Month: September 2011

Chiang Kai Sek Park is literally a huge area with several buildings and gardens. You can get lost if you agree to see a friend without specifying which exact spot you are to meet. Which actually happened to me. There is a western type garden with trimmed bushes and trees and straight walk. There is also a Chinese garden with trees, pathways, a pond and a bridge with a long walkway with a roof, winding path and several Chinese buildings. There is also in it an unusual walk covered with stones where a few people walk barefoot to stimulate the acupoints of the feet, popularized in the West as reflexology. I guess you can walk on all fours to stimulate the palms too … or lie down to stimulate the acupoints of the back. The man who demonstrated his technique to me ran from one end of the path to the other, a distance of about 50 feet, within a minute without pausing. He said he was 65 years old. Since over-stimulation of the soles of the feet can drain the energy, I wonder how long he does it. I saw him a couple of times over the span of 2 hours.

You’ll find several exercise groups who have staked their territory in different places. You’ll see them in the same spot doing their routines almost every single day. There are some who would rather do their regimen alone, say, under a tree or by a pond. I saw one, his or her head covered with an unusually big hat that drooped over the entire face, who practiced I think for at least 2 hours without moving from the same spot directly under the canopy of a tree. Perhaps s/he did not like to get distracted like meditating monks who wore hoods. S/he made no sound and only the arms moved.

I was curious about the status and quality of Tai chi chuan in Taipei. One of my teachers in Manila’s Chinatown in 1970– Lao Yun Hsiao – was a Taiwanese. My first Tai chi teacher at the Hua Eng Sporting Club Chan Bun Te’s master – Han Ching Tang so often featured in Robert Smith’s books – was also a Taiwanese. There were several groups of Tai chi chuan practitioners in the Chiang Kai Sek Memorial Park. One was doing contemporary Wu-Shu Chen Tai chi (both fist and sword), which I did not see when I was in town last October 2010, on my 70th birthday. At the time, to my astonishment, I had a glimpse of Adam Hsu, a famous Pa-Kua Chuan teacher in the West who has since then moved back to Taiwan, jogging. Another group practicing on the CKS Hall itself was doing a traditional Yang Family Tai chi chuan form, a version that I haven’t often seen anywhere else. I should mention that in October 2010 and this time around (Sept 2011) I saw a man carrying an apparently heavy backpack who for at least an hour walked up and down the CKS Memorial Hall that has about 100 steps. That was all he did. I thought of talking to him but he never did stop to rest or look at anybody.

Whenever I visit a country with a big Chinese population, I usually inquire if there is a Tai chi or qigong group and drop by to observe them. I saw a small group in Rome, just a short distance from the Termina railroad station. There was an old man there doing a Yang Family Tai chi chuan form, an old version that he probably picked up in the park. In the Philippines there are several parks in MetroManila where the Chinese congregate for traditional practice in the morning. Many of them do Wu-Shu Tai chi, the stylized form, choreographed under the Communist regime. Usually, there is also a ballroom dancing group, which is often bigger than the Tai chi or qigong group, 10 to 1. It may be an unjustified conclusion but I think that Tai chi and qigong may soon be overtaken by ballroom dancing in the number of practitioners in the near future. When I asked my students in China if anybody did Tai chi, they said no, it is old-fashioned, and they preferred basketball. (Asked where they go to meet friends for dinner, they also said that they go to McDonalds or Burger King.) The westernization of China has apparently resulted in a disturbing identity crisis and a higher incidence of obesity in children.

I went to another park, a smaller one about 30 minutes walk from the hotel. There was nobody doing Tai chi. There were four or five groups and the qigong they did was probably contemporary because they did it with western musical accompaniment (like the song 500 Miles). There were two large groups of ballroom dancers however. Most of the time, they did tango to the tune of the old music from my childhood, “Jealousy” (“ … every night you tortured me…”). There were two groups doing exercises on the monkey bar.

Very often I would find Filipino men and women who work as domestics in the country. Whether it is in Rome, Cyprus, London, Hongkong, Malaysia, etc. they would be in the park taking care of their wards — usually older people. We would recognize each other and without missing a beat, talk in Pilipino, the national language of the Philippines.

