Philippine Travel Notes

Arrived! Suostei Cambodia! Susadei Phnom Penh! Nice seeing you again! Oh wow you have changed for the best! I silently said all of those, after what I have seen from the air ! This place has a very special place in my memory and in my heart, for I have seen it in its 'backward past' or should I say its 'lagging-behind-all-of-ASEAN-situation' then. Let's continue my arrival encounters from the last story . A modern airport terminal compared to what this was that I saw in the 1990s. Airport personnel are not anymore sloppily dressed in khaki airbase-like uniforms! Those folks down there were having a briefing (I'm sure of that). They're surely part of the ground servicing crew (cleaning, etc.) waiting for their cue to step into action. When will that "action" be? When all of us passengers have already disembarked. Look at my fellow passengers. Happy to note that the world has started pouring in! Some of them came from Doha, some of t...

So I arrived at Taoyuan International Airport from Cebu , just passing-by, transiting to Hanoi, on the way to Danang (cities in Vietnam). These are flights 3 & 4 on my map . No rush. I had enough time to "transfer" at this airport, since I planned well, and that flight from CEB arrived ahead of schedule. Plus I already know my way around here. That said, let me caution those who are not too familiar with transit and/or transfer quirks at Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport ( TPE ) that's usually always too busy. This was 10:23AM at the VietJet check-in counters. ETD: 1230H. I wasn't late. But... That means it took about an hour finding my way from arrival to the departure area. And I consider myself already fast, as I now know my way around this airport. Ikaw? In fact, my delivering flight (CEB-TPE on AirAsia) and receiving flight (TPE-HAN on VietJet) both use T1. Yet, it still took me about an hour to: 'retrieve my baggage' , 'do m...

I promised earlier to describe what I have seen at the new Panglao International Airport, so here I go. But it would be best to start from the time I arrived until I departed - the usual passenger experience. First thing I noticed during landing, the soil on this part of the island is colored red. Did you see it on the video ? Not that it matters to passengers' safety, security, comfort or convenience. I just found that amazing, since the beach sand around this island is notably light-colored from cream to almost white! Well, if you take a hint from above, the color red kept 're