Archive for the ‘Manila’ Category
The long journey back (Part 1)
I first moved back to my hometown of Bacolod City, located on the island of Negros in the Philippines, in December 2012. It was a combination of my father retiring and choosing to move back home, and a personal decision to seek out a potential career change.
During my time in the “City of Smiles,” I worked as a media consultant, telecommuting with a New Jersey-based law firm for a few years. Afterwards, I was hired by a Bacolod City newspaper as a desk editor, where I remained for five years and eventually promoted to editor-in-chief.
Throughout my time in the country, I constantly encountered new experiences through my professional life, met a variety of people through daily interactions, and—my favorite part—travelled around the region.
In January 2021, I was laid-off as the newspaper was looking to merge operations between their sister publication across the strait. While it was a roundabout way of being let go—they requested a resignation, then, when I said they can terminate my employment, they extended an offer that included a fairly impossible relocation requirement, forcing me to decline—it was the opening signal suggesting it may be the end of my time there.
During my most recent trip back to America, staying in New Mexico and New York between August 2021 and April 2022, it became even more certain a move back was imminent, only the date remained a mystery.
Last week—November 16, 2022—I moved back to the United States.
Beforehand, while tying up some loose ends, I had the chance to have my last Filipino breakfast. Ahead of a stop at the the bank, I dropped by Kuppa, where I had chorizo, eggs, and rice.
One of the most arduous tasks was clearing out the house.
It took several weeks, lots of trips back and forth to my Mother’s home, along with a visit from professional movers. As the days went by, the house began to look more and more empty, meaning moving continued to become more of a reality as time went on.
Another matter to handle was my beloved dog, Bruno.
I’ve had Bruno for a couple years now, he was a gift from a neighbor after his dog had puppies. I’ve had the immense pleasure of watching him grow up and knew it was going to be difficult saying goodbye.
I spoke to my neighbor and he was more than happy to take him back, noting, he has a farmhouse a few towns over and would take him there whenever I was ready.
Obviously, that day was going to be difficult.
The day finally came and I had the last meal in the place I had called home for almost ten years.
With the house practically cleared out—including the contents of the refrigerator—gathered what I could for breakfast. Toast, peanut butter, and coffee worked for the last meal.
Then, it was just one final, parting glance at the house.
Before heading to Bacolod-Silay Airport, stopped by a place I never had the chance to visit and somewhere my Dad randomly said he wanted to have breakfast: Mcdonald’s Forbes Hill at Northill Gateway. It’s a relatively new location, fairly modern, and considering it is a bit out of the way, it’s spacious and not as crowded as a typical McDonald’s.
Now, there are McDonald’s all over the world and, amid a move back to the US, this was a no-brainer, I ordered spaghetti and fried chicken.
Definitely not getting anything like this at McDonald’s in New York City.
Arriving at the airport, said my goodbyes and had a porter bring my bags through entry security and to the check-in desk, which was still closed. He left my bags at the front of the line in order to be ready once it opened up.
About an hour later, the desk opens up and I’m greeted by the agent. While my international carrier allows for two bags with a maximum weight of 23 kilograms (kg), the domestic flight to Manila (even though I paid extra for two check-in bags), they only allowed for 20 kg. So, I was assessed another fee (it wasn’t bad, P672, or around $11.72) and he did add a priority tag onto my bags.
Once checked in and through security, it was a quiet wait until boarding.
The flight arrived in Manila on time.
Once landed, I collected my luggage and made my way to the shuttle stand. The waiting shuttle left without taking anybody and I let the attendant know my flight number and boarding time. After a long wait, the attendant approached me to confirm my itinerary and he tried calling a driver to bring a shuttle around.
It didn’t work.
He explained the next shuttle is scheduled to arrive around 10:00 p.m. My flight was at 11:20 p.m. and I still had to check-in and go through immigration and security. He suggested taking a taxi and he took one of my bags, and helped me grab a taxi to get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1.
Arriving at T1, got through the initial security check, where I was flagged for a “gadget”—turns out it was my camera, which already had its battery removed. After that hiccup, spotted the line for Korean Air and it was snaking back and forth several times over.
As I walked towards the back of the line, I was approached by an attendant who was handing out CDC forms for passengers headed for the US. Given the line, he asked if I had completed online check-in. I hadn’t but asked if it was still possible. While he wasn’t sure since check-in was underway, he suggested giving it a try. Luckily… it was still possible!
