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Author Spotlight: On Gordon Mathews

Today’s Author Spotlight from the Travel Geek, is Gordon Mathews.  He wrote a book called Ghetto at the Center of the World.  This book really appealed to me since I bought it while I was staying at the Chunking Mansion — the location the book discusses.  It’s an odd place, that’s for sure.  But nowhere near as odd as it becomes in Mathew’s world.

He’s a professor at Hong Kong University and has studied the place by staying at a room there (I think I read) at least once a week for three years preceding the book’s release — and presumably even longer.  And while I don’t want to spoil it for you, I also don’t want you not knowing what an amazingly telling non-fiction this book really is.

From interviews with sex workers to anonymous inspirations from heroine traffickers, Mathews really digs in deep — almost as would an investigative journalist with a penchant for the underworld.  And in that, he brings to the surface all the gritty details of the amazing goings-on with the big, white elephant stationed at the heart of the world’s foremost megatropolis.

Be sure to visit my photography website for HDR photos of Hong Kong.  And support the blog and buy a print!

Here’s my video review of Mathews and his 2011 book, Ghetto at the Center of the World.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgcIljo_ptQ]
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[Wanna Help?  One way you can help is to sign up for blog updates.  Then email it to ten friends who might enjoy it.  You can also share this video (which can be found on my youtube channel), my photography website and this blog.  Help spread the word so others can enjoy my travels!  If you have any questions, just email me at: cyle@cyleodonnell.com. You can also follow me on facebook, sign up to receive my tweets on Twitter, and see my latest pins on Pinterest!]

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Journal 42: Philippines Day One

First Day in the Philippines:

I’ve chiseled out about two weeks to spend in the Philippines over the New Year holiday, 2011.  During this time, I am interested in seeing two world heritage sites, climbing some mountains, seeing some waterfalls and navigating underground rivers.

This might be an auspicious venture and an unreasonable expectation for Southeast Asia’s black sheep.  But I have been pleasantly surprised at my goal’s relinquished rewards in the past.  So I continue to set my standards high.

Day one sees me landing in Manila.  I landed at about 9:30, well after dark.  And Manila, like many Latin-descended capital cities, it’s not really safe to fumbling the streets late at night.  So I jumped right into a cab and headed for the Stonehouse Hotel, far north of the city.

Strategically, I planned on staying near this location because I wanted to simply leave Manila as soon as possible the next morning.  I had bigger plans in mind.  In fact, my plans stood 1486 meters high as I planned to crest the lower reaches of its summit within the next two days.

The mountain has an amazing recent history.  But first, for reference, I will start on the other side of the world:  In 1980, Mount St. Helens, which sits along the Cascade Range in Washington State, erupted like a nuclear bomb and blew fully grown trees to the ground for hundreds of yards in all directions.  It was so powerful that it recorded a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, the most significant in the contiguous 48 states.  It hurled bombs and ash into the air that tormented surrounding states and Canada for months after.


Be sure to check out the Philippines photos at cyleodonnell.com

But when Mt. Pinatubo went of in 1991, it recorded a VEI of 6.  It also coincided with a massive tropical storm that happened to have been battering the coast at the time.  When they met, the water from the heavens created a surge of mud that buried a handful of villages in the mudflow’s wake.  A dozen people died and cleanup and recover took months.  It erupted again two years later.

I didn’t know if I was going to take the longer, more strenuous two-day hike with an overnight, sweating to the temperature-cued crickets choir or if I was going to try and shoot straight through in one day.  But I knew that I was headed for the world’s most recent VEI-6 explosion and currently active volcano, Mount Pinatubo.

But, as is the case in many other times of seeking out the location of desire, the adventure, I was planning, would be in the voyage.

Below is a video of the first part of the trip (be sure to subscribe to my channel). It covers much more than this journal. But since I’ve already made the video, I might as well put part one of the six-part series in here to add some reference:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM7BnYvzRa8]

[Wanna Help?  One way you can help is to please share this video (which can be found on my channel), my photography website and this blog.  Email at least ten of your email contacts who might enjoy it.  Help spread the word so others can enjoy my travels!  If you have any questions, just email me at: cyle@cyleodonnell.com. You can also follow me on facebook, sign up to receive my tweets on Twitter, and see my latest pins on Pinterest!]

