Happy Lunar New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!
This Chinese New Year we had the pleasure of celebrating it in Taipei, Taiwan. Here are some photos I took during the celebrations:

Year of the rat! On the first day of the Lunar New Year Aimee and I went to visit an old famous temple in Taipei called Lung-Shan Temple. This rat was sitting outside the entrance.

When we arrived it was obvious we weren't the only ones who decided to visit the temple this day. There were long line ups to get inside.

We got in line and slowly shuffled our way closer through the front doorway. The air was thick with incense smoke. It was actually pretty difficult to breath at times.



This video shows the crowds and smoke in the temple.

Once inside I noticed hundreds of people were moving around and briefly stopping with their incense to pray at various points all over the temple. Because of the huge crowds, I found myself being lead by the masses of bodies to these various points because it was difficult to move away from the main direction people were going. Most people in the crowd were holding the incense well above their heads so they wouldn't burn people in the crowd. This may work for most people but for me I found myself dodging these incense sticks because above their heads is my eye level. Hundreds of sticks in incense threatening to poke out my eyes! Thankfully my eyes are safe and my clothing ended up with no burn marks.

Lighting the incense sticks.

This fire container was used to burn the incense sticks once people were finished with them.

At night we went to a different temple. It was much smaller but it had its own unique character.

At night the lanterns were an amazing site.

Who's this Canadian-Pinoy-Boy celebrating Chinese new year?

Yeah, I know I already included a photo of some lanterns but I figured since everywhere I turned I ended up seeing lanterns you might as well see more than one photo of them. See, it's amazing site!

I never really thought of neon as something you could mix with religion. I always thought of neon lights as things you see in bars and restaurants. But when you mix blue neon lights with larger than life statues decked out in red patterned clothing you end up with something nothing short of a religious experience. The sites, the smells and the buzzing sound of neon oddly brings you closer to God. Or at least the feeling of God.

Fireworks! They were everywhere!

We even had some!
These sparklers were fine, but unfortunately some of our other fireworks were faulty. Our group bought a standard roman candle type of firework. It had three feet on the bottom which allowed it to stand on the ground. The roman candle worked well enough but it was one of the feet that had an issue. You see, once the flames of colour started shooting out the top one of the feet broke and the whole roman candle tipped over. Out shot colourful fireballs into ... crowds of people! Yes people. Like World War III our firework was blasting fireballs into the crowded street. People were screaming. People were shocked. People more angry and yelling at us... Especially this one woman. Boy was she pissed! I'm glad I didn't understand enough Mandarin to know what she was saying because I'm sure it wasn't polite. I'm sure she wasn't invited us out for tea. I'm sure she wasn't congratulating us on our fine show of fireworks. I'm sure she wasn't asking us to be the Godparents of her next batch of children. She was rage incarnate. After a while she calmed down and we all went off in our merry way.

Next time we'll stick with the sparklers.

Canadian Soil

Today I was in Canada!
Or to be more precise, today I was on Canadian soil.
I went to the Canadian embassy in Manila to renew my passport.
Walking into the embassy felt like walking into any government building in Canada. There were Canadian flags everywhere! There were posters on the walls (in English and French) talking about various information about Canada, and there were video screens showing beauty shots from every Province. Interestingly enough, 'every Province' usually seems to mean BC, Alberta, Ottawa, Ontario, and PEI. I saw video showing the mountains and lush forests of BC, the wheat fields of Alberta, the government landmarks of Ottawa, the amazing sites of Niagara Falls in Ontario, and various shots of lighthouses in PEI. I didn't see anything from Quebec, Manitoba or the remaining Provinces. And nothing from the Territories. Doesn't poor misunderstood Nunavut Territory deserve some respect? At least show a shot of an Eskimo (or Inuit if you prefer). Maybe I'm just being picky because I used to edit tourism videos for Canada. And after a while, my trademark became always adding an eskimo into the mix. This trademark became difficult to fulfill once I started editing tourist videos for Vancouver. You'd be hard pressed to locate an eskimo in Vancouver; even when the weather gets really cold! But enough about my anal viewpoint of tourism videos, back to the embassy!
I brought my PSP with me so I could occupy my time while I waited. Bad idea, I should have brought a book. All electronics were temporarily confiscated at the door. So once inside, I was forced to read the supplied Canadian propaganda pamphlets. While I sat there I was serenaded by the beautiful sounds of Loreena McKennitt. A good relaxing choice for a Canadian embassy's waiting room music. I probably would have gone postal with Celine Dion or Anne Murray. There's nothing more embarrassing than being thrown out of your country's embassy because you start attacking people with propaganda pamphlets. So I waited, and I listened. The number being displayed on the screen was 2001. My number was 2005. Numbers 2001, 2002, and 2003 ended up being old, fat white guys needing to get legal documents that will allow them to marry their young, skinny Filipino girlfriends. I guess I shouldn't be too critical of them. 4 years ago I too was sitting in the embassy needing to get legal documents to marry my young, skinny Filipino girlfriend. The only difference in my case is I'm not old and fat (unless I'm in denial). Getting this legal documentation is pretty easy. So 2001 to 2003 were in and out of the counselor's office pretty quickly. 2004 has some issues because she kept leaving the office (which got me excited because I assumed I was next) and then immediately running back in. She did this at least 4 times. Finally it was 2005, meaning me! Success! Passport will be ready on March 8th.
Thank you Canada!
I only wish they were handing out maple syrup and poutine at the door to make it a real Canadian experience!

