Mt. Pinatubo trek Feb. 2016

[beerlaodrinker]

Great post headworx , that really sums it up.we didn't realise the weight of that Lahar at first but after hearing a couple of roofs collapsing nearby we decided to go buy a dozen shovels ( at inflated prices, can't blame for em taking advantage, just business) then we all took turns on the roof of my mates bar Bigbird from the 8 ball bar shoveling that Lahar of the roof as fast as it rained down we were well stocked up on piss and tucker and settled in for the long haul , the place looked like a moonscape, and even after the initial eruption we would still get earthquakes that would make the house girl nervous and hide under D bed, would make me nervous to , but I countered that by drinking Tanduay to the point where you can try to go to sleep,but can still see through your eyelids. On week 2 we ran out of ice and nobody was producing anymore, faark. Never mind. Shit happens? a cold drink was the last of the problems got used to drinking it warm

[Baas Babelaas]

Just watched the series on YT about the eruption - bloody scary stuff.

Is it still active?

[callippo]

yes. volcanoes cannot become 'de-active' as little as 25 years after what was one of the top 2 erruptions of the 20th century.

there's about 50 of them in the Philippines. Mayon in Bicol is the most active one. Still trekkable with a guide. Some even go right to the crater - at their own risk.

other active volcanoes on the Philippines tourist trail : Hibok-Hibok in Camiguin. That's more accessible. You don't even really need a guide for that one. Also Mount Kanloan near Bacolod. 4 tourists out of a group of 24 were killed when Kanloan errupted without warning in 1996.

[Davis Knowlton]

Too bad we don't attract more new posters like Katie. I hope green blobs are descending on her. A relative newbie, one of our very few female posters, and in a bit over a year she has carved out a niche even though, like me, she's not from LOS - and she's mastered the intricacies of posting photos. Well done! Let the blobs flow!

[danno5]

thanks for the great report Katie, and second to Davis' comments!

[terry57]

^^

I might bump her thread into a 5 star. On Ya Katie.

[katie23]

Thanks for all the replies. And the bumps & greens. How does one see the greens anyway? I want one of those gold stars. Can i exchange them for cash in Ongpin (chinatown here)? Lol In future, i will start a TD crowdfunding site to pay for my next trip. Lol. Will upload pix later, am posting frm fone. Cheers all!

[Davis Knowlton]

Click "User CP". Click "User Control Panel". Will show you your most recent five.

[harrybarracuda]

Too bad we don't attract more new posters like Katie. I hope green blobs are descending on her. A relative newbie, one of our very few female posters, and in a bit over a year she has carved out a niche even though, like me, she's not from LOS - and she's mastered the intricacies of posting photos. Well done! Let the blobs flow!

Good point. Green on its way.

[harrybarracuda]

Click "User CP". Click "User Control Panel". Will show you your most recent five.

I think reds are for Pooves.

So blow me down if ENT hasn't sent me one.

The big Poof.

[beerlaodrinker]

Green blob duly sent

[bsnub]

Greened. This post makes me think of the time as a kid when Mount St. Helens erupted. I never saw something so high in the sky the plume of ash was seemingly endless.

[Baas Babelaas]

The eruption/s, and destruction P1 and P2:





Hardcore stuff.

[callippo]

the Philippines has a large number, of active volcanoes. It is not like Thailand. It really is on the Ring of Fire. A megathrust earthquake, could almost happen at any moment. It is certainly not like Thailand, in that way.

if you are a Filipino, then you are going to know about volcanoes. It is a part, of the Filipino identity.

but if you are Thai you won't know anything volcanoes and earthquakes. There are no active volcanoes and earthquakes almost never happen in Thailand. In the Philippines there is 50 active volcanoes, and enough-to-notice earthquakes happen all the time.

[Baas Babelaas]

The Philippines really gets the worst of it - volcanoes, typhoons, earthquakes, flooding.

Thailand - flooding, drought (?), and the vacuousness of its people.

It aint right.

