Today is Sunday, July 25, 2010 and it is now 819PM here in Makati, Luzon, Philippines.
Recap: Talking about the wonderful airline "Cebu Pacific" and its aneurysm inducing niceties, etc. and so on.
This Entry: Monsoon is my favourite time of year. Most East Asians hate it. In the tropics, like here, it varies place to place. Mindanao for example, I am centered in Caraga, what they call "NE Mindanao," or "Bisaya Mindanao." We are mountains and rainforest, deep bush country and get decent rains. On the west coast, on the Zamboangan Peninsula they get in terms of inches, I think 120 inches in Monsoon, wettest spot on the island.
Luzon though? Man I haven't seen water like this since India!
Indian Monsoon is fucken amazing! For about 2 hours a day, same time very day, the 100F with 90% humidity is broken by what appears to be a sheet of water pouring out of a black sky. Then, as if on cue, it stops and the sun comes out and in 30 minutes the ground can look parched.
Luzon is smack in the typhoon belt. Typhoons are basically "Katrina" type hurricanes (Americans know the phrase well), about 10 in a 5 month season. The streets flood, everything gets nasty, dead dogs floating by...well...you get the idea.
Yesterday though, Mindanao had another 1 of those earthquakes I have been talking about. This one was a bit bigger than usual, 6.9. Think about that number and then imagine a place where it rates a single sentence on the wire because it is just that common. This is THAT place. It was centered 60km off the West Central coast and didn't cause a tsunami luckily though they usually occur across the ocean from the event, 2 days later, etc.
Usual bullshit...I used to frequent ex pat forums, figured being the old hand in SE Asia that I am I would offer good advice. I was suprised though at what I found.
For example, 1 American guy was thinking of coming for a visit. Mindanao is on the "Do Not Travel" list of just about every Western embassy, and for decent reasons, so he was full of trepidation. "Is it safe?"
I replied that it depends on the part but that life on Mindanao is the razour's edge. Be prepared for the unexpected, regardless. Do get traveller's insurance in case you need to be medivaced out (decent advice for any locale since it runs at least 10K US in calm nations like Thailand, and usually 50K). Don't travel to Muslim areas, do not befriend locals, including love interests and their families until long after you meet them. Dress down, don't drink local water, etc, etc.
So a day later comes this American who said he lived in Iligan City. That's a rather large, majority Bisayan city on the North Coast. He said Mindanao is perfectly safe, he's never had a problem, embassies are full of shit, Rachamim is trying to scare people and is an asshole.
I replied and asked him how long he's lived there. Less than 3 months he said, I laughed at him. I told him he hadn't even been here long enough to see Iligan, let alone Mindanao and told him he ought to research shit himself and see if he still felt the same way. To make it short, this just caused him to curse and insult.
2 days later 7 bombs went off in Iligan and 2 Base Commands of the MILF actually invaded the city killing Christians. "Welcome to My World." That was August, 2008 I believe.
So, Friday 7 grenades tossed in Iligan and I was reminded of that dickhead. Lots of people are like that.
The Japanese man I began talking about...might as well wrap that one up. Letter to the govt.surfaced, seems he is alive, but they won't say what the ransom demand is. If and when he is released I can't wait to see what happens with his immigration status, having 2 IDs and all that. I thinkbany foreigner even hanging out in Muslim areas here is a dickhead.
In 2001 there was a half black, half white convert yo Islam, Jeffrey Schilling from San Diego, California. He came here for his internet girlfriend (another clusterfuck of a subject), and when he found out she had a cousin in the Abu Sayyaf (think Filipino al Qadah) he wanted to meet them. The story he told AFTER was that he wanted to explain how they were going against Allah by chopping off Christian heads.
He and his GF walk into an Abu Sayyaf Camp and within minutes he's chained to a wall and they fuck his GF (niiiice). She ends up the "wife" of an Abu Sayyaf guerilla and as he's chained he gets to see their connubial bliss hahahahahahaha.
Months later, 7 months I think, they haul ass during an army offencive and leave our Jeffrey chained on his wall. He had grown so thin from malnutrition and disease that he was able to simply slip out of his manacles and walk out and meet the soldiers entering the village. Lucky they didn't kill his retarded ass as they have done with other hostages they have "freed."
They do that a lot, fuck women they capture and make them "wives." Islam allows this actually so they are correct in terms of their religion.
So the Japanese man has a fun few months, or years, in store. What I find maddening is when Westerners take a ship down to Sulu or Basilan, take some photos at landmarks as a form of adventure tourism.
Reading a travel blog once, this ponytailed American took the ferry from mainland Malaysia to Zamboanga, and got off on Basilan. Basilan is an island off of Zamboanga, and is part of Mindanao administratively.
Its native tribe are the Yakan, an Islamicised People, the tribe that founded Abu Sayaf and it is where most beheadings take place, every month they kill non-Muslims. I could fill up a couple of entries just from shit since March.
