Giant's Causeway at Cobh, Northern Ireland

Stop at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland's only Unesco WHS. Rainy day but fun to see this unusual site and waves crashing on the shore!

Isle of Skye

Some consider it the most romantic island of Scotland, and maybe it is, but kind of windy and cold for that purpose today.

We take a leisurely tour of the perimeter and soak in the landscape.

Peat cutting was a major industry for centuries, was then abandoned as uneconomical but it's been resurrected by demand of peat for whisky.

The tomb of Alexander McQueen is a highlight, the fashion genius rests here.



Royal Dinner for the wedding of Harry and Meghan



Evening "Royal" ball on our chip Queen Victoria :)

Stirling Castle, Scotland

Bits and pieces from our visit to Stirling Castle in Scotland.

Lucky to get (like every day!) forward seats in our bus. They are reserved for disabled tourists but there are never any and we board last so they are available! Pleasant ride to Greenock, the name means "sunny place" Forty-five thousand people, the economy developed on sugar from the Caribbean. This thanks to the 1707 union treaty, grow by trading with British colonies in America avoid French and Spanish pirates further south. 

James Watt from here Britain's oldest dry docks, now build submarine for Australia. Only 2.5% of the people now speak Gaelic.  Scotland issues its own own banknote GBP but sometimes it is not accepted abroad

We hear a story about the local kelpie, a horse/human figure that haunts the lakes of Scotland...

In the evening chat with Axel, our waiter from the Philippines. She's been on this ship for 2 years, before that 9 years on Queen Mary 2, that was her home. Once she had a serious problem with one eye lost sight. Cunard paid all treatment for two years during which he could not work. then took her back on Queen Victoria.

 

Whisky Museum in Dublin, Ireland

What better way to spend a rainy day in Dublin than in the whisky museum?

Notes from a guided tour.

Uisce is the Irish word for water
beatha means of life

book of Kel 1405 first record of the word whiskey, it was then made by monks.

Was the original purpose communion, instead of wine?

Used as perfume, originally from Iran came with with moors to Spain

must be aged at least 3 years by law

Angel share lost to evaporation is about 20% per year, therefore old whiskey expensive: you pay for lost whiskey!

the more you lose to angels the faster whiskey ages

Shibeen illegal distillery in Ireland

Pogee? unaged whisky

malting, germinating by soaking in warm water 3 days, starch changes into sugar

Stop the process by drying with hot air or burning peat to make smoky flavor get grist.

Yeast to transform grist to alcohol, about 12pc beer is the result

Whiskey is distilled beer in a nutshell

In Ireland cìit is allowed to make whiskey at home but not sell or even give away because fear of methanol.

... and also because of tax revenues suffered!

There 8192 illegal stills in Ireland in 1834 , more than ten times more than in Scotland

Triple distillation in Ireland makes for smoother alcohol.

Stills made of copper

Add sulfites as in wine to stabilize

Toasting barrels just 20 seconds or so to get flavor caramel and vanilla from America oak barrels, only use barrels once.

Also continuous still, can get as much alcohol in one week as normal in nine months. Started in 1937 with continuous stills.

Learned to blend now 18 stills up from only 2 before they turned to continuous, more to open soon

no spitting in whisky tasting! must get ending with swallowing
can dilute however, only reason to swirl is to look fancy! no use...

Tasting today:

1. glendalough single grain see photo, double barrel
Smooth

2. powers gold label
malted and raw barley together
started because maltée barley was taxed more traditional
aged in bourbon barrels only
round long

3.the Irishman power reserve
70 pc single malt
spicy

4. Tullamore 12 yo
youngest whisky in bottle is 12yo.
60pc single grain 20pc single malt
smoothness because sulfites lose burn over time.

Just next  to the whiskey museum is the famous Peterson pipe shop, I cannot not go in, and after a good chat with the salespeople who give me a good discount I end up buying two pipes to add to my collection.

End the day with a walk around town looking at some typical architecture.

