Day 9 (14 February 2016) in Davao, Philippines

Today is my last day in Philippines. In general my scientific mission in this country was a success; two my AMBER instruments are now successfully deployed and are online, pushing data back to Boston.
Before I close my story about my trip to Philippines, I just want to say a few words about the country. The Republic of the Philippines (political official name), is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia located in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,500 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila, the most populous city. The traffic in Manila is a mess, that is why the government coded all private vehicles; meaning a private vehicle with a specific pate number ending will be off the road one business day per week. For example, if your plate number ends with '1', then your car will not be on the road every Monday. The population of Philippines is more than 100 million people, and that placed the country the seventh-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12 million Filipinos also live overseas, comprising one of the world's largest diasporas.

In terms of colonialism, Philippines has been under colony by the Spanish empire for 375 years and by Americans for about 45 years. The arrival of the famous Spanish explorer,  Ferdinand Magellan, in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago (the people who were living there) Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. The Spanish occupation continue until the Philippine Revolution, which was led by a secret anti-colonial organization known as Katipunan, that began in August 1896. The Philippine revolutionaries, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. However, as part of the deal to end the Spanish-American war, Spain ceded the Philippines islands to the United States for $20 million in the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. On the other hand the first Philippine republic objected to the terms of the Treaty of Paris under which the United States took possession of the Philippines from Spain, in other word, the Philippines got brand new colonizing power. The Filipino did not accept that and the fighting between United States and the Philippine Republic forces erupted on February 4, 1899; and on June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war against the United States. The war officially ended on July 4, 1902, with a victory for the United States. Then after, aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, when the United States of America recognized the independence of the Philippines on July 4, 1946 through the Treaty of Manila. The date was chosen because it corresponds to the American Independence Day, which was also recognized as Independence day in the Philippines until May 12, 1962, when President Diosdado Macapagal issued Presidential Proclamation, shifting it to June 12, the date of Emilio Aguinaldo's proclamation.
Since its full independence in 1946, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which includes the overthrow of a dictatorship by a nonviolent revolution. The people have been enjoying the genius democracy that include changing their leaders by elections not by civil wars. Philippines has a constitutions of presidential system, in which the President functions as both head of state and head of government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected by popular vote for six-year limited term. During the time of my visit there was hot campaign for the next presidential election which is set to take place in May 2016. Although Filipino and English are official language, the Philippine islands have 19 recognized regional languages. Because of the extended Spanish occupation, Catholic is now the dominant religion in Philippines.  

Presidential election campaign 

The Philippine economy is the 39th largest in the world, with an estimated 2016 total gross domestic product (nominal) of $369.188 billion and per-capita of $3,568. Primary exports include semiconductors and electronic products, transport equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil, and fruits. Major trading partners include the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Taiwan, and Thailand. Its unit of currency is the Philippine peso (₱ or PHP); at the time of my visit $1 = 47.7 PHP).
In my view, although it a young nation since its independence, the country has gone a tremendous achievement towards building stable democracy and institutions. As African origin, I'm so jealous of all these; because when I looked at many of African countries, which are much older than Philippines, struggling to even have fair and free election, I ask myself 'when do African leaders stop thinking for themselves but for the future of their country?'.

Heading back home!

Anyway, I'm now back home safely without any flight delay. Stay tune for another upcoming trip for another scientific mission.

Day 8 (13 February 2016) in Davao, Philippines

Today is my last day in Davao. I got a message from Matt that indicated data gaps. When I got that news one thing clicked on my mind, i.e., the GPS antenna might not have enough visibility because I put it on the same pall that the USGS people used but lower than their antenna. So I decided to move the antenna location.
After having breakfast, I packed up my stuff and went downstairs to checkout. Efran was there waiting for me. I checked out and left my luggage at the hotel and went to the site. On our way to the site, we stopped at two different shops to buy bamboo for fencing the sensor and rope for the fence and huck for GPS antenna mount. We quickly moved the antenna, make a few unsuccessful trouble shooting for SCINDA computer, and left back to the hotel.

