TWO in a Row

This almost never happens.  How and why is it now?  I am so very lucky to be here to experience it.  Yet, I’m a little saddened by the notion that I may not have a similar experience again (at least in the near future).

Faces around me are smiling broader smiles than smiled before.  Tempers are non-existent.  A sense of cheerfulness and celebration permeates the air.  Even farmers harvesting the damp, heavy rice in their moisture-laden fields appear to be enjoying their most difficult labors.

Okay, Paul, get to the point!  Just what is it that’s appears to be so marvelous?

It’s TWO IN A ROW!

No, it’s not two typhoons in a row, though another approaches us from the direction of Guam.  Two different and welcome commodities – between two such devastating weather systems – are here.  They are two COOL but BRIGHT and SUNNY DAYS in a row (and it’s, like, “totally cool,” too!).   Two picture postcard, travel magazine, Live in the Philippines, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l days.

Somehow, we found ourselves in an uncommon weather pattern:  one that limits temperatures to the mid- to upper-20s C (low-80s F) with humidity in the low- to mid-40% range.  It also provides cool breezes via some errant trade winds while allowing the only visible clouds to be off in the distance of the South China Sea.  No one cares about the how and the why.  It’s just a time to enjoy it no matter what you are doing.

Even the mountains of Cagayan and Apayao provinces are shedding their usual haze and joining us.  They hide during this time of year, pelted with daily rains that, in turn, keep our rivers and irrigation systems full.  Yesterday and today, however, they threw off their humid veils and joined us.  I should have known that something was up.

This is a day to celebrate – maybe with a picnic or an impromptu party, or just a pleasurable merienda on a nice, soft chair in the shade.  Today (and yesterday), there are no cares in this world that deserve our direct attention.

Not all is wonderful, however.  Often heard this time of year is the cry of “Awan curriente!” [There's no power - brownout].  That cry sounded this morning at 6:10 AM.  Some electrical grid preventive maintenance needs doing before the next set of stormy days attacks us.  To me, though, that’s even more justification to take a break from one’s burdens and enjoy this surrounding life.

Of course, for me, that celebration will include another pair – two of my favorite “party favors” – an ice-cold bottle of San Miguel Beer and a delightful Tabacalera Corona.  Many, both in the islands and abroad, consider these to be among some of the best products that The Philippines has to offer the world.

Many of you, dear readers, have enjoyed pleasurable moments with San Miguel Beer (even you “Red Horse” lovers).  SMB is sort of the unofficial ambassador of good taste, introduced to guests and friends whenever and wherever they meet or gather.  It has become a modern-day (albeit a 20^th Century) cultural expression or gesture of friendship, as well as an all-around thirst quencher and “doggone good beer.”  I need not go further into its story – almost everyone has his or her own San Miguel tale or secret to tell.

The flavor-rich offering by Tabacalera, on the other hand, is probably unknown among our readership as well as others around the world.  A Philippine tobacco product at its finest, it is helping bring about resurgence in the popularity and desire for a “Manila Cigar” (enjoyed mostly in Manila and surrounding areas just prior to and at the beginning of the 20^th Century by the Spanish population, U.S. Servicemen and the Pinoy/Pinay well to do and hoi polloi).  For me, the flavors of both complement each other.

The tobacco company, La Flor de La Isabela, has owned the Tabacalera brand and has been hand rolling its various sizes of cigars in Manila since 1881.  The brand itself is a bit older, with origins in the province of Pampanga.

The tobaccos used, as the company’s name implies, are from the province of Isabela.  Augustinian friars, realizing the similarities between this province and the tobacco growing regions of Cuba, brought Cuban tobacco seeds to the area and began what is now a centuries’ old industry.

Other provinces on the island of Luzon, including those in the Ilocos region, grow tobacco as well.  Their tobacco, however, is more of a burley or Virginia type for use in cigarettes, and “un-taste-worthy” for cigars.  I’ve seen these varieties grown by neighbors for the commercial cigarette companies.  Those neighbors will also grow a section of “Habano” tobacco plants for personal use – rolling them into huge cigars that are popular among elderly Ilocanos.