Cork, Ireland

Took some time to get ashore as they had to check Lifang's passport. As a UK resident and married to an EU national she does not need, and does not have, a Schengen visa, which the cruise staff should know... So we had to wait for a chubby Irish official to board the ship and check the documents of all non-EU passengers and she, of course, smiled and said all is OK and we can go ashore...

Cork is the 2nd largest natural harbor in the world after Sydney, it has a huge 5m tide which requires skill to operate in. The river is navigable 12 miles up to the city of Cork. It was a poor town for a long time, lots of emigrants going from here to the USA.

Now it is doing very well. Ford established its first factory outside the USA here, but now it is Apple Computers which is the largest employer.

20,000 students at university and 25 million euro golf course bought by Chinese investors!

Only 15pc of population speak Irish as main language but all must study in school

Cork means marsh in Gaelic

Main road called Patrick, was a canal, now lamp posts like ship masts

Lots of billboards in every street for and against the upcoming abortion referendum

Interesting fish at a local market!

Start of a new cruise on Queen Victoria

Again on a Cunard ship. As the saying goes, there are mostly newly weds or nearly deads. More of the latter this time, though we definitely belong to the former category.

It is drizzling and quite cold for May at about 10 degrees, hopefully it will change but this is a cruise of the British Isles after all, not the Caribbean isles.

Chat with our Polish maître D, Rafael talk we discuss how Poland has changed and my upcoming book on cold War Poland when I spent several months there.

We are lucky, we get to sit by ourselves at a large and comfortable table. On a cruise it is the safest option, better than being stuck with incompatible diners, but one misses the chance to meet now interesting people. As we did last time, when we made the acquaintance of Peter and Elisabeth. We are still in touch and plan to cruise together again soon.

Train back to Hong Kong and flights to Europe

Morning at home, final packing and tidying up before leaving Guiyang.As usual we have a couple of suitcases full of goodies, mostly food from family farm in Yanjia.

Brunch with family, bamboo shoots pork, water chestnut soup. And fish: a big black from the pond on our terrace! It is quite common for people to keep gold fish and live fish for eating together, in the same pond!

A neighbor gracefully drives us to Chenzhou station in his brand new Honda, which he points out costs twice as much in China as in Japan. Honda has factory here but it is supposed to be producing for export only, so he is not sure where his car, or parts of it, comes from.

He is a banker and has a good life. Happy with the way things are going in China but he says communism can never work. China is still officially pursuing communism but in practice it is successful because it is capitalist.

Chenzhou station is crowded beyond imagination, never seen it so full of people like an egg. And it must have been worse a couple of weeks ago for Chinese New Year's. They estimated that about 600 million people travel across the country to go home, the largest annual migration in the history of the world. No wonder the transportation system is busy.

Can't move around no chance to buy my favorite duck neck snacks from Shenhua. Bags through x-rays, but they don't check any of them.

people are allowed onto platforms in waves as each trains homes in on the station. There is one train every 8 to 10 minutes going either north toward Wuhan and Beijing or south to Guangzhou.

Fast train (over 300kmh) is slightly delayed but no problem we have a good buffer before our flight from Changsha. Once underway, the delay increases somewhat because one passenger sets off the smoke alarm. The driver slows down and two security guards walk up and down the train to catch the smoker. I am not sure what they will do to him or her but after about 10 minutes we resume our normal speed.

At Changsha station an avalanche of people moves to catch a bus or a taxi, or a maglev shuttle to the airport. We choose the bus as there is less to walk and we have large heavy suitcases full of Hunan food!

Just before boarding bus another x-ray machine for our bags, again no one cares to check .

The bus is an old and cranky machine from the bad old times, and a TV screen blasts off some kind of funny talk show at ear-piercing volume. It must be funny because Lifang laughs all the time.

At the airport we have to wait a while to check in but there is no place to sit down as people take up seats with bags, or lie down across three seats and think it is normal. We do not feel like starting an argument and just relax on our suitcases.

After check in we go through yet another x-ray machine no one pays any attention to and then passport control. Our flight to Hong Kong is in the same terminal area as international flights (and flights to Macau and Taiwan). Hong Kong is still a "special" administrative region, with its own borders, police, currency, laws etc. It is supposed to remain so at least until 2047 according to the treaty signed with the UK when the last remnant of the British empire was returned to its motherland.

