What a difference a day makes
Mt. Fuji as seen from Hakone, Japan (2/1)
Tagaytay Highlands, Philippines (2/6)
Okay, so it’s not exactly a day. But as far as my travels go, I had found myself in the brisk weather of Hakone on 2/1 and found myself in the balmy tropical weather of the Philippines on 2/2. I’m sure Fuji-san is well known to most of you. Tagaytay (pronounced Tah-gai-tai) is a hilly, semi-jungle region to the south Manila. Thankfully, getting here does not require a trek through Northern Luzon as described in Cryptotnomicon (although admittedly, this would be interesting). Tagaytay is a beautiful resort area built in a still-active volcanic region.
I realize that I haven’t given a current State of the Vagabond lately, so here’s a travel update. I’m in Manila, Philippines. It’s an unlikely destination for the world traveler eh? But alas, I have ulterior motives. The majority of my mom’s side of the family lives here, many of whom I haven’t seen in 18 years, most in over a decade, and others never at all. When I was planning my trip, it turned out that my mom’s family wanted to have a family reunion (first in nearly two decades) and my dad had some family business to attend to out here. So we scheduled our trips simultaneously. Not only is it fun to see my parents out here and take me around to the places they grew up, but they also brought my laptop. 
Thus far, my cousins out here are a kick and I’ve discovered I have a lot in common with them. Of the ones I’ve met and heard of thus far, about half of them are in a technology field and the rest are doing something related to business. Sound like someone you know? To be honest, I was surprised too. Meeting them has also been a taste of reality. Several of them have goals of moving to America. It’s a humbling experience to realize how fortunate I was to be born in the country that others only dream of. I’ve also discovered what kind of a privilege it is to travel the way I am right now. A United States Passport allows me to walk freely into the majority of countries around the world. My family here has to go through arduous visa applications and waiting periods to go anywhere. Truly an eye-opener.
As far as language barriers go, I’ve been having a blast here. As many of you know, I speak a little-known dialect of Chinese spoken in the Fujian province. What I’ve probably not mentioned is that my parents are from Philippines and my particular accent is the Fillipino accent of Fukenese–that’s right, the roots for the Chinese here are in Fujian! Going around Chinatown yesterday, I experienced something new–my Chinese tongue was native. Prior to my visit here, my Chinese was only spoken with family members and a small handful of family friends. Today, it’ll get me around Chinatown.
While Tagalog is the true national language around here, the majority of classes are taught in English. As a result, most of the conversations with my cousins take place in a mixture of English and Tagalog. Turns out this is no problem for me–many basic Tagalog words, conjunctions, and modifiers have been unknowingly mixed into my Chinese. I’m able to understand the majority of conversations and catch the gist of the rest. I wholly expect Tagalog to start filtering into my normal conversation in a couple days.
That’s it from my end of the world! Happy Chinese New Year!