Daylight is ending as we end this story.  We’re still with “awan curriente,” but who cares?  Lanterns and candles are now the order of the day (or should I say evening) as relatives and friends gather on the veranda for chitchat with light (weight not brilliance) refreshments.  The skies are star-lit, and the breezes remain ever so cool.  It’s the perfect end to a perfect day – the second in a row.  The norm at this time of year, provided it’s not raining, is a hot, muggy evening.

The festive air remains and voices are all lilting with pleasure.  This is life worth living.  Even with the brownout, there’s personal reason for joy.  If we had power, an over-night karaoke session would be about to start!

(SEASONAL UPDATE:  My salute and my heartiest (but belated) best wishes go out to all of my fellow veterans for this Veterans’ Day, 11/11/2009.  You can best believe that the above mentioned “pair” that “beats a full house anytime” was dealt and played in your honor quite a few times.  My suggestion to all today:  Give a Veteran a belated holiday hug & kiss in gratitude for your freedoms.)

(Note:  No one received any money or payment in kind for the mention of the commercial products discussed above.  This is not an advertisement.  Outside of the ringing personal endorsement of the author alone, this magazine does not endorse or sponsor said products.  The author, however, does remain open to any reimbursement – preferably “in kind’!)

Is SE Asia Damned?

So far, this has not been a good Century for SE Asia.  Yes, we are only 9 years or so into the 21st Century, but the events in SE Asia have not been promising so far.  This past week or two have been particularly bad.

Over this past weekend, Typhoon Pepeng, Internationally known as Typhoon Parma, has been playing it’s games in Northern Luzon.  While it had been predicted to cut across the very northern tip of Luzon and then cut north and head toward Taiwan or possibly Japan, Pepeng has actually moved across the northern part of Luzon and basically stalled out and is sitting there just dumping rain and whipping up some serious winds for our friends in the North.  Word from Philippine weather authorities now says that Pepeng may actually make a move to the south, and then turn around and cross Luzon again!  Flooding and wind damage could be quite severe and leave dual paths across Luzon.  What a mess!

Other events have occurred over the past week that have also devastated other parts of SE Asia as well.  Indonesia has experienced another major earthquake, on the island of Sumatra.  Right now, it is not possible to give a final count of the dead in Sumatra, but already more than 1,100 have been confirmed dead.  Estimates I’ve heard on the news say that another 2,000 or so will likely be added to the confirmed dead by the time we know the whole story.

Truth is that Indonesia has had a lot of major earthquakes in the past 5 years or so.  In 2004, Indonesia had it’s first big quake of the 21st Century, followed by the Boxing Day tsunami, which left a minimum of 250,000 dead in a matter of minutes.  Some people say that the dead is closer to 500,000, although numbers that big cannot be confirmed.

A week ago, Manila was hit by Tropical Storm Ondoy, which left severe flooding and up to 300 dead in Metro Manila.

It would appear that much of the 21st Century SE Asian troubles have focused on Indonesia, though.  In addition to a number of severe earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis in Indonesia, the country has also experienced several bad airplane crashes during the century so far.

In addition, the Philippines and Indonesia have had a rash of ferries that has sunk, killing hundreds so far in the century.

What is going on in SE Asia?

Is there any other part of the world that has had anywhere near the number of disasters that SE Asia has witnessed in the 21st Century?  If so, I know of none.

Of course, this part of the world sits directly on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and it would appear that we are really entering into an active timeline for the Ring of Fire too.

What other kind of problems has SE Asia experienced this century?

The Bird Flu started out here, and hundreds in SE Asia perished as a result.  SARS also originated in SE Asia.

So, it’s been an eventful century so far in SE Asia.

I moved to SE Asia in May 2000.  I’ve been luck that so far, although I have experienced a few such “exciting incidents,” I have been spared any of the carnage, as has my family.  About the most exciting such event that we experienced was a 7.2 Earthquake that woke us up on January 1, 2002, when we lived in General Santos.  Although I have been in many earthquakes over the years, that was one heck of a scary event, I assure you.  Over the past 9+ years of living here, we have probably lived through 2 or 3 dozen earthquakes, but other than the one biggie, they have all been small, 4.5 or under.  We have also had several incidents where there were bombings not so far from where we were while living in General Santos.  Other than that, our lives in the Philippines have remained fairly quiet.