Managed to get through the form, while lugging two weighty suitcases each time the line move forward, and waved him over to see if everything was good. He said it was and proceeded to walk me over to bag drop.
Just like with the shuttle, found somebody willing to provide a helping hand to push through a difficult situation.
After making my way to the terminal, there weren’t many places to grab food. I picked up a couple Gatorades and a bag of gummies from one of the souvenir shops, and went to my gate to await the next stage of this journey.
From Bacolod to Albuquerque (Part 1)
While it may seem to be the most random flight itinerary, certain circumstances prompted a need to leave home and relocate to my Mom’s house.
My last time on an airplane was a November 2019 holiday in Taipei. Since then, with everything going on, there have been absolutely no travel opportunities and the past year and half has been nothing but Bacolod City, along with some “Throwback Thursday” posts dedicated to vacations of yesteryear. Since then, however, with vaccines proliferating around the world, it has slowly offered the opportunity for travel to resume.
In anticipation for the distribution of vaccines to the general public, the Bacolod City government set up a vaccine registry. Signed up with hopes of a quick response. Unfortunately, days became months and still no call. The local government’s social media page would often remind locals to sign up but many of the comments on the posts echoed my sentiment: “It’s been months, why haven’t I been called?”
My Dad wasn’t called either but, luckily, the local barangay (neighborhood) had a vaccination drive for seniors. While he eventually got the shot, he had to endure a nine-hour wait.
More recently, after passing a nearby vaccination center and noticing there were very few people waiting, decided to drop in and see if I could be vaccinated. Completed all the forms, showed them I had previously registered, but, after finding out I had a comorbidity, the on-site doctor refused vaccination. A lot of Americans have expressed skepticism over “medical exemptions” to the vaccine but, in the Philippines, (apparently) they exist.
According to the doctor, I would need to see another doctor in order to get “clearance.” The next day, visited a clinic, underwent some tests, and, after prescribing some medicine, the doctor said it would be at least a month before she could provide a clearance but that was incumbent on the results after a month.
It seemed odd that somebody with a comorbidity would be denied the vaccine. Checked in with friends and family in the US and everybody seemed surprised. One of them said, “You would be first in line over here.”
When asked what made me bite the bullet and leave, it was how ridiculously complicated it was to get vaccinated in the city; especially when, given the same situation elsewhere, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. Plus, my passport was nearing the “six months before expiration” time frame and if the US State Department is encountering massive backlogs, who knows how long delays would be with the embassy.
It was a bit impulsive but it needed to be done.
Made a checklist of everything to do and the documents to collect in order to get on a plane, return to the United States, and take care of all of this business.
After getting the tickets booked, filling out documentation for the airline, and downloading the mandated contact tracing application, the only thing left was getting a Covid-19 test.
The first place I visited was a private hospital in town and it was shocking to see the state of their testing facility. From the looks of it, it appeared to be a cleared out garage with some chairs and no air conditioning or fans—I felt so bad for the workers since they were decked out in full personal protective equipment (PPE). After finding out appointments could only be made by phone and not in-person, decided to make a call later that day. However, happened upon another testing center that same day and it was completely different. The attendant on duty was very knowledgeable, asking about my flight details to ensure my test results would be out in time. Plus, there was no appointment necessary.
Later that week, I took the swab test (which wasn’t as bad as I had imagined) and less than 24 hours later the results came in: Negative.
Now, I just had to get packed.
The next day, got my suitcase in the car, said goodbye to Bruno (my dog), and proceeded to the airport with my Dad. I’ve gone on vacation on my own several times before but have never left my Dad on his own for an extended period of time like this. I told him Bruno will be my replacement, to which he said, “OK, so it’ll just be the same.”
Bacolod-Silay Airport
It was the first time entering my local airport since 2019 and it was very different. Since air travel in and out of Bacolod City had been whittled down to just a couple flights a week, passenger volume was much lower with a couple desk agents handling the lines pretty quickly. The random duty free store that was opened a couple years ago is now closed and, overall, it was just so quiet.
Even at the boarding gate, the repetitive video featuring the random guy visiting tourist attractions across Southeast Asia and closing every segment with a double thumbs-up, along with the ads for local medicine with dead-pan spokespeople lauding the supposed effects of the products, were gone. The TVs were all shut off and the airport just played local radio instead.
