I'm alive - post Typhoon Haiyan

DiscoStu

Not the first time I've had to tell you lot that I'm alive!

I tried replying to an earlier thread asking if anyone's heard from me but none of my posts are bumping the thread so not sure if anyone has seen it. So I'll repost here (sorry mods).

Good morning chaps and chapettes.

Got home yesterday morning and spent the day with my woman and catching up with friends.

Thank you for your concern but I was safe in Manila when the storm struck Leyte island. We managed to get out of Legazpi and move further north in time. 

My mate lives in Maasin, Southern Leyte and can't get home as he was meant to fly back via Tacloban airport, the same airport we had flown out of two days before Haiyan hit. I've given him my credit card to buy himself a flight to Cebu city then a ferry to Maasin but once he gets there he can't work as his job is internet based and he works from home. Maasin has no electricity for two months and communications are down too, so he cannot work. He may have to move to Manila. But he is alive and his friends in Maasin used his house (being concrete) as a shelter during the storm. No one died in Maasin but there is damage to property.

Tacloban on the other hand... There are no words.

I was treated with kindness and generosity by the Filipinos I met, some of whom have little in the way of wealth but who gave me accommodation along the way and fed me. A beautiful and happy people. Please find it in your hearts to show them kindness and generosity too. x

http://www.dec.org.uk

To put money in to context, my mate in Maasin City earns approx equivalent of £500 per month and lives comfortably. He lives by himself, rents a modern concrete apartment with cable TV and internet, and can afford decent food and plenty of beer.Lots of people earn half what he does, and most half again. Could you survive and feed a family on £125 per month?

For the price of a good night out you could feed a family for a fortnight. They don't immediately need electricity as they cook with bottled gas and can use candles for lighting, what they need is food and shelter. Please make a donation.

johnnyurq

Glad to hear you made it back unscathed @DiscoStu and thanks for giving a first hand account of how bad it is and how gracious the Filipinos are.

I can only echo the sentiment that we need to donate as much as possible to help them recover as much as is possible.

Can't begin to imagine what they are all going through.

viz

Great that your safe! I haz given monies but don't let that make others feel guilty .......

Col_Decker

Oh you made it back, great there goes another £5 down at the bookies.

GazLion

Such a sad situation. Donated, thanks. 

TTony

DiscoStu said:

spent the day with my woman 

To the important matters ... did we know about that???  Last I remember reading about the life-of-Stu, a woman had done gone.

But seriously.  I don't know whether to be in awe of the force of nature, scared sh1tless by it, or thankful that we don't live in a part of the world (currently) directly exposed to such events.  

Whatever, a small donation from us to those who now have to rebuild lives.

DiscoStu

TTony said:

DiscoStu said:

spent the day with my woman 

To the important matters ... did we know about that???  Last I remember reading about the life-of-Stu, a woman had done gone.

But seriously.  I don't know whether to be in awe of the force of nature, scared sh1tless by it, or thankful that we don't live in a part of the world (currently) directly exposed to such events.  

Whatever, a small donation from us to those who now have to rebuild lives.

Even £10 would make a difference to a family, so when the DEC say that £50 (a good night out here) would feed a family for a fortnight, that isn't bullshit. There are roughly 70 pesos to £1. We had a night out with two main meals, finger food afterwards and 8 beers each, the total came to just under £15. For a drunken night out with great food! Trikes around town were between 20 and 50 pesos.

So beer is around 65p and hired transport is under £1.

£10, £25, £50 makes a difference in the Philippines, believe me. 

As for the 'woman' comment TTony, yes I have started seeing someone new and she is just lovely. It's still early days but it feels really good. She too had a brain scare a couple of years ago and we have loads more in common besides that.

I am incredibly lucky right now.

digitalkettle

DiscoStu said:

I am incredibly lucky right now.

Apparently she has much nicer boobies

DiscoStu

digitalkettle said:

DiscoStu said:

I am incredibly lucky right now.

Apparently she has much nicer boobies

How did you know that? 

Skipped

DiscoStu. Glad you are safe. The Filipinos I have met are wonderful people. What is happening there is breaking my heart. If anybody has any spare cash - please send it there.

4 years ago I met a lovely young filipino woman who is working here in the Uk.
Within a few weeks my friends (?) were saying to me: "She will ask you for money".
I said: No she won't. I can guarantee that 100%.
They said: "How can you be so sure?"
I said: Because she doesn't need to ask. I will give her whatever money I have. She earns £1200 a month and sends half of it home to her family. When I look in her fridge there is nothing in it*. She is the most selfless person I have ever met in my entire life. Ask me for money? ASK ME FOR MONEY? What about the British women I have dated dropping hints about handbags or shoes. Was that asking for money?  :x


* There is now.



  

DiscoStu

Yeah, that's what I found too. Sure there are golddiggers there - I saw a few young things hanging off overweight bald 50+ white guys in the major cities- but the majority of the populace aren't like that at all. I stayed for two days in a family's home up the mountain in the jungle in Southern Leyte and, despite a language barrier, they couldn't have been kinder to me. They fed me constantly and kept making sure I had water/coffee/beer and they asked for nothing whatsoever in return. A daughter lives in Australia and sends money home to them all the time. Another daughter lives in Maasin City and knows my friend, and she organised for me to borrow a bicycle from a guy she knows. When I asked her how much he'd want for it she didn't have an answer as it wasn't about money, they just wanted to help the foreigner out. I offered 500 pesos and she said that was far far too much. It's not even a tenner and this guy was trusting a strange white guy with his bike, yet they didn't want to accept it. I made sure he did.

We climbed the Taal volcano on Saturday and a young lad of about 18 came with us as a guide. The price was 350 pesos. He was fantastic, enthusiastic and helpful, and after we came back down I rounded it up to 500 so he would get a 150 peso tip. He was blown away and came over several times afterwards to thank me. I gave him £2 tip ffs after he climbed a volcano with us! But that £2 will buy him a few meals.

We can and do moan about the UK but we really don't know how good we have it.

digitalkettle

DiscoStu said:

digitalkettle said:

DiscoStu said:

I am incredibly lucky right now.

Apparently she has much nicer boobies

How did you know that? 

I read it on a forum!