If you look at the stats, though, during the past decade, SE Asia has certainly experienced more than it’s fair share of disasters – natural or man-made.  For us, life has gone relatively un-touched, though.  What do you think?  Is more trouble down the road for SE Asia, or will things calm down in the coming years?

Are you afraid to live in the Philippines, or other parts of SE Asia?  For me, I am not worried about living here, compared to living in any other part of the world.  As I am sure will be pointed out in the comments, bad things can happen anywhere.  I feel that SE Asia has experienced more than normal this Century, but we just can’t know what the future will bring.

Any guesses?

Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) – Video

Typhoon Pepeng (International Name Parma) is currently making it’s way through Northern Luzon, having made landfall there a few hours ago.  I have been keeping in touch with Paul Keating, who lives in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, not all that far from where the storm is passing through.

Earlier today, Paul sent me a video of current conditions at his location.  Things are still fairly calm in the area, but Paul told me that he hopes to update me with additional videos as the storm passes through.  Of course, with the possibility of severe weather conditions, we can’t be sure if Paul will be able to do additional videos or not.  Also, Internet has already been in and out for Paul. so it’s unsure he will be able to transmit the videos to me either.  But, if he is able to get the video and send it to me, I will keep sharing Paul’s storm videos here, and also on my You Tube Channel.

Good luck Paul, and anybody else in the storm’s “hot zone,” we are praying for your safety.

Let’s count our blessings

This article is from Mindanao Bob’s Journal, which is a regular weekly column in SunStar Davao Newspaper.  This column appeared in SunStar today, October 2, 2009.

This past weekend, the scenes on TV from Manila were horrific.  The flooding in Manila was devastating.  The suffering of the people was heart wrenching.  It’s really a time to count our blessings.

Count our blessings? Yes, I believe it is time for that.  We are blessed to be Dabawenyos.  Imagine the differences here compared to other places around the Philippines.  Mindanao is the only part of the Philippines that is outside the typhoon belt, we have beautiful weather here!  We have an abundance of so many things here in Davao, we really need to count our blessings for that.

Davao is hounded with flooding whenever it rains very hard, but it certainly is nothing like we saw on TV over the weekend.  Yes, we get a few centimeters of water on the City Streets, and we complain.  It’s human nature, we want the streets to remain dry, of course.  But, when was the last time you saw the water waist deep, or heaven forbid neck deep in Davao City?  It just doesn’t happen here.

As the flooding hit Manila, what was the next thing we saw on TV?  People were hungry.  Here in Mindanao we live in a land of abundance when it comes to food.  Fruits and other kinds of foods are plentiful, and inexpensive too.

Yes, I believe that as Dabawenyos we are really blessed.  Those who are from other areas, though, away from Mindanao, only talk about what a bad, or dangerous place Mindanao is.  Just the mention of Mindanao brings fear to those people.  It seems they don’t realize that only a few parts of Mindanao present danger, the vast majority of Mindanao is a beautiful, unspoiled and safe place!  Especially Davao City.

A lot of times, when we have visitors come to Davao they rave about the place.  It’s so beautiful, such a wonderful life!  The food is so cheap and abundant.  Yet, others tell them to fear Mindanao.  Why?  Because those who advise fear have never set foot in Mindanao.  And, when it comes to danger, that’s about as far as you could get from Davao while still remaining on the Island.

Yes, even as I write this, things are not comfortable for those in Metro Manila.  Most of the water has drained off, leaving a ton of mud on the streets, in the homes and just about anyplace you might look.  It’s dirty, and there is a lot of work to be done.  I feel sorry for the people in Manila, no doubt about that, and I pray for their well being.  I wonder, though, if they realize just how much different life in Davao is?

Luzon Flooding

Anybody who has been watching the news this past weekend is well aware that a real disaster has struck Metro Manila and the surrounding area.  Tropical Storm Ondoy passed over Luzon, to the North of Manila, but the Manila area really got the brunt of the rain.  Ondoy was not a Typhoon, but short of it.  However, it really packed a punch when it came to rain!

