Dave - You OK?

[Jeff S]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-16229394

[z_k_g]

Jeff,

I was wondering the same thing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-16229394

Also, Robert's wife is from that area I think and he has a house in Northern Mindanao.

Rob, how is your wife's family?

Zulu

[piglett]

I think Dave is smart enough to live on top of the hill , not at the bottom.
 
 
pig

[Gato4Astrid]

Same goes for Bogota and Santa Marta this month.......

[robert angel]

Last month I heard from Dave and their place is probably at 22 hours by bus from where the flooding occurred (CDO/Illigan) and  about seven hours from where most of my wife's family lives. My wife's family homes are dry, as are their farms, although it's been raining for two days and they're in a valley.


 
Instead of the river that runs though the village being an enemy, it has diverted high water in the past--my father in law, with the help of the men in the village, had the river banks widened and her dad actually got the govt to put in a new, high and heavy duty bridge, even though it's a really small village--amazing. I'm sure like Dave, they chose that spot because they don't get severe flooding.

 
Where my wife's family lives, nobody ever think catastrophic flooding is impossible--very unlikely yes, but they believe that many things, good and bad are possible, that it's God will, but that God allow them free will to prepare best they can. It's the same with earthquakes, something they worry more about than flooding. For those who can, their homes are built with cinder blocks that have re-bar in them and then cement poured in them, but a really severe earth quake could probably knock even that down.


 
My house is about 12 hours from the flooding in Davao City--a few hours from the family farms and one reason we chose that location is because it's on high ground. It's just a short, single  jeepney ride to  the beach or to the heart Davao City, the malls etc--sort of densely populated with single family homes, but the land where we're situated is elevated, drains well and the homes, while modest, are comparatively well built.


 
The people who died and those who lost homes and crops were mostly close to the sea. People think becauseof a quirk in geography, that  most of Mindanao never gets typhoons, but they say that about every 12 years, they get at least a little taste, but this time is was bigger. The worst came at night and they weren't expecting it--it came on really fast.

 
I used to dream of living beach side, or maybe a third of the way up the mountain for views of the sea, but between flooding, mudslides and the salt air, I'm not so keen on the idea anymore.

[Ray]

Last month I heard from Dave and their place is probably at 22 hours by bus from where the flooding occurred (CDO/Illigan)

 
If my memory serves me, from Butuan City to Cagayan De Oro by bus isn't more than about 3-4 hours.
 
 
Ray
 
 
 
 
 

[piglett]

Where my wife's family lives, nobody ever think catastrophic flooding is impossible--very unlikely yes, but they believe that many things, good and bad are possible, that it's God will, but that God allow them free will to prepare best they can. It's the same with earthquakes, something they worry more about than flooding. For those who can, their homes are built with cinder blocks that have re-bar in them and then cement poured in them, but a really severe earth quake could probably knock even that down.

I recall on my 1st trip Marily & i were turning in for the night. about that time it started to really rain hard. I heard all kinds of yelling from male family members outside. i looked at my wife with the WTF look & she said "everything is being taken care of come to bed" so i layed down & caught some zzzzzzZZZZZ's
so i can tell you after that i know they take just rain real seriously there.
 
 
pig

[seattlejoe]

I just left a message with junior . I understand his magic jack number has not been working

[robert angel]

 
 Quote from: robert angel on Yesterday at 09:02:36 PM<blockquote>Last month I heard from Dave and their place is probably at 22 hours by bus from where the flooding occurred (CDO/Illigan)
&

 
If my memory serves me, from Butuan City to Cagayan De Oro by bus isn't more than about 3-4 hours.
 
 
Ray
 
 

I dunno what I was thinking Ray. Butuan is 191 miles from Davao City on the Pan-Philippine highway . They say on-line you can do it in four hours, and although I've never visited  Butuan or CDO, that time sounds optimistic to me--I'd guess it's closer to five hours. They say that Butuan's only 69 miles from CDO--it looks like the road hugs the coast between the two and I doubt if it's a great stretch of road for travel.


 
I've gone 'thataway' through from Davao City, through Panabo, Tagum, Mawab, past Nabunturan, into Compostela Valley and that's about three hours alone and then you're not halfway to Butuan yet. I recall CDO not being that far from Davao City, now that I think.

 
On way to COMVAL via the public buses, passing over and around the mountain bends, blindly passing overloaded trikes at speed, there's a definite 'heart in mouth' shock factor to that trip--I've never slept on a bus there.


I asked my wife for the est. travel times when she was under the effect of 'Korean Soap Opera Hypnosis'. Never ask a Filipina a question requiring calculation when she's deeply into one of those Korean dramas....

 
I am surprised and then again I'm not. She has some family in Butuan and when she worked for Coca Cola, a lot of the engineers went back and forth between the Davao and CDO plants.