Local coffee shop Kuppa used to have a full stand right by the inspection area but they’ve since relocated to a small kiosk at the far corner of the terminal.
With one flight on the schedule, decided to settle in an area away from the assigned boarding gate in order to avoid the crowds. However, as time went on, that crowd got closer and closer.
Time went by fairly quickly and it was soon time to board.
While I don’t particularly prefer a window seat, flights to Cebu or Manila are usually so quick, it’s not a big deal.
In addition, there was an empty seat between myself and the girl that got the aisle seat. Now, while deplaning, she did miss a few opportunities to get up and leave because she was texting but, it’s OK, I left it alone and went with the flow.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport
Having previously flown between Manila and the US with Korean Air, Etihad Airways, and China Southern Airlines, they all flew out of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 (Etihad has since moved to a different terminal). The most recent of the trips (with the Chinese carrier), I got to see there were some very visible improvements to the airport once deemed “worst in the world.” However, flying with Cebu Pacific on other occasions and transiting through Terminal 3 (T3), it is very clear T3 is the best NAIA has to offer.
This flight, flying Philippines Airlines and transiting from a domestic to an international flight, I already had my apprehensions about Terminal 2 (T2). Upon arrival, it appears, since my last T2 experience, not much has changed—it may have even gotten worse!
First and foremost, one of the memories I had from the last visit to T2 was, despite being in one building, in order to transit from domestic arrivals to international departures, you are forced to exit the building and walk around to re-enter the building on the other side. That’s still the set-up.
After getting through check-in and security, much like Bacolod-Silay Airport, passenger volume was much lower than usual. There were two flights that evening, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Even worse, Cafe France, which was often the go-to when waiting at T2, closed. Now, there are only a handful of shops selling siopao (steamed buns) and instant noodles.
Stopped by a souvenir shop for a friend and spotted some hopia to hold me over until boarding.
There was also a coffee shop where I picked up a latte.
Meanwhile, the wait wasn’t terrible. Began writing this blog, walked back and forth through the terminal, and, eventually, it was time to board. I was initially assigned a window seat, which I was not looking forward to on such a long flight but, in the end, it worked out. I had my own row. Plus, the row in front of me was empty and the two guys behind me each had their own rows. A very good start.
In addition, perhaps the airline was giving me a proper farewell, the wallpaper of the in-flight entertainment system was of Sipalay City, a resort destination in my province, Negros Occidental.
Having a window seat also gave me a chance to formally bid farewell (for now) to the Philippines.
As the flight commenced, the flight crew handed out care packages and a menu.
I first encountered an in-flight menu when flying Etihad Airways from Manila to New York City and they are definitely handy. The passenger gets a chance to really mull over their options and it also alleviates any difficulties when trying to communicate with the flight attendant.
The choices on this flight sounded great, pork belly sinugba for dinner and bacon and eggs for breakfast. In addition, what made things even easier, the flight attendant just held up signs with the menu options and you just had to point; it was probably done for social distancing (as far as one could distance on a plane).
The first meal arrived and it did not disappoint.
The pork belly sinugba comprised of two grilled pieces of pork belly, atchara (Filipino papaya salad), a noodle salad, dinner roll, and a piece of chocolate cake. Among in-flight meals, this might be one of the best (I just wish there were more pork belly).
Something I do often when flying, while watching a movie, if I start to feel sleepy, I pause it to get some rest and just resume when I wake up. This time around, while in the middle of the 2020 Chinese anthology film, “My People, My Homeland,” I stopped after one of the stories to take a break but was later woken up for snack time.
I then proceeded to consume the corned beef bun while finishing the movie, which was very good. A patriotic drama with several entertaining comedic bits.
With one hour left before landing in San Francisco, breakfast arrived.
I knew it was bacon and eggs but did not know just how many hash browns we would get—I love hash browns. It also included a dinner roll, watermelon slices, and ordered it with tea.
Finally, we were approaching San Francisco, my first entry into the United States since 2017.
Binondo Church
Originally built in 1596, the Binondo Church, or the Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, stands as a historical landmark in Manila, Philippines.
After destruction in 1762, it was rebuilt in 1852; then went on to suffer more damage with subsequent wars that followed.
The church has gone through some renovations as the years have gone by and is one of the most-renowned churches in the country.
The church is named for San Lorenzo Ruiz, who became the Philippines' first saint and was canonized in 1987.
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