Qingdao City- Governor's Mansion

Emmanuel T. Domingo, Advocacy Manager

The author graduated from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, with a degree in Political Science. His undergraduate thesis about poverty, the homeless, and squatting in the Philippines shows that such problems, which was present since the dawn of time, would require a change not only in laws and policies, but also the frame of mind of the Filipino, in order to solve them.

He has a degree in Law at UE Manila, and is now working at the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry as Manager of the Advocacy Department. He spends most of his time writing speeches, novels, posting notes in his blogs, and managing and developing programs and projects for the business sector in the Philippines.

The author is also an avid computer geek who has started dismantling computers since he was young in the 1980s. He can install video cards and sound cards even if the computer is turned on. Forunately, he has never been electrocuted or physically hurt or damaged. Sadly, we cannot say the same for the computers he "fixed." His adventurous whims gave him advanced knowledge in the intricacies of computer world.

His expertise in computers made him adept in handling cellphones because of the similarity in desktop framework. He has silenty followed his hobby of pursuing technological breakthroughs by buying second hand cellphones in the outskirts of Quiapo and Caloocan where these gadgets abound.

While he may be fond of online computer games, the last he played them were during the earlier versions of Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo I, II, and III. He also likes to listen to Metallica, The Cranberries, Green Day, and several other songs, the singers of which he does not give a care about in the world.

Mr. Domingo was also a member of the call center industry for two years where he was able to master the art of calming and pacifying an irate subscriber.

Coffee and TV for my Sister

My sister has been searching for this nice video about a dancing milk carton. I found it in youtube entitle Coffee and TV by Blur. Enjoy watching it over and over again. Regards.

Some more Pictures- On the road to Jinan and Qufu

This was taken while I was inside our bus going to Jinan and Qufu. Chinese music was being played inside a bus, and sometimes the driver would show a video of music videos of Chinese songs. My Qingdao experience is definitely something I can tell my family and friends over and over again.

Tour of Qingdao Old Districts

The Origin of Mr. Dumpling

I think this is the first time that I was called Mr. Dumpling. I said to my friends, I felt like a Dumpling when I wore this long sleeve shirt because it was too small for me and so I felt squeezed like a dumpling. hehehe.

Well, another memory I had was when we were set to go to Qingdao's Old Districts. When I looked at the schedule of activities, I thought that we were going to go to some old streets with old houses. Instead, we were brought to the Qingdao Museum where there were pictures and replicas of old districts. It was memorable, not because of the things I saw there, but because of the fun I had with my friends. Here are some of my pictures in the museum wearing my dumpling suit.

Kingking Candle Factory

One of my favorite memory in Qingdao was when we went to Kingking Candle Factory. It was the first time that I saw so many different candles with different colors all in one place. If I remember it right, each candle design is registered with the IP Office. Here are some of my pictures with my friends from the Seminar.

Jinan Temples, Shandong Province

It was a long time since I wrote, well, because we traveled a very long road before we arrived at Jinan, Shandong Province. The travel was about 3 to 4 hours so we sat in the bus enjoying the beautiful scenery of China.

The Journey

I was like traveling in a cloud of dreams, the bus was running fast, the sky was blue with occasional cirrus clouds passing us by, the green fields with small houses in the middle was soothing to look at (reminded me of my home province in Nueva Ecija, where my Uncle has this small hut in the middle of his rice field and we had to pass through a narrow road to get there).

Many of my friends from the Seminar were sleeping, but me? I cannot sleep, I could not, I said to myself that I cannot let this moment pass me by. It might take a long time again before I get to experience these few splendid hours of my life. So I made every second count, I was constantly looking outside the window, feeding my eyes with all the beautiful pictures to put in the memory bank of my mind.

I was also singing with my friend, Tassanai, from Thailand. She brought her mp3 player and we were listening to Thai music, and American songs too. She introduced me to the pingpong song which was sung by Julio Iglesias, Jr. It was a nice and lively song, perfect for the time. We shared earphones, but later she was also sleeping like the rest from our bus. So I took off my earphones and began listening to the music in my surroundings.

Tassanai and Me during one of our bus tours around Qingdao City

I could hear the motor from the bus, some of my friends talking, the sound of the wheels running through the road, and sometimes the bus TV would turn on and off. It was peaceful, with some occasional music playing in the background. After passing some houses, I would see some disciplined trees and think how they got so straight. Then I would think of my friends from the other bus and how they must be also sleeping. I tried to memorize everything I saw so that I could keep it with me as long as I could. There are some things that not even the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art cameras cannot take. The eyes are still the best camera, and they could hold pictures longer, even for a lifetime.


Sometime, I was hoping that the bus ride would be longer, and sometime I hoped that we would arrive soon because my body was becoming stiff from sitting for 4 hours. Those four hours of travel to Jinan happened more than three months ago. So many things have happened by then and I am glad I did not sleep during the journey.

My camera took about 1,000 photos during my entire stay in China, but the pictures taken by my mind totaled to more than 10 million images. I can sleep anytime I want and because I did not sleep during that four hours, I have many things to dream of and many places and wonderful, timeless moments to go back to. I hope to see you there.

Cheers to a wonderful and fulfilled life.