Da King

Necrological services started 9pm last night… many were glued to their TV sets or were at the Sto. Domingo church. Pres. Erap was there, Dolphy the Comedy King was there and many more.

I woke up at 6am today and our TV set was tuned to Da King’s services… they have already started the procession to the North Cemetery… the throngs of people was incredible. What amused me the most was the concern for Tisoy, the white horse that was pulling the coffin carriage. While it was used to the job, it was not used to being squished by throngs of people. As I had to go to work, I now don’t know what happened during the funeral.

on a roller coaster ride…

Aaah, these days the Filipinos are on a roller coaster of emotions… first we were just ravaged by 3 typhoons, the last of which was the strongest. So many people died that they had to be buried in mass graves. Most of which were victims of illegally cut logs that came crashing down during the downpour. It was distressing; especially the horror stories of families that struggled to survive. Until now, the search and rescue continues but they are now more focused on rebuilding the spirits of those who were devastated.

Second was a high, with Manny Pacquiao winning the super bantamweight eliminator fight against Thai boxer Fahsan Nahrongrit Phirang. It was a sight to behold, exciting and amusing at the same time especially when it became evident that we have no idea nor experience what to do during boxing events. It wasn’t the first time a fight has been held here but it has been quite a long time. The PacMan beat the Thai foe during the fourth round knockout.

Third, FPJ, Da King of Philippine movies died early this morning, he was 65. He fell into a coma after a blot clot in his brain… with much restraint I will not print my snide comments… Anyway, he ran for President in the recent elections, and I can only say that God still loves us Filipinos. Imagine if he won and this happened… Noli de Castro would be taking over! So far, there are no comments yet from his good friend, President Joseph Estrada nor from Sen. Ed Angara.

After this sadness, we can only expect jubilation. Let the Filipino spirit prevail… shopping and food fiesta pa rin to the max this holiday season! http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons6/1.gif

Cu Chi Tunnel, Viet Nam – 05 November

Cu Chi Tunnel is 1.5 hrs road travel from Saigon. They say one hasn’t been to Viet Nam if they haven’t been to the Cu Chi Tunnel, the base of the Cu Chi District Viet Cong. It is a network of tunnels 3 levels deep, with entrances every 20-30 meters. These tunnels were dug during Viet Nam’s war against the French. More tunnels were added during the US-Viet Nam war. The tunnel can accommodate around 5-6,000 people at one time and was said to have served around 150,000 Vietnamese. Tunnels include meeting rooms, medical operating rooms, kitchens and dining halls as well as sleeping areas. They also incorporated storage areas for food and weapons plus an area to make weapons. Kitchens have smoke tunnels that allows smoke to escape unnoticed when VCs are cooking. Our guide said that during war, VCs usually cooked at night or early morning so the smoke coming out of the smoke tunnels looked like early morning mist. It was undoubtedly amazing!

There is a video presentation, a Vietnamese Communist propaganda film of sorts that gave the area’s background and several not so friendly remarks about the Americans. Makes me wonder how tourists who served in the Viet Nam war feel when they watch this.

Another interesting part of the tour is the exhibit on Vietnamese booby traps… talk about ingenuity! We also got to try shooting a gun of our choice an M16, but bullets were quite expensive, minimum of 5 bullets for $10. It was fun shooting anyway. Unfortunately, I wasted 1 precious bullet when I didn’t let go of the trigger fast enough… the gun went on right off. Oh well

We ate at Bibi’s, a cozy quaint French restaurant on Thai Van Lung St. It was pretty artsy with mural painted on the columns and the walls.