three countries, one calamity

You've probably seen it in the news, or you've probably been one of those affected ones brought bu what is now dubbed as "Asia's Katrina" or the storm that broke records. Typhoon Ketsana will definitely be on everybody's books and until now, countless people are still picking up the pieces. I was "unlucky" enough to experience its wrath... in three countries nonetheless.

It started on the morning of the 25th of September, when I was still in Manila. I was preparing for my trip home to Cambodia, so I went to Greenbelt and Glorietta to do my final shopping as my trip is not until 2:30 in the afternoon. I left at around 8 am and the rain has already stopped. At around 10:30 am, the rain was absolutely beyond control and it was impossible to get a cab. After an hour of trying, I was able to find myself one but when we reached San Lorenzo Village in Makati to get my luggage, the house where I was staying at is already flooded to the waist. I was able to get my 40-kilo luggage from the flood waters all the way to the waiting taxi almost a kilometer away (the driver wouldn't plunge his car to the water even of I paid him a million bucks) and off to the airport we go. I was drenched to the bone. My Issey Miyake sneakers were squishing and I was shivering from the cold. I told myself I'll change when we get to the airport.
But as luck would have it, 80% of Manila was already underwater and we were stuck in traffic trying to find our way out in a little more than 4 hours. At 3:30, I gave up and asked the driver to take me to any hotel in Makati.



This is the scene right after the rain subsided, but it was just total havoc in the city.


The next day, I was able to get myself to the airport and was able to finally board the plane. The flight though was delayed for 4 hours as there was no electricity in the international airport. All baggages have to be loaded manually as the conveyors weren't working.

When we arrived in Bangkok, Ketsana has caught up on us and we were on standstill at the runway for an hour because of the lightning unfolding. I got out of the airport at almost midnight and Silom road was drenched to its knees.



When I went back, the airport was almost a ghost town. I finally made it to the flight the next day and was home in Cambodia at around 9 am.

But I was on for another surprise. Ketsana made it to Cambodia. This is the first time this ever happened as Cambodia is literally typhoon free. Everyone was caught by surprise when rain poured like crazy for 2 days. The river overflowed for the first time in history and this monk was trading the East River Road where theOrient Express Hotel is located.

Waters reached an alarming level and this motorcycle almost didn't make it.

Pub Street was still littered with toursits, but was also virtually a canal.

The Old Market Area is almost impassable and my car almost stalled in the middle of it this morning.

Don, my wife (both still toting Marc Jacobs and Vivienne Westwood in the middle of the calamity) and myself have to go out to shop for supplies as we have no electricity in the house in the past 2 days. I also had to get money from the bank to pay for my staff's salaries, so we had to brave the raging flood waters... in style...

Our fashionable New Yorker friend Eliz was still in vogue in the midst of it all. She deserves to be n the next cover of the September issue.

The biggest drawback here is that the Cambodians were totally unprepared for this storm. This has never transpired here and that was actually one of the reasons why we moved from the Philippines to here. I guess we all have to brace ourselves for global warming...

a home for strangers

Prior to moving in Cambodia, I have lived in Manila - that bustling Philippine capital of 12 million souls (almost the entire population of Cambodia!), the centre of daring film festival scandals, 3 revolutions named after a single traffic thoroughfare, the teeming cornocupia of 300 years of Spanish rule and 50 years of Hollywood sensibilites from the Americans. For 5 years, I lived on its dangerous streets, glamorous enclaves and rode into its public transportation systems that would give sardine factories a run for their money... and boy, I had fun.

Had I not plucked myself from its toxic roots, I probably would have stayed long enough until my last breath. But just as I thought that I knew Manila by heart, I discovered that I only knew it skindeep...

The last time me and my wife were home, we decided to leave our boring Makati-tinged world - in itself a living witness of the nation's uncertain yet restless growth...


We took a cab, got ourselves caught in traffic and went to a place we would never imagined ourselves going... to the nostalgic walls of old Manila, where we hailed a horse drawn carriage and employed a guide to discover a place we ought to have discovered a long time ago...