 
I'd guess if we were back home for a long period of time and I asked her where anything was distance wise, it would be one of the following:  "not too far", "far", "really far" or worst case, "really really far"....

 
The weather? it's either "hot" or"cold", "raining" or "not raining". Unlike in the USA, where 'The Weather Channel' is the most watched of any channel, The Weather Channel would be a huge flop in the Philippines. If there's an important weather report they need to know about, in advance or after--just like any important news event, such as J-Lo getting divorced from Marc Anthony or if Manny's gonna really fight Floyd, , they somehow find out, without need for TV, magazines or newspapers. That 'bamboo telegraph' still works well, rain or shine!


 
Then again, things like relative distance, travel time, punctuality, city, barangay populations and the temperature on any given day, really don't have the same importance to most Filipino that they seem to have to people in the USA.


Here, my wife's much more cognizant of time, to the point of where we have occasional silly little arguments because she actually wants to be 'on time' to Filipino events here in the states, and after a few times of 'being there first' and waiting until everyone else got there, I now insist on being at least 30 to 60 minutes late.--there's always still plenty of food.


 
She still doesn't pay much mind to how long it takes to get somewhere--not a concern, (but she's never ever late to work) however with the variable temperatures here in the states, almost every morning, she asks me "honey-what's the temperature  outside?" Like I'm a human thermometer or something!!!
 

 
BTW--I said their farmland's dry--well--if it's raining and it is--it's obviously wet! It's not flooding though. And while they've taken measures to minimize flooding, some folks in her barangay still do get a bit of flooding once in a great while--maybe up to their ankles or so. But everyone always has bungee cords, rope or string closeby, to keep radios, TVs and breakable items on the shelves when the tremors and earth quakes start up again...

[thekfc]

The way some of the drivers drives - you would want to get off after 3-4 hours. 

Never ask a Filipina a question requiring calculation when she's deeply into one of those Korean dramas....

[Ray]

 
Robert,
　
If you take a bus from Davao to Cagayan De Oro, I ‘think’ you need to pass through Butuan City.
　
When I took a bus form Butuan to CDO, the road wasn’t bad at all. I think we rode the Bachelor Express and it made a brief stop in the small town of Gingoog. They had a VCR player and a TV to show "in flight" movies. The conductor had a nice little side business selling cold drinks and snacks on the bus. He had an ice chest full of ice cold San Miguel and I think I drained it dry during the trip.
　
In the Philippines, they have only two seasons…Tag Init and Tag Ulan, or the Hot Season and the Rainy Season. If you ask me, they should rename them the "Hot Dry Season" and the "Hot Rainy Season". The only time I can remember anything even close to cold weather was in Baguio around Christmas time.
　
It sounds like you are more Filipino than your wife is with respect to arriving on time to parties. The culture dictates that you arrive late like you prefer to do. If you arrive on time, you will be the first one there and get stuck helping to set things up and prepare the food.
　
Ray
　

[robert angel]

Ray, never having actually traveled that route, I can't be sure, but google maps and other sources make it look like CDO to Butuan is a coastal run, although I can't be certain. It sure looks like there's a road. Maybe back some years ago that was the way, but from the satellite's eye, never mind the bird, it sure looks to me like you're going a heckuva a lot in the wrong direction to go by land from COMVAL, never mind Davao City, to CDO by going to Butaan first:--it would surely take more than a couple hours. Then again, with the mountains and other factors, how it's seen from the sky distance wise, doesn't always translate well into road miles and travel needed to make the trip.
This is dated info--there's new road construction, I think:
  Cagayan de oro to butuan by bus? can anyone help me.. im from cebu and would like to travel to butuan by bus in cagayan de oro, what is the last trip for cdo to butuan and how much.. thank you..

• 10 months ago
• Report Abuse

  by bewitche...   Member since: November 13, 2007 Total points: 1,769 (Level 3)   

• Add Contact
• Block

  Best Answer - Chosen by Voters 24 hours for non AC bus
last trip- 9PM/AC bus

• 10 months ago
• Report Abuse

  50% 3 Votes    Not the right answer? Try Yahoo! Search   Search Yahoo! for  Search   There are currently no comments for this question.
* You must be logged into Answers to add comments. Sign in or Register.  This question about "Cagayan de oro to Butuan… " was originally asked on Yahoo! Answers United States Best Answer - Chosen by Voters 24 hours for non AC bus
last trip- 9PM/AC bus

• 10 months ago
• Report Abuse

   Other Answers (2) 