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Introducing the Author Spotlight:

Here on my blog, I have started to get some feedback as to the recommendations for what I do in those “down times” of travel.  So when I find myself on a 13-hour plane ride, and nothing out the window creates enough of a canvas on which to paint my wandering thoughts, I generally turn to books (or audio books on the trusty iPod).  So, in the effort of promoting great reads, I will be introducing a new section to the blog: Weekly Author Spotlights.  I will be reading, discussing and posting videos about the books I have read throughout my travels.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP7bOMTNFsI]

Okay, so by this point you’ve probably realized that I have made good on my promise to use more video in my blog.  But I don’t want to overdo it.  So in an effort to ease the video onslaught of late, I have been actively editing lots of text blogs and photos to bring back in.  But there’s lots more going on than just that.  Read below:

Other important updates:  After months of filming for the upcoming film, Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan, I have finally been able to set aside some time to get the much needed edits done to the the Philippines gallery of photos.  So it might be the end of the week before I am able to get this album published, but it should be up at least by the end of the week.

And speaking of the Philippines; I have edited the first of my journals from this latest trip and will be following this post with the first of what will likely turn out to be about ten pages of amazing reflection from Southeast Asia’s black sheep.  So thanks for sticking with me throughout all the years of posting, and up next is my latest journals from the Philippines.  I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted any actual travel journals.  But I have been working on releasing (not one, but) TWO books which should be out soon.  I have been editing heaps of video.  And I have also been compounding more filming on top of that.  So I have been a busy boy.

The gallery of photography from the Philippines will be hosted at cyleodonnell.com.  You can reach the page directly by clicking HERE.  And new Travel Geek short films are coming out all the time.  Just subscribe to my Youtube Channel to receive all the new shorts that I post.

Also, I am getting new subscribers all the time, so I know that some of you have been talking about the page.  THANK YOU!  I really appreciate the support.  But if you could do me one more favor, I’d really appreciate it.  Please email one or more of my email updates to at least ten friends in your email contacts list and ask them to subscribe.  Anyone that you think would be interested in reading about the updates that I post here, they should sign up for a subscription too.  It’s free, and I love getting feedback on what else I should be putting up here on the blog.

[Wanna Help?  One way you can help is to please share this video (which can be found on my channel), my photography website and this blog.  Email at least ten of your email contacts who might enjoy it.  Help spread the word so others can enjoy my travels!  If you have any questions, just email me at: cyle@cyleodonnell.com. You can also follow me on facebook, sign up to receive my tweets on Twitter, and see my latest pins on Pinterest!]

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Calling All Koreans!

Hello all, I have a piece of fabric that I collected when I was in Korea that has a poem on it. It’s from the Hangul and it would be really great to know what it says. It was given to me by a monk outside the Seoraksan Temple and I haven’t been able to get it translated. If anyone receiving this blog knows how I might get a hold of someone to do this for me, that would be great.  I told a friend of mine, whose kids have a project for their class, that I would give it a shot.  Thanks a lot.

 

Here are the photos:

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Click to enlarge, and feel free to right-click, “save image as” and edit as needed to turn it in the correct direction if you need to do that.

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documentary philippines: interview with bert

During my trip to the Philippines, I created a feature length film, Travel Geek: Documentary Philippines. While I had to keep the interviews to a brief, few minutes on the film, the actual footage of the interviews were much longer. And because of their telling and impactful insights they offer into the Filipino culture and daily life, I wanted to also release this footage.

Thanks, Bert, for your informative and candid conversation.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzz167TT_O4]

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Documentary Philippines: Interview with Joe

During my trip to the Philippines, I created a feature length film, Travel Geek: Documentary Philippines. While I had to keep the interviews to a brief, few minutes on the film, the actual footage of the interviews were much longer. And because of their telling and impactful insights they offer into the Filipino culture and daily life, I wanted to also release this footage.

Thanks, Joe for your informative and candid conversation.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h95SBjQ0-D8]

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Travel Geek: Documentary Philippines Out Now

Greetings all,

For about a month now, I have been working on my latest film, Travel Geek: Documentary Philippines.  And after releasing it in six parts, getting feedback, critiques and comments, I have done the final edits and produced the final draft.  But the story doesn’t end there.

Recently after I released it on Youtube, I got an email from a TV station in Los Angeles indicating that they wanted to pick it up for a spot on their new FIL/AM TV Channel 31 in their San Bernadino and L.A. viewership areas.  FIL/AM Channel 31 is a Filipino-American TV entertainment channel providing 24-7 coverage of news and entertainment from and for Filipinos living in California.

I was honored to accept their offer and I will be sure to make updates as they come in.  Hopefully I will be able to get a schedule of times it will be aired, and I will post that here and on my social networks.

Please enjoy this film as it has meant a lot to me.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSn9e6xz4Xo]