Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines for the first time and wrote a short blog post about it here.  Luckily, I was able to return for a second business trip the last two weeks of September.

This second trip was long enough to permit a weekend with my brother Drew, who is serving a two year LDS mission in the Cagayan Valley (a one hour flight from Manila).  It was great to spend some quality time with my brother after not having seen him for nearly two years.  It was also fun to see him as a missionary, participate in missionary activities, and hear him speak Tagalog fluently.  He finishes his mission in December 2011 and will then attend university at BYU Hawaii.

Similar to the last trip, I was taken yet again by the kindness and warmth of the Filipino culture.  I guess you could call it culture shock, but with a positive connotation.  This alluring contrast was even more pronounced in the small city of Tuguegarao where Drew lived.  Over the weekend he taught me a few phrases in Tagalog which served me well throughout the trip (‘How’s it going?’ ‘Thank you sir’ ‘Yes sir’ ..etc..)  Most of these attempts at Tagalog were received with a very surprised smile and a bit of laughter.

The photos below illustrate some of the highlights of the trip, and the rest can be found here.

This map shows where Drew is serving his mission (Tuguegarao), and where Tia's grandparents are from (near Cebu).

The Peninsula Hotel is almost too good. It's hard to leave and come back to reality.

Security "bomb dogs" sniff any baggage coming in and out of major buildings (hotels, offices, etc).

This monument at RCBC Plaza is to commemorate Phillipine independence (July 4, 1946)

Drew's apartment in Tuguegarao. Most of his neighbors are college students.

Tuguegarao City. The green building is the mall / market.

These taxi tricycles are the main method of transportation. They can pack in 5-8 Filipinos.

A traditional bamboo house and a traditional shoulder ride.

Maybe I'm bias because our kids are part Filipino, but the kids over there seem a lot cuter than the ones in the states.

A Saturday morning service project (weeding / clearing land). I'm holding a traditional local dish -- hot chocolate made straight from the bean. It was a sweaty 95' degrees and we are drinking hot chocolate and they are wearing jackets (apparently trying to avoid a tan, light skin is more attractive in their culture).

Dinner with a nice family from Church. The second boy from the left is named "Fourteenio" because he's the 14th kid in the family, and born on November 14th, 1994. (I was also born on Nov 14!)

It wasn’t quite the Thrilla in Manila, but I was fortunate enough to visit the Philippines on a week-long business trip. My younger brother Drew has been over there for 18 months as an LDS Missionary and has shared some great stories in his letters.  Also, my father in-law Jeff is Hawaiian Filipino, which means Kalani and Mason have a dash of Filipino in them.

Our hotel: The Peninsula

As a family we’ve visited Hawaii several times and do a decent job of exposing the kids to the Hawaiian culture, but we haven’t done so much on the Filipino side.  The trip turned out to be very rewarding, both culturally and from a business perspective.  Below are some of the thoughts and impressions I’ve brought home to share with the family:

A culture of kindness — the never ending smiles, customer service, genuine desire to please, thoughtful respect, happiness without regard for material possessions:

• Everywhere we went, we were greeted with a glowing smile accompanied by a “Hello Sir!”.   Everyone seemed eager to interact, help, answer questions, or assist in any way possible. Contrast this with our recent trip to Europe and it’s a night and day comparison.  Often times in Europe, you feel like you’re ruining someone’s day by asking them a question.  It was quite refreshing to have the opposite experience in Asia.
• One evening a hotel employee knocked on my door asking if I’d like him to prepare the room for sleeping (change the pillows, etc).  I wanted to decline, but I could not say no to the eager anticipation on his face.  His body language seemed to imply that it would have been a major let down if I had told him no.  After prepping the room he ended with a big smile and “Please sir, is there anything I can do to further assist you?!”
• I was often asked if I’m rooting for Miami or Dallas in the NBA Playoffs.  Not only did they want to make conversation, but they love basketball in the Philippines.  Everyone plays it, courts are ubiquitous.  One waitress gave me a laughing smile and high five when I told her she was getting no tip because she was rooting against my team (Miami).
• When the airplane was pulling off the runway, the entire ground crew assembled in formation to provide an animated farewell wave to the passengers on the plane.  (Could you ever see that happening in the states?)
• When shopping or dining, the staff was always quick to assist, but never too pushy or rude.
• Just to reiterate how pleasant these people are: A janitor at a cafe one evening had the biggest grin while cleaning the restrooms and simultaneously dancing to the music being played outside.

