...and time just flies

It's been almost a month and despite not having updated the blog, I have kept notes in my little pocket book of things I wanted to delve into. Time is running.... fast and furious. I am nearing the end of my 1st leg of the trip...I'll be flying out to Ibiza for August and then celebrating my 30th birthday on Septemebr 14th. PHEW! Good times await. I know it in my heart. But I'll be back on the travel bug at the end of the Virgo month.... know that much.

In the meantime, the Philippines and it's people (Filipinos and foreigners living here) have taken my heart by storm like never before in my travels. I've already renewed my visa twice!...and this was never a country in my plans!!! That is what I love about travelling freely. I just don't know where life will lead, but I am open to going anywhere and everywhere at this point in my life cause I have found things just get better and better. I have felt so at home and welcomed in this country it is quite surreal. I don't know whether it's the old style names like Bonifacio or Epifanio that remind me of home, or the spit-roast suckling pig at feasts and fiestas....or whether it's the honest genuine welcome I continue to receive from total strangers. It's got me in awe. I've been to more parties here than I have in the past 8 months. I've even acquired a new skill (to be revealed when I get to Ibiza) which has got me super motivated and enthralled. I have met more gay men in this country than ever in my life....proving time and time again that even the most catholic of countries can be tolerant of the beautiful diversity the human race has to offer. It is spectacular.

We did a tour of Manila's Chinatown recently, known as Binondo, and had better fresh made dumplings than when I was in China! It was fascinating to tour this quarter of the city, the heart of commerce and business trading during Spanish colonial times. After all, it was the Chinese population that was employed to build and maintain the streets, homes, transport, cities... and to ensure the Spaniards were clothed, groomed, and wore shoes. I've always admired at how industrious the Chinese are. After a while, the Spanish Colonists realised they couldn't live without the Chinese population...and oh what a surprise, that's when trouble started. They got ousted to a ghetto and made to convert to Catholicism (otherwise they were considered heretics or unfaithful to the Spanish crown). Now, I tour Binondo and marvel at the Chinese influences in the most devote catholic churches, at the catholic and pagan themed amulets, at the chocolate factories run by chinese since the Spanish cocoa trade from Mexico, and well....a million more stories....all enhanced with Spanish names of foods, things and people on street corners. One of my favourite pictures taken is of the Binondo Chinese bridge on an American named street with a Calesa (Spanish horse drawn carriage) running past us.
Ahhhh...you ain't seen nothin' til you get to the Philippines. Pictures to come.