The aftermath of Yolanda's trip to the Philippines was catastrophic. It was a Category 5 hurricane for crying out loud! Tacloban City got the worst of it, eerily similar to the flash flood in Ormoc City back in November '91. However, my beloved hometown of Ormoc City was not spared.

news.nationalgeographic.com

Here's a video I took during that fateful Friday morning of November 8, 2013.


Video on the left was taken around 7AM. We were in the eye of the storm around 8AM. The video on the right was taken around 9AM. The storm started around 6AM in Ormoc City and it ended almost 11AM. Whew! Such a looooong time! It was a helluva ride! So you can just imagine the damages it made...

Here's a longer video clip of the "2nd round" of the supertyphoon, taken after the eye of the storm passed us.



Aerial View of the damages... see HERE.

Some shots I took after Yolanda left.






















You can subscribe/follow me on Facebook and check my status for updates and read comments of people over there. Please send help if you can because right now we are running low on food and other supplies. Some people have resorted to looting and I'm afraid sooner of later with no food, people will become cannibals! Eeeekk! But that's just me having watched too many movies.

Seriously though, all of us here need a TEAM OF CARPENTERS to fix our roofs because that hurricane was a real mofo. Although I'm not complaining because even though the damage is severe, we are still thankful to be alive and in one piece. Never mind getting soaked and drenched in that storm, we still praise God that we didn't get flooded and there are no major casualties in Ormoc City. I really wish I could say the same for Tacloban. The news is just heartbreaking. :(

We pray for our fellowmen to stay strong amidst this storm (literally!) in our lives and that we will all unite in getting back on our feet and rebuild what was destroyed. We've overcome a great tragedy in '91 with 8,000 lives lost... Ormoc City shall rise again.

#BANGONORMOC!




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Morning has broken like the first morning... 



It was the first time in a looooong time that I saw the sun rise again. Pretty sure it still shines in the east. Took the photo on our way to Tacloban last Monday. I was supposed to do a photo blog about this trip but of all things I left behind for our 2-hour drive to the capital city, I forgot to pop in the memory card of my camera. So... boohoo! I had to make do with the iphone's camera to capture the memories. (It's not the pana, it's the Indian!) Alas, I didn't get enough to make sure this blog post  rock your socks!

Anyways, for the sake of blogging and preserving this memory forever in the blogosphere, I'm writing about our journey from Ormoc to Tacloban and back that lasted an entire day -- approximately 12 hours.

So why did we go on this trip? For one sole purpose. To buy cheese. HAHAHA! As if that ain't cheesy enough... that and we wanted to watch a movie in Robinson's. LOL! The provincial life is not too far behind with all the modernization and urbanization of the world, but when the whole city suddenly runs out of an ingredient, you'll feel like you're done for. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating but hey, it's an excuse to travel!



We left quite early, just before the sun shone with all its glory and with just the right temperature to drive off with the windows down and feel the refreshing pollution-free air of the countryside. Can you picture it? I ought to kick myself just for leaving the memory card behind as I'm not sure I can accurately describe everything I had seen, felt, and experienced.



Tip: Don't camwhore if you're running on more than 100kph. Especially if your camera doesn't come with shutter speed controls.

We arrived an hour before the mall opened so we hit Andok's for some breakfast. Yes, we drove 2 hours to eat chicken. HAHAHA! Too bad I was too famished to even take some pics of our heavy fried chicken & liempo meal. But as soon as our tummies were satisfied, the idea of walking around the airconditioned mall was perfect. Of course, I would have wanted to catch some Zzzz's but there was too much (window) shopping to do!

After going to the groceries, we loaded the stuffs back to the car, stretched our muscles and got ready for some real action. By that I meant, hitting National Bookstore (my favorite store ever!) to feast our eyes on books and those cute, perfumed, and fancy office and school supplies. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like being on a bookstore is like being on Disneyland? There's just too many things to discover in there. Like a whole new world... ^_^

We got the supplies we needed including a 12-inch cashbox. However, who can resist a book when it's 40% off?! Even though I've already read the PDF version almost a year ago, Noodle Boy gave the nod, whipped out his card, and got it. *twirls in front of the cashier like a kid on Christmas eve!*



Again, it was on sale. And it's hardbound! Umm, I really don't have to justify anything here. Tee hee!

Since the movie we decided to watch wasn't going to be shown for another hour or so, I asked Noodle Boy if he wanted to grab some lunch. Just a little so we don't have to buy food and eat at the theatre, which btw smelled gross with a mixture of sweet/sour scent. How can I eat with that? He entertained that notion and so off we made our way to The Gustavian and... voila!



The teeny weeny fillet mignon steak for my lunch! Honestly, I think the serving was enough for me, but the boif wasn't too happy when he saw it. Well, for the price... yep, I think it was pretty overrated. They didn't even have wifi connection there. Tsk!

After the movie, we decided to go home... but only after Noodle Boy and I grabbed some Twister and Funshots at KFC. LOL! Yep, this was pretty much a FOOD TRIP slash ROAD TRIP!

The drive home was anything but boring. I didn't even sleep on the way home, thanks to the crazy playlist we had. Took random photos of motorists, too.



See that guy with all the gallons on his bike? Those are, ummm, I think the ones they store tuba in. You know, the sweet coconut wine that's quite famous in this part of the region. My dad drinks that a lot, but I don't like it a bit. It reminds me of vinegar... Well, that's where vinegar comes from, too, I think.



And here's a modern day knight in shining armor... errr, shining bike and shining helmet, riding off into the sunset. Again, I imagined kicking myself in the head when I saw the sunset as we were heading home.







FML! Is it beautiful or what?!?!? It doesn't get any more splendid than that. I tell you, man. Anywhere in the 7,107 islands in the Philippines, you're sure to get one helluva an amazing sunset! That's precisely why I love living here. I mean, I really cannot, for the life of me, even begin to think of having to live in a place where I cannot see a shoreline... or smell the ocean breeze. Yeah, well, you get the picture.



Cheese. Check. Ramen Girl + Noodle Boy cheesiness. Check.

All in all a great trip. :)