Water Children of Halong Bay, Vietnam

They sell sea shells to tourists.


I am reminded of the water children of Liloan, Leyte.

What's For Dinner?

There is this place in Hanoi, approximately seven kilometers from the Old Quarter, or fifteen minutes by taxi, called Le Mat. There, restaurants offer exotic delicacies like cobra and other kinds of snakes.

I ordered a cobra (VND600,000).

The snake was brought out live held by the waiter by its tail, for my approval. It was hissing and attempted to land its fangs on the waiter's leg who skillfully avoided the kiss of death. After I gave my nod, the waiter slit open the throat of the snake to let its blood flow into three shot glasses half-filled with rice wine. Then, the heart was cut off and placed in one of the shot glasses.

Then the waiter again slit open a lower part of the snake's body to extract the bile which was greenish and made to drip into three more shot glasses.

The restaurant hostess then ordered me to "drink!" She explained it was good for blood circulation, headache, etc. No, she did not say it was an aphrodisiac. I obediently drank all five glasses and chewed the gummy cobra heart that was in one of the glasses.

The cobra was cooked five ways, including "cobra soup with mongo beans" and garlic rice fried in cobra fat.

I immensely enjoyed my dinner.

Water Children of Liloan

I took this picture at the Liloan Port, Southern Leyte, while waiting for the ferry to load. Children in small boats beckoned to passengers in the ferry to toss them coins. Then, they dove into the water to pursue those little acts of charity. They learn to be entertainers at such an early age.



For some reason, they also reminded me of the street children of Metro Manila.

Land Cruisers

I love Land Cruisers.


No, I do not really go "serious" off-roading. But the places I go to do not always have roads. And even if some do, they serve better as sad reminders of the neglect that some of our leaders in government have inflicted on us, rather than as pathways to our destinations.

This is a 1982 BJ40 Land Cruiser. The other one on the right is a FJ60 Land Cruiser. Both have taken me and my family to as far up as Sagada in the North and as far down as San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, in the South, and to so many other places in between, like Caramoan, CS. They do not know how to say "No!"

Unlike my wife.

Joining the Bandwagon

Today, I am joining the bandwagon.

Until Yuki (http://pyxisphill.exblog.jp/ ) told me I needed to, I did not think I did.

But the need crept within me. And I realize now that, indeed, we all have our own stories to tell. And we all feel the need to tell them and share them.