After which we have another (you guess?) x-ray machine control! This time the do look very carefully and stop me. A guard asks if I am carrying a knife. I replied of course I was not. He asked me to open my trolley and take pretty much everything out. Of course there was no knife but the spine of a box looked like one on their screen. OK I can go.

The lounge of Changsha airport is nothing spectacular, and in fact they have reduced both its size and its offering since my last visit. Just some snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.

Uneventful flight to Hong Kong, where we spend a pleasant hour or so in the Qantas lounge while waiting to connect to our British Airways flight to Brussels. We walk to the gate quite early to board with the first batch of passengers and enjoy a drink or two before take-off.

Here, again, we run into the less than fully prepared staff of British Airways. We're flying to London and connect directly onward to Brussels. They won't let my Chinese wife board the plane because she does not have a Schengen visa. The rule says that she does not need one, because she is a resident of the UK and is with me, her husband, and an EU citizen. She would need one if she were traveling alone (though they usually let her through) but not in my company. It is a rather complicated rule, but it should not be beyond the grasp of people who check passport for a living.

I love a united Europe but they could really make an effort to simplify the rules back there in Brussels. Or just allow anyone who legally lives in Europe to move anywhere else in Europe, whatever the passport. but you would think the employees of a major international airline which fly planeloads of people from every corner of the world would familiarize themselves with it. No, they did not. For the third time in a little over a year we are held for some 30 minutes while the staff makes phone calls and scrambles to read manuals. I googled the relevant EU rule on the internet in less than 10 seconds and showed it to them, and finally we were allowed on board.

One more trip to Asia is over, though every time it feels less and less like a trip and more of a home coming. A long night on our BA flight and we'll be in Europe. BA is on a downhill slope when it comes to quality. Service on the plane, while friendly, is less meticulous and attentive than it used to be.

Getting ready to leave Guiyang

Easy day at home, mostly packing and enjoying a late lunch with family. Today we ate fish, but only later I realized two of the black fish that were cooked with spring onion, garlic and chili were from the pond we have in our terrace. I like the idea: you can have pet fish in a tank, but at some point you eat them. The cycle of life continues.

Cherry blossoms in Guiyang, Hunan

After a lazy morning and lunch at home, we decide to take a short trip in the late afternoon. We take a taxi (a "Didi", the local company that bought the Chinese Uber operation) and drive about 10 minutes to see the famous cherry trees in bloom. It is February, rather early for any flowers, and it is cold, but somehow the cherry trees blossom in Hunan!

There are actually two orchards, one is free and for the other one we would need to buy a ticket that costs 40 Yuan. The ticketed one is more crowded, maybe it is better?, but the taxi driver told us it is not necessarily more beautiful, and in fact he had seen that most of the flowers had already fallen to the ground. So we decide to go to the free one.

The driver can only go so far, not really all the way to the garden. We have a choice: walk or take a motorbike taxi. As it is already a bit late in the afternoon, we chose the latter option. Someone with a bike offers to take us the few hundred meters that separate us from the orchard for 5 Rmb.

Once we reach the area we are getting close to sunset but the warm pre-sunset light is very useful to take some good photos. Only a few dozen people are left, and the local hawkers of drinks and snacks are beginning to pack up.

As I snap away at the flowers and take some portraits of my wife, I notice a girl wearing an eye-catching white and blue costume who is posing for her girlfriend. She also has a veil she lets lose in the wind while the other girl takes photos with her phone.

It is now getting dark, not enough light for more flower pictures, but we take a walk toward the town's mine. The dig out lead and silver from here. The mine is still partly in operation but has a section that is open for tourists. It is too late now but we'll come another time.

On the way, an interesting poster with the thoughts of Xi Jinping, sharing his wisdom with passerbys.

