Hi Everyone,

  I received a few emails asking if the horrible weather in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia was effecting us.  No and Yes.  No, we are not being flooded and we are in safe marina.  But yes it has effected our travel plans a bit.  We can’t/won’t leave Miri for Sebana Cove until the waves calm down in the South China Sea.  Another super typhoon is supposed to hit the Philippines and that might cause us to have high winds even here in the marina.  During the last storm we did have strong enough winds that Randal put an extra line out to the dock to hold us steadier. The waves outside the marina that hit the beach next to us are pretty big: too big for us to want to mess with.  So we’ll stay here and wait it out. We knew the weather for crossing changes in mid-October so sort of factored it in.  For the most part our weather here is sunny and hot.   Yesterday cruiser friends came from Kota Kinabalu.  Their passage was bouncy but okay.  But just before they left the marina in KK had taken a hit. The fuel and pumpout station dock was uprooted and blown ashore and one boat broke lose so things did get a bit wild there.  Miri is a bit more protected with a spit of land between us and the sea.  We are supposed to be in The Land Below the Wind here in (Borneo) Malaysia after all.

  We have been thinking about our friends in the Philippines. Our friend and webmaster Audrey emailed that Olongapo had flooded very badly even weeks ago from heavy rains.  Our friend Carol who lives in Manila said her home in Manila was surviving the storm.  Yesterday I met a young man at the Miri Library who is from the Philippines.  He has come here to work as many Filipinos do because there is too little work in the Philippines.  He had studied to be a history teacher and was very articulate and sweet.  So was his K-9 dog Oscar.  (At least I think I have the dog’s name right.)  Chris’  family lives near the Philippines’ largest lake, Laguna de Bay 13 miles southeast of Manila.  He had called home and the family home had been flooded but they all seemed to be ok.  We certainly hope that all of our friends in the Philippines are safe and will continue to stay safe. 

Chris and Oscar.  Oscar is 7 years old and she is very calm.  Chris was working just outside the library and I stopped to talk because of the dog.  A very nice young man.

The library is the building in the back of the photo.  The small open-sided building on the right is where I met Chris and Oscar escaping the intense mid-day heat. 

It was school vacation and there were lots of students in the library sort of doing work but things were quiet because the computers were downstairs in a different room.  It was nice to see all of them actually and having all of those people in the room seemed to keep it from being as freezing as in my past visits.  On my way home I saw these two young boys taking advantage of one of the several pools that surround the library plaza area.  Can you see the hands making peace signs poking out of the water?  When the young boy surfaced he asked if I wanted to trade a ringgit for a dollar seeming to imply he’d give me the dollar though I’m sure he meant the other way around.  I told him that would be a bad deal since the dollar was worth more.  He knew he hadn’t a prayer I’d swap so he just smiled and waved as I walked away.  And come to think of it I only had ringits with me and no dollars which I do usually carry.  I really do like the library and spent 3 hours looking through art books, sketch books and books about Islamic law relating to women.  Wish I had a library card.  The collection isn’t large but it is very well thought out, up to date, “liberal” in its views and the books are in very good condition.  There is an older “circulating” public library about as far from where I am standing as the new library.  The plaza is sort of in the middle.  The old library is colder, noisier and they don’t let you bring in your back pack.  The art collection isn’t as good either though the staff is very friendly and helpful and very public library oriented.  The problem with both is that they are an hour walk from the boat.  If they were closer I’d go every day.  I walk because I’m not sure about leaving my bike though I think next time I will bike because there is a food stand just outside the door and a guard just inside the door so maybe my bike will be safe. 

So that’s it.  Thanks for thinking about us. 

Ru

DoraMac