I had just finished my meeting with the NBI and was heading for Puerto Galera, several hours south of Manila. It was so peaceful and quiet after all the madness in Manila, this relaxing trip by boat had cleaned up the smelly exhaust fumes from my hair and clothes, and a thin salty layer covered my skin that started to tan by the sun that seemed to shine from all sides and reflected a million times from the breaking water surface. The sea breeze speeded up the tanning process and I started to look like a tourist.
I had a beautiful three days on the beach, swimming, diving and eating good meals as I was visiting all the entertaining pubs or restaurants on the spot. And I enjoyed all of it. It nearly made me forget I had some business to attend to in MM.
I really disliked packing my suitcase to return to reality.
The first training
Quite some people showed up the first time and they were diverse, a couple of fatass chair sitters and some younger guys but no women. I didn't expect Charlies angels but no police woman showed up at all. I started an intro-talk for about ten minutes and then told them to follow me in the warming up. Well I have to admit I started a routine , but it was my first time in the tropics and I didn't realize that those people weren't waiting to get warmer as they were already, I mean the temperature in the building at that moment must have been at least over a hundred or around a 38 C. I visualized them sitting with their feet on their desk and the fan switched at 4. Let's say they were not too amused, but I got them moving in a lower gear. I came up with some disarming-techniques but that didn't cheer them up, they thought it quite interesting but of no use, when they encounter armed resistance they just shoot to kill, no sweat...What the fuck was I doing there.!
It was really hot in there so I called it a wrap after some hour and a half. And I could be wrong but I believe there was a 'fragrant' smell of sweat over there, for the first time since long...I was soaking wet and gasped for a San Miguel. I told them: next week, and fled the intestine of a rotten institute. I went there for a couple of months and apologized to them. I had to leave and teach at some other places. They were relieved I tell you, and so was I. There was no fun in it whatsoever. I never regretted the quit.
There's one more thing I never forget about this building.
It's the hottest place ever I smoked a joint at......
There were hardly any showers but believe it or not, there was a sauna at the place. So one night when I just wrapped a movie set and was really feeling filthy, I decided to take a shower at the NBI's. My friend Federico the caretaker-and Judo instructor was there as well but about to leave. So he asked me to close down the place after I was done cos he was in a hurry. Now then I got this ingenious idea to sweat it out in the sauna while smoking a doobie. I asked the man to start up the sauna which he did. I carefully checked if no one was around and lighted up my pipe and had a magnificent high. Next to carrying a bag of weed from Sagada by bus, this was one of my most risky stunts ever..
I had become friends with José Almirol, the secretary of the Philippine Amateur Judo Association and he invited me do a gast-training in the Rizal Memorial in Vito Cruz..
This was really a nice guy, so were the Judoka that joined the class. OK. !!! These people came to practice their sport and were well trained and not lazy, such a difference. I loved to show up there and have fun with José. I did so for several years, even had a selected team to join the ASEAN-games, no one made it to the top but a 4th place. As the national championships came by I ended up 1st referee and organizer.
Everything I was taught by my old sensei Johan van der Bruggen came to hand now.
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It wasn't in vain that I sacrificed my weekends for so many years to attend to his lessons in de Zoutmanstraat in The Hague. It wasn't really a sport centre but some transformed living rooms, it was
small but on the other hand classes were small either, the place looked like an eastern ninja-set having a dusty ninja outfit in it's showroom and it smelled like long flown times. As to his qualities, I think sensei v.d. Bruggen deserved a better location to his performance.
When Dan-grade exams were due, the place was impregnated with an Asian mystic and he knew how to use that just by looking at you with this particular glance of his, add his hoarse voice and his almost physical authority and all ingredients were there to feel bloody nervous. On the other hand if classes were given in a sports complex, he would use every inch of the facilities and had us run dozens of laps to practice intermission training and to control our breathing techniques. By the time we were to start martial arts or theory lessons often more than 90 minutes were invested in 'warming-up'. The usual menu after that was an intensive Judo, Ju-jitsu and Kendo exercise. The Kata were trained to the limit to get it synchronized to a perfect element.
Broken and wet to the bones it always gave a satisfaction and it was all worth exertion.