We sometimes hear of the positive effect laughter can have on health, stress, and mood.  I would venture to say that a similar phenomena exists when exchanging smiles.  When someone smiles at me I can almost feel a small boost of energy, enthusiasm, and stress relief. When everyone around me is smiling, like in the Philippines, I can tangibly feel it lifting my spirits.

Other Thoughts / Activities / Stories

Greenhills Mall - Pearl Shopping

• One evening while shuttling from the office back to our hotel, a convey of police and SUVs followed has up to the hotel doorstep.   Security guards kept us at bay while the President of the Philippines made his way into the hotel (for a meeting?).  About an hour later on our way out to dinner the President made his exit and walked by us at only an arm’s length or so (he still had an entourage with him).
• Security is much higher in the Philippines than it is back home.  I’m not sure if this is merely a scare tactic to keep crime in check, or if there is enough crime to warrant the extra security (or some combination of the two?).  Upon entry to the hotel or the office, we are stopped and inspected by bomb sniffing dogs and metal detectors.  Each floor in the office high-rise has its own security guard. Additionally, most retail stores have their own security guard.  Someone asked if I felt insecure while out and about due to all the security, but it actually had the opposite effect.  I felt quite secure thanks to all the guards.
• We spent a day touring our geothermal operations.  This renewable source of energy is fascinating to learn about, and even more interesting to see in person.
• A local co-worker invited me to come play basketball with some other employees one evening.  I anxiously took him up on his offer and had a great time.  The court was a high quality roofed / open-air court in Forbes Park, Makati (one of the nicest parts of town).  It’s kind of neat to think that I’ve now played basketball in four countries:  USA, France, Scotland, Philippines.
• Pearl shopping is a common tourist attraction thanks to the near-market low prices found in Manila.  A couple co-workers took us to a large bazaar of sorts and helped negotiate good prices on South Sea and Freshwater Pearls for our spouses.  It doesn’t sound too exciting writing it here, but it was actually one of the more entertaining cultural experiences we had.  (the sheer size of the shopping area was astounding)
• When watching Filipino TV, you’ll notice that the dialog switches mid-sentence between English and Tagalog.  There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason as to when the switch between the two languages should occur.  This back and forth is apparently called “Taglish” and is a common form of communication.  When pulling money from an ATM, it prompted me to pick from two languages: English or Taglish.  It was also interesting to watch the NBA Finals on TV being called by local announcers switching between English and Tagalog.
• When I asked why Filipinos speak such good English and have great accents, I was told it’s due to all the American TV they watch (in addition to their adoration of American pop culture).
• Piracy is the norm without any social stigmas.  In our airline lounge on the way home, they were showing a bootleg copy of the movie Thor, which was still in theaters back home.
• There doesn’t seem to be any adherence to traffic lanes when the streets get congested.  Nor is there any concept of a fluid merger (most people are cut off with only inches to spare).  Luckily, there isn’t much road rage and we always have an assigned company chauffeur.
• The weather was similar to Houston, Texas, with a bit more humidity.
• It wasn’t too surprising that we were stared at wherever we went, but one of the more memorable occasions was when a local girl exclaimed “Maximooooo!!!!” as our 6’7″ Scottish co-worker passed by.  (We then named our 5′-something English co-worker “Minimo”)

Overall the trip was very educational, fun, and productive.  Due to the travel distance I was not able to go visit Drew up north in Cauayan, but there may be other opportunities to do so in the near future.  If nothing else, he will be able to share the Filipino culture with our family as the kids get older and want to learn more about their heritage.

Jeepneys are a very common form of transportation

Makati City is one of the nicer parts of Manila

We just watched the documentary “More Than a Game” — the story of LeBron James and his highschool teammates.  The film covers everything from their start as 4 best friends on an 11 yr old AAU basketball team all the way through their senior year and third state championship (beating the Nation’s #1 team Oak Hill Academy along the way).

The director/creator of the film started it as a college project (the original assignment was a 10 minute short).  He was from Akron and had heard about this local group of kids who started playing together at a young age and decided to all play for the same highschool.  The coach and highschool administrators allowed him to follow the team their junior and senior year as a fly-on-wall cameraman.  He does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the team as a unit, each player’s story (not just LeBron), and their mentor coach (the point guard’s father).