•   by Chris   Member since: September 28, 2007 Total points: 1,744 (Level 3)   
  • Add Contact
  • Block
    You'll need to travel to the Bachelor Express terminal. From there they have buses all day long, seldom at night. Not sure if the fare is still the same
  • 10 months ago
•    I think buses from CDO to Butuan is at the Agora Bus Terminal. I'm not sure though how long it takes and the fare.
  • 10 months ago
  • Report Abuse
    17% 1 Vote

http://www.distance-calculator.co.uk/world-distances-butuan-to-cagayan_de_oro.htm
 
You can now fly from CDO to Bohol, now which is nice--I don't think there are flights from Davao City to Bohol yet, surprisingly:
http://www.traveltabai.com/midsea-express-boholcagayan-de-oro-flights
 
There's some new construction from Davao to CDO: http://www.traveltabai.com/cagayan-de-oro-to-davao-city-road-is-now-constructedCagayan de Oro to Davao City Road Is Now Constructed <ins><ins></ins></ins> This is the most awaited road to be construct this year. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is start constructed the road project of Kapalong-Talaingod-Bukidnon worth of P1.6 billion which expected to cut a travel time of two and half hours (2 1/2), YES you read it right 2 1/2 hour from Cagayan de Oro to Davao City and vice versa, much lesser than the time spent traveling through Davao-Calinan-Bukidnon Road.
 
http://www.traveltabai.com/category/southern-mindanao/davao
http://www.traveltabai.com/

[Dave H]

Hey Guys and Gals,
We are fine here.  Thanks for everyone's concern. We have just been very busy lately with various activities and the 5 month Philippine Christmas Season. We had a lot of rain and some minor flooding in low lying areas here in Agusan Del Norte. We are fortunate that our house sits on high ground, a major priority when we were looking for a location to live. I came out during every heavy rains to check drainage before purchasing the house.

We are about 3 hours away from CDO by car, 4-5  by bus (5 when slowed down by logging trucks). It is about 60 miles away as the crow flies, but around 100 kilometers since the road winds around the mountains along the coast. We cancelled our Christmas shopping trip for Friday, mainly because of the wet roads and the hubris of most of the bus drivers (all of the bus drivers that I have ever ridden with and many Philippine drivers in general). Even my friends who have lived there their whole lives didn't expect this disaster. Some of the bridges that we pass over were washed out. At the very least, we would have been stranded in CDO for several days. Buses (even aircon) run 24 hours a day between Butuan and CDO. I have traveled there around 30 times (at all hours) in the past 12 mionths.
PS. I have my eye on a very nice small mountain to build a house on top of. 

Dave

[piglett]

good to hear your still among the living Dave
 
 
pig

[Dave H]

 Then again, things like relative distance, travel time, punctuality, city, barangay populations and the temperature on any given day, really don't have the same importance to most Filipino that they seem to have to people in the USA.

Hey Rob,
"North", "south," "left," "right"...what is that? 

Here, my wife's much more cognizant of time, to the point of where we have occasional silly little arguments because she actually wants to be 'on time' to Filipino events here in the states, and after a few times of 'being there first' and waiting until everyone else got there, I now insist on being at least 30 to 60 minutes late.--there's always still plenty of food.

 

You know the routine! I wonder if your wife flips back into Philippine mode once she touches the ground here?    My wife is very punctual in the US also. If you arrive on time in the Philippines, you look too eager to eat! Don't be surprised if the host isn't ready.    We have been to many weddings where the bride is 30+  minutes late. At one, the priest started the wedding ceremony before she arrived!    Arriving early...now that would really be impolite!
Dave

[Dave H]

good to hear your still among the living Dave
 
 
pig

Thanks pig! Just barely!
Dave

[Dave H]

　

When I took a bus form Butuan to CDO, the road wasn’t bad at all. I think we rode the Bachelor Express and it made a brief stop in the small town of Gingoog. They had a VCR player and a TV to show "in flight" movies. The conductor had a nice little side business selling cold drinks and snacks on the bus. He had an ice chest full of ice cold San Miguel and I think I drained it dry during the trip.
　
　
Ray

　

 
Hey Ray,
Man, you have to be the luckiest guy I know!!! That conductor must have retired a millionaire! I haven't met him yet.

Dave

[Dave H]

Hey Jeff,
Thanks for asking! I would expect the death toll form this storm to climb to well over 1000. I travel to CDO often and can hardly recognize it! I am trying to reach a friend of mine to see if everything is ok with him.
Dave

[thekfc]

Dave is ok - his purple thong saved him. 

[z_k_g]

Dave,

Good to see that you are ok!

Zulu

[piglett]

Dave is ok - his purple thong saved him. 

ha ha ha , i always wondered why he kept it around.
 
 
pig

[Dave H]

Dave is ok - his purple thong saved him. 

Yep! My white but shining from my purple thong could be seen for many miles!