In the meantime John Mullin had come to visit me in my apartments, I had no more jet-lag and we went sight seeing Manila. Emil Ong had returned from Samar and had experienced my healing hands as he suffered a painful back. After a couple of weeks I was invited by Emil to stay in his house in Quezon City. Well, that wasn't too bad, no more expenses in the Mabini region and a nice place to stay for the next couple of month. Emil had his office downtown Binondo, but he had more activities besides the hardware store. Politics came first to him. At that time he was an active assemblyman, did his thing at the National Food Authority and was running for some position in Northern Samar. I had the pleasure to join him on a trip to the Visayas and spent some time over there.. For the locals I was some kind of a 'worth seeing', little kids followed us calling: “Mica,Mica”, an abbreviation of “American”. I learned a lot during those trips and came to meet quite some interesting people. I became friends to mayors, met with lawyers, judges, governors and military high placed personnel.
Just to stay in a good condition I was eager to visit the Rizal Memorial at least once a week, the guys over there loved it when I showed up to teach them some new stuff. But by that time I decided to move away from the NCR and find myself a nice place in Laguna. I fell in love with this province,well that's not hard to do, it is so diverse and beautiful, the air was much cleaner than Manila's and it wasn't that crowded. I had been to Sta Cruz and Los Baños before and 'did' the world famous rapids of Pagsanjan, about two hours drive from Manila.
This was the place where parts of “The Apocalypse now” were shot, starring Marlon Brando
Juramentado...
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….It was a couple a days or maybe a week after the typhoon when I came to visit my old favorite corner at Sta Monica in Ermita. The weather was great and I just ordered a San Miguel when somebody touched my shoulder. As I turned around I saw this smiling bastard of a Paul Vance behind me, I felt relieved, cos I thought him dead by that time. We hugged and celebrated the reunion with another beer..
Only then I learned the latest news about what happened after..
Before the storm had reached its max he had collected our belongings from the cabins already and he had retreated to find exile in a nearby barrio at higher grounds. He was told I had left the scene with some friends, so he didn't worry. He had stayed there for a couple of days to gather and rescue some of the props scattered all over the place and decided to wait the chaos to diminish.
He had to do some 'loops' as he told me and asked me to come along. I had no idea what he was talking about and he had to explain to me that he was 'dubbing sounds and voices to film loops'.
I joined him to the studios and learned how they synchronized to dubbings on the loops. I enjoyed seeing him doing background noise and voices. I remember one scene where a tv-screen on the background needed some adding. He watched the loop once or twice, said “Yes” and made-up a dialog between a guy opening a fridge and an imaginair person off frame. It was óne take only and applause...But I noticed he needed a lot of Marlboro's to get to his inspirations.
jungle in Laguna
It's a nice trip by bus to Laguna. As soon as your outside the NCR traffics-madness gets a little easier and nature opens your eyes. Oh ya, this view is such a magnificence it gives a holiday's feelin'.
It's a spilth to miss the beauty of the mountains with its variety of fauna and flora living on this fertile volcanic soil.
A nice view on Laguna lake and Taal lake
Los Baños (the baths) is worldwide known for its hot water springs and bathing accommodations in pretty much all the hotels over there. I've been there quite some times with several movie-sets, The Firebird to begin with.
I think the area southwest of Laguna the Bay and in between Lake Taal is the summum. The most beautiful place I've ever seen is Hidden Valley. I came to this place in '85 during the shootings of “Hellcamp”.
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There are 20+ rivers debouching in this 900 km2 lake. It's Manila's source of fresh water. The growing population and intensifying industry around the lake using no water clearing or sewerage systems create a serious problem to this source. Now there's another problem when it rains, I mean Rain. The water in this Laguna-bathtub can flow to one outlet only: the river Pasig. This river meanders thru Metro Manila and divides it in two parts, flooding the lower districts during the monsoons.
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--It was a big house I rented, There was it's ground floor, having lots of stuff piled up belonging to the house owner.A caretaker had his room somewhere there. He had his own entrance. My floor was huge, having a wide living, an open kitchen and two large bedrooms and a luxurious bathroom, marble pavement all over.
It had a nice view but the garden needed some attention.
My Belgium friend was impressed saying: “not bad at all”. Better believe that, compared with his former lodgings in central Manila.
Paul seemed to be relaxed at the place and even smoked less without the movie-stress. He came up with a proposition to rent one of the rooms to share in the costs. I was glad too, cos my rent was a monthly 2,500 pesos !! So I passed him my spare key and told him: “You're living here now man.” I couldn't have dreamed of the sudden reward he came with. He asked me what I was up to the next month, and if I was interested to do a bit part or stunts in a local movie.
I had ears to that.
That's how my second movie “The Firebird Conspiracy” came to me.