Socialism core values

people have faith, nation has hope, country has power

wealth, democracy, civilization, harmony,   

freedom, equality, fairness, justice

patriotism, professionalism, honesty, kindness

Chinese president's thought

Longish walk back home, about 1 hour. On the way I looked at a wine shop, China is now the 6th largest producer of wine and the middle class wants ever more good wines. This one though sells mostly distilled products. Most wines are red, which the Chinese consume in much larger quantities than whites. Some bottles are Chinese and a few French. A couple of Italian bottles from Tuscany and Venetia. Most wines are priced between 80 and 250 Rmb.

Dinner at home. As we're about to finish dinner the neighbors come in for a visit. Their little one and my niece Cindy play together quite often, even once kissed on the lips before they reached 2 years of age!

Leiyang to Guiyang by bus

After some more trying to get two train tickets (no chance) and some trepidation at the thought of spending the rest of our Chinese New Year holiday here, we manage to get two tickets on a bus home, to Guiyang, where family is waiting for us.

The bus too is fully booked, but we get two seats in the back.

Three men board and take seats without tickets, when collector asks for tickets they say they could not buy them because they were sold out. They  argue, they want to go home. Then three more passengers with tickets board but can't find any seats because they've been taken by the three men. A long argument ensues then finally the three men leave.

Very noisy trip, people suck their drinks loudly, a car-sick girl vomits no one cleans up.

Meanwhile, it's been raining all day long.

We pass through some old villages. Old houses with pagoda roofs quite charming though need restoration.

New housing on the other hand mostly has with flat roof, just boxes of brick and mortar, no character but popular because can dry fruit on top . good for farmers who move to town but still grow crops in village plots.

Once at the Guiyang coach station we find a Didi (Chinese Uber) taxi driver who is rude and unhelpful. He does not move from his seat and keeps smoking while we load and unload heavy suitcases. But anyway we are home!

It is 4pm or so by the time we get to the apartment, and it is very cold. Hunan houses don't have a central heating system but many (including ours) have electric systems but people don't turn them on. In the evening it's 11 degrees inside, essentially the same temperature as outside.

Wedding in Leiyang

We get picked up early for a pre-wedding ceremony in the groom's village, about half an hour away. Here we meet his relatives and assist to a small ceremony in the paternal house.

They tell us how the husband went to the house of bride to take her with him and left a chicken as a symbolic form of gratitude to her family for having brought her up!

On a simple wooden table in the middle of the main room of the paternal house, we are offered tea, peanuts and cigarettes.

All around are many old houses with clay tiles, wooden beams and wood floors.Some are being demolished for new ones with flat roofing and cement bricks. More functional if less charming.

Back in town we see a rather large Christian church next to a Buddhist temple. We get our shoes cleaned  by a happy lady (one of many) who is working on the sidewalk with a little stool, a chair for her clients, brushes and polish. She is happy, smiling and works fast and very well!

 

We are told that this town of Leiyang also hosts the biggest cement factory in Hunan and a huge coal power plant they are very proud of! Also a shoe factory, not to mention a gold mine: 20 percent of china's gold is extracted in Hunan.

At the reception, people come and give envelopes at a table by the entrance where each envelope is opened and the money counted, then most of them just eat and go away, unabashedly taking leftovers with them! The meal is scrumptious as expected, local cuisine, moderately spicy. The bride and groom spend some time at the different tables, and at the end they come to ours. They are exhausted, but finally can relax a bit and eat their lunch!

We later take a walk around the Western Lake park with a large pond and bridges by the western lake middle road. Lots of children running around, many elderly men play card and mahjong. One lady is screaming obsessively at her son for who knows what reason, then starts to hit him. Lifang tries to calm her down but she tells her to mind her own business!

There is a beggar with broken feet, he says to my wife he was a construction worker but fell from the 3rd floor of a building and broke both his feet. He says he gets 200 rmb a month from government, just enough to pay rent for a room. Then has to beg for a living, moves around on a small sled with 4 little wheels and pushes himself forward with two broken metal pipes.

My impression is that it is not easy to be a beggar in China, it is not a compassionate culture if you can generalize about 1.5bn people. His pot is almost empty. I am thinking of London where beggars get much better treatment from passersby but a better comparison is India where (again difficult to generalize) people give more easily in the streets. Quite often I've seen people who look poor give to those who are poorer. In China apparently a lot of beggars are fake, they pretend to be sick or handicapped.

