2023 in Review

I was sitting in the lobby of a small hotel outside Cubao Bus Station in Quezon City as I reflected upon the past 355 days. It was 3 AM in the morning. But the city was not sleeping and the air was humid. What a contrast it is to the way how the year 2023 started in Vancouver. The snowfalls were exceptionally heavy prior to Christmas 2022.

Inflation has been rampant eversince I returned to Canada in March 2022 and I didn't even have the desire to window shop during my stay in New Westminster in 2023. For months I battled with skin problems; I was hiding in my room a lot in the first few months of the year. Yet I didn't sleep a whole lot because I was constantly being bombarded by my overseas friends asking me to help them to immigrate into Canada. There were over one million newcomers in Canada in 2022. The trend continued in 2023 and Canadian cities were bursting at the seams.

In April, I renewed my Driver's license which is also my provincial ID card. Because of this 5-year renewal, my travel plans had to be delayed by almost a year. It worked out well in the end as plane tickets got to be ridiculously costly around spring break. I had to wait until the school holidays were over.

My landlord texted me in early April that there would be a rent increase of 12% starting May 1st. I informed him that it is illegal to jack up the rent more than the government stipulated rate of 2% in 2023. By law he would also have to give me a 3-month notice for the rent increase. Then he told me about his relatives coming to Canada in August and staying in his house. By early May, I was searching for cheap plane tickets to fly out of Vancouver in August to make room for his relatives.

June and July went by quickly once I bought the one way plane ticket from Seattle to Seoul. As much as I did not like flying out from the States, I had no other option in terms of getting a relatively affordable ticket to fly to Asia. I suppose the airport taxes and fees are much higher at YVR than SEA.

After trying all sorts of ways to reduce the amount of time that I spent on being an immigration consultant for my friends, I made a drastic decision of permanently deleting my Facebook account. I deactivated my FB account a few years ago and had to reactivate when I needed to be in a group to get up-to-date information to travel in West Africa. Well, this time I made provisions to substitute its various functions before I clicked the permanent delete button.

Out of the 454 FB friends that I had, only four people expressed their wish to stay in touch with me outside FB. Subsequently I set up a WhatsApp group so that I could share photos and stories with people who are enthusiastic about traveling. I have had no desire to reactivate or join another social media platform so far. Friendships are like two-way streets. It is through interactions that people get to understand each other more deeply. 

In planning the "Back to Asia, A Sequel" journey, I made South Korea as the starting point because it would still be warm in mid-August. That was the first time that I visited S. Korea and I really loved it there. I began to understand why S. Korea has become such an economic powerhouse. I even fell in love with K pop. 

The second country was Japan which I visited twice before. I took an overnight ferry from Busan to Fukuoka. Even though I spent only 19 days in Japan, I managed to see several UNESCO sites there. I liked Wakayama the most. There were many tourists everywhere I went in Japan. However, it is in Wakayama that I witnessed the more traditional way of life in Japan. In terms of costs, it was slightly cheaper than Korea.

Because the national days of China and Taiwan taking place in the first ten days of October, I had to extend my stay in Hong Kong by a few more days to get a seat on an outbound flight from Hong Kong. I visited a couple of outlying islands. I also visited several museums on Hong Kong Island. There were many tourists from Mainland China and the accommodation costs were more than double the regular amount, making HK the most expensive place to visit on this journey.

Singapore is the next country that I visited. It was expensive to travel in but public transportation cost was still affordable. I saw many foreign workers in Singapore. Even though this city state is densely populated, there are trees and/or small city parks everywhere. My plan to have a selfie with the country's icon couldn't realise because the Merlion was getting a facelift. As much as the Port has changed since my last visit 38 years ago, areas near the mouth of Singapore River remain the same.

Kuala Lumpur has been the hub of my air travels in the subsequent months. From Singapore, I took a coach to KL. I flew to Timor Leste from KL via Bali, Indonesia. Timor Leste had been on my mind since 2013 when I learned that it became a sovereign state in 2002. I learned the real story behind its independence from Indonesia. I developed a persistent cough after staying in Timor Leste for two weeks. I had to cut short my visit and return to KL via Kupang, Indonesia. My prayers are with the lovely people of Timor Leste as this youngest country in Asia develops rapidly. 

Even though my 2013 Malaysian visit was rather comprehensive, there were places that I didn't visit ten years ago. I visited Ipoh for three days before flying to Taiwan. My visit in Taiwan is 32 days long, circling around the island in a counterclockwise direction starting and ending in Taipei. Taiwan is affordable and relatively easy to travel in, especially if the visitors can read and speak a little Chinese.

From Taiwan, I flew to the Philippines. I had been keeping this visit a secret for fear to jinx my visit. What a change of scenery it is to see the streets to be bustling with people and jeepneys. Things are actually cheaper than three years ago because the peso devalued by 33%. Yesterday I bought a pair of Filipino made prescription glasses for $25CAD with a free eye exam. The holiday season in the Philippines is a very joyful one. 

In a few days, I will be flying back to KL to get ready to fly out to the west side of Asia and visit the last two countries on this journey. I pray that my next review will be a more peaceful one. The more I travel, the more similarities I see between cultures. We all want "Peace, Love and Happiness".

I have quit FB for good.

I have quit Facebook again. This time I deleted my account permanently. Five years ago when I wanted to quit Facebook, the website managed to persuade me to only deactivate my account temporarily. I had to reactivate it when I needed travel information on West Africa a few months later. I needed to join a FB group. I was hoping someone would develop a social media website similar to FB. But it did not happen. This time I sought after substitutes before I deleted my FB account. For messenger, I would rely on WhatsApp. For marketplace, I would use Craigslist again. For updating my friends with travelogues and photos, I continue to use email. For photo back up, I would use Google Photos which also offer a memories function. As for travel information on the unpopular destinations, I have made a conscious decision not to visit certain places because they are just too dangerous or not ready to receive visitors. 

With the introduction of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, there are way more outrageous images floating around online. Lately FB created a special class of users called Digital Creators that is equivalent to the Influencers on Instagram. These digital creators frequently use photoshopped and/or A.I. generated images to spread false information. FB news feeds are flooded with customized ads and suggestions for groups to join and Digital Creators to follow. I would hardly see updates from my friends. With FB's refusal to pay news media in Canada for the links, it would be increasingly difficult to find real news or info on this social media platform. My dependence on FB for news and connection with my friends became very minimal as a result of these recent developments. 

After I have announced that I would quit FB, only four of my 472 FB friends expressed their wish to stay in touch with me. I suppose I wasted too much time on FB, thinking that people actually cared about what was on my mind. I might as well be commenting in unfamiliar territories such as Reddit or Quora. Well, it's time to hit the road and experience humanity face-to-face again. LOL

Back to February 1983 for 4 days

1981 Movie Raiders of the Lost Ark

I conducted an experiment a few weeks ago. I went back in time to February 1983 when internet, personal computers and smartphones did not exist. As a matter of fact, the main source of entertainment was scheduled television programs. Music was played on tape recorders and CD players. Microwave ovens were rather common in North America; however, many other kitchen appliances were not invented yet. The reasons why I wanted to go back in time are to revert to a simpler lifestyle to see if my vital stats and skin problems would improve, to live in a not so wired environment to see if I could overcome my F.O.M.O. feelings (Fear Of Missing Out), and to see if I could still manage to live comfortably without the modern conveniences. I chose forty years because it would be difficult and/or costly to simulate a time earlier than the 1980's. From my travelling days in undeveloped countries, I learned that many people in the world are still somewhat stuck in the 1980's. I would try to put myself in their shoes for four days. 

On Feb 6, 2023 6:00 p.m. (PST) Experiment commenced. An hour before the start of the experiment, I posted on Facebook that I would be conducting this experiment. At 6:00 pm I turned off my laptop computer and smartphone, and turned on my bedside radio/clock. I heard news of powerful earthquakes striking the region near the Turkey/Syria border. Because I do not have a television, I could not see any images or video clips of the natural disaster. I was antsy about getting more information about the earthquakes. My insomnia had only gotten worse than the day before. I had my radio on overnight.

The next day, Feb 7, 2023, I went to the library after breakfast. I took out some pre-1983 books but no VHS. There were no newspapers that I could read in the library. Then I went to the nearby mall to do some grocery shopping. I avoided using the self check-outs and paid with cash. I might have a credit card in 1983 but POS machines were not invented then. I wanted to make a phone call but I could not find any payphones within a 2 km radius of the mall. That night I accessed internet to find out more details of the earthquakes. I was restless and could not fall sleep until 6 a.m. in the morning.

On Feb 8, 2023, I woke up in the afternoon and heard on radio the news of a city bus driving right into a daycare building in Laval, QC, Canada. I spent the day in a haze, getting emotional at times and cried several times during the day. My mind wandered off miles away. Reading did not help. I managed to calm down with meditation. I kept telling myself not to access internet but I simply could not. I read all the related news articles and shut off my laptop again. What would provoke the mentally unstable bus driver to commit such a horrific crime to innocent children? What has our world turned into? Falling asleep was just as hard the night before.

On Feb 9, 2023, I woke up around noon. I thought I must try to do something else to divert my attention to the disasters. Making spring rolls in an air fryer would not take more than 45 minutes normally. Deep frying the old fashioned way using a small pot actually took two hours. I also decided to quit drinking coffee. It took me a much longer time to prepare chai with the traditional Indian method. I read a book cover to cover that day. Falling asleep came naturally at 2 a.m.

The final day of the experiment came on Feb 10, 2023. After my morning chai and breakfast, I went to a nearby drug store. My blood pressure had gone down to a somewhat normal level, 132/84. The breakouts on face had subsided. I returned the books and stayed in the library until dinner time. At 6:00 p.m., I turned on my cell phone and laptop. I almost immediately posted on FB pleading for prayers for the earthquake victims and survivors in Turkey/Syria and for the injured children and victims in Laval. I fell asleep at 2 a.m. that night.

What did I gain from this experiment? The number of email and notifications decreased exponentially as I stayed offline for an extended period of time. The principle of "If you don't use it, you'll lose it." also applies to electronic communication. Newspapers, books, payphones, VHS players, etc. and most of things that I grew up with, would soon be totally out of sight. As long as I have internet access, I could live in a vacuum. The rate of information transfer is almost instantaneous these days. Whether I want to know so much and so fast is another issue. I wonder how much of independent thinking I have lost because of these technological advances. I never really have enough time to digest it all these days.