 Bamboo shope 

 Here is how the GPS antenna looks like at its new location

 Fr McNamara took as at the top of the Jesuit residence building; take a look how they electrified the building, so huge solar panels imported from China

Fr McNamara took us for lunch at the Jesuit residence, where we enjoyed nice buffet lunch. After lunch Fr McNamara made arrangements to take me out for site seeing. He took me to one of the beautiful site called eagle foundation park where I truly enjoyed watching those unique eagles and other animals as well as the magnificent naturally beautiful garden. Most importantly I enjoyed driving outside the city which gave me a chance to see the country side of Philippines. I dd not have words to explain its natural beauty, it's landscape and amazingly green nature. The deep green appearance surprise me because the temperature around this are is so hot and the humidity is more than 90%. A variety of fruits, mostly banana trees, are everywhere. Then they took me to another famous park, which harbour soooooo many crocodiles, so big ostriches, tigers, and so many other animals. Here is the surprising, may be shocking to most of you, thing. You can have snake massage. Yes! You heard me right "snake massage".

 At the main gate of the Eagle foundation park!

Picture paused with one of the Eagle!

 Local people dressing style!

 Seeing is believing, here is where you can have snake massage! 

One of the biggest Ostrich I even seen

Finally, we got back to my hotel and had to say good bye to Fr McNamara and two of his technician (Efran and Ruel). In general, my Davao's mission was a success and I earned a lot of experience. However, this success would not have been possible without the unreserved support that I have received from Fr McNamara, who made everything to go quick and smooth. Thank you Father.
When I get to the airport I learnt my flight got delayed. However, the guy at the checkin counter, offered me to be in the earlier flight. Hummm! He meant the flight that was supposed to leave at 6:20pm but delayed to 10:30pm. Gladly accepted the offer and  got into my Manila airport side hotel at 1:10am. Hope my next flight won't be interrupted!

Day 7 (12 February 2016) in Davao, Philippines

Today is the most successful day of mine since I came to Philippines. The site technician came to my hotel earlier. However, Fr McNamara came later and he took us to the IT guy, very smart engineer. The engineer taken care of us after that. He knows what I want. He took us to his office and tested the BBB and it seems working there. However, he would like to make sure if it works at the site. We came to the site after lunch, and got it solved immediately. Matt confirmed that he can login to the BBB here in Davao, but the data flow to be confirmed by UCLA by tomorrow morning. 

AMBER in Davao got permanent home!

AMBER electronics share a table with SCINDA!

AMBER in Davao is housed here!

GPS antenna for AMBER timing is mounted at the top of the building!

AMBER internet connection get resolved by these team (Bonse, next to the lady is the mastermind of this connection)!

These two technician will be the backbone of AMBER at the site!

Meanwhile, the Manila BBB also reconfigured successfully and get its own IP address. The two engineers back home and I have been texting back and forth, thanks to Viber, and finally confirmed that the data is now flowing to us. What a successful day today.
We met Fr McNamara after work and he took us to the nearby restaurant and we celebrated the success. I owe him a lot because this could not have been possible without his unwavering support. Thank you father! 

Finally we celebrated the success of the day with Fr Macramana!

Davao city viewed from AMBER site

 Here is one of the beautiful women's tradition clothes in Davao for Manobo tribe call Tinalak clothes.

Day 6 (11 February 2016) in Davao, Philippines

I woke up at 3am and made my self ready and went downstairs, checked out, and asked the hotel staff for taxi. I got taxi and loaded my mag and headed to the airport. I was worried if the security got curious with my magnetometer, fortunately it passed the security without any problems. However, at the checking counter, the Magnetometer box weigh 50kg. The lady at the counter said, it has to be 32kg. Wow! a big blowup. What shall I do, she said dived the stuff and move to my luggage. I moved everything inside except the sensor and heavy cable to my luggage. It is now weigh 35.5kg, but she still refused to Check in it. So strict? she had me to wait aside until he supervisor comes. Finally, her supervisor allowed the 3.5kg excess weigh to be checked in. Where did I stuffed the other items from the Magnetometer box? I stuffed some of them into my luggage and my backpack. My luggage and the Magnetometer box are now checked in. Hope they make to Davao.