In the end we manage to buy tickets at coach station to go to Guiyang tomorrow, no chance for train, but better than walking!

Changsha to Leiyang

Amazing buffet at the Changsha Intercontinental hotel, eastern and western, hot and cold, sweet and savory, chopsticks and forks and knives and spoon, it is a real celebration.

Some of the highlights: I was first attracted by the local cold noodles, roughly grated with a special tool from a big boulder of dough. You then add spices and bits and pieces of veggies and meats. Also interesting the hot soup with veggies, pork, mushrooms, taylor-made for each of us by a dedicated chef.

After breakfast the real challenge of the day awaits us: find tickets to Leiyang for the wedding ceremony of Carrie, one of our best Chinese friends, but no seats were available to purchase online as usual. It is still the Chinese new year rush, with over half a billion people moving around the country to spend the holidays at home. We went to the station and tried our luck at the ticket office, but no way.

We were then approached by some scalpers who wanted 300 Rmb, not for tickets but as a fee to smuggle us on a train then we could then, supposedly, buy standing tickets. However I have never seen anyone standing on the fast train we need, and the slow train would take way too long, maybe up to 4 hours as opposed to 1. The whole thing is fishy, we give up.

We're stuck! My wife then remembers that there is an alternative: get bus tickets instead. We manage to catch the last bus to Chenzhou at 5:30pm, but must pay for the whole ride to Chenzhou even if we plan to get off at Leiyang. Actually at a highway station which is the stopover for Leiyang-bound passengers. But that's the way it is and we're lucky to be able to get (close) to our destination! Carrie's husband and his brother (who owns a car) will come and pick us up. Very kind for someone who's getting married tomorrow!

Meanwhile great buffet (40 Rmb pp) with unlimited food and beer at a restaurant by the gas station. Tons of meat (great), fish (so so) and veggies (again great). Beer is a local brand, kind of light, but tasty. No fresh fruit however. I loved the chicken paws and the pork belly. Also black fungus with quail eggs was juicy and inviting.

Gas station buffet, Hunan

Chinese New Year parade in Hong Kong

Traditional parade organized every year in Hong Kong for the Chinese (Lunar) New Year.

Alaskan crab in Hong Kong

Easy day of relaxing at the W hotel pool overlooking the city and some walking around.

Dinner at the Star Seafood restaurant on busy Nathan Road, there are only locals, obviously not yet discovered by the big guidebook publishers. I was here a few years ago by myself and tried to order their signature Alaskan crab, but they refused to serve me because it was too big!

We can not choose our own crab from large tanks which are prominently located at the ground level by the sidewalk. Each crab has a price tag attached to one of its claws.

A waiter grabs one for us and takes it to the table where he holds it up high for our final approval before dispatching it to the kitchen.

It comes back a while later on a large serving dish, piping hot and with all the shell and claws cracked open for us to enjoy the delicate meat inside.

It is a noisy restaurant, not really ideal for a romantic dinner with my wife but the crab is amazing and the price does not break the bank.

The head waiter advises us not to order anything else as this large animal (well over 1kg with the shell ) will be more than enough to sate our appetite. he was right.

When we ask for the bill he points out to my wife that it's CNY and so he expects a red packet from us, ie a significant tip!

Hong Kong New Year preparations and flower market on Valentine's Day

Visit a new year market with lots of flowers, food and a couple of musical shows. Huge crowds! The flow of the masses of people is channeled so that everyone is going in a one-way direction around the portion of Victoria's Garden at Causeway bay which is dedicated to the fair. It would be impossible to have everyone move at random, freely, there are just too many of us. Those in the middle of the human river can't even see stands on either side!

In the middle of it all there was a theatre with a sequence of shows: singers illusionist, some free snack are offered to the crowd.

For street food, Hong Kong is rightly famous and today is no exception. We can stand in a fast-moving line at one of many howker stands and buy some quail eggs on a skewer for me and a pot of beef noodles for my wife. No meat, no meal!

