Week 0
The first thing Ed told me was: "The rules are different in Asia. No one cares about institutions. No one cares what your job is or what bank you represent. The only thing that matters is who you know, and what you are willing to do for each other." Ed will be my boss at the Asia-Pacific arm of a private equity firm in Manila from June 14 to September 14, and then I will come home.
I do not know much about where I am going. My family in the Philippines has been extremely helpful with arrangements, but they have not left much of the planning to me. At 5AM on June 12 I will be greeted in Manila's Centennial airport by the gentlemen below and taken to my family's home in Atabang. Apparently it is customary that photographs such as these be sent before one arrives, in order to preempt the advances of kidnapper gangs that operate at the airport gates. The most famous of these, the Ativan gang, befriends a tourist and offers him a drink spiked with the tranquilizer Ativan, which rewards his trust with two days of unconsciousness.
Americans I have talked to about the dangers of 2004's Southeast Asia are anxious and pessimistic. They assure me that terror is on the rise in the East, that I will stick out like a sore thumb, that Americans have been kidnapped and killed by Muslim Filipinos before, that Manila's 200 kidnappings a year have a locus in wealthy foreigners, and that there is no guarantee my bodyguard will not betray me and send me off to be beheaded. Many have expressed concern for my health, and a few have asked me to reconsider leaving California. My doting father has eagerly forwarded me newsclips like "typhoon kills 9 in Quezon harbor" -- "kidnappee found with throat slit in Metro Manila" -- "election violence leaves 30 dead" -- "State Department issues security warning for Americans in the Philippine Islands." The situation, from American eyes, is mortally grim.
Yet, Filipinos express almost indignant disbelief at these claims. They point out that thousands of ex-patriate foreigners live in the city, that kidnappers target mostly Chinese-Filipinos and rarely Americans, and that life is generally peaceful in the city. They are quick to extol the welcoming nature of their culture, their warm relationship with America, their Westernized economy and position as Asia's second largest trade hub -- the only things to worry about, they say, are the smog and the traffic.
I am losing about $5000 on this trip because my company's honorarium is adjusted for Philippine wages, and the average Filipino in Manila makes about $150 a month. No ritzy $10K bulge bank stipend, no paid travel, no London School of Economics, and no Hermes ties. The purpose of this journal is to quantify the main profits of my trip: experience and knowledge. Thanks for reading! I hope that my blundering through a third-world country will suffice for entertainment, at least until I get kidnapped.
