Philippines, reflections

November 24, 2025

Boracay Island

I walk along the edge of the harbor. A concrete breakwater slopes down to the water. Sitting in a narrow boat, a man is chipping oysters off it with a hammer and chisel, to sell at the bars along the waterfront in the evening. The distinctive brightly colored boats are everywhere, long and narrow with a sharp uplifted prow. They resemble water beetles when they are moving. Their outriggers touch off disturbance on the surface, like the spidery legs of the beetle as it scoots here and there. Occasionally you see a longer boat paddled by several people on either side with one person standing on the bow counting the rhythm. Viewed from the stern, as the boat reseeds, the paddles give the effect of heaving in and out like an animal breathing hard. It is a dragon boat.

This was the indigenous form of transportation. It has been modified over time with sails and now two stroke engines. This transformation can be seen everywhere, some boats more homemade than others; small, large, green, turquoise or light blue with an awning draped across the poles that used to hold sails and now protect from the hot sun. These are their fishing boats and for many, their homes. The waters are lively with fish. An inviting, dark green, densely curled border of mangroves makes a protective nursery for the fish along the coastlines. It also filters the water and buffers the impact of typhoons. Tourism has become the official activity. But fishing is survival for most of the people. Trying to walk outside of designated tourist areas, beaches, resorts, tours; invites an assault by men with taxis,‘tuk tuks’, and three wheeled trikes. Wherever you want to go, they will take you there. A very small boy came up to me silently, his hand extended, palm up, tiny fingers curled to form a cup for coins. Old women and men follow for blocks holding out trinkets to sell, muttering, supplicating. Anything free is being ingeniously used. Discarded plastic bottles are used to float the bamboo docks. The bottles have been gleaned from the waters and are held in reserve in plastic bags attached to the docks.

Nets of rocks make anchors and used tires attached to the breakwater are stairs to climb up from the boats. A little girl sits on the bow of her boat munching contentedly from a bag of chips, her dad is in the shadow of the awning, resting. It is mid-day and very hot. They watch me walk by. They are witnessing a change they have no control over. Their white sand beaches, scuba diving and snorkeling have brought tourism they could never have imagined. Resorts have come, the environment is transforming into something they don't recognize. Promenades are being built along the waterfront, cruise ships arrive with strange looking people. She and her father will try to fit in, try to survive.

Two children emerge from the neighborhood of houseboats and shanties, a boy and a girl, in uniforms that indicate their parents can afford to send them to school. Other children form groups for like-minded play, all day. They are inventive. A ‘gun’ made of discarded soda cans and a plastic bottle produces a shot that can't be distinguished from the real thing. They understand about survival in a police state.

A little girl walks beside me for a while on her way to school, practicing some of her English on me, not begging. Imitating my use of a scarf as a cape to keep the sun off, she takes off her light jacket and does the same, flapping the sides like wings. As we part I realize I have a hair clip in my pocket that I had bought as a gift for my granddaughter; I hand it to her, she smiles and runs off.

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Chapter Eighteen - Philippines

October 20, 2025

Philippines: Manila

Chapter Seventeen - Taiwan

October 16, 2025

Taiwan September, 2025

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Chapter Sixteen – Japan Part 4

September 26, 2025

Japan Chapter 16, part 4, Looking back

Chapter Fifteen – Japan & S. Korea (8/25)

September 15, 2025

Japan Log, Part 3 General impressions, Japan and Jeju South Korea

Chapter Fourteen – Japan Part 3 (8/25)

September 9, 2025

I went to the Nagasaki Museum of Art. There was a special exhibit there called War in the Eyes of Artists; from Goya to several Nagasaki artists. Though I had deliberately avoided visiting the epicenters of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for reasons I have already expressed, seeing this exhibit at the museum was just as intense. For this log I am going to highlight a display I found most moving. I am including the youtube address where it can be seen and heard. Place address here The display starts with a poem and an illustration. Both commemorate the bombing of Nagasaki. After viewing the illustration and reading the poem you enter a small theater to sit down and watch an animation of the illustration set to music. All the children, adults, animals and Shinto like creatures that are in the illustration (in a huge tree) come to life and move to the rhythm of the music. A male voice sings overall, lyrics that may have to do with the poem, written by singer/songwriter Masaharu Fujiyama and entitled, “Kusunoki; Blown by the 500-year Wind.” The illustration is the work of an artist named Junaida. The lyrics were inspired by the Kusunoki (camphor trees), which survived the atomic bomb.

Chapter Thirteen – Japan Part 2 (7/25)

September 2, 2025

Shizuoka

Chapter Twelve – Japan (8/25)

August 25, 2025

We dock at Hakodate, Japan on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That stands as a singular horror among the many horrors humans commit on each other and Nature and continue to commit to this day. There is no apology possible and unfortunately nothing may have been learned. We still threaten each other with nuclear weapons. No treaty has stopped the building of nuclear bombs. I wonder how the Japanese people keep the memory of this tragedy so that living can continue with some normalcy. Maybe it can be equated to a typhoon or earthquake, like a natural disaster having no morality or intention. It has influenced their imaginations ever since though, revealed in movies like Godzilla and in their Manga. Threatening creatures, imagined power that cannot be controlled or resisted. People can be like a natural disaster to each other. People can also be wonderful. We saw this as we left the city. A small group of dancers appeared on the dock to say goodbye. The dancing they did was so charming and touching. It was a traditional dance, maybe 15 dancers. About 8 people played instruments to accompany them, flutes, drums and other unique percussion. Watching from the top deck of the ship the dancers appear like exotical dolls. Three warriors pantomime their strength, emphasized with elegant gestures of their fans and their golden, brightly tasselled headdresses that bow and flash in opposition. Then the little children emerge, five of them. Their elders position them precisely and they wait for the music to begin. Their tiny movements are sweetly in time as they step then extend their fans to tap the air with it lightly, creating a feeling of certainty and control. Moving to one side with a gliding motion they unfurl their fan, flourish and close it, then glide to the other side and do the same. The dance continues with variations of these movements and some new ones punctuate occasionally. So intent and serious, each tiny performer dressed in elaborate traditional clothing, a magical, miniature display. The dance becomes hypnotic as it continues to the simple rhythms of the drums and flutes repeating and repeating an ancient significance remembered by a few. After they finish, our ship pulls away with several blasts from the horn. The tiny dancers wave goodbye, with their hands crossing again and again in front of their faces, for so long it seems as if they might continue until we are out of sight. Finally we are too far away to hear the children cry out. This experience was fleeting and very moving. A dancing gesture of dignity and friendship. People are not their military, they are not their government. They have to participate in their society but they are first of all human. They want to create understanding beyond language and country.

Chapter Eleven – Alaska Part 2 (7/25)

August 12, 2025

Alaska feels like a different country; not like one of the United States. Maybe its vastness and extreme climate have created this unique presence. People who adapt themselves to living half the year in darkness and half in light, in a lot of cold and rain with magnificent beauty all around, this has an impact. The unique environment of Alaska transforms people. The Tlingit were one of the aboriginal Alaskan groups. They crossed the Bering Strait from Asia, approximately 9,000 years ago. There are also some theories about individuals island-hopping from Polynesia. Both scenarios may be true. Nonetheless, they formed a highly complex social, legal and political structure along with extraordinary creative arts and oral culture. Before European contact their population reached approximately 20,000. Status was based on birth and wealth, creating a hierarchical social structure. There was a noble class (determined through hereditary) followed by medicine men and women, warriors, traders, commoners and slaves. The Clan House was home to three resident classes; nobles, commoners and slaves. The construction of the Clan House was a sacred event involving rituals for the dead. The two ritual groups (moiety) were Raven or Eagle/Wolf, and they were expected to marry outside their group (exogamous). Tlingit followed a matrilineal clan system. Children inherited the clan side of the mother. All rights were through the mother; these include fishing, hunting and gathering places, the use of certain clan symbols, totem designs, house decoration and ceremonial clothing designs. The Clan had spiritual, psychological and medical protection from a medicine man or woman. They were also known to control weather, bring luck, predict the future, expose witches and speak to the dead. They did not cut their hair in order to keep their power strong. Their power would pass to a younger relative when they died.

Chapter Ten – Alaska Part 1 (7/25)

August 4, 2025

Some context for this trip and log. The ship we are traveling on is the Villa Vie Odyssey. It is a small cruise ship with about 300 passengers and 300 crew. We have bought a cabin aboard. My plan is to document one circumnavigation. This will take about 3 and ½ years. So far this has been a record from when we boarded in Barbados, going through the Panama Canal, up the western coast of Mexico over to Hawaii then up the western coast of the United States to Alaska.The following is an account of Alaska. After this we will travel to Japan. Thank you for your interest. I was unprepared for the profound beauty of Alaska. The more you see, the more it astounds. How is it possible that people could hunt seals, foxes, wolves and beavers to extinction, log evergreen trees to bare brown ground - as if a massive electric shaver was used to mow the mountains- that grow back in patches and trails made for giants? Vastness is not endless. The harsh environment, remoteness and beauty did not protect them. Still, how was it possible? Only people caught in a frenzy of commerce could do this. The same frenzy that brought thousands of men with dreams of making fortunes in gold to remote outlands of Alaska. They became insane devourers. Luminous white water rushes from a cleft at the top of the mountain sliding in and out of evergreens to the river below, pinched along the way by grey rocks. This was the land of the Tlingit for at least 10,000 years. Theirs was a highly developed social structure equal to those found in Europe. Spanish contact in 1775 dropped their population by about 80 percent, with typhoid fever, scarlet fever, and measles. The Russian fur trade changed their lives even more. It began after Vitus Bering’s 1747 expedition and “discovery” of the Bering strait. Sea otter pelts were the incentive. Other fur was also sought but sea otter pelts were the most coveted. It is the warmest fur. It has the most hairs per square inch of any animal fur. An adaptation that allows it to live in the extreme environments of Alaska. Unfortunately for the otters its fur can be made into the warmest of coats. By 1799 the fur trade was thriving. It involved the forced labor of the indigenous people. Their local knowledge of the animals and their hunting expertise were essential. This industry brought significant change to the native communities, disease, dependence on trade goods and inter-tribal conflict. Russia traded furs to China and Europe. When competition for pelts and political factors involving Russia affected their ability to continue the trade, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. The US had been pressing westward and getting involved with trapping, fishing, mining, logging and homesteading. In 1867 the US bought Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. In 1788 the US entered the maritime fur trade; sea otter furs for Oriental goods. By 1801 the US controlled the fur trade at its height and Boston was at its center. When a major discovery of gold was made in 1896, Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. Purple mountains are passing by my window as we glide to our next port. I can watch this ‘movie’ before I go to sleep. It stays light till around midnight and never becomes completely dark. The sun is up at 5:00. Locals describe the endless darkness of the winter months as depressing. “What do you do?” “Watch movies, watch TV.” Native people used the long dark Winters to create. The memories of summer beauty and important events, documented in beadwork, carved figures of animals from walrus bone, charms for hats and masks, hand made fur garments beautifully beaded with flowers, leaves and animals, scrimshaw pipes of bone, a crown for a baby beaded and decorated with carvings, two white pom poms hanging from thin leather strips on either side. The intensive summer hunting over, food dried and stored. Time for handwork, music, story telling and conversation. While the mountains and sky silently hover near in all their variety and beauty.