At the CKS Park, I saw birds I had not seen before. They came in pairs and would do their quick acrobatic mating in the air. In Xihu/West Lake, Hangzhou, there were long-tailed magpies that kept chasing each other frantically and tirelessly among the top branches of a tall tree. It gives me a feeling of gratitude when I see birds and squirrels freely cavorting in parks frequented by people. In a park in Shanghai, I saw birds in bamboo cages hanging from a tree; they were pets valued for their colorful feathers and plaintive voices. Every now and then I would see them hanging from the rafters of a restaurant while their owners had breakfast.

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Taroko is a part of the Hua Lien region of northern Taiwan. It is a mountainous terrain that is famous for its landscapes, marbles and stones. It is good to take the morning plane going there and return to Taipei on the afternoon train. That’s exactly what a group of 8 did although I heard that a Japanese man was probably left behind on the way back because we and the travel guide did not see him board the train or get off in Taipei.

After you arrive, you ride a bus and are taken to the first stop, a marble marker across from a red bridge. The marker has some calligraphy saying that this is Taroko. Everybody seems to carry a camera in this group and each one takes multiple photos of the place at each stop. From the gateway, you are taken from place to place, each spot an awesome scenery — dizzying cliffs and gorges, still or raging rivers (from the recent typhoon), temples on the marble mountainsides, and waterfalls. The cliffs have stunning textures, sometimes with caves, always with unusual patterns.

The mountainous range — there’s not just one single mountain or two, but many, each one with a cloud-covered summit. I wanted to do meditation and Tai chi but for an 8-hour visit, the time wasn’t enough even for doing one form. I probably should have decided to stay for 2 days at least. Camping is available, so for those who have plans of going there, it is something that should be seriously considered. On my trip to Huangshan/Yellow Mountain in 2007, 3 full days were allotted. I was able to trek up and down several peaks, do several sets of the Classical Yang Family Tai chi chuan form, walk up to a peak at 4 in the morning and watch the sunrise.

Even a remote region like Taroko, the roads and bridges are first-class. They reminded me of the roads and bridges of China and Thailand, countries that as far as I know have spent much of their budgets on infrastructure and not on external wars. The subway and train complexes of Taiwan and China are also excellent. One time in 2007, my friends and I took a taxi from Tunxi to Hangzhou. It took almost 5 hours to navigate the trip. Amazingly, the wide 4 lane highways, sometimes going through tunnels and passing unpopulated mountains, were all newly built.

A Chinese wedding banquet at the Sheraton Hotel. Roger, the bridegroom, wore only his one suit. Very often however, in the course of the proceedings, the bride changes 3 times. In this case, at first Aishuan put on a white gown, then a pink one, and lastly, at the end of the banquet, she wore a red one to greet the guests. From my experience attending at least 7 Chinese Wedding Banquets, I noticed that there is a variety of dishes, at least 20, and that doesn’t include the appetizers. Many of them are excellent. I have tasted lobster, hairy Shanghai crabs, turtle, duck, sharkfin soup, sharksfin soup, razor clams. On my 70th birthday, Aishuan’s mother spent a day shopping and a day cooking. The list of dishes included, among others: black chicken with herbs, pig’s trotters, taro cake, sticky rice, dried fish roe sandwiched between oriental pear, and steamed snapper. At a party, if you plan to stay sober and not stagger to the taxi queue,  be sure not to say “gan bei” at a toast because that means “bottoms up.”

It was my last day in Taipei. I was “sauntering” in the neighborhood and saw this small tea shop. There were people inside having tea. I was invited to come in. An old Chinese was presiding over the ceremony, serving the most expensive tea I have ever tasted in my life. The teas were something like 10 to 20 years old. I cannot find the adjective to describe them. After exchanging information, he asked me to do a bit of Tai chi. While I did the first section of the Classical Yang Family Tai chi chuan solo form, he chanted a sutra that sounded familiar to me. Then he wrote something on a piece of paper saying that Tai chi will clear the mind. There’s more but I can’t translate it. It was great sitting right across from the master whose qi and stillness, especially when he closed his eyes, and presence just permeated the tea shop. He served more of the expensive tea and then he chanted again, this time a longer sutra which was also vaguely familiar to it. That “accidental” encounter was probably the highlight of the whole journey. Oh yes, I bought a rather cheap tea — compared to the $400 -500 kind — at $136!