The rain in Manila on Saturday was actually even worse than New Orleans experienced during Katrina several years ago.  In just a matter of a few hours, the Manila area got more than 16 inches of rain on Saturday, and more than 80% of the area was under water at the worst.  Even as I type this on Sunday evening, the majority of Metro Manila is still under water.  So far, 75 deaths have been confirmed from the flooding, with the number expected to rise substantially when the final figures are known.

On Saturday morning, I had heard that there was bad flooding in Manila.  However, flooding in Manila is not an unusual event, it actually happens regularly.  So, when I heard about flooding there, I really did not think too much about it.  By Saturday afternoon, though, I switched the TV on and flipped over the ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) which is sort of like a local version of CNN.  As soon as I saw the news, I was shocked at what I was seeing.  The streets were like rivers!  Not only rivers, but some of the streets looked like places for white water rafting, with rapids moving through the streets.

I saw one video taken from a bridge in Marikina City, one of the hardest hit areas, in which you could actually see dozens of people being swept through the water under the bridge.  The people on the bridge were actually throwing ropes to the people in the water, but they were moving by so fast that it was virtually useless.

The Philippine Government, and also private citizens in the area have mobilized a huge rescue effort.  Just like we saw during Katrina, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people up on their roofs in the Manila area, because it is the only place where they can be to avoid the water.  Private companies and the government also are flying helicopters into neighborhoods and plucking people from their roofs.  When you watch the events on ANC, people are using their cell phones to call the News Channel and plead for rescuers to come and get them.  It’s really a sad situation.

According to the TV stations, this is the worst flooding that Manila has experienced since records have been kept.  Seeing the video of the city, I believe that too.

A good friend of mine had been visiting in Manila for a few days, and was supposed to fly back to Davao on Saturday, but the airport was closed.  All flights in and out of Manila had been canceled.  He went back to the re-opened airport on Sunday, and there were 450 people in line in front of him, but he was able to get a late flight back to Davao.

If you are in a position to assist financially for the victims of this disaster, there are a number of things you can do.  I called the American Red Cross and confirmed that if you wish to donate cash, you can donate through the Red Cross in your country, and you should specify that the funds are for the “International Response Fund” and specify that you want it to go to Philippine flood victims.  If you prefer, you can donate to the Philippine Red Cross, but it would be easier for you to use the Red Cross (or Red Crescent) in the country where you are currently located.  I am quite sure that any donation toward this disaster would be most helpful.  A lot of people are suffering in the Philippines right now.

Weather Reports/Earthquakes and other Calamities

The rainy season, two weeks into it I was consuming cocktails at a friend’s restaurant, when it was pointed out that so far it had been a fairly dry rainy season (isn’t that an oxymoron?) anyway I did tend to agree. Then it started, and the rain came down, my fishpond that would normally have 4 inches of water in it, now had 26 inches.

Three days later we had two earth tremors up on my mountain. If you threw in a comet and a volcano, then my week would have been complete! The up side is I can now go whitewater rafting on the street in front of my house.

It is my favorite time of the year, as the Air/Con is shut off for days at a time, and they turn on the city water, which has been shut off for seven months, not that it maters anyway they stole my water meter. That proved I was right about drilling the deep well!

My well is being replenished with fresh water and the house next store that would normally have shafts of light glowing from the many holes in his roof, now has running water inside, utilizing those same holes! He has been on the roof in the rain with Bukaseal (roof goop), old tires and scraps of linoleum, working hard to patch the holes, he could have done the same thing before the rain, if he’d did it at night with his inside lights on, and patched where the light shines out, he would found all the leaks, I knew where they were, he would’ve stayed dry.

The hidden benefits of the rainy season is the money I save on my electric bill, the power distribution station in Dinalupihan Bataan, has to shut down during the rain as it floods. Now, the gas bill for my generator tends to increase during these brownouts, but I choose to look at the positive side. After all it was my choice to live here! As long as my generator works I’m happy.