Sex Sells

Sex sells.

It's proven.

Stick an attractive model or actress (or actor for that matter) with your product and you will sell more.

Works wonderfully.

But here in the Philippines the chosen products are just a little bit weirder.

Using sex to sell cup noodles? Corned beef? Spam? FLOUR???

Just weird.

Look at the photo below:

Need a closer look? Okay, here you go...

Now I'm not much of a chicken eater but somehow this ad isn't making me rush out and eat more chicken. Isn't this kind of disgusting? I've always thought how attractive girls look so much more sexy when there's a huge chunk of meat hanging from their lips.

Slap on the bbq sauce baby because this meal is getting sexy!

Hobbit House

In a couple of months Aimee and I will be moving out of Aimee's parent's house and into a condo we're having built here. A few days ago we had the pleasure of inspecting the progress of the construction. When we walked in and started looking around there was something nagging me in the back of my mind. I couldn't quite put my finger on what the issue was but my brain was telling me there was something wrong. What was it? What in the world was bothering me? I walked into the the kitchen, then the bedrooms, and then the bathrooms. Once I walked into our master bedroom's bathroom that nagging feeling finally surfaced. Everything in the condo is built for someone with an average Filipino stature. All the counter tops are about 2 inches shorter than what I'm used to in Canada. And this includes the toilet in our master bedroom's bathroom. Imagine a toilet that can't just sit down on. It's so low you have to carefully lower yourself down on to. If you're not careful, you'll lose your balance and fall in! In the kitchen the hood fan in built above the stove at a height where a shorter person can reach up and turn it on. For me, it's lower than my eye level. I stood in front of it and it blocked my view of the stove. If I can't see the stove how am I suppose to cook? All the counters require me to bend down lower than normal and I'm sure this is going to be murder on my lower back eventually. Some of these issues will be altered (like the toilet and hood fan) and some will remain the day we move in. I was just surprised that construction blueprints are altered different from country to country depending on the average height of its citizens. There are tall Filipinos, I've seen them. So I don't know what they think about this hobbit house construction. So, the next time you see me I might be permanently stuck in a stooped over position because of all the bending I need to do!

Ooooh my poor aching back!

Guards

Guards are everywhere. You see them guarding everything. They guard bookstores, coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants, malls, office buildings, and obviously banks. And they ALL have GUNS! The size of the gun seems to directly relate to the responsibility of the place he (or she for that matter) is guarding. The guards that guard places like Starbucks have an average size gun. A pistol. I guess this is just in case some tries to steal a coffee. The guards guarding banks on the other hand have HUGE guns. Massive pump-action shotguns. Huge bullets for those bank robbers!

When I had my first trip to the Philippines back in 2001 I was actually a little freaked out by all the guards. It really makes you feel less safe about a country when there's more guards. At least for me. You see, no guards tells me the streets are safe and no guards are necessary. On the other hand, LOTS of guards tells me this is one dangerous country. The guards are really needed. Guards guarding malls even check you to see if you're smuggling in guns and bombs at the entrance. How is this suppose to make a tourist feel safe?

