Philippine Travel Notes

This air route has been on for a time now. It started as a regular route via a hype-up (or command?) of the president (Duterte) to decongest MNL by moving some flights to CRK. Was that 2016? I guess so. Hmm, before I proceed, let us do some 'tsismis'.., I heard, many stakeholders in/at/of Region VIII were vehemently opposed to the Department of Transportation picking TAC as one of the cities with flights to/from NAIA that would be transferred to Clark. How vehement? Ah, many of them (such as business chambers) trooped to their lawmakers or leaders that be, for the needed intercession to Malacañang! Lo and behold.., by the end of 2016August, the Regional Development Council VIII (RDC8) submitted a resolution to the DOTr declaring opposition to making MNL-TAC-MNL flights become CRK-TAC-CRK. I remember there was even an online (hashtag) campaign for this - the #NoToClarkForTaclobanFlights. So what happened? Interesting! At first, all 3 airlines (PAL, Cebu Pacific and Air Asi...

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...

Let's continue on that previous story... Domestic Arrival at Siem Reap So I arrived at Siem Reap via a domestic flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was only transferring at this airport - to an international flight bound for Hanoi, Vietnam. A lovely day. Most passengers (include me) could not help but shoot a pic "or more"! This red roofed building (the original) is now called Terminal 2 - Domestic Terminal . Expansions were done in 2006. The newer structures are to the right (not in photo). I looked to that right for this "from the tarmac view" of T1 - International Terminal . Nostalgia-evoking, as it nears closure, in favor of their new airport rising farther east . You probably didn't know... As of this writing, this airport is " the last remaining " in all of Southeast Asia, that is: " purely single-level " (horizontal edifice, no escalator nor aerobridge, what for anyway?) ; still used for " international fligh...