Anyway, he bragged that he got off in Basilan, in its capitol, Isabela City. He tols everyone that everyone smiled and he couldn't understand why people said to beware of Basilan. I was thinking, "Yes my precious dickhead, would you not smile if you saw a pile of 100 Dollar Bills with a ponytail wandering around aimlessly?"
Instead I wrote, "I am glad you had a good trip and mangaged to arrive in your destination unscathed but what you are doing is incredibly irresponsible. You, as you say had an armed escort provided by the Governor (who was Abu Sayyaf himself, a co-founder actually, Gov Wahad Akbar, who was blown up by a massive bomb when he left Congress in Manila after moving into the Congressional seat for the island after reaching his 9 year Term Limit as governor) of the island who because you are white, was instantly aware that you had stepped off that ferry...just like the thousands of Abu Sayyaf terrorists who also live there were aware.
That you were not attacked is purely a question of luck, even with the 20 well armed soldiers walking you around the capitol for 2 hours.
What about the person in Washington State, or London who reads this and scoffs at the risks? What if its a bad day, or the Gov.is in Manila that day? What if they attack the soldiers? You are minimising the risk and that is ignorant."
He chose not to publish my comment hahahah. That was the last time I ever wasted my time to tell someone words of caution.
I was young once...really...I'm serious! I did my stupid shit. Once, OK...I was on my walkabout, my gap year, though mine came after 6 years service, not 3 as with most. We went to Thailand which at that time, 1989, was where most IDF soldiers went (today their stupid asses go to fucken Peru and Boliva).
There was a few of us, all squadmates and we went and rented a house in the far north. We went and explored the whole region and I had my 1st visit to Cambodia, when Pol Pot was still a force to be reckoned with and Poi Pet was just a muddy tent strewn camp.
After a bit a local we had befriended, a hill tribesmen, convinced me and 1 mate to join him as he trekked to his village up in Burma, near the Yunnan (China) border.
Back in those days China was mostly closed. You could go to Beijing, Shanghai, and a couple of other locales but Yunnan? Hahahaha...
Burma, that part was home to more than 21 separate insurgent armies, most involved with opium and heroin. Burma was also closed.
We crossed the river from Thailand into Burma on a lorry innertube attached to a hemp rope. We then trekked up the hills on foot, spending a night each way in a hill tribe village, of course getting hammered on opium and back then I drank, so palm wine and rice liquor as well.
In the end I crossed into Yunnan, skirted the main border city, and then trekked back into Thailand and for what? We would have been shot on site in China and in most of Burma as well, even by Thai's 5th Army, no slouches, who worked that river border.
Yet, as one gets older such recklessness seems so stupid, so wasteful. Its true that I had 6 straight years in combat then, and was just 22 but...it was insane.
Recap: Talking about the wonderful airline "Cebu Pacific" and its aneurysm inducing niceties, etc. and so on.
This Entry: Monsoon is my favourite time of year. Most East Asians hate it. In the tropics, like here, it varies place to place. Mindanao for example, I am centered in Caraga, what they call "NE Mindanao," or "Bisaya Mindanao." We are mountains and rainforest, deep bush country and get decent rains. On the west coast, on the Zamboangan Peninsula they get in terms of inches, I think 120 inches in Monsoon, wettest spot on the island.
Luzon though? Man I haven't seen water like this since India!
Indian Monsoon is fucken amazing! For about 2 hours a day, same time very day, the 100F with 90% humidity is broken by what appears to be a sheet of water pouring out of a black sky. Then, as if on cue, it stops and the sun comes out and in 30 minutes the ground can look parched.
Luzon is smack in the typhoon belt. Typhoons are basically "Katrina" type hurricanes (Americans know the phrase well), about 10 in a 5 month season. The streets flood, everything gets nasty, dead dogs floating by...well...you get the idea.
Yesterday though, Mindanao had another 1 of those earthquakes I have been talking about. This one was a bit bigger than usual, 6.9. Think about that number and then imagine a place where it rates a single sentence on the wire because it is just that common. This is THAT place. It was centered 60km off the West Central coast and didn't cause a tsunami luckily though they usually occur across the ocean from the event, 2 days later, etc.
Usual bullshit...I used to frequent ex pat forums, figured being the old hand in SE Asia that I am I would offer good advice. I was suprised though at what I found.
For example, 1 American guy was thinking of coming for a visit. Mindanao is on the "Do Not Travel" list of just about every Western embassy, and for decent reasons, so he was full of trepidation. "Is it safe?"
I replied that it depends on the part but that life on Mindanao is the razour's edge. Be prepared for the unexpected, regardless. Do get traveller's insurance in case you need to be medivaced out (decent advice for any locale since it runs at least 10K US in calm nations like Thailand, and usually 50K). Don't travel to Muslim areas, do not befriend locals, including love interests and their families until long after you meet them. Dress down, don't drink local water, etc, etc.
So a day later comes this American who said he lived in Iligan City. That's a rather large, majority Bisayan city on the North Coast. He said Mindanao is perfectly safe, he's never had a problem, embassies are full of shit, Rachamim is trying to scare people and is an asshole.
