[Guest]

I'm currently on a biz trip in Manila, Philippines. I was hoping to get back for some fishing trips by the weekend but much to my dismay, that looks unlikely. There's a gargantuan typhoon heading in, right on the day of my departure flight. I'm told flooding here is extraordinary. If only I had myself a kayak, I'd be able to tour the place by paddling. Sadly, the only thing I'd be likely to catch is lung disease due to polution.

I travel to these developing countries all the time and each and every time I do, I'm reminded of how lucky we are in Australia, where air is breathable and police don't walk around with pistol grip shotguns. Spare a thought for me, because last time I caught in a typhoon (Taipei) I came very close to having a tree fall on my head.

So I'll be absent from any mango trips this weekend but with any luck, will be back around next week. First stop, PPB, rain, hail, shine or meteor showers! The kayak fishing addiction is impossible to break. I'm missing the yak almost as much as my family!

 

[aleg75]

All the best 5th! keep the head up and watch out for trees! be safe and report back to us often so we know your okay!

Ashley

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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QlpoOTFBWSZTWb5kwhYAAATfgAASQAECAAAIEAAnQEwAIAAxTAABTATR5ImmWwPVMmiAxxbz4u5IpwoSF8yYQsA=

 

[Milt]

See you soon Josh,

Batten down those hatches mate, its a whole differenet world out there!

Milt,

 

[PeterJ]

holly cow daffy run now

 

[Guest]

I did indeed try to flee, but couldn't change flights. I'm sure I'll be OK, but my hotel is 20 stories high. It's going to be character building. They're not referring to it as a typhoon, but instead a super typhoon. Many deaths are expected, mainly in the shanty towns. I'm not looking forward to witnessing ther aftermath when I can make my way to the airport, because many of these slums are aloing the way.

 

[Jake]

5th, let us know when you are ok and back in Aus mate. I really didnt like the Philippines, and I would hate to get stuck there. Know what you mean about the guns....ever been to Palawan?

Cheers,
Jake

 

[Guest]

Never been to Palawan, but have been to Mumbai and Nigeria. CHaracter building indeed. But the Philippines... stinking hole of a place.I just keep tryintg to think of the sun rising oiver PPB, my wife and son. Itgs getting me through.

SOme good news though - found a great LED light system for PFDs. Will be some jealous mangoes I reckon

 

[Russ]

Hang in there 5th, will cross my fingers for ya mate, all the best and good luck.

fishing Russ

 

[Les Lammers]

This is a :twisted: storm. Gusts to 165 knots and maximum wave heights of 39 feet.

Link: http://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc/warnings/wp2406.gif

Stay away from the windows in the hotel. You may be stuck there longer than you think.

 

[PoddyMullet]

Ride her out 5th, best of luck mate. :shock:

 

[Davey G]

mate, if you do get sucked up then just click your heels together and think of kansas..... better still think of the whitsundays!

I got stuck in a cyclone in guam several years ago - we actually flew in during the start of the storm and it was the scariest thing I've ever experienced. we were stuck in the hotel (at least it was the hilton) for a week with no power and couldn't get out. however we did have a great view of the ocean with 4-5 metre waves smashing the coast and palm fronds flying through the air at 100mph.

luckily we' managed to hit the local supermarket and stocked up on beer and food, so we sat inside eating and drinking for a week - not much of a diving holiday!

good luck,hope you stay safe.

 

[Y-Knot]

hang in there 5th, just keep your mind on ya family and ya Yak.
My apologies for the sarcasm about going overseas the other day. ive never been out of OZ and to me any trip crossing the Big-Blue sounds exciting and exotic.
Sounds like its going to be exciting though mate.

regards tony

 

[Guest]

Well well, upon awaking this morning it appears as if the typhoon is still at least half a day away from hitting Manila. I'll probably make it out of here after all... in which case, I'll be fishing Dromana on Saturday and SUnday. Fingers tightly crossed

Oh, I've figured out why you never see Filipino resteraunts in Australia: their food is probably the worst I've ever eaten (which is saying something). On the other hand, broadband connectivity here is lightening fast (in my hotel anyway). It makes Bigpond ADSL look like a prehistoric dial-up network.

 

[Guest]

I did indeed escape before the eye of the storm rolled in, and got in a few interesting weekend trips in the bay, which I'll write up in the reports section later today.

Interestingly, in the end, it seemed the greatest hurdle to my escaping Manilla wasn't the typhoon, but instead Malaysia airlines. I've flown some bad airlines before (Delta in US, and Air India a couple of times) but nothing matches the incompetence and dishonesty of these guys. Not only did they steal an MP3 file storage device from my baggage (somewhere between Melbourne and Manilla it was opened and that was taken) but they also somehow managed to lose my ticket out of Manilla (long story... but it was their bad, not mine) and tried to make me pay for it again, despite having at least 4 official documents to prove I'd paid for the ticket, not to mention it having to be recorded in their computer system. In the end they charged me US$50 for a replacement ticket, so as I promised them, I'm now going to cost them at least US$50,000 in ticket sales.

As Yuhl Brenner would say to would be smokers (remember his 'don't smoke' plea just before dying of cancer), don't fly Malaysia Airlines.

 

[Russ]

:lol: :lol:

WHATEVER YOO DOO, JUS DONT SMOKE

Good to hear ya safe 5th.

Welcome home mate big hug for the family I bet.

fishing Russ