While we are munching away, waiting for a show to start, a charming lady in her seventies comes to talk to us. She speaks good English and says her slight American accent is due to the fact she lived in Massachusetts for a few years. Her brothers went to MIT, my classmates! Then they decided to come back to Hong Kong. She is happy about her choice, this is home, but is worried about the future of the Special Administrative Region. A dilemma many Hongkongers face after the return of the British colony to China in 1997. As usual, the British left their old possession in a mess, just like India.

Filipino helpers are mostly sticking to themselves, there are so many here in Hong Kong, they are let in pretty easily to help out in the homes of the middle class. It is paradoxical but it is easier for a Filipino to come and work here than for a Chinese!

Dinner at one of the thousands of "hole in the wall" eateries of Hong Kong, this we found by chance as it was the only one still open at 11pm, excellent pork noodles. We sat at a cramped table along a narrow corridor and were joined by a talkative local lady. She is an ethnic Chinese but actually comes from Canada and is a regular here, she assures us we have been lucky to find this place by chance as it is one of the best "holes in the wall" around. She complained about mainland Chinese who come in droves and empty shelves of whatever it is they can't find in China. Baby formula is a constant. I don't really understand: why is it so difficult to procure more baby formula? If there is demand, local shops should be able to just order more from international suppliers and let the Chinese buy as much as they want.

Christians in Hong Kong.



Very dense crowd!

Asian Civilization Museum and Night Safari of Singapore

Today culture and nature. The Asian civilizations Museum of Singapore is a well-organized center of the celebration of art from the whole continent. Well-run guided tour with a volunteer guide.

Interesting fountain in Singapore

The day ends at the famous night safari, for which Singapore is famous. There is a long line, I think we waited almost an hour to get in, but it is worth the wait. After paying for the ticket you are driven on a small train to the zoo itself and start walking along the cages. All kinds of animals from around the world are shown here. It is my first (and probably last) time to see a leopard up close!

We were the last ones out, the guards politely waited for us and escorted us to see the last exhibits on the way to the exit.

Xi'an easy visit and catching up

Late start for our first day visiting the town. We met Fang at our hotel and went to the old city walls. Today is spent mostly chatting and catching up with her, not really visiting the city. We reminisce about our time in London, and she tells us about her adjustment to her own home town, her job, her family.

You can walk all around it, but it would take a couple of hours at least, maybe more if you do not rush. I wish we had started earlier. Anyway, we have a good idea of the impressive fortifications of the ancient Chinese capital.

Most interesting museum, I am especially attracted to the gold statuettes. 

I remember when I came here in 1998 and the staff at the museum shop sold me a painting of Mulan. They wanted 1000 dollars, and I refused to even start a negotiation. Then, as I was making my way to the exit, they came after me and asked how much I was willing to pay. I hesitated, I said I could not make a reasonable offer. They insisted. They just wanted me to come up with a number. So I said "100 dollars", as the euro did not exist yet. And they said, faster than the blinking of an eye, "OK, it's yours". I always wondered about the provenance of that painting, which came with its own certificate but never knew and never will know more.

Dinner with street food in Muslim street, so many more tourists compared to 19 years ago. Lots of different food, especially lamb and seafood, notably grilled squid and crabs. Obviously not pork, it is still a Muslim street after all.

Lovely freshly squeezed juices of pomegranate, sugar cane, I prefer coconut.

Sesquicentennial of Canadian independence 1867 - 2017

Today walkaround in central Ottawa for the SESQUICENTENNIAL (150 years) of the "repatriation" of the Canadian constitution. Kind of a national day of independence, from the UK of course.

 

Everything is red and white, with many flags flying the distinctive maple 🍁 leaf. Bruce is proud of his flag because it is distinctive of its country, flags should be unique and immediately associated with the idea of the country they represent, a symbol. I agree, Italy's red white green is the same trio of colors used by many countries, kind of boring.

PM Justin Trudeau makes a bilingual speech.

My main takeaway is that Canada is not a melting pot like it big southern neighbor. Each culture of its constituent peoples remains distinct, each Canadian keep his or her identity which being part of the national society.

