Number 24

Written Monday evening and posted Tuesday late morning.

Sad news: There is no midget tossing. There is midget boxing, but no throwing.

The Philippines is an odd place. Well at least Manila is. Well at least the Mataki District of Manila is. It’s loud and bustling. There are police and security guards EVERYWHERE. At every street of any size. At the door to every business and apartment building. The hotel where everyone is staying is about a 20 minute walk to the Law School where the conference is being held. There was shuttle service the first night but now they only have one for people who can’t walk very far. I was sitting in the lobby with Bruce when he asked the hotel manager if we had shuttles to go back this evening to the dinner. My guess is either it wasn’t set up or it got too expensive. It’s not a bad walk except that the sidewalks are horrendous and it’s busy streets pretty much the whole way. I like the walk for the exercise and to see the city at street level, but it’s a bit of a challenge. Tonight, several of us walked over to dinner at the Conference site together with someone who knew the way.

When I walked into dinner, the Vietnamese (my new best friends) enthusiastically waived me over and I enjoyed their company with dinner. Giao (pronounced Zow), the head of the Law Faculty (but not the Dean) was his usual amusing self and I’m really looking forward to staying with him at his house when I’m in Hanoi. I had a little trepidation about going off to Hanoi on my own and trying to deal with all the new people and politics but the faculty and students who are here have completely removed any of that.

The dinner was what has become standard bland Filipino food with entertainment after dessert. It was a troupe of native drummers and percussionists with some chanting and a little dancing. It would have been your basic touristy kind of shtick except that it was led by a Professor from the University of the Philippines and he explained everything they did and one got the sense that it was actually authentic. He had a good sense of humor and the music was pretty good.

After the entertainment I walked back to the hotel with Giao who decided he knew a shortcut that had us lost and wandering through some rather interesting areas. It wasn’t scary but it probably should have been. We saw a part of town we wouldn’t have otherwise seen and that was pretty interesting. A few blocks from a major business area and there were people cooking on the street, congregating in groups of 10-15. The streets seemed like they were out of a poor slum neighborhood. The funny part is that we were never more then a mile from the hotel (once we realized we were lost), but everyone I asked had no idea where the hotel was and in fact had never heard of it. It’s 27 stories tall and the last few people I asked were standing no more then 4 blocks from it. There’s a Wendy’s across the street so I would say the name of the hotel, get a blank stare, then I’d say Wendy’s and everyone I asked immediately pointed us in the right direction.

My meetings today with both the faculty and the students from VNU went really well. Phong, who stayed in my room last night, is my new buddy. This afternoon, after my meetings, I found myself sitting with a group of about 20 students from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines. Bruce was concerned that the students weren’t mixing so he “made” them all sit together and asked me to see what I could do. Since Don is officially in charge of them, I sat down next to him and did about 10 minutes of teasing Don and making fun of him. They loved it and Don seemed to enjoy it about as much. By the time we were done they were all laughing and joking and at dinner tonight they put several tables together and all ate as a group. It reminded me of the first day of camp and it felt good. The other positive result is that a number of their Professors came up to our table and thanked me. Powerful egos strokes but more then that, another example of appreciation for doing something rather then the PD kind of response. I guess being a “senior lawyer” who doesn’t take himself very seriously (other then when necessary) goes a long way with people who have never seen a 57 year old child. Again, no big deal but something to ponder a little

I’m still tired from the trip here and am going to try to get to sleep relatively early. (after the cock fights of course) I’ll send this off tomorrow when I get to the Law School. I’m guessing it was another good day in Chiang Mai but it wasn’t half bad here in Mataki.