The Orient is peace and that's what closely associates my upbringing with art and mysticism.
My grandfather, a Filipino general, mastered the English language during the Great Depression.
His wife, the daughter of a notorious wushu instructor, was summoned by a Japanese ace pilot to fly a Kamikaze mission over the future Federation of Micronesia.
Her smiling lover perished but she was fine and soon met her match in the treacherous jungles of Burma.
Their only son, my father, a proud Buddha seeker, married the daughter of a Manchurian prisoner who was shipped as forced labor to Hiroshima prior to the drop of the first atomic bomb.
He was not heard of again and to avoid further bomb drops, fled to Hong Kong.
I was born on the Indonesian island of Bali long before the Tsunami. For all mom recalls, the family always resided in Singpore and that's where my younger brothers and sisters were born, raised and educated long enough to converse in different tongues.
