Philippine Travel Notes

Wasn't I lucky again that my party was happening here? Yes I was, so I booked here. But let me tell you first, "little some things" that I know, about how this hotel started! Historical and still in business ! It's been a hotel for decades now, starting as Rama Tower Hotel (1970s) owned by a local operator/s, becoming a Crowne Plaza in the 1980s and as Holiday Inn in 2003. Hindi ko inabot lahat ng iyan ha, huwag kang ano! I do remember, in the '90s it was already named Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza . I think the Holiday Inn part of the name was chosen to remain (in 2003) because Crowne Plazas at that time, were being re-positioned by IHG as their higher-end or upscale product. Remember the Pan Pacific Hotel at the other end of Silom (Rama IV Road), which is 2kms away from here? It became Crowne Plaza Lumpini Park in 2011. Timely di ba? I am mentioning these, so you don't get confused, because this is different from the 'Holiday Inn Bangkok...

Happy New Year 2019! While most of Bangkok were at the Chao Phraya River for the 'midnight countdown', I was "embroiled" in a little partying of our own. Unfortunately, we weren't outdoors. We were at one of the 2 nd floor function halls of Holiday Inn Silom. And, I so wanted to at least peep at the much-touted IconSiam fireworks display on the Chao Phraya. Two colleagues also yearned to do so. Pinoy ang isa! So, abili bad summoned, I said I could see part of the river from my room on the 26 th floor! We schemed. Alams na! I only said "me Family Mart sa baba, me 7-Eleven sa kanto" di pa ako tapos magsalita hiniram ang susi ko, at tumalilis si Pinoy friend, 'kala ko e-ebak sya! Dinner time yun. We knew our party would be 'forever' anyway, so at 2355H, we went up to my room, and I think I somehow expected this: my little fridge was unsurprisingly full of these: We knew 'di kami hahanapin sa baba since there was also a coun...

We ended the previous story with " boarding ", so let's go fly! Pushback ! Only 1425H and we already felt that jerk, as the plane started to push away. Yey! I marked my photo for easy identification since my phone was facing the sun. This: Blue arrrow is the international terminal's name; red arrow is where this plane came from (where we boarded); and, yellow arrow is the domestic terminal. Not really big. Not so big an airport It's maybe as big (or as small) as Davao airport - sama na domestic at international, since as you can see halos magka-dugtong sila. Total building length, ~200 meters. But in terms of passenger traffic (2017), konti lang, about 1.3 million, comparable to BCD or CGY (TAC had 1.7M; ILO had 1.9M; DVO had 4+M), yet Vientiane is a capital. Not a purely government-owned airport BTW, that recent airport upgrade was with 'hefty help' from Japan. Even its operator today is L-JATS (Lao-Japan Airport Terminal Services), a p...