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1. Ed Maranan, Carlos Palanca Hall of Fame Awardee for Literature, to my right. His sister Ellen is to my left. I was his guest at the dinner ceremony.

2. Group shot of writers at the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature ceremony at the Peninsula Hotel. In front of me (seated) is Alfred “Krip” Yuson, professor of English literature at the Ateneo de Manila University.

3. Seated from left to right: RJN, Krip and Edgar.

4. RJN, F. Sionil Jose, and Edgar. Frankie S. Jose is a national artist for literature. I met him a few times in the course of 50 years in conferences, at his bookstore Solidaridad, and at the PEN congress in Cebu City. He was the speaker.

5. Edgar Maranan, who invited me to the ceremony, receiving his prize in the raffle in the amount of P50,000 roughly equivalent to $1200. Before the winner was announced, Ed said that he never won anything. I said he will win. A few moments later, his name was called from the stage. Coincidence?

6. Ed and Rene with Mikael de Lara Co and his wife. Mikael, an award-winning poet, read “Immigrant” by Lourdes Marie S. La Vina, prize-winner in poetry.

Post scriptum:

Ed and I first met in London about 7 to 8 years ago. He invited me and Patrick Rosal, a prize-winning poet from the US, to read at the Philippine Centre at the time. Ed and I used to have dinner together with Paolo Coghe of Sardegna, at a flat in Barnes overlooking the Thames. I cooked, Ed brought a bottle of wine. We had memorable and extended conversations about politics, religion and literature (sorry, nothing about sex, GBS).
Ed and I have met since then in Manila. He was my guest at my seminar on Tai chi chuan last time I was in Manila during my 70th birthday. To receive a Hall of Fame recognition, a writer has to have won at least 4 first prize awards in the main categories.

It was the first time Alfred “Krip” Yuson, a professor of literature at the Ateneo de Manila University, and I met although he and I have known each other through our literary work for years. He probably recognized me from my photo somewhere and approached me to say hello. Great to finally meet you, Krip. A much-awarded writer, fictionist and poet, Alfred has included my poetry in the books he co-edited: “Eros Pinoy: Erotic Poetry and Art in the Philippines,” “Father Poems,” and “Love Gathers All,” a book of love poems published simultaneously in Singapore and the Philippines. Believe it or not, Krip honored me with a complimentary cameo appearance in his award-winning novel “Voyeurs and Savages.” Please note that I was neither one of the voyeurs nor savages he was writing about. If you are curious about this bit, tell me and I will send an excerpt. It is amazing to appear with my real name in this work of “fiction.”

Last Night in Kuala Lumpur

August 27, 2011

The capital city has been observing Ramadan. There’s fasting every day from sunrise to sundown. But at night, there is a celebration. Possibly it was a partly a business promotion, but the buffet at 7:30 pm in the Royale Chulan Hotel in the Golden Triangle was quite indulgent. It cost $100 a head although seniors were entitled to a 50% discount. There were at least 100 dishes, not including appetizers and desserts, from the cuisines of different ethnic and cultural groups — Malayan, Indonesian, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese — in the garden downstairs. Curry was a dominant flavor, but there was a whole lamb roasting in a pit, as well as seafood and vegies. There was a fountain dripping with chocolate in one corner of the premises. There were fruits in another. I focused on a wok of Malayan Fish Head Curry with Okra and Eggplant. I had cooked it a few times since the late 70s. There was a small ensemble playing Middle Eastern instruments and singing on the stage. I have been to Egypt before, a few times, and to Istanbul, Turkey and northern Cyprus, but I did not really know about Ramadan even if my Muslim friends talked and wrote about it to me. Realizing my ignorance about this sacred rite, I tried to read up on the festival that is celebrated in the Muslim world of which I know nothing much. If only for this late discovery, the travel to KL is worth all the money and effort. I have noticed a few signs in the buildings around town and notices on TV that August 29/Monday will be a celebration of Hari Raya at the end of Ramadan. I had seen this in the Philippines before and did not know what it meant. Here is part of what I found on the internet. Sorry, I do not know who wrote it.

