Our first TYPHOON!

     So, it is the rainy season here from June - November, and the Philippine Islands generally get 18 - 20 tropical storms each year during this time.  Typhoon Rammasun (aka Glenda) arrived today with lots of rain and some pretty big gusts of wind!  We did not receive the brunt of the storm, just some of the wind and rain in the outer bands.  Our power went out at about 6:30am but was back on by 10.  We went out for a bit to find some coffee while our power was out, but there were very few places open!  We stopped at the little mini-mart across the street from our hotel and picked up some Cheetos (Yep, they have cheesy goodness here, too.  Hey - who knows how long we might be cooped up in our apartment??), but they did not have any coffee.  We did notice a new restaurant that just opened a week or two ago that was open, so we ventured into the rain again and headed for The Flying Pan.
     We had to wait a few minutes while two employees on the outside and about five employees on the inside tried to open the doors for us to enter.  They had closed and locked the doors and stuffed something under them so the rain didn't flood into the restaurant, so it took a few minutes.  But, the sweet Filipino waitresses waved and smiled at us through the door windows the entire time, so we waited to go in!  We are both glad we did!  Breakfast was delicious!  Potatoes and scrambled eggs with peppers and pork Sisig, a delicious Filipino pork dish, with garlic rice....and of course coffee!  It was perfect for us to sit and eat and spend an hour while we watched the wind and rain (and took pictures).
     After breakfast we headed back to the apartment for most of the day and watched the rain (and a movie).  Most of Makati stayed home from work, so it was nice for us to be able to spend the day together.  After dinner we took a walk through town.  Many trees were stripped of bark and younger trees were pulled right out of the ground by their roots.  After the wind and rain subsided, we were left with a very enjoyable evening of low humidity, cool temperatures, and cool breezes.  It's the first time we didn't return to the apartment soaked through with sweat!  The park was closed for clean-up.  It will probably take a few days for all of the clean-up, but crews were out there working even while it was still raining.  Here are a few pictures:

The parking lot directly across from our apartment.

Every corner looked like this with broken pots.

The big glass building behind this mess of tree limbs is where Eric works.

We noticed the roots of these trees don't get very big.

Ayala Triangle Gardens (aka The Park)

 

Typhoon Breakfast.  :)

 

So all in all, it was a big storm, but it didn't affect us too much.  Manila and some of the islands to the north were hit quite hard and are experiencing flooding.  Many places north of us had been evacuated as well.

 

Until next time!

 

Eric and Kim