This is your Editor-in-Chief, signing off

Written by Chrishandra Sebastiampillai
Pictures by Sarah Chong and Vince Cheong

The first thing my parents did when I stepped back into my house was to bundle me off to the hospital. I’d spent the last two days of the trip locked up in my room with a high fever and wheezing, so they weren’t taking any chances with me. What I thought would be a regular jaunt to the doctor resulting in antibiotics ended up being a return to my childhood inhalations, something I hadn’t done since primary school. Sitting in the new Emergency room of Assunta Hospital and steadily sucking in a mixture of oxygen and steroids, I was confronted with the mural that the management had put in the ‘Inhalation Corner’. It depicted an ‘Under The Sea’ theme, with a variety of sea creatures grinning manically and blowing bubbles. Alright, so the seahorse wasn’t smiling, and the octopus had more of a smirk than anything else, but the general idea was clear: just breathe.

Unsurprisingly, Guimaras will remain a fantastic memory to all of us

Almost two weeks earlier, I’d had the exact same thought while sitting on the roof of a jeepney, flying along the deserted roads of Guimaras. Here I am, I thought, with these 17 other Malaysians, literally in paradise. The sea, visible on the horizon was a gorgeous mix of green to blue jewel tones, and the breeze was whipping my hair and blowing my worries away. And we were singing “Do Re Mi” for the third time. Forget that the lack of internet means that you can’t upload all the articles you have, forget that you have a huge street festival to cover in a few days, and just breathe, I tell myself. This was after all the spirit of a text message received from Dr. Yeoh at 11 pm the previous night- “If there is no internet, there is nothing you can do. Go to sleep and get to it tomorrow”.

Guimaras, paradise

This study trip was my first (and probably only one). I am some years older than my fellow travellers, and only ended up joining it long after the deadline when one day, Dr. Yeoh caught me lurking in the hallway outside his office and demanded that I submit an application. Technically, I didn’t even really qualify for the trip- at the time of signing up, I had graduated and was planning to do my Honours. Taking it on faith that I would continue to be a Monash student, I was added to the rank of travellers, and somehow found myself in the position of editor-in-chief. 

In effect, I only got to know the other travellers on the journey itself. I will admit that I was quite worried about going on a trip on which I only marginally knew perhaps three of the travellers involved, and even more worried that I was put in a position of great responsibility despite the fact that most of the travellers didn’t know me at all. I am pleased, and proud to report that none of my fears were well-founded. 

What I discovered was that they were an assorted bunch of friendly and open people who welcomed me into their group and proceeded straight to that peculiar stage of friendship where insults pass for affection, and a grunt is more than enough to communicate needs, questions and instructions. This might have had a lot to do with the fact that we were sitting up together each night, usually until 1.30 am to get stories up on the blog. 

In the session prior to leaving Malaysia, it became clear that while we had a variety of reasons for wanting to go to the Philippines, none of us (with the possible exception of Tracey, whose mother is Filipino) knew much about what we were going to see or experience. The first 12 gruelling hours of journey overnight (with a stopover in Manila and connection flight to Iloilo) tested our good humour and gave us a fairly good idea of what to expect over the course of the next 12 days. 

We were, of course, greatly aided in our journey in Iloilo by our student guides, who were with us night and day for the duration. They laughed with us, played with us and even wrote with us when the time came for submissions. They acted as translator, intercessor, guide and protector throughout the trip, learning as much about the eccentricity of their particular group of Malaysians (plus one Singaporean and Sri Lankan) as we did about them. We taught them ‘lah’; they taught us terrible pick up lines. We taught them ‘Rasa Sayang’; they taught us ‘Pinoy Ako’. We now know about jeepneys, and they now know about the importance of chilli in food. I would like to hope that they also got to see a side of their country they would not have been able to without this study trip. 

To this end, I must mention the excellent speakers we met and heard from in Iloilo. Without their knowledge, we would have been but a group of tourists passing through without gleaning any knowledge past that of local attractions and shopping. The sessions we attended allowed us to get a glimpse of the social and cultural landscape of Iloilo. We did not merely see the beautiful festival- we saw also the realities of the urban poor. We saw the history and cultural heritage of a beautiful city. We met the natives of the land, and laughed and played with them. The speakers did their utmost to make us travellers rather than tourists. 

Our fond memories of the Philippines are due in no small degree to the wonderfully warm and friendly nature of its people. My favourite moment again comes from the island of Guimaras. The locals were treated to the sight of 10 or so of us foreigners hanging on to the roof of a jeepney as it bounced and swayed over the dusty roads of the island, and enjoyed the experience as much as the foreigners did. In one particularly memorable instance, a man who was sweeping his porch looked up absently to see us passing. I made eye contact, and smiled. He promptly dropped his broom to wave until our jeepney drove around the corner and out of sight, grinning widely. 

It hasn’t all been a bed of roses, of course. Tempers flared with the heat of day, and exhaustion and illness claimed more than one victim along the way. The important thing here, is that I think that problems were dealt with maturely as they arose. This would not have been possible without the sage advice of our pathfinder, Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan. I must say that I am impressed with his ability to deal with 16 different personalities and their various crises, and remain cheerful and unflappable. For our part, we now know his weakness: ice-cream. Our host, Dr. Rosalie Hall was also always such a pleasure to us. Her unwavering good cheer and bright smiles made us in turn happier and kinder people. We look forward to seeing you soon over Chinese New Year, Dr. Hall! 

I now reach the part where I will make what I believe to be a completely justified boast as to the  productivity of this year's travellers. Over the 12 days of the trip, we wrote a record-breaking total of 60 posts, and tweeted 184 times. That's the final score guys- a job well done. 

******

As we sat eating in a restaurant in the airport awaiting our flight home, Dr. Yeoh asked me about my Honours application. 

I told him that I received an offer from the university by email the night before, and that I am once again a current Monash student.


Blogger Profile
Chrishandra graduated from Monash University’s School of Arts and Social Sciences in November 2012, determined to go far in life. She made it exactly three floors downstairs to the Advancement department where she is currently working till starting Honours in an office called ‘Relationship Management’. Yes. Stop sniggering.