Philippine Travel Notes

Done at Đà Nẵng, Vietnam , it was time to hop to my next destination: Phnom Penh, Cambodia . Oh don't worry about that city name, it's actually very easy to pronounce! How do they say that? Locals pronounce Phnom as Pnom [no vowel sound between 'P' and 'nom' ] dropping any "h" sound. Technique: start saying "nom" with pursed lips - the "p" will come out! To my ears, locals pronounce Penh also without any "h" sound anywhere. And, they utter the 'e' in Pen with a very short and guttural "u" (like in b u rn), not "e" nor even "i". For many children, it's even pronounced like "puyn" with just a very faint "y" sound. Easy di ba? Hahaha! Anyway... How to fly from Danang to Phnom Penh? Except for a daily flight to Siem Reap, there are no direct flights from Da Nang to all of Cambodia, and it did not match my planned route and/or departure/arrival...

My final flight of the day, but just the 4th in my 13-flight Circle Trip . From the earlier story , it was a quick free shuttle from Noi Bai International to this Domestic airport. Let's go sago! Ample time to bum around. Three hours to be exact! This was the first thing I saw: Of course I had to tinker with them. Ako pa na curious sa lahat ng techy things! Just to see for my self, if they work fine. What did I do? Nag-print ng boarding pass hehe! Eh that was the only thing I could do, to try and use a kiosk - since I already did web check-in last night! Verdict: ayos lang, gumagana, mabilis parang sa Changi Airport! Compared to self check-in kiosks in the Philippines? Yung sa pula at sa dilaw? Mas mabagal ang computer systems sa atin. Pero, laging merong staff na naka-antabay! Is that good or bad? Ah eh, the system response sa atin is parang negligible naman. It's just that not many of us Pinoys like using the kiosks - kelangan pilitin (ni AirAsia) ! And t...

As said in the previous story, this was the first time I was using Noi Bai International Airport Terminal 2 (T2), since this wasn't yet up, last time I came into and left Hanoi. But I somehow knew where to go, aided by ample standard signage everywhere. Maybe it naturally follows when you've been to a number of airports in your lifetime. Layouts are generally the same. Hey, I even knew where the smoking area could be! Out the arrival lobby, I crossed the vehicle lane, glanced back, and it looked familiar! Looks like MNL T1 upper arrival lane, right? Ohh, just like in the Philippines, Vietnam vehicles also drive on the right lane. Let's guess, it is probably an 'American Legacy'! In case you did not know yet, five or half of ASEAN countries drive on the right lane; the other half on the left, but there are now 6 of them since Timor Leste was added. Oh, in relation to that, Philippines is not anymore the 'only' Catholic Country in Asia. Oops, this e...