I purchased the movie on Amazon.com and expected to learn a lot about LeBron James intermixed with a highlight reel of game footage.  What I got instead was a wholesome story of friendship, family, and sports as a catalyst for something greater than “the game”.

While we weren’t state champions or anything, some of my fondest memories and closest friends were made on my highschool basketball team (and thanks to Facebook, I can stay in touch with them).  I think Tia liked the film as well, she also played sports in highschool (and college).  ”More Than a Game” highlights many of the character-building aspects of sports which makes me hope our kids enjoy athletics as much as their parents do.

Price Comparison: iPhone vs Pre vs Droid vs Nexus One

On January 5th Google released its media hyped “iPhone-killer” the Nexus One (built by HTC).  Being the kind husband that I am, I decided to gift my G1 (the first Android phone) to Tia, which left me with no choice but to upgrade to the Nexus One (N1).  I ordered Tuesday morning right as they went on sale and received the phone Thursday afternoon.

Compared to the iPhone 3GS, the N1 has a larger screen, more memory, and a faster CPU — which makes it the first phone in my opinion that can truly compete with Apple.

Note:  The Nexus One is not to be confused with the recently released Motorola Droid.  They both run the “Android” operating system from Google, but they are two different phones.

Below I will provide a short overview of what I love about the N1 followed by a short video demonstration:

• Free turn-by-turn GPS navigation
• Google Account Integration:
  • Gmail
  • Contacts / Calendar
  • Google Talk
  • Google Voice
  • Picasa
• Facebook Integration
• Speech-to-text synthesis
• 20,000 Apps (mostly free)
• Wireless Internet Sharing –> laptop
• Brilliant User Interface
  • Interactive Widgets
  • 3.7″ Screen
  • Touch / Multitouch

My favorite apps: (all of which are free, except for the Nintendo emulator)

• Google Maps (w/ turn-by-turn GPS Navigation)
• Facebook – I’m not much of a facebook’r, but the seamless integration here is pretty neat.  For example, when I go to call someone in my address book, it shows me their latest Facebook update.
• Locale - Automatically changes your phone settings (e.g. ringer / volume / brightness) based on your predefined criteria (GPS location, time of day, etc).  For example, Locale turns off my ringer when I arrive in downtown Houston each morning for work.
• Nesoid – Nintendo emulator.  (play those nostalgic NES games in your downtime)
• Pandora – Internet radio.
• ShopSavvy – Scan a barcode on a product and it gives you a map of local stores selling the item (w/ price).  It uses the phone’s camera to scan the barcode.
• Shazam – The phone can “listen” to music and tell you what song is playing (with the option to purchase it).
• Where’s My Droid? – Text your phone a secret word and it will ring for 3 minutes to help you find it.  Also provides an enhanced option to have the phone text you back a link to Google Maps with its location pinpointed.
• Scriptures – Instant access to the Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine Covenants (and Koran).
• Wireless Tether – Turn your phone into a wifi hotspot for your laptop.  (requires that you void your warranty and install custom software)

Google Maps – Facebook – Locale

Nintendo Emulator (running on old G1) – Pandora Internet Radio

ShopSavvy: (scan your bar code and find the cheapest / nearest retailer)

Where’s My Droid? – Shazam

Scriptures – Wireless Internet Sharing – YouTube

I’ve also grown fond of the following widgets:

• Webcam Widget - View webcam images on your phone.  I use this to tap into my home surveillance system (first image below, green background).
• Facebook Friends Status
• Pandora Control
• Weather / News
• CalWidget

Webcam Widget(s) – Facebook Widget – Pandora Internet Radio

Weather / News – CalWidget

It’s only been a few days but I’m extremely impressed with the build quality and user interface of this thing. Definitely a huge improvement from the G1.  If you’re in the market for a new phone you should seriously consider the N1 (especially if you use Facebook / Gmail / Google Voice / Picasa / Google Calendar / etc).  Also note that the even though the Motorola Droid runs Android (like the N1), the Droid’s much more expensive with slower hardware.  However, if you want a physical keyboard (which the N1 lacks), then the Droid is your best bet.

My N1 in action: