PASSPORT BROS, RETIREES & OTHER RAT RACE ESCAPEES!
You’re not ready to leave until you get a passing score on the…
and when you see your results, you also see what MY score was! Yes, I escaped the New York rat race to live on tropical Saipan!
Coming Soon:
Why it took me 15 years to return!
Why China is my favorite place to travel!
Quite a lot has changed since my 2011 six-month adventure! You can see it all here on the blog! As I prepare to return 15 years later, the uncertainty grows. Will I be received the same? What has changed. What are the friends I made doing now? Will I be able to find them?
Youtube is blocked in China. Yes, there are ways to get around that, but your best bet to join in the adventure is to join the mailing list at https://www.jamaicaninchina.com/subscribe . It’s free! (If you’re reading this via email notification, you’re already on the list!)
Download my entire 2011 adventure in a full color pdf here: https://www.jamaicaninchina.com/china2011
Are you planning your own escape? Find out if you’re REALLY ready: https://www.jamaicaninchina.com/escapetest
Want to discover the tropical island I escaped to? https://www.youtube.com/@discoversaipan
Requested by men in The West as well as those who’ve escaped to The East, I’ve decided–in a series of shorts– to share a few private thoughts and observations about my personal life since moving to this side of the world. Let the oft-requested Dating in Asia Chronicles begin!
Intro-Why:
Dating in Asia 1-The Main Difference:
Dating in Asia 2-Approaching:
Dating in Asia 3-My Preferences:
Dating in Asia 4-Your Mileage May Vary:
Last time, I showed you what I pack in my allowed carry-on item. (I pack for speed of travel). This time, I’ll share what I keep near me at all times in my “personal item.” These are the irreplaceable, valuable, oft-accessed items during my travels. Check it out:
https://youtube.com/watch/?v=ZGoi_S0S-C4
This pilot episode is literally a pilot episode! (and inspired the “Say Hello to My Little Friends” series) It’s pretty cool being flown on an international flight to Vietnam for the first time, aboard an Airbus 321 jet airliner, knowing that my best buddy–Ron McFarlane–is the captain in charge, and “dread at the controls!” It makes it a unique personal experience imagining my friend in the cockpit doing what he’s always wanted to do since he was five years old. Here’s a video recap of the whole experience featuring an in-flight interview with the captain himself with some words of advice for aspiring pilots and anyone pursuing a dream!
A few years ago, I embarked on a unique adventure and spent 6 months doing the nomad thing from Saipan, several cities throughout China, as well as in Laos and Singapore! I had a great time, met a lot of great people, and chronicled it through email updates to my mailing list of followers! With travel restrictions now in effect, I’ve created a weekly email to give YOU a chance to re-live the adventure just as if you were there! Simply sign up to the Jamaican in China “Reloaded” email, then sit back and enjoy the ride in your email inbox every three or so days!
and/or download the entire Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum PDF
People often ask me how different is dating and meeting people in Asia. Here’s a typical occurence:
Saigon, Vietnam. I’m sitting in the park at 6am this morning filming an intro for my next “Jamaican in China and Beyond” blog video. A cute girl comes up and peers into my camera, says she likes my white outfit, invites me to follow her to another side of the park. I’m a little suspicious at first about the long walk, but turns out she just wanted to be closer to her friends who do Qigong/dancing in the morning.
We end up chatting and walking around town. She’s cute, just the face/eyes/body type I like, but seems she hadn’t really pampered herself in a while, so after buying her breakfast, I take her to a spa to have them do her nails and feet.
I was even going to do the Pretty Woman/Set if Off thing where I buy her a dress (remember the scene in Set it Off where Blair Underwood buys Jada Pinkett an evening dress for a dinner party?). Since neither her English nor my Vietnamese were up to par, we communicated by Google Voice Translate for the whole morning, and she says it’s the nicest anyone has ever treated her.
In any event, here’s the actual video of us meeting for the first time and her picking me up (turns out I’m pretty easy), and a clip from inside the nail salon We hang out some more until 12:30, but I had to leave to go get my passport from the Thai Consulate at 1pm, so we part, but agree to hang out later that day.
There’s more to the story, but you’ll have to follow my channel if you want to learn more!
Am I REALLY Jamaican?
According to my results, I’m actually 59.7% [___?__] Curious?
Join me on the newest chapter of my “Jamaican in China…and Beyond” Ancestry Adventure on Youtube:
A little motivation before I share some of the strategies for generating income even if you’re self-quarantining during a pandemic!
Watch the video above, then sign up to the mailing list to be notified
of the release of the FREE Report!
[Photographs by Ferdinand “Ding” Ramos]
“It was a dark and stormy night…” Oops, wrong opening line. (Sorry, Snoopy.) Ahem. It was a bright and sunny day, and the Holland America cruise ship, Maasdam, was scheduleed to dock at the port on the island of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Sunday, Sept 8, 2019.
As an island consultant, I’m occasionally asked to provide information on the islands to visitors.
This time, my photographer, Ding, and I showed up at 7am to be sure that THIS time, the ship would, indeed, dock. (Yeah, that’s a whole other story for another time!)
With that little detail confirmed, we headed back to the airport to pick up the vans for our arriving guests.
While awaiting the paperwork, world renown author, ethnographer, oral historian and “birder,” Rlene Santos Steffy, arrives from Guam. I had the pleasure of meeting Rlene on Guam during my recent Guam Writers Workshop Learn more at : https://guamwriters.com/
The paperwork is completed, vans are assigned, drivers are briefed, microphones are checked, signs are posted in the windshields….time for a convoy!
Once at the dock, guests begin exiting the ship after passing through US Customs, and we load up the vans. Two of my guests, Lorrin and Nina Lee, are on a three month tour (see Lorrinlee.com), and were the first of my guests to sign up way back in March!
We head out to our first stop: American Memorial Park.
Answer: One of the largest war time structures on the island: the Bomb Magazine at As Lito airfield.
Then we went In Search of Amelia Earhart
By this time, the “Saipan in a Day” adventure is officially ended. Robert and Gary have departed and taken our visitors back to the dock, However, a smaller group of WWII buffs are treated to a special private collection of relics and artifacts from the Japanese era and Battle of Saipan.
“What’s that? Yes, you can definitely write a TripAdvisor Review! I’d be honored and it would help a lot! Thanks for asking!”
“As the sun sank slowly over the horizon…” Oops, sorry, wrong epilogue…Wait! That one fits! As the sun sank slowly over the Saipan horizon, Maasdam pulled away from the dock, and sailed off into the sunset on its way to Guam!
“We’ll catch you on the flip flop
This here’s the Rubber Duck on the side
We gone – Bye Bye!”
Thanks to everyone who made this tour special and run smoothly!
I’ve been on Guam for the past 3 days, for two reasons: (1) to meet up with friend and co-author, WWII Battle of Saipan/Battle of Guam veteran Lloyd & Judy Glick who’ve been invited as honored guests to experience Guam’s 75th Liberation Commemoration, and (2) to do a Writers Workshop for aspiring writers on Guam! Here are the details as they appear on the www.guamwriters.com site.
An announcement appeared in the Guam Daily Post
The afternoon before the workshop, I was able to spend some time with Lloyd and Judy at their hotel just before they headed out to another function sponsored by the Guam Visitor’s Bureau!