QUOTE UNQUOTE FROM THE INTERNET

This article over is essentially information about Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr as it applies to Malaysia.

Bold text==Literal Translation== I refute the literal translation of Hari Raya Aidilfitri as “Celebration Day of Fasting”. Aidilfitri is a transliteration of the Arabic term Eid ul-Fitr. Hari Raya is a translation of Eid ul-Fitr. However, this is not at literal translation. Hari Raya and Aidilfitri put together in one expression hence becomes a tautology. In an article about a Malay phenomenon we want the literal translation of the Malay part of the term, which is Hari Raya or possibly Hari Raya Puasa. We should not accept a literal translation of a transliteration from Arabic mixed with Malay. Here it is important to clarify what it is that is being literally translated. “Hari Raya Aidilfitri (also seen as Hari Raya Idul Fitri and Hari Raya Puasa, literally ‘Celebration Day of Fasting'” is not a clear sentence).

Eid is an Arabic word meaning “festivity”, while Fitr means “to break fast”. But the literal translation from Malay to English should be from the Malay translation of Eid ul-Fitr, not the transliteration.
The best literal translation of raya is big. It does not mean celebration or festivity. Sambutan is celebration or festivity according to Kamus Dwibahasa Oxford Fajar edisi keempat. Kamus Dwibahasa Oxford Fajar translates raya only as a verb (merayakan) and defines it as celebrate. However, dictionaries in Malay language provide more nuance. Tesaurus Bahasa Melayu Dewan 1998, Kamus Pelajar and other Malay dictionaries defines raya only as an adjective meaning big (besar). Kamus Dewan Bahasa Edisi Tiga clarifies the misconception that can arise from the translation in Kamus Dwibahasa Oxford Fajar:
“merayakan memuliakan (memperingati, meramaikan) hari besar (hari peringatan, peristiwa penting, dll).” Loosely translated to English: merayakan to honour (and remember) a big day.

Meanwhile, as all other mono-lingual dictionaries, Kamus Dewan Bahasa Edisi Tiga defines raya as big (besar). So for anyone who understands Malay prefixes (imbuhan) it becomes clear that the translation of raya as celebrate is inappropriate. Merayakan certainly can be translated to celebrate but that is not the term we are translating. Raya in the context of Hari Raya or Hari Raya Puasa is clearly an adjective meaning big. This is why we can say berhari raya and merayakan hari raya.

End of quotation.

August 29, 2011, Manila, Philippines

After 5 days in Kuala Lumpur (KL to many people), I wanted to leave touristing behind. I wanted to sit down and relish the last few hours in this multi-ethnic city. My wake-up call for my flight was at 4:30. I wanted to carry some memories beyond the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world at one point, and Chinatown. I had been up to the Batu Caves, sacred pilgrimage of Hindus, but I wanted an appropriate closure to Ramadan, the Muslim high holy day/holiday. I went to the courtyard at about 10 when the feast was winding down. The place was almost deserted, except for the workers cleaning up and the musicians putting their instruments away. I noticed these people seated at the next table in front of the stage listening to the Middle Eastern ensemble playing music. I was writing a postcard to a friend when I thought of writing “Inshallah” but was not sure how. I asked them if they knew it in Arabic. The dark woman wrote the transliteration: In sha Allah. The woman next to her left wrote: In Sha-a Allah. Three words, five syllables, she said. And then she wrote the Arabic script/character on the postcard. The man to her left was her boyfriend. The woman on the extreme right was the wife of a singer. I went backstage to take photos of the musicians. They asked me to pose with them instead. It was a night to remember: the sound of Arabia drifting in the night in Kuala Lumpur like the scent of desert a flower and the laughter of beautiful Muslim women breaking the stillness. I went up to my hotel room and could not sleep again until past midnight.