Time passed and after I ventured to the Philippines several times I started to think differently about the guards. The guards are the friendly faces that greet you everywhere. They open doors for you, they give you directions when needed, and they'll always, always wish you well with a 'good morning sir', 'good afternoon sir', or a 'good evening sir'. They're not guards, they're like Wal-Mart greeters! Wal-Mart greeters with GUNS!

I don't know if the guns have ever been used to shoot someone but I'm not about to steal a coffee and find out!

Seatbelts

The relationship people have with seatbelts here in the Philippines is quite different than what I'm used to in Canada. In Canada wearing seatbelts is not only the law it's also something that's force-fed into our brains from an early age.

'Wearing a seatbelt is necessary for your safety.'
'If you don't wear you're seatbelt you'll DIE!!'

Since we're given this teaching at an early age the first thing we do when we get in the car is attached our seatbelts. Both in the front and the backseats. And that's before the car engine is even running! You open your car door, get in, buckle up in your seatbelt, start the engine, then drive.

This is Canada.

Now let's talk about the Philippines.

It's also the law to wear seatbelts in the Philippines. But of the 10 people I asked no one seems to know if it's the law for both the front and back seats. No one here wears seatbelts in the backseat. NO ONE I know. My observation is people here are consciously aware they're wearing a seatbelt. They wear it and they hate it. They hate it so much they look for any opportunity to take it off. Here's an example: we have a driver in the family that takes us places. He will only put on his seatbelt when it's absolutely necessary. By 'necessary' I mean when it's possible a police may see him and give him a ticket. He only wears his seatbelt on main roads. Once we turn onto a side street the seatbelt immediately comes off. And I mean IMMEDIATELY. He turns the corner onto the side street and CLICK off comes the seatbelt. The reason I find this amusing is because when I'm in a car driving I'm not even aware I have my seatbelt fastened. I click it on and it stays on. I forget it's there. Our driver (and others I've seen actually) knows it's there and dammit, he wants it off. He treats it like a rabid dog biting into his waist. Sadly I'm falling into this Filipino seatbeat philosophy. I never wear my seatbelt in the backseat anymore. Oh what will become of good old law-biding Kenn?

10,000 Buddhas Monastery, Hong Kong

During our last trip to Hong Kong Aimee and I visited the Monastery of Ten Thousand Buddhas. I was perplexed by the name at first; I wondered "are there really 10,000 Buddhas at this Monastery? Surely such a thing isn't possible?" Well, I discovered IT IS possible. Here's a little history lesson about the Monastery:

Built in 1957 by Reverend Yuet Kai and his disciples, the Monastery of Ten Thousand Buddhas took eight years to complete. It took an additional ten years to make the 10,000 plus gold plated ceramic Buddha statues that adorn the interior walls.

Getting to the Monastery is either extremely hard or easy depending on your point of view (and current fitness health). To reach the top you need to follow a path of 400 steps.

The path starts at this very simple and unattractive sign. Somehow, in my mind, a pylon with a sign stapled to it isn't the best way to advertise a Monastery. But ugly sign or not we ventured on.

Once you reach the main path you're greeted by thousands of Buddhas. No, these aren't the 10,000 Buddhas, those are at the top. These statues are life-sized, painted gold, and every one of them has a distinctive appearance. It's really quite amazing actually. Thousands of statues that all look different. All have different poses and expressions. Some are carrying props, some aren't. I found myself stopping every couple feet to take photos of the different ones I saw. Aimee's goal was to get to the top of the 400 steps as quickly as possible. My fascination with the statues meant I would spend several minutes taking several photos of the Buddhas only to realize I lost Aimee and would have to run after her. It was tiring, but rewarding. This photo here shows how the path was organized. Buddhas sitting on both sides. Watch the video below (bad quality and all!) for a better viewpoint of the path.



400 steps of pure excitement!

Here are some photos of my favorite Buddhas. I say the word 'favorite' loosely. It's impossible to pay attention to all of the thousands of statues and pin-point which ones are my favorite. When I say 'favorite' let's just say these are the random ones I happened to notice and took pictures of. Random or not, some of them are pretty interesting to look at. Here's a photo of my buddy, his elephant, and me!

Rows upon rows of Buddhas. The one in the foreground looks pretty relaxed doesn't he?

