The sumptuously decorated lobby of the Sofitel Manila, where we went for after work drinks last evening to celebrate the end of our training session.
There are many moving memorials to war and sacrifice in Manila, as there are in any big city.This monumental sculpture, however, honors a class of citizens perhaps less commonly venerated… The brave and far-sighted land developers who made the neighborhood into what it is today. May they rest in luxurious peace.
Fireworks over Manila Bay
A little slice of New Mexico in Manila.
Manila skyline from 33 floors up. That ominous haze is the outer edges of Typhoon Ruby Hagupit.
What’s in a name?
I dunno why the Philippines chooses not to subscribe to the international convention for naming cyclones, but Ruby is Hagupit and vice versa. It’s a compelling case for someone who makes his living convincing people to pay attention to names and is watching the storm from a little bit closer than desirable.
Welcome news, well spoken
I love the Filipino language (which is called Pilipino but is based mostly on Tagalog which is the most widely spoken language apart from English). With English and some basic Spanish you can get the gist of most official communication, at least in writing.
Here, cooperation is followed by orderly evacuation and zero casualties.
It’s important to have a clear advertising message.
Do you think the wives of informatics professionals would agree?
With a typhoon bearing down, the hotel fire alarm test goes from pain-in-the-ass to oddly-reassuring.
Guess what I’ll be thinking about this weekend from the relative safety of my high-rise hotel in Manila? I say safe because it’s a modern high-rise away from the water, and even safer because it’s several hundred miles away from the likely path of the storm. Still…
The places that are in harm’s way got hit hard last year by Hayan and their people must feel a Sisyphean despair as Ruby barrels in.
Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition 