MORE TO COME…
1776
DC and Peter appear in CCCT’s Ripcord Contra Costa Civic Theatre, El Cerrito November 16–December 9, 2018
42nd
Peter appears in Altarena Playhouse’s’ production of Clybourne Park Altarena Playhouse October 5–November 2018 CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Nightingale…
DC appears in 42nd Street Moon’s production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Gateway Theatre, SF October 3–21, 2018 CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Adieu… adieu… To yieu and yieu and yieu.
As our Great Asian Journey comes to a close, it’s time to look back and take stock. food So much of this trip was about food. We knows our food. (I’m refraining from saying, “We’re Foodies” here, but we’re Foodies.) On this go-round, we’ve had the sublime, the ridiculous, the downright nasty, and the unforgettably delicious. A note about individual …
Beaches and Bullshit
Hi! DC Here. Okay, we didn’t laze away ALL our time. For example, we visited a Kona coffee plantation. Mountain Thunder Coffee. (Doesn’t it just make you expect a Disneyland ride narrated by a kee-razy Old Prospector? “Uh-oh! Looks like I sentchee down the wrong mineshaft. Ya better HOOOLD OOON!!!!”) It was really fun. And there was free coffee! Here’s …
Mo Bettah.
You may have received the impression from the Oahu post that we had little better to do than eat and shop (other than visit Pearl Harbor). That is true. Had our visit to Hawai’i stopped at Honolulu, we would have had NO IDEA. Twenty minutes after landing on the Big Island, we were seeing this: And we, in turn, looked …
Stateside!
Hi! It’s both of us from here on in… So what’s the first thing we did in after arriving in Hawai’i? Went to see The Adventures of Tin Tin. If that seems an unlikely choice of activity, you know, being in sunny Hawaii and choosing to sit inside watching an animated tow-headed journalist run around with his dog, it was …
Continued…
The Great Saga continues in Hawai’i! XOXO, PB
Where Else Should One Partake…
The name Raffles is an important one in the history of Singapore. Stamford Raffles arrived in the early 19th Century and, within a few years, procured Singapore for the British East India Company. This was accomplished, as with many colonialist maneuvers during this era, through political intrigue and buyouts and bribes. Young Stamford Raffles then set about developing the free …
Food and Flowahs
So the fried chicken and fries (complete with wasabi mayonnaise…mmmm) were delicious, but we could not deny ourselves the quintessential Singapore experience—the hawker stalls. After a wonderful day at the zoo, we proceeded to the Maxwell Food Centre. These food centers (also called hawker stalls, sometimes food lofts…they have lots of different names) feature a vast array of different street …
Sing… Singapore… Sing out loud… Sing out MORE
Singapore and Bangkok could not be more different. One is a chocolate chip cookie and the other is sorbet…both have their merits, but they suit different moods. But suggesting that Singapore is sorbet does not mean it is cool and refreshing; it is hot, hot, hot! It is a humid, equatorial heat. Like the crotch of a volleyball team captain …
Continued…
The Blog Goes On… in Singapore. Pete has boldly declared that he’ll continue the blogging, so you may not hear my voice for awhile. I call that Blessed Relief, eh? But I’ll be editing the photos as before, and I may pop back in from time to time. Maybe in Hawai’i. We’ll talk soon. XOX, DC
Auld Lang Thai.
Our final day in Bangkok brought us a singular experience. Saturday (New Year’s Eve) was our only weekend day in Bangkok, and the Chatuchak Weekend Market seemed to be on everyone’s list of Must-Do things in Bangkok. Shop? Well, if you insist. Bangkok’s full of markets. Floating Markets, Wholesale Markets, Night Markets, what have you. Thousands of stalls with thousands …
Get on the Bus…
Okay. Motor coach tours. I think we’ve all had to endure at least one. Like childhood diseases. Bus Tour=Chicken Pox. I think it’s just part of traveling. A bunch of tourists band together and brave the wilds of foreigner-land en masse (except that they don’t really like each other). The last motor coach tour that Pete and I were on …
Continued…
The trip continues in Bangkok. XOX, DC
Shall We Dance?
Have I mentioned that I love Bangkok? Something about that city raised my confidence level considerably. Or maybe it’s just a spirit of exploration that I haven’t been stirred by since I was doing the semester abroad thing in college. We’d been guided around the Philippines and most of the trip was old family and friends, so there was really …
Bangkok! Oriental setting…
…and the city don’t know what the city is getting… If you’re at all a musical theater person (or if you spent any time dancing in the 1980s), then Murray Head will be singing in your ear the entire time you’re in this city. “One Night in Bangkok” is one of the curses that Westerners have placed on this town. …
Comfort and Joy.
Christmas Day: back to Tiwi. The same traffic conditions apply. It’s just crazy. And we’re hurtling along in the little van we rented (with driver). And occasionally, the roads have been washed out by mudslide. Reunion, Part Two: The Departed A stop before Tiwi. Mom visits the graves of her parents, which she’s never seen before. Tiwi’s graveyard has a …
The road home.
Mom’s home province, Albay, is a beautiful place. A seriously beautiful place. Not pretty, but beautiful. It’s dominated, as I said by Mount Mayon (“My own,” Not “Mae On”), the “most perfectly symmetrical volcano in the world.” That has always sounded to me like a Tourism Board grasping at straws for a superlative, but it’s true: Mayon is the perfectly-drawn …
Still waiting…
Just arrived in Bangkok and haven’t yet had a chance to write. So… what’s waiting without hold music, right? Here’s something you’re sure to like. XOX, DC
While We’re Waiting…
Big Long Christmas post to come. In the meantime, we wish you Merry Christmas in the best way we know how: Hilarious Hotel Shorty Bathrobes: XOX, DC
Krismas Balikbayan
Yesterday we left the Shangri La to travel to my mother’s home province of Albay for Christmas with the family. Albay is on the Bikol peninsula, and the dominant language here is Bikol. (The rules of Taglish still apply, though: “#!%@^ @!^ #&*&! blood sugar testing #$!%”) In the Philippines, a homecoming is called a balikbayan. The people making the …
Admission, please.
Okay. Time to come clean. Admission #1: I’m a Bad Son. Well, tonight, anyway. We’re supposed to be at a party tonight with my mother and a bunch of her fellow alumni, but we bowed out. I don’t know if it’s jetlag or a case of White Man’s Tummy or what. But we relinquished mom to the good care of …
The Ladies Who Lunch
Well, here (as at home) I don’t seem to be able to sleep past 4am. Yesterday, we spent time with the women of the Protacio family, old friends and benefactors of my mother from her early days in Manila. The family runs, among other things, a hospital. Which happens to be next door to a hotel they also run. “Come …
Magic to Do
So, with this long evening going on, you’d think they’d try to keep the program short, right? Leave the rest of the evening for the attendees to socialize with long-lost friends. Right? Wrong. There was lots of entertainment. And that entertainment consisted chiefly of various graduating classes performing choreographed routines. Which really begs only one reaction: Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis? Middle-aged medical …
The Main Event
Okay… I know this is all a lot to digest, and it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet. Like I said, Blog=ZZZZZ. But this first day in Manila is really what the trip was all about, so it merits going on about, don’t you think? Yeah, I thought you’d agree. Okay, so we’re in the Jose Rizal Ballroom of the …
Putting it Together
Okay, so it’s yesterday afternoon, and it’s time for mom’s salon experience. It is, I believe, written into the Philippine constitution that all Women Of A Certain Age must have Hair Above A Certain Height. You can check that if you like. Get back to me. So, mom hits the salon. She gets the hair. Check! PLUS, she gets makeup. …
Mabuhay!
It’s about 6am Manila time, and Peter is happily snoring in the bed behind me. Naturally, I’m screwing about on the computer, seeing if I can set up this blog for family and friends to follow this crazy adventure. This is new. To paraphrase Catherine Tate, “Who, dear? Blog, dear? Us, dear? NO, dear…” But what the hell… First of …
Oh no. They blogged.
Hi! Well, Tremendo’s on tour! Okay, we’re not on tour. But we’re touring. We thought that since we’re making this Great Asian Trek, we’d use this webspace to post photos, videos, experiences, etc. It’s a blog. So… I know… ZZZZZZ. But we’ll try to keep it zippy. Since it’s in story form, latest posts will come last. If you’re checking …
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Please note that because of the verbosity of these posts, we’ve subdivided the Asian Adventure into subcategories. Click on Tremendo Oriento 2011 in the menu above and you’ll find subsections based on Country!