Pondering lifestyle changes

Well, it’s Monday morning here in the Philippines.  I hope that everybody had a good weekend.  I know that I did!  On Saturday morning, I had some work to do, and after I got up, I took my laptop into the office, hooked it to all of my desktop peripherals and sat down to work.  It was still morning, so it was cool in my office, at least I felt cool.  I put the ceiling fan on, but left the air conditioner off.  I rarely feel the need for air conditioning in the morning, at least until mid-morning when it starts to heat up outside.  I generally leave the windows in my office open overnight, and by morning it is quite cool in there.

As I sat there, getting ready to do some work that I was behind on, I was thinking.  Life has sure become different from how it was when I lived in the States.  I noticed a lot of different things on Saturday morning as I pondered the thought.

Firstly, sitting there in my office with the windows open, I couldn’t help but hear all the work being done next door.  The house next door was recently sold, and is being converted to a school, a Montessori Pre-school.  There are plenty of workmen modifying the house, the yard and just about everything there.  It’s rather loud.  People hammering, cutting, radio going, general sounds of a construction area.  Yet, I was sitting there at my desk with the windows open, all of these sounds hitting me, and I was still concentrating on my work.  Oh my, how different this was from living in the States.  Houses there are further apart, and not as noisy as you would expect a house in the Philippines to be.  Here, noise is a constant.  Somehow, I have adjusted to it.  It can still be irritating, but not like it was to me before.  If it was too irritating, I could have closed the windows, maybe put on some soft music, and probably muted out the sounds from next door almost entirely.  Yet, I didn’t do that.  I just enjoyed the clean, fresh air blowing in the windows, and ignored the construction noise.

After a while, I decided to make a cup of coffee.  I have a pot to boil water in my office, and a selection of coffee beans that I can use to make coffee.  Another thing that I have near to my coffee making area is a thermometer on the wall of my office.  I glanced at it, and it was 84F degrees in my office.  That’s about 29C.  I felt it was a bit chilly.  Not cold, but certainly not warm either. The breeze blowing through the windows, combined with the air movement caused by the ceiling fan made me feel quite comfortable.  If the breeze picked up a bit, I could feel a bit of a chill on my skin.  After glancing at the thermometer, I realized that if it was 80+ degrees in my house when I was in the States, I’d be sweating.  I would be very uncomfortable.  Yet, here I was comfortable, slightly chilled in fact.  What a change!  I wonder how I’d feel if I lived in the States again, especially during winter.

As a few hours passed, and I had pretty much completed my work in my office, my mind continued to wander, thinking of changes that I’ve experienced in my life.  A thought came to me about my work life in the States.  On the last job that I held before coming to the Philippines, I worked 12 hour shifts.  It was a job where I had to be on pretty constant alert, always pay attention to what was going on.  Now, I work if I want to.  And, to even call what I do “work” is a bit of a misnomer.  I mean, generally work is that I write a few articles for my websites.  I have a cup of coffee or a glass of juice.  If I get the desire to surf to a few websites to see what is going on, that’s part of my work.  It is certainly a lot more relaxed and a lot less stressful than what I came from.  No doubt there.  What a nice change in my life.

Later in the day, Feyma and I were watching a movie on our TV set in the bedroom.  I turned on the air conditioning.  After about 5 minutes, I felt too cold, so I turned it off.  Ah, it made me think more about the thoughts I had in the morning regarding temperature adjustment.  One thing I hear from a lot of foreigners who come to visit Davao is that they feel they could never adjust to the weather here.  Believe me, you do adjust, though.  I know that I use the air conditioning a lot less now than I used to.

You know, life is good.  Changes keep things interesting.  Living in the Philippines, even after 9 years, there is something new almost every day for me to discover and learn more about.  I’m happy with where my life is now.  How about you?

Man Flu?

Over the last few weeks I keep going down with man flu!! As every real man knows it is worse than flu that the ladies get and we suffer more, and need love and devotion 24/7 to be able to cope. If only the ladies know how we suffer!!

I was getting over a six day bug when it came back with a bang and I just could not fathom why?

Until a friend who was coughing and spluttering told me it was all my own fault and I had made him ill too. I asked how he could be so sure of that  comment?

He replied that because I like walking and being a slightly heavily built individual I may seat or perspire lol, that I forced him to walk with me to a business meeting for about a thirty minute brisk walk. Although I was covered and wearing a hat I have to admit it was HOT and my shirt was a little moist too.