[katie23]

Thanks for all the posts, greens & 5-star rating! I can't post pics yet, as my net is weak & PB can't load. The remaining pics will be somewhat of a denouement (sp?) since I posted pics of the crater already.

As Davis has said, I'm not from LOS but I have visited it, and I also visit this forum. I don't post much, but I like the travel threads and sometimes read the news.

Re: typhoons & flooding - anecdote from a colleague. I've a colleague who lived in Thailand for 2 years (I think). She lived there during the time when there was flooding in BKK (what year was that - 2005? 2006?). She said that since the Thais aren't used to thunderstorms, when a strong thunderstorm happened, the Thais got very scared. She just laughed it off, since she's used to much stronger storms here in PI.

Re: volcanoes & earthquakes - yeah, they're a part of life, just like typhoons. Last year (Oct or Nov?) there was a mag. 4 or 4.5 earthquake due to tectonic movement in the Manila trench. It was around 10 pm, and I was in bed already. I felt the bed shake a bit, wondered (was that an EQ?), shrugged it off and went to sleep. I didn't bother to go online to check if there was indeed an EQ. lol But I did check the news the morning after.

[callippo]

There was a 3.8 quake in Cebu the other day. About 3pm. Epicenter Carmen, 40 km north of the city center.

[Baas Babelaas]

I'm back next month, and touch wood, it'll be as good as last time.

Although it is summer season..

[grasshopper]

Bugger!Great report Katie. Informative and I add, well written. You written english is superior to a lot of native speakers IMHO. Not meaning to be patronising, BTW.

Joined an aerial tour in a monoplane flown by a guy from USA living in A.C. Plane was all silver colour, polished aluminium I think. Picked us up in his pink Cadillac convertible, Eldorado was it? Flew over the crater and did a general tour of the area. Top value!

Think I took pics and dowloaded them to a CP which subsequently crashed. Camera dont work any more either. Sob!

Any hoo, Will now find yr last post 'n green ya!

Bugger! TD says I must spread the love around before greening you again! Apologies maak maak!

[katie23]

Thanks all for the love.

What I like about these picture threads is how people would reminisce or share their stories of a certain place or event. I wasn't old enough to explore Pinatubo or its surrounds when it erupted, so it's nice to hear/read these stories.

Now, I have an image of a younger (and thinner?) BLD shoveling lahar from a rooftop & drinking Tanduay, lol, and a younger (and more debonair?) Davis warming a barstool and flying over the devastation of Pampanga & Tarlac during those times.

@headworx - great post indeed!

@grasshopper - no offense taken. Well, I'm glad that my English lessons were learned and I can make my English teachers proud! I remember that in kindergarten, we were required to speak in English by our teacher and I was reprimanded for speaking a Tagalog word. Then I remember reasoning out, "Teacher, I was speaking English naman, eh!" ("Naman" is used in Tagalog for emphasis, and "eh" is used similarly to the Canadian "eh", but pronounced "eh" as in elephant.) One of the weird things I remember from my early childhood.

edit/post-script: One of the reasons that I do a pic thread is that it captures my thoughts or feelings about the trip, especially if it was a recent one. I don't have a blog (too lazy to make or maintain one) but sometimes I write on a journal. I'm taking a cue from something Terry57 said in one of his threads - that someday when he's old, he'll look at his pic threads & reminisce.

[katie23]

Anyway, continuing with the trek back to civilization...
(yes, I spell stuff the American way & not "civilisation" like the Brits do - blame it on American colonialism)



As an aside, thank goodness for Harry Potter & company, that I can now understand British English.
Used to be so hard, but now I know that Ron Weasley is "wicked" and Hermione is "mental".

[katie23]

In some parts, the sulfur (sulphur?) precipitates were really bad (or good, depends on your outlook)




I liked this girl's outfit... quite a fashionista for a trekker. And I loved her backpack!

[katie23]

After seeing these pics on the comp, I had the feeling that we (as humans) are so small compared with nature...

[katie23]

We are smaller than dust in the universe...


Take note of that little guy who's walking with F (in the blue shirt).

Keep moving forward, don't look back...

[Davis Knowlton]

And this post makes this a century thread!