My correspondence with Amira, my wonderful Egyptian friend follows:

Dear Rene,

I remember writing to you on more than one occasion about Ramadan. It is a very special time spiritually. It is said that the bad spirits and devils are in chains. The energy of the whole month — not just parts of the day — is supposedly ultra-violet – which is the most spiritual colour. The fasting is meant to teach you patience and compassion for the hungry and to leave you purified, but most people eat too much after sunset which defeats the purpose of the fast.

When we’ve chatted in the last few weeks and I’ve told you that I am preparing or eating my midnight meal, it has been because I am fasting so at around 12:30. My mother (who is staying with me) and I eat a light meal of fruit and yoghurt before we go to bed. (Some people eat more substantial meals but I worry about getting indigestion or becoming thirsty.) Then I wake up again at 3:30 or 3:45 to pray and meditate till dawn, then pray again at dawn and go back to bed at around 4ish. And hopefully to sleep in late. Some people just stay awake till dawn prayers and then sleep in which case they will eat later in the night like at 2 or 3. I can’t keep going that long and prefer to sleep even for an hour before waking up for predawn and dawn prayers. I am always out on the terrace at this time and the stars and moon are fabulous and the air is so fresh and the flowers smell so sweet. It is my favourite time of the day.

The Eid is a celebration of the end of the fast which can be 29 or 30 days depending on the moon. They say it will be 30 days this year which means the Eid will be on Wednesday the 31st. People are out in the street the night it is announced joyously celebrating the end of the fast. It really wears you down by the end of the month and there is nothing nicer than waking up on Eid morning and having a cup of tea! Children wear new clothes and are given small gifts of money. Everyone gets money gifts in fact – called Eidiya – employees, children, poor people in the streets and so on. At 7 am there is a special Eid prayer with a beautiful chant that everyone sings together.

Well, enjoy the rest of your holiday. Have a great time in Manila and Taiwan and please send me a post card from Taroko Gorge (if you can)!

Amira x

Dear Amira,

Excerpt:

Fish head curry with some bao (Chinese bread) was practically all I had, except for the marang, jackfruit and lychees. I walked around the courtyard and checked out the food. A lot of curry-based food: chicken (a few pots of it from different countries), lamb, and fish. There was even a version of it from Kazakstan! It did not make much sense to eat meat at the time. I had a taste of the grilled lamb but it did not taste good without any sauce. And the roasted goat did not taste any better. I was eager to try different dishes but my mouth wasn’t ready for anything else.

Rene

Dear Rene,

Excerpt:

The problem with large buffet dinners is that you want to taste everything and you end up eating far too much! Even with a small taste of each dish it is a lot – but it is fun … Whole roast lamb or goat does look very impressive especially when they are placed on enormous platters of rice cooked with nuts and raisins. But I don’t eat lamb or goat so that’s two things less for me to taste!

It is 3 words: In Shaa Allah. In=If – Shaa= Wills – Allah= God.

I forgot to tell you the reason why my fave part of the day is when I am up in the small hours waiting for the dawn prayers. It’s because I hear all the different calls to prayer chanting at the same time from all the mosques around. Each guy has a slightly different style – a different voice – a different tempo – a different music, and it all just harmonizes wonderfully together in the night air against the backdrop of stars and moon and the smell of the flowers. It is very beautiful and moving…

Enjoy your time in Manila. I am sure it is always nice to go home and see old friends and family.

Love,

Amira

Batu Caves, just about 30 minutes outside of the city, have several Hindu temples inside. They can actually hold several buildings. Great place, but you have to walk up 292 steps to the top and another 50 in the inner temple. Multiply that by two.

The guide said that for every step you take going up and down one sin is forgiven. At least that is a little more difficult than buying indulgences or making a handsome donation to the church. There are actually other caves but they are not developed although a tour is offered by some travel company.

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