Yesterday we celebrated with our Ottawan friends, who organized a great garden party for the occasion. A whole pig on the spit, good wines and croquet for all in a lush garden. What a civilized way to celebrate!

Leave Hong Kong to Bohol, Philippines

Sorry to leave our nice hotel. It's early in the morning we got to catch a 07:50 flight and the fabulous Airport Express is not running early enough. So we need a taxi and get a brand new electric Tesla. Beautiful, quiet, and of course not polluting the Hong Kong air, which is often on the brink of health limits. In part, this is because of factories on the Chinese side, but traffic, air-conditioning and so much more energy consumption in Hong Kong itself play a part.

As we drive past the Kowloon station I notice a lot of roadworks, and I ask our driver. He says they are building a new high-speed train station that will connect with the Shenzhen station just on the other side of the border and offer a seamless superfast connection with Beijing. One more way that Hong Kong is becoming more and more integrated with the mainland.

To fly to the Philippines you need to check-in at Terminal 2, but there are no gates there. After check-in, you can walk to Terminal 1, about ten minutes, or take a shuttle which takes virtually no time.

The Hong Kong airport is my favorite in the world. Bright, spacious, beautiful, full of great shopping and food, efficient. Of course, free and fast wifi everywhere.

After an uneventful flight to Manila, we have to wait a few hours for our connection to Bohol. Manila airport is a bit chaotic but we find a nice bench outside, it's a sunny day and wifi is free. Time goes by relatively fast before we are called in to board a Philippines Air flight. It's OK, nothing to write home about.

When we arrive in Bohol it's raining, not a good start. But it's warm and our driver has a comfy car with cool water and A/C, so the two-hour ride to our resort is bearable. Before setting off we stop at a large shopping mall near the airport to get some cash from an ATM, it would be our last chance here.

Seafood soup

By about 7:00pm we reach our resort, Amun Ini, in Anda, on the eastern side of Bohol. We are tired and hungry. After leaving our stuff in the room we head to the restaurant, a beautiful terrace overlooking the resort's garden and pool. Food is plentiful land varied, and it will be for the rest of our stay.

Massage and electric treatment

Today Ouyang takes us to his favorite Spa for a session of massage and hot tub bath. To get there, I ride on his motorbike while my wife rents a moto-taxi. None of us has any helmet, in keeping with local practice. I am not sure if I am more scared of hurting my head or making my cold worse. In the end everything goes smoothly.

It is a great couple of hours. He knows this town very well, he says he does not like to travel and spends some time every day taking care of his body at various salons. He is in his mid-forties and looks a good ten years younger. He has a membership card with many and the staff clearly know him very well as a regular.

Two minute Chinese ladies perform a powerful and very professional massage in a dimly lit room. Massage sessions alternate with dips in a very hot tub filled with water and herbs. A thin sheet of plastic is laid on the tub's surface before it is filled up with steaming water, ensuring proper hygiene. We get nice slippers and disposable undies, as well as soft towels. Quite a break compared to the chilly weather outside. At the end, we are served herbal tea in the waiting room, and Ouyang joins us for a chat with the owner, a lady she knows well for being a regular. Our two masseuses stand by. I can only speak to them with the help of translation, but I want to make sure they know I really enjoyed their treatment and look forward to coming back soon.

Electric practitioner diplomas and Chairman Mao

Traditional Chinese herbs

We then go to a practitioner who Ouyang says can treat my cold. Upon arrival I am offered a potion of tea and herbs to drink. He then performs a kind of electric treatment by gently rubbing my back with his hands while electricity flows through his body. He can adjust power with a pedal. It is a bit uncomfortable at first but then I get used to it.

My muscles contract when he revs up the current. All of this lasts about 45 minutes. More herbal tea is served at the end.



As we leave the practice, I feel a bit shaken up by the electricity, but overall I do feel better. My cold is still there, we'll see the results later.

Street vendor of fruits and veggies

Just outside a lady with balancing baskets on her shoulders approaches. We buy some from her, she is quite friendly and the prices are good, so says my wife. It is a pleasure to find these sellers in a day and age where supermarkets (which I think do have a role to play, so convenient!) seem about to take over even in smaller Chinese towns like this.