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When I left Peru in May 2014, I could not find my camera. I reported the loss to the hotel management and asked them to conduct an investigation. I could not remember where I put it when I left for the airport but later, it occurred to me that the last time I had it, I put it inside the luggage that I deposited with the hotel staff while I was waiting for limousine service. I got in touch with the tour company and told them about the “lost” camera. Things began to move fast. Continue reading “Peru Photo Gallery” →

While watching TV programs and reading articles about the death of civilians at the hands of the police in different cities in the US, I often think about that morning 7 years ago when a cop confronted me in Easton, PA.

I used to practice Traditional Yang Family Tai chi chuan early in the morning in a park along the Delaware River when I lived just a block away. It was a practice I started cultivating decades before in the Luneta, a park in the Philippines, when I began studying Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan at the Hua Eng Athletic Club in Binondo, part of Manila’s Chinatown, in 1968. Continue reading “Tai Chi Chuan Sword and the Cop” →

Myanmar (formerly Burma) was the latest stop on my journey to the different Buddhist countries in Asia. I had been to Thailand (Bangkok and Chiangmai), Cambodia (Angkor Wat), Laos (Vientiane and Luang Prabang). I had also been to China and Taiwan. A few times 10 years ago, I had stood on the bridge in Northern Thailand, at the border with Myanmar, and I was tempted to cross over to the unknown and forbidden land. Continue reading “Myanmar – A Photo Gallery” →

You go to see the Northern Lights in Iceland and during the nights of your visit, you see nothing except streaks of dark shadows in the sky. Hey, that’s why you went to the country, right? That’s what happened September of last year. The tour bus drove an hour outside of Reykjavik, parked and … nothing. Not even stars. After waiting a long while, the driver took us to another place, a farm about 30 minutes away. Continue reading “Iceland – A Photo Gallery” →

Bali holds a special celebration on the full moon. At the time I was there, it coincided with the cremation week and a procession to the Spring Temple where a ritual to the Goddess was held. A group of us, organized by my student Erin Owen of Philadelphia, trekked to one of the hundreds of temples to join the full moon celebration. Continue reading “Bali – A Photo Gallery” →

We thought we could not leave Manila because there was a typhoon in the horizon, but we took the plane to Tacloban City anyway. We were picked up at the airport and brought to Guiuan, Samar 3 hours east. Along the way, I noticed reconstruction work. It was different from the last time we did a mission in February 2014. The tent city along the way was gone. The coconuts had grown leaves and a few fruits, a sign of hope and recovery. Continue reading “Bringing Jade Mountain CNT Organs Massage to Homonhon Island” →

Greetings!

Here I am, waiting to drive to Philadelphia to attend a weekend seminar by the famous Lonnie Jarrett on treating trauma with Chinese medicine sponsored by the Association of Professional Acupuncture. Last week, I watched Taoist priest Jeffrey Yuen’s seminar on Geriatrics on live streaming. (I had studied Pediatrics with him in Columbia, MD last year. I will attend his seminar on Trauma Care at the New England School of Acupuncture early next year.)   It’s a good way to celebrate one’s 74th birthday (75th in Chinese reckoning). Continue reading “November 2014: Iceland, Bali, Myanmar and more…” →

Dear Friends,

First the bad news: Sorry that I lost my Canon G12 Powershot camera that contained most of my photos of Peru. I have given up hope that it will be returned. The best recollection I have is that I put it in a white plastic bag, tucked it inside the luggage that I put in storage in the hotel while waiting for my limousine service to the airport for my flight back to the US. In response to my inquiry, the hotel manager wrote that he has no information as to what happened to it. Hopefully, they will conduct an internal investigation and find the culprit who stole it. Continue reading “Upcoming Seminars in the Philippines” →