa? According to washingtonpost.com, "For those applying for work visas because of their "extraordinary ability," including high-ranking professors and international business executives, there is virtually no wait time. By contrast, a brother or sister of a U.S. citizen from the Philippines applying for a family-sponsored visa may have been waiting 24 years, as those visas have been oversubscribed..."

The other evening while taking a sunset stroll on Manila's Baywalk I spotted this glue sniffer. I've been seeing more of them lately because they've been doing it right out in public. The following evening I saw a couple of small boys, maybe 8 years old or so, sniffing glue. When I asked them why they like it, one of them smiled at me, showed me his muscles (i.e., his skinny little arms), and said it makes him strong.

Since one of the things I do here in Manila is regularly clean the apartment, I've been a little obsessive about buying these brooms. Not only are they great for sweeping hard to reach places like under the fridge or behind cabinets, they're a work of art as well -- and all for only about $4 apiece.

This past weekend I spent quite a lot of time walking around the neighborhood. I've found that my two favorite places are the Baywalk and Mabini Street, both only a few minutes' walk from where I live.

Aliwan Fiesta

The Aliwan Fiesta took place in Manila this weekend, the 12th year for this 3-day street festival that features a dance competition, beauty pageant, and float parade. Winners of the float competition get about $11,000; $23,000 goes to the winning cultural dance group; while the beauty pageant winner gets about $2,300.

Dissent from the Filipino Left

Obama's upcoming visit to Manila next week has sparked some protests outside the US Embassy. Many Filipinos may love the US, but others are opposed to the US military presence in the Philippines, which was, by the way, a US colony from 1898 to 1946.[photos taken off the internet]

Who loves the USA more than we do?

It's intriguing that, according to a recent survey, Filipinos, Israelis, and Ghanaians have a more favorable view of the US than even Americans themselves:

"The Philippines ranked first in a global survey on the image of the United States (US) worldwide, beating even the US itself when it comes to a favorable view on the American people. According to the 2013 Global Attitudes Project of Pew Research Center in Washington DC, Philippines got an 85 percent score, the highest, when people were asked “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of the US?” Following Philippines are Israel and Ghana both with 83 percent, and the US with 81 percent. Among the highest who had an unfavorable view are Jordan with 85 percent, Egypt with 81 percent, the Palestinian territory with 79 percent, and Pakistan with 72 percent. The 2013 Survey, posted online at http://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/1/, was conducted in 39 countries and interviewed 37,653 respondents."

Rejoice!

Holy Week may be a somber time in the Philippines, but things definitely perk up on Easter. When I woke up at about 6 am on Sunday and looked out the bedroom window there were hundreds of people already at the Baywalk across the street, many of them in the water splashing around. This clearly marks the end of the preceding dark, serious days of Holy Week.

And, a few shots taken while walking around my neighborhood ...