My First Typhoon

I flew into Manila today on the heels of typhoon Kristine (although sources differ as to whether she’s a full-scale typhoon or just a Severe Tropical Storm). Whatever she was, my flight had to circle south of Manila for 20 minutes before coming in for a landing due to heavy rains and wind.

Once on the ground, light rains gave way to driving wind and rain.

Walking to dinner a few blocks away was easy. Walking back was another story. My umbrella proved woefully inadequate to the task at hand and broke, leaving me to walk several blocks in a heavy rain. Two local boys were highly amused by the sight of a foreigner trudging through the rain and accompanied me a block or two, hooting and hollering and running and sliding on their butts on the slippery tile.

Yes, tile.

for reasons I have yet to divine, despite Southeast Asia being quite tropical and therefore always in a state of rain or near-rain, the use of tile outdoors for hotel and store entryways is endemic. And yes, it’s as slippery as you imagine, and more.

I arrived back to the hotel drenched, not something I planned for when packing. I was grateful to obtain a few plastic bags at the hotel so at least I could keep my soaked clothes separate from the rest of my clothes. There’s a fair chance they’ll mold before I get to a washer and dryer next Friday in Hanoi. You can wash mold out, right?

I’ll let you know!