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".