Boarding Air Asia Philippines to Davao

Ok, they did. I was told someone from the site will be waiting for me outside the airport gate but I couldn't find him. I called him and he was there but waiting for me on another arrival gate. He took me to my hotel, where I was greeting by Fr Dan McNamara. After I checked in, they drove me to site, Fr McNamara came with us just to make sure I'll get what I want, though he had to return back to university as he a class.
The site looks very desirable. Start testing and data looks very clean. Finally we accomplish a lot today. We bury the sensor alignment and also performed the GPS connection. Now the biggest problem will be Internet connection, which is scheduled to meet the IT guy tomorrow.

The data looks very clean!

AMBER electronics sharing table with SCINDA GPS

Sensor got a good home for the rest of its life

Fr McNamara invited me for dinner at the Jesuit residence, which i enjoyed it very much. It was very good experience. Now so exhausted and would like to crash to bed, hopping praying that the Internet connection will work tomorrow.

Day 5 (10 February 2016) in Manila, Philippines

I headed to the observatory with little hope. I decided to test by connecting the bbb and looking at the streaming udps. In the meantime until the IT guys figured out how to get BBB online, I reinstall the software and make a test and it seems now working. One step development.

Now at least the mag reads normal value

However, the site is noisy and if the Jesuit residence get permitted, the sensor should be moved there if not to the site where the Japanese magnetometers is located which is about an hour drive from Manila. Thus, I had to trained a staff how to aligned the sensor. We dag a temporary hole for the sensor and trained Clint how to do it. Somehow, a little achievement. Now the Internet connection. They're very ken to get us IP address with no firewall attached to it. However, none of them know how to configure the BBB to static IP address. I requested to register the MAC address so that there is no need to configure it. They refuse to register the MAC address. I took it to the campus main IT department and explained to main IT engineer but he had no idea how to do it, and promised to get back to Clint tomorrow morning. Hope that will be resolved soon.

The temporary site of the sensor!

Now worry about trip to Davao. James planned to travel with me to Davao. Around 5pm I head another accidental problem. James has got family emergency which could not allow him to travel, very unfortunate and hope the emergency won't be that serious.

The picture taken next to SCINDA system at Pope's office (L-to-R, Cristine, Pope, me, and Clint)

Finally, my Manila trip concluded by having dinner with Pope and his student, Cristin. They took me to one of typical Philippinos restaurant. Clint dropped us at the restaurant but couldn't joined us for dinner because he had to take his son to home but he will be back to drive me and the Magnetometer to my hotel, which he did. I arrived at my hotel around10pm with my magnetometers; and crashed to bed, because I have to wake up at 3am to catch my flight to Davao.

Day 4 (9 February 2016) in Manila, Philippines

Today was very hectic day in general. I arrived at the observatory earlier than expected appointment time with James. Since he was not there, I had to wait at the reception desk for him. When he arrived at the observatory, he told me that he got permission at the high school, and we rushed there to test the site. Although the site is not a desirable site for magnetometer sensors, but I had to test it and found similar unexplained saturation. Now I tried to question what is wrong with such detection, is it the instruments fault? Is it just the area covered with underground wire that saturate everything? Or what, a lot of questions but no answer. I never had such experience before.

Very strange mag saturation

Having lunch with James and his research group

Went back to the observatory and tried to make a test with the other magnetometer which was scheduled to be deployed in Davao. I still got the same. However, that gave me an asuranc that it is not instrument fault. So what is it? Still no answer. We want to test it outside the campus, and Clint drove me and the Magnetometer to outside the campus, it was the other end of another university, university of Philippines. We made a test using ups battery, still the same. Back to the observatory and performed other test. We download the software on another computer, Clint laptop and perform similar test but found the same. Ok, is it the ups making voltage spikes? I removed our ups and used one of their ups, still the same. In the meantime time the Sun completed its task for the day, and it's getting very dark and I had to go back to my hotel. I start googling to get some answers still nothing. I tried to sleep around 1130pm but woke up at 3am and continue navigate for answer. I tried to Uninstall the software and reinstall it. However, the computer did not allow me to Uninstall the software. Well, I had to make contact to our BC it guy, Sean, and he tried to access my computer remotely and found so many corrupted glitch. We finally manage to Uninstall it. We finished the cleanup around 820am in the morning.

