Emmanuel Doming- The Author

Hi, this is me, Emmanuel Domingo, and I am writing to tell you about my experiences here in Qingdao, China, including some of the wonderful people I met along the way. We were invited as participants to the Seminar on Intellectual Property System and Protection. I am Manager of the Advocacy Dept of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. But enough of me, there are more interesting people I would like to tell you about.

No, this is not a scene from the Korean tv soap opera "Endless Love" but I hope it was! One of my favorite sites to see are the trees in the right. My friend Maya (I'll tell you about her later), calls them the "Disciplined Trees" because look, they are all in line, and in a very very straight line!

Everything in China is big and wide and spacious and... you know what I mean. Anyone who goes here in Qingdao will readily notice that what differentiates Qingdao from the others is its weather which is really cold. I heard that the average annual temperature here is about 12-14 degrees celsius.

This blog intends to describe in detail what the author has experienced here in Qingdao and how his stay here has helped him to understand more about China, its people, its history, and its culture.

Memories in Qingdao 3

Flying to China alone was a big challenge since this was only my second experience going overseas. I was told by the IP office in the Philippines that there were two representatives that will represent the Philippines in the Seminar on Intellectual Property System and Protection in Qingdao China. However, when I arrived at Qingdao Airport, I was told by Mr. You Liming that, "There is no one else from your country." Aghast! What! One month in China, alone!
My mind was blowing like a dynamo after learning the latest news but eventually I placed my fate to the plans of God.

Luckily enough, you know, making friends in the seminar was very very easy after all. Everyone was so friendly and amiable and before I knew it, I had more acquaintances than the population of China (okay I'm exaggerating!) We were 66 participants in all from 44 countries. Mr. Aliyu, Class representative, told it correctly that we are like a small United Nations.

Among the participants in the seminar, the only person who approached me on the first day was this lady whose picture appears below. After the opening ceremonies, she walked over and told me that she knew someone from the Philippines with the same first name. I learned that she is Tassanai Lerksantivong working at the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand.

This is her house (joke!).

Tassanai said that we can call her Ped, because she is aware of how long her name is. Tassanai is the biggest fan of dogs in the world! You can look at her camera and I bet you she has more pictures of dogs here in China than people. She is very nice but one thing that she really does not like is arranging her baggage, hehe. Too bad, we had to arrange our baggage almost everyday because of hotel-hopping. Yes, you heard it right people. We were hotel-hopping from one city to another. We all volunteered to help Tassanai in putting all the treasures of gifts she bought in Jimo (right spelling?) inside her baggage.

What made this trip especially great for Tassanai is that her father has relatives here in China. Quite often, she has been mistaken as Chinese which she respectfully explained was common. Tassanai has the kindest heart I know, her concern for the plight of the people here in China especially those who cannot afford the cost of the standard of living is sincere and unparalleled. She is a wonderful lady indeed!

Benedictus Setiawan

The new Emperor of China! We Did NOT borrow the costume for 5 yuan, no we didn't! (why am I so defensive?) This is the genuine cloth of the Emperors who ruled Ancient China which was discovered by archaeologists and historians thousands of years ago in the City of.... well, okay okay enough, we borrowed the costume for 5 yuan, there, satisfied?


Hehe, Benny is my good friend from Indonesia and he works at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. (This is not their office uniform). He is a very good ping pong and billiards player. He is very serious while playing ping pong so do not talk to him while he is smashing the ball or he will smash your face (just kidding!) Benny is also the biggest shopper among all the participants. He is more fond of shopping than most of the girls, (hmmmm, I wonder why). Until now, we are still guessing how heavy his baggage is (it is full of gifts from shopping of course), we think it is more than 30 pounds, some of us think it is already 40 pounds (good luck in the airport and the excess baggage Benny, hahaha).

Benny is also a world class photographer, he got most of our pictures while in Qingdao. Here he is below in action!

Memories in Qingdao Part 2

I tried posting more pictures in one entry but after four pictures, blogspot refused to accept more. I will be making a better blog once I arrive in the Philippines.

Also, most of these pictures are not chronoligically arranged because I am still in Qingdao while making this blog and we have so much to do in such little time. We have spent more than three weeks here and have seen only, I believe, less than 3 percent of the whole of China. I would like to think that one month is not enough to visit even one big Province such as Shandong.

Yet, the beautiful memories I have hear are enough to fill the pages of Encyclopedia Britannica.

Does Maya love Ice Cream? Just look at her smile and you would know the answer. Maya (Novilia Mayasari in real life) works at the State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia. Her name is Novilia because she was born in November. She is not very secretive about her age but I will not write it here for privacy purposes, hehe.

Aside from ice cream, she like cats (I sometimes call her Ms. Garfield), shopping, long conversations, and she can speak fluent Chinese, English, and Bahasa Indonesia. Maya is really very smart. She is our translator especially when we try to bargain for lower prices in the numerous markets here in China.

Maya taught us a very useful Chinese sentence-

"Duo shao qian"- How much is it?,

"Pian yi dian," which means "cheaper", and

"Tai gui le"- Too expensive.

She laughs at me because whenever I say "Duo shao qian" like a true Chinese, to ask for the price of product, I can no longer understand what the store owner will answer. You see, I have not memorized Chinese numbers yet, but I'm improving!

Maya does not like to talk (ooops my Pinnochio nose is growing), she does not like to talk while sleeping (probably). In one full breath, she can talk in Bahasa, then in Chinese, then she will turn to us and courteously translate what she just said. Hehe, it's a hard job but someone's got to do it.

Maya is a true friend indeed, and loves to talk about her family. We are all lucky to have been blessed by her friendship.

Maya on bus number 1, while on tour in Xiamen.

This is me with my friend Garfield (the real one). Yes, Garfield is real and not just a cartoon and he is very much alive here in China folks! He speaks Chinese and I tried very hard to converse with him. But nothing I say can change his mind, he still charged me 2 yuan for the picture. Well, I had this picture just to prove that Garfield has a bigger stomach than I have. Just see the difference!
So many sailing boats in Qingdao. Behind me is one of the longest beaches in Qingdao, China. It is also the site of the Qingdao Sailing Base where the Sailing Contest of the Beijing Olympics was held.
I spent a few days in Qingdao as part-time driver in a hotel for the enjoyment of tourists. Kidding aside, behind me are friends and participants of the Seminar in Intellectual Property in Qingdao. Behind me are Mr. Alam, Madame Afroza (Bangladesh) and Ms. Novilia Mayasari (a good friend from Indonesia).
Candles complement my mysterious (?) personality. I'm here in KingKing Candle Corp. which we visited to acquaint ourselves with the different patented designs in candle making.
What more can I say? This picture shows the happy faces of my closest friends. Benny and Maya (seated) are happy, well, because we're doing what we love most, shopping! And the woman standing in the left (she's still thinking of what to buy) is Tassanai from Thailand. Tassanai asked us to call her Ped, since her full name is breathtakingly long, Tassanai Lerksantivong (there I told you it was long, Tassanai don't be mad okay!) heeeheee.