Home Town Tourist

On the morning news, a local enforcemnet official spoke of the many problems Middle Earth has with the "Jacuzis." If one wants to end the Japanese mafia crime wave, they must first learn to spell and then pronounce them correctly. The annual kite show eclipse all news, a car was being raffled. In other worldy news, New York and the East coast was pelted by a blizzard, the largest so far this season.

Hkai asked his uncle Carl about the weird book he found in his travel bag: the D and D players guide. He told Hkai that he was a Cleric in a secert society that battled with dragons, dangerous monsters and manlike creatures in search for treasure; this book was his survival guide. He showed Hkai his mace and helmet. Hkai nodded and left the room completely unimpressed. It's not that he didn't believe Carl, he'd heard all these stories from his grandfather. In the past Ladrone had been the battle ground for monsters, dragons, Ogres, Orcs, great warriors and the like. For centuries Ladrone was the battle ground for the Portugese, the Spanish, Japanese, the Germans and the United States.

It's hard to imagine centuries of constant battle on such a small island, but Ladrone is pocked with scars of war machines, ancient and new. The island was intact with ancient buildings until the great war, fifty years ago. The entire north of the island was destroyed, leaving only the burnt remains of streets and plazas. But from the ashes arose hotels, box stores, luxury stores (Channel, Louis Vitton), fast food joints, and tourists dressed like Rastas at the Polynesian villa.

Young military men (kids really) arrive monthly mistaking local women for "base wives". Tourists are still taught to fear the locals. Cars dodge stray dogs, drivers are unbuckled with cell phone in hand. It's a world I no longer understand.

But the occasional dragon attack reminds me that technology and tourism does not conquer all. As I drove through the south of Ladrone I was assured than some things are exactly the same. The south never changes. Southern villagers still live in stilted pala pala with children chasing chickens about. Old women sit under shaded trees chewing betel nut. People come to worship in missions that are centuries old. People are still interred in graves that face the ocean.

Southern Ladrone has survived even the worst of dragon attacks. A dragon named Pakka left Ladrone without power and water as it blew its way across the island. Shortly after a bigger dragon named Pun Sa Na destroyed 30 precent of the island leaving ladrone without power and water for six months, many people died. The buildings that stand the test to time read a history like broken rings on a tree stump. There's a Chinese restaurant that was live rock palace then an S&M club, then finally it just shut down after the roof caved in during an earthquake. There's a church that was a gas station and then a pizza place. But the constant presence of a military folk, Japanese tourist, ratsnakes and stray dogs assure me that things are somewhat the same.

Have we all landed on the wrong island or did I step out of a broken time machine? Maybe this all seems strange to me because I've become a tourist in my home town.