(RECORDED EARLIER)
You join me as I stand here in the corridor of the Peninsula
Hotel, Manila, blogging live.
Rebel
soldiers have barricaded themselves into this hotel and
I was able to get a room here before anybody at the hotel
was aware of what was going on so that I can bring you this
unfolding drama as it unfolds.
Outside
I can see Manilan security forces amassing in their green
camouflage outfits... each of the soldiers that I can see
looks eager to storm the building to end this crisis whatever
the horrible cost. I duck down before they see me.
There
are no rebels here with me in this corridor, just me, with
my trusty laptop.
The
rebels must be somewhere else in the hotel. I will try to
find them to see if I can get an interview with any of them
before the bloodshed and destruction truly begins.
As
I sit here under this chandelier, the electricity in the
hotel is still on. You will have to forgive me if my typing
gets a little broken up if the electricity is cut or if
panic ensues...
Oh...
there's a bang... and, oh my God.
Oh,
uhm,
oh
hang
on, it's OK...
...
my laptop is quite old and is running Windows Millennium
and that was an 'almost crash' there... nothing to do with
the death defying crisis in which I find myself.
Uhm.
OK,
well, the electricity is still on and we have been told
that they will probably cut the electricity in the event
of a storming of the building, and there is also a likelihood
of stun grenades being lobbed from outside! Just as I type
that last exclamation point, the electricity has just gone
off, I retype, the electricity has just gone off!!!
Silence.
As
you may be able to read it's all gone quiet.
I
can hear a few muffled clunks in the distance but nothing
at all is happening here in the corridor.
Oh...
a hotel porter, one that I had spoken to earlier, has just
told me to get out of the corridor and go into the safety
of my room... so it seems like I tipped him correctly earlier,
a relief there.
I'm
now walking in the direction of my room, crouching down
under windows that I pass as I type this. I open the door
to my room and in I go.
Ah.
There's a mint on the pillow. How lovely.
[Commercial
break]
I
am now typing at you from my room in the Peninsula Hotel,
Manila, currently under siege with rebels having taken over
the hotel.
I
expect the government forces to come in and kill and shoot
the rebels who have barricaded themselves in here along
with me and when that happens I hope to be able to blogg
it at you live...
But
in the meantime, what to do, what to do? I'm torn between
looking out the window, looking to see what's in the mini
bar or switching on the television to see if they know anything...
Oh,
there's a knock at the door.
Should
I answer it, ignore it, or try to escape out of the window?
What would CNN do?
Another
knock comes again. "Yes", I shout, a bit too high
pitchedly.
"It's
all over they've given up."
"Given
up?" I scream back. "Oh well, OK then" but
by the time I had opened the door my informer had gone.
"Oh
hello officer. You
want me to come out with my hands in the air?"
"Can't
type with my hands in the..."
Pip
Pip. Scratch, clutch zip. terrrrrrrrr.....