On arriving at the destination we both worked in a very air conned office and within one hour I felt really ill and blamed the man flu.

He insisted he felt the same and was annoyed that I made him walk then go into air con without change of clothes.

This made me realize that some of the symptoms were also related to dehydration, and now being ill again I have made a decision to drink more water and walk as hard but take a change of clothes when I get to my destination.

Dehydration here is a serious issue and  we expats overlook it to our cost as I noticed that I had over the last two months had a huge increase in liver spots, which I was amazed to read was caused mainly by dehydration and direct sunlight exposure.

I am not one to show my white body to the powerful sun, but I have no doubt my water content has been out of balance, after all our human body is mostly water..what was I thinking.

I should have listened to my friend s before and not been such a fool!!

Unbelievable, but normal

As I type this, it is mid-morning on Thursday here in the Philippines.  We have been experiencing unusual weather here in Davao for a while now, maybe 2 or 3 weeks.  As Rusty wrote yesterday, it has been quite cool here in the Philippines, and that includes Davao City.  I’m not really writing an article about the weather today, though, although the weather is part of the story I want to tell you.

Part of our unusual weather here in Davao is that it started raining yesterday morning (Wednesday), and it has been raining steadily ever since then.  It is unusual to have that kind of rain here in Davao.  Usually we have thunderstorms at night.  Maybe 15 minutes to an hour of very heavy rain, not much more than that.  However, it has been raining steadily for 24 hours now.  The rain has not been that heavy, though, just steady.

Well, at about 9am, one of our kids sent a text message to Feyma, asking if somebody could pick them up at school, because school was cancelled.  “What?” I asked Feyma, “Why did they cancel school?”  She said that she was not sure.  When the kids got home, I asked them why the classes had been cancelled.  “Rain” my son told me.  Rain?  I can’t believe that classes would be cancelled for rain!  Aaron, my son told me that they were worried about flooding, but I didn’t see any flooding anywhere.  I asked if there was flooding at Ateneo, the school they attend.  He said there was none!

This is not the first time that school was cancelled for a crazy reason like this!  A year or two ago, I remember one time when school was cancelled because of a typhoon.  The typhoon was in Luzon, about 800 miles from here, and headed in the opposite direction from us!  We don’t get typhoons here in Davao, we are south of the typhoon belt.  So, why did they cancel school?  Well, in my opinion, it was a convenient day off.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  If you go look at almost any news site on the Internet, you will find that there is some bad flooding in Mindanao.  That is far north of us, though in places like Butuan, Gingoog and Cagayan de Oro, more than 100 miles from Davao.  The weather here in Davao has been dry up until yesterday.  Oh sure we have had showers from time to time, but not out of the ordinary, in my opinion.  Certainly nothing to stop school over!

You know, though, as Rusty talked about yesterday, and as I said at the beginning of this article, it has been uncharacteristically cold here!  I know that “cold” and “Philippines” don’t normally belong in the same article, but I’m really telling you the truth!  We have not even been running the air conditioning for a long time now, just keeping the windows open.  Even just opening the windows, Feyma has been sitting around with a blanket covering her!  Personally, I am enjoying the cool weather.  It’s much cooler lately than I ever remember in the 9 years that I’ve lived here.  For nearly a year not, I have been noticing a trend toward cooler temperatures, this is just more extreme than we’ve seen, though.

Well, I hope there is school tomorrow!  Lord knows, Ateneo is an expensive school, and since we have to pay one way or another, I hope that our kids actually get the education that we are paying for!

Living in Paradise

Wow, now this is a tropical paradise. For the last month the temperatures have been around 4 degrees C lower than what they are for most of the year.  I’m pretty hot natured so the unrelenting heat and the lack of air conditioning is probably the biggest negative of the Philippines for me. I’m not a sun worshiper, I joke about being a vampire.  Then what do I do?  Move to the equator.  Okay, so technically I’ve moved to the tropics and not the equator.  Its more than close enough for me.

I wrote a couple of articles regarding the weather we have right now.  If you’d like to read them, check out Frozen Filipino.

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