Day 3 (8 February 2016) in Manila, Philippines

Since today is a holiday here in Philippines, not much activity today. I was told to wait on a standby mode if in case we get some responses from those people who are responsible for the compound where we would like to relocate the sensor we will do some site testing. I was in my hotel the whole day waiting for update from James. It is now 4:00pm and he sent me a note that we couldn't do anything today as he did not get any responses from any of them. We're now schedule to meet tomorrow at 9:00am. I'm still crossing my fingers that things will go smooth as planned.

Day 2 (7 February 2016) in Manila, Philippines

As expected today's sleeping conditions was not right. Since I was so exhausted, last night I went bed quite early and unfortunately woken up at 1:00am and couldn't be able to go back to asleep.

Manila observatory

Anyway, after having breakfast I went to the observatory to meet my point of contact. Since I arrived there a few minutes earlier I did walk around the beautiful campas. The 150 years old observatory, which was established by Jesuit, is a separate institute that is not supported by the government. Ateneo de Manila university, also Jesuit university, is located in the same compound. Scientists at the observatory teach at this university.

This is us (left to right James, me and Pope whom I met at ICTP) at the top of the buildings, surveying for GPS antenna location!

Finally I met Dr James Simpus and two other staffs (Pope and Clint), whom I met at ICTP and Indonesia when they came to attend summer schools where I also participated as lecturers. We did not waste time to start navigate a possible home for AMBER sensor. I picked very quite place, at least from external visible magnetic stuff. I requested if we can start testing if the site is really magnetically quite place.
Unfortunately it is not. For the reason we do not know the sensor detected a very big noise that quickly saturate the measurments. It reads way more than 65000nT (maximum range for our magnetometers). We tried different options, such as moving the sensor to different locations, but still big interface that keeps saturate our measurments. We spent more three hours looking into different options but no change. Finally we gave up that this area is not a good site for our sensor, and packed everything back into its box and called it off for the day.
What is next? That was the question I asked to my self. James gave me hope to put it either at the Jesuit residence or at the high school, both of them are away from the observatory. The bad news is, today is Sunday and tomorrow is also a holiday  (Chinese new year), and those offices are closed. However, James will try to contact people from those two facilities if they can allow us in tomorrow at least to test the site if it magnetically quite place. Pray for me to get a nice home of my sensor quickly so that I accomplish my mission ontime/as planned.
Now I'm back to my hotel straggling not to go bed early so that my sleeping conditions behave normal.
Around 10:00pm I got update from James, it seems there are positive sign from both facilities. We may be able to test the site at the Jesuit residence tomorrow afternoon the earliest. However, due to the holiday, we can't do anything at high school site tomorrow. Keep crossing your fingers for the best of luck.

Day 1 (6 February 2016) in Manila, Philippines

Guess what takes long to get out of Manila airport? Well if you said immigration, you're absolutely wrong. Immigration process is actually very quick and efficient. It is the taxi line that takes century to get taxi ride to your hotel. 
When you step out of the buildings, you will hear mixed voice 'taxi' 'taxi'. If you follow  them without asking the price, they will rip you off. Because they do not have meter on their taxi, thus they just tell you crazy price. The good news is there are few taxis, they called them yellow taxi, that have meter on it. However, it has a long waiting line that takes about excess of an hour. What surprised me most was the price the other taxi offered me. It was four times higher the price I paid for metered taxi. Good to know!

Part of Manila city as viewed from my hotel window

Another new thing, at least for me, is how badly Philippines atmosphere is polluted. I remember when I went to China for the first time back in 2006, I had a hard time to see a blue sky. Well it is the same here in Manila. I thought here there are less industries or factories that emit polluted gas into the atmosphere; that may be true but at least I witnessed amazingly crowded traffics, with many of the cars are very old which may not pass smock check control if there is any.
Let's step aside the global warming issue and explore something else. How about some uniquely fun stuff. Take a look the vedio shown below. This is how the Philippinos attract customers into their ice cream shop; unfortunately they do not have that much customers inside but they got a lot of spectators watching them dancing just from outside. 

Anyway today, I'm so exhausted and will crash down soon. My scientific mission will be kicked off tomorrow.