So off we went and rediscovered the streets of home where we are strangers all over again...


we rediscovered its deeply rooted commitment and monuments to faith...

we discovered love fluttering around in pure contrast to the bleakness and hopelessness of its smog-choked skies


we discovered how people would sell salvation like cheap pancakes...

We rediscovered the proud tales of its heritage, succumbing to lonely years of decay...

We rediscovered the boisterous playfulness of its youth...


...and the poignant wisdom of its elders

We rediscovered that life and its superficial trappings begins and ends within a microcasm of society called the Sari Sari Stores...

... and we found out how faith and commerce blends in beautifully on its pavement stalls


We rediscovered a world hidden from the sanctity of its faith, and oveshadowed by glittering skyscrapers. We found real people fighting for existence...


...and even people willing to sell their very existence...

But the most important discovery of the day is that we should never ever, become strangers to our own home...

Although I have friends from India who have never seen the Taj Mahal, Cambodians who haven't been to Angkor Wat and buddies from New York who have never ventured out of Manhattan, I don't think it's proper for any Filipino to see the world without conquering our own shores... there is just too much stories, people, colors, characters and aspirations awaiting on every corner, calling and beckoning.

We might love the idea of being exhilirated with new sights, incredible experiences, exotic cultures and world wonders... only to find them existing in our own backyards afterall.

journeys with yesterdays

I have been blessed with so many great friends - but these are two who are definitely worth blogging about... For my art exhibit in China last August, two long time friends who also happened to be my classmates since kindergarten all the way to primary school and high school (in college, we all went to the same university as well, but different departments) went all the way to Beijing to join me in my exhibition... We had been out of touch for a long time after moving abroad, but when I broke the news to them of my olympic invitation, they all found a way to meet up!


Karl, one of my best buddies, traveled around 10,388 kilometers from Auckland, New Zealand to Beijing and spent almost a day on the plane. He took time from his work in the land of Frodo and Middle Earth where he has been living for the past three years. Among us, Karl had the most relaxing journey to China - flying with ease onboard Air New Zealand bringing with him a bagful of exotic cheese as pasalubong for us!

Karl has the least possibility among the two to come because he had just came from a month-long vacation in the US and his boss is definitely not giving him another break from work... but with much persistence and convincing, his boss agreed and he even extended his China trip to a couple of days in Japan! Details are sketchy of what he did to his boss to get an approval, but he made it!



Elaine on the other hand, traveled from Iloilo to Manila, then Manila to Hong Kong - covering around 1,561 kilometers. From Hong Kong, she journeyed by train to Guangzhou, stayed a day, then took another train again going to Beijing. The train ride alone covered a distance of 1,887 kilometers and took her almost 24 hours! On the way back, since most of the train seats were fully taken because of the closing of the games, her trip had to take twice that long because she had to do stops in a couple more cities around China!

Among the three of us, her journey was the most gruelling and nerve wreaking (not to mention plucking heaven and earth just to get a measly 7-day Chinese visa in Cebu!) - and I truly admire her for that... think of it as a field training for her as she is preparing to move to the United States in a couple of months...

After my own gruelling journey of crazy flights (Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - Hong Kong - Beijing) covering around 3,490 kilometers, we met up in Beijing in the hotel and spent a couple of days roaming around - reminiscing how we used to take these crazy trips together back when we can only afford weekend trips to Boracay, Tagaytay or Manila!

Two years ago, when I started working in Cambodia, these two also took an arduous journey from Iloilo to Manila to Bangkok. Then, they took a seven-hour bus and taxi ride to the Cambodian border and all the way to Siem Reap to see me and my family (my baby was just born then)!



Since this has become quite a tradition for us, we are saving up for a trip to Vancouver in 2010 for the Winter Games and in London in 2012 for the next Summer Games! Since I ALWAYS pay for their hotel, Elaine has "promised" to buy our airfares to Vancouver and Karl has also "offered" to take care of London. Right, Karl and elaine???!!!

Now where do you get friends like them?