I replied and asked him how long he's lived there. Less than 3 months he said, I laughed at him. I told him he hadn't even been here long enough to see Iligan, let alone Mindanao and told him he ought to research shit himself and see if he still felt the same way. To make it short, this just caused him to curse and insult.
2 days later 7 bombs went off in Iligan and 2 Base Commands of the MILF actually invaded the city killing Christians. "Welcome to My World." That was August, 2008 I believe.
So, Friday 7 grenades tossed in Iligan and I was reminded of that dickhead. Lots of people are like that.
The Japanese man I began talking about...might as well wrap that one up. Letter to the govt.surfaced, seems he is alive, but they won't say what the ransom demand is. If and when he is released I can't wait to see what happens with his immigration status, having 2 IDs and all that. I thinkbany foreigner even hanging out in Muslim areas here is a dickhead.
In 2001 there was a half black, half white convert yo Islam, Jeffrey Schilling from San Diego, California. He came here for his internet girlfriend (another clusterfuck of a subject), and when he found out she had a cousin in the Abu Sayyaf (think Filipino al Qadah) he wanted to meet them. The story he told AFTER was that he wanted to explain how they were going against Allah by chopping off Christian heads.
He and his GF walk into an Abu Sayyaf Camp and within minutes he's chained to a wall and they fuck his GF (niiiice). She ends up the "wife" of an Abu Sayyaf guerilla and as he's chained he gets to see their connubial bliss hahahahahahaha.
Months later, 7 months I think, they haul ass during an army offencive and leave our Jeffrey chained on his wall. He had grown so thin from malnutrition and disease that he was able to simply slip out of his manacles and walk out and meet the soldiers entering the village. Lucky they didn't kill his retarded ass as they have done with other hostages they have "freed."
They do that a lot, fuck women they capture and make them "wives." Islam allows this actually so they are correct in terms of their religion.
So the Japanese man has a fun few months, or years, in store. What I find maddening is when Westerners take a ship down to Sulu or Basilan, take some photos at landmarks as a form of adventure tourism.
Reading a travel blog once, this ponytailed American took the ferry from mainland Malaysia to Zamboanga, and got off on Basilan. Basilan is an island off of Zamboanga, and is part of Mindanao administratively.
Its native tribe are the Yakan, an Islamicised People, the tribe that founded Abu Sayaf and it is where most beheadings take place, every month they kill non-Muslims. I could fill up a couple of entries just from shit since March.
Anyway, he bragged that he got off in Basilan, in its capitol, Isabela City. He tols everyone that everyone smiled and he couldn't understand why people said to beware of Basilan. I was thinking, "Yes my precious dickhead, would you not smile if you saw a pile of 100 Dollar Bills with a ponytail wandering around aimlessly?"
Instead I wrote, "I am glad you had a good trip and mangaged to arrive in your destination unscathed but what you are doing is incredibly irresponsible. You, as you say had an armed escort provided by the Governor (who was Abu Sayyaf himself, a co-founder actually, Gov Wahad Akbar, who was blown up by a massive bomb when he left Congress in Manila after moving into the Congressional seat for the island after reaching his 9 year Term Limit as governor) of the island who because you are white, was instantly aware that you had stepped off that ferry...just like the thousands of Abu Sayyaf terrorists who also live there were aware.
That you were not attacked is purely a question of luck, even with the 20 well armed soldiers walking you around the capitol for 2 hours.
What about the person in Washington State, or London who reads this and scoffs at the risks? What if its a bad day, or the Gov.is in Manila that day? What if they attack the soldiers? You are minimising the risk and that is ignorant."
He chose not to publish my comment hahahah. That was the last time I ever wasted my time to tell someone words of caution.
I was young once...really...I'm serious! I did my stupid shit. Once, OK...I was on my walkabout, my gap year, though mine came after 6 years service, not 3 as with most. We went to Thailand which at that time, 1989, was where most IDF soldiers went (today their stupid asses go to fucken Peru and Boliva).
There was a few of us, all squadmates and we went and rented a house in the far north. We went and explored the whole region and I had my 1st visit to Cambodia, when Pol Pot was still a force to be reckoned with and Poi Pet was just a muddy tent strewn camp.
After a bit a local we had befriended, a hill tribesmen, convinced me and 1 mate to join him as he trekked to his village up in Burma, near the Yunnan (China) border.
Back in those days China was mostly closed. You could go to Beijing, Shanghai, and a couple of other locales but Yunnan? Hahahaha...
Burma, that part was home to more than 21 separate insurgent armies, most involved with opium and heroin. Burma was also closed.
We crossed the river from Thailand into Burma on a lorry innertube attached to a hemp rope. We then trekked up the hills on foot, spending a night each way in a hill tribe village, of course getting hammered on opium and back then I drank, so palm wine and rice liquor as well.
In the end I crossed into Yunnan, skirted the main border city, and then trekked back into Thailand and for what? We would have been shot on site in China and in most of Burma as well, even by Thai's 5th Army, no slouches, who worked that river border.
Yet, as one gets older such recklessness seems so stupid, so wasteful. Its true that I had 6 straight years in combat then, and was just 22 but...it was insane.