This one ... ah, um, yeah ... not quite sure what's going on here... moving on.

"Good morning Mr. Frog"

"Good morning to you too my jolly Buddha friend"

After a hard day of praying at the Monastery there's nothing more relaxing than to sit down on a nice comfortable ... peacock.

This guy looks like he just swallowed a bug. I like how his little dragon friend has the same expression.

I like the peaceful nature of this one.

Once your travels of the 400 steps has ended and you reach the top, you're rewarded with this beautiful courtyard. There are two levels to the Monastery; this is the first. The lower level is made up of a pagoda, two pavilions and a tower.

Looking down the center of the courtyard.

Here's a closer look of the pagoda. To get a sense of the tower's size, remember the statues are all life-sized. The pictures below are various photos taken around the lower level.

This is an exterior shot of one of the pavilons, a temple.

Inside the temple are thousands of miniture gold-plated Buddhas statues (10,000!!).

Here is a closer shot of the miniture Buddhas.

Also in the temple is the embalmed corpse of Reverend Yuet Kai (the monk who founded the monastery), covered in gold. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which of these three statues is Rev. Yuet Kai.

Leaving the lower level and starting my walk up to the upper level, the first thing I notice are the statues are now painted in brightly lit colours.

Like the golden Buddha statues leading up from the bottom these statues are placed on both sides of the path. Only 100 steps this time!

The upper level houses four large temples and a wide assortment of statues.

One of the temples, The Amita Buddha Temple, with its 45-feet tall gold-plated Amitas Buddha is the most visited tourist attraction at the Monastery.

The Amita Buddha is quite an impressive site. I wish I had a picture of me standing beside it so you can experience the massive size but unfortunately I was the only tourist up there and Aimee stayed on the lower level. No picture of me and Buddha, so sadly, Buddha had to pose alone.

Sometimes I find myself thinking thoughts that other people may or may not think. My thoughts while walking those 400 steps and passing all those gold painted Buddhas was, "who keeps these statues so clean and the gold paint so vibrant?". Well, my questions were answered: THIS GUY! From the moment we got to the top I noticed this guy adding another coat of gold paint to the statues. Aimee and I stayed at the Monastery for about 45 minutes and during that time this guy painted only two statues. Imagine being this guy and your sole job was to paint and repaint Buddha statues all day? THOUSANDS of Buddha statues? I wonder if he goes home every night seeing golden spots in his eyes?

Don't Drink The Water

"Don't Drink The Water"

That's what they always say. Who are they? Well, everyone really. They tell you every time you travel to not drink the water. Especially in certain countries. The Philippines, unfortunately, is one of those countries.

"Don't drink the water", "Stay away from the water", "Don't brush your teeth with the water", "Don't go close to the water", "Drink bottled water - NOT tap water", "Don't have the ice that's WATER!", "HEY YOU, STOP DRINKING THE DAMN WATER!!!"

Well, I don't know how it happened; maybe since I've lived in the Philippines for so long I've gotten relaxed about the whole thing. Maybe I've gotten sloppy. But eariler this week I did the most evil of evil things: I drank the water. Now, I won't go into the disgusting, painful and messy details of my water drinking endeavor but I will say this: these last three days are 3 days I've lost forever. I'll never get those days back. One glass of water was one powerful potion of evil. I've lost 3 days, you could lose more ... so the next time someone tells you not to drink the water: BLOODY WELL LISTEN.

Okay, that's my rant for the day; you can get back to your lives...





And oh, by the way...

...Don't drink the water!

Macau

On our way back to the Philippines from our Vancouver Christmas holiday we stopped off in Hong Kong. We were flying a new airline called Oasis Hong Kong. Although they call it a 'budget airline' Aimee and I were actually impressed. 'Budget' generally means 'cheap price' because there's 'no food' and 'no frills' but in the case of Oasis, the price is cheaper than most international airlines but you still get the food and comfort. As a passenger you even get your own personal TV to watch. Not even Philippine Airlines offers that and they charge so much more. The only real downside to Oasis is they have very limited flight destinations: Hong Kong, London and Vancouver only. So to get all the way back to the Philippines we had to purchase a Hong Kong to Manila ticket from another airline. Even so, it ended up being cheaper than flying Philippine Airlines direct from Vancouver to Manila.

Since we were in Hong Kong we decide to visit some of the family we have living there. Our Aunts offered to take us to Macau for the day. Macau is an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong.

The Macau Special Administrative Region, commonly known as Macau or Macao, is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the north and facing the South China Sea in the east and south. The territory has thriving industries such as textiles, electronics and toys, and a notable tourist industry that boasts a wide range of hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and casinos.

Macau was both the oldest and the last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on December 20, 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defence and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy, and delegates to international organisations and events.

I've been to Macau once before several years ago. If you're looking to add more stamps to your passport a day in Macau is an easy way to accomplish this. When you enter Hong Kong you get a stamp. When you leave Hong Kong to board the ferry to Macau to get an exit stamp from Hong Kong. When you arrive in Macau you receive an entry stamp for Macau. Once your day is complete in Macau, you go through immigration and get a Macau exit stamp. Obviously, once you arrive back on Hong Kong land you get another entry stamp. Wow! One day, a possible 5 stamps! All for an hour ferry ride!

When Aimee and I were last in Macau several years back we joined a bus tour that took us around to all the main sites. Macau is an interesting combination of Chinese and Portuguese architecture and culture. The last time we were there though, there was really only one or two main casinos to go to. Now, with the Amercian investers coming in, Macau is starting to look like the Las Vegas of Asia. 'Starting to look like'?? IT IS the Las Vegas of Asia!! Like Vegas Macau has an MGM Grand casino as well as The Venetian. I've been to The Venetian in Vegas and this one in Macau looks indentical. It's almost as if they've used the same blue prints.

We stayed in Macau for several hours. During that time we gambled, lost money, ate dinner (Portuguese food), then travelled back to Hong Kong.

After a few more days in Hong Kong we hopped on a plane, and now, we're back in the Philippines. The blog is Pinoy once again!

One of many of the Portuguese-styled street in Macau.

Another example of European-style architecture. It's easy to forget you're standing in China and not Portugal.

Me and my Macau Clan. Or maybe I should call us The Macau Gambling Clan?

Christmas Day 2007

I'm finally blogging about our Christmas Day!

Aimee and I hosted Christmas Day dinner this year (and last year for that matter) at our house in Richmond. We cooked most of the food but our family brought some too. It was a great day. It was the first time in years that all of my Grandfather's kids (my mom and her siblings) were together for Christmas. It was also the first time ever (that I can remember) that we had a white Christmas. I define 'white Christmas' when it's actually snowing outside on Christmas Day. Obviously, since this was Vancouver, it started to rain later on in the evening but at least we had a little snow! Here are a few photos taken throughout the evening.

Every year we not only celebrate Christmas but we celebrate my Grandfather's birthday. When I was younger I used to get confused why we were opening Christmas gifts but all the elders of the family where singing 'Happy Birthday'. For years I thought my family were insane until I realized it's possible to have Christmas and a bithday fall on the same day. This photo shows my Grandpa with his birthday cake as well as my niece. If you think my niece's expression is that of a little girl about to scream her head off in tears you're probably right. You see, my niece also has a birthday in December so as soon as December arrives every year she just assumes every cake she sees is hers. So when my Grandpa blew out the candles she freaked. I guess she felt she was getting robbed of the birthday cake candle blowing experience. But like most kids, did she stay mad long....?

She stayed mad for maybe 20 seconds. As you can tell by this photo her moods change rather quickly.

I stole this photo from my brother-in-law's blog. All smiles on Christmas day!

Here's Aimee and our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We did have a larger tree in the other room but for some odd reason I only took this photo. Maybe this is why I'm not a wedding photographer; I'll probably forget to take pictures of the bride and groom.

Here we have my niece and my cousin.

And finally, the only other photo I took that night: my Uncle, Aunt, Mom and Dad. I think the total lack of photos is due to the fact Aimee and I were playing hosts. We spent so much time playing the role of good hosts that there really wasn't any time for picture taking. Oh wait, I did take one other photo...

This is the saddest photo ever! This is the photo I took after all our guests left. Christmas Day 2007 is officially over! It's even more depressing that our guests weren't curdious enough to close our gate. How rude! As payback I'll give them less rum in their eggnog next Christmas!

Happy 2008 Blog Buddies!