Cebu and Nalusuan Island, Philippines (01/27/2017 - 01/29/2017)

Our second non-Manila trip in the Philippines was shortly after our first - Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, and Nalusuan Island (a small island in between Cebu and Bohol).

We were looking forward to trying the famous Cebuano lechon, as well as seeing some of the most crystal clear waters and untouched marine life in the Philippines (as we were told).  Indeed, the lechon was great (as was the seafood), and the fish were plenty.

One thing we were not prepared for was downtown Cebu itself. Amidst the old Spanish colonial buildings bearing ironic slogans and the huge brand new malls in the distance was some of the most abject poverty I've ever seen in my life. There were small children no older than 2 or 3 yrs old wearing no clothing, bellies distended and bones showing just staying on the main street sidewalks, in the alleyways, and in hiding in the hallways. I had travelled to some pretty depressing places but this took the cake. Obviously no photos.

It was such a contrast to the beauty of what we saw afterwards on the water. Sigh..

There's hope, however, The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, and in fact the world, which will mean more and more will be lifted out of poverty. I only wish their continued growth and progress.

And a quick and dirty compilation of my phone working underwater - sorry for the shaky motion :)

Bohol, Philippines (01/07/2017 - 01/09/2017)

After going back and forth to The Philippines multiple times a year for the past 3 years, we finally made it to a place other than Manila!

I have been fascinated by tarsiers, one of the smallest member of primate family, and had wanted to see them in person.  They are nocturnal, entirely carnivorous (insects), and their eyes are so large that they have to rotate their head as they've lose the ability to move within their sockets.  They were probably made famous by this Ze Frank YouTube video and I had to see them for myself.

Bohol also had a few other notable attractions including the Chocolate Hills (which unfortunately suffered a bit of a collapse due to a recent earthquake, and due to the wrong season, appeared more like matcha chocolate :)), some suspension bridges, nice rivers, and of course, amazing white sand beaches.

And a short video (sorry for the blurring - low light and raining)

Bagan / ပုဂံ, Myanmar (12/29/2016 - 01/02/2017)

We woke up well before dawn to take a slow ride down the Irrawaddy river from Mandalay to Bagan. It was fascinating to see the majority of large structures along the river devoted to worship, with most other structures being small houses in which the mostly rural villagers resided.

There was a quick pitstop at a local village (albeit slightly Potemkin-ish) to get a sense of what rural life is like and of course, buy local crafts and mementos.

After over 12 hours for 170 km or so, we arrived in Bagan, an ancient city famous for its thousands of pagodas and temples, many built over 250 years starting at the turn of the second millennium. Like Angkor Wot, it's fascinating to see how many of these were overgrown with vegetation and lost over time, however not to the same extent as this area was continuously inhabited (thank the Mongols for the first decline).

Here is where we met the most interesting person on our trip - our tour guide was the very first local tour guide in Bagan.  He had studied chemistry and physics in the 1960s, and was working at a local chemical plant during the week, but helped his parents with their stall on the weekends. He would see tourists come to Bagan, led by guides from Yangon who basically made up stories rather than tell the true history.  Frustrated time and time again he began running tours 'to set the record straight'.  It was a real pleasure hearing his stories, not just of Bagan, but of Myanmar, and how it's changed in 60 years - not all the stories were easy to hear, sadly.

We left Myanmar with heavy hearts, but with hope - a large country with a young population, hungry for improving their condition, opening their eyes to the world, and having their first tastes of freedom in decades. I am sure they will catch up in time, especially considering how much investment is flowing into the country to this day. I hope that the leaders will value long term gains and development over short term riches.

Mandalay / မန္တလေး, Myanmar (12/29/2016 - 12/31/2016, 01/03/2017)

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog and apologies for the delay.

I was inspired to go to Myanmar again after an episode of the late Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, given the first time we visited, it was a border town across from Northern Thailand, and not a particularly memorable experience - which in hindsight was to be expected.

Bourdain's experience with the unique local cuisine led me to try a local Burmese restaurant in Singapore were I was not disappointed. As with many other places I've traveled before, it's the food that intrigues me first, and I wanted to taste firsthand what true Burmese food would be like.

We decided to go to Mandalay first, given Silk Air had just started flying there directly, and it was closer to Bagan than Yangon and we were curious about the last royal capital of Myanmar and the city that Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas was named after.

I can't say it was my favourite city - it was as if someone hit the pause button for 60 years, let the dust build, and only recently hit 'resume' - although one could say that about the whole country as well. Many of the roads were still dirt, with a hodgepodge of buildings of various ages and states of disrepair. It was clear that this city was for business, and trade, not for tourism - it's home to one of the world's largest wholesale jade markets, and the royal palace in the middle of the city is somewhat difficult to access (despite being the core attraction of the city), and actually is a small city within a city, actively in use.

The surrounding areas were much nicer - nearby, there was U Bein Bridge, the world's longest teak bridge, and some vast temples, intricately carved of teak, as well as those cast in plaster and ceramics.

What stood out were the people - incredibly nice and helpful, and funny enough, it's the only place in the world where I felt that English proficiency became worse with youth - reason being, as a former colony of Britain, many of the older people grew up speaking English, and this gradually waned with subsequent regimes.  I suspect with Myanmar opening up, there will be very many new English (and Mandarin) speakers.  One other obvious unique point was the use of Thanaka wood pulp as a beauty product, sunscreen, and for good measure, a way to ward off evil spirits - almost all women had their faces painted with it - it's stood the test of time, and many favour it to modern cosmetics.

Back to the food - Burmese food has to be one of the most unique I've tried - the signature ingredient is probably the fermented green tea leaves, and the cuisine appears to borrow a little bit from Thai, Indian and Chinese, yet having its own unique spices and flavours. One thing I found was that the Burmese like a diversity of textures - soft, chewy, and crunchy - in the same dish, which is somewhat polarizing to those who are not used to it. There was a strong emphasis on fresh vegetables and despite the presence of signature stews (mohinga) / stir-fried dishes, I found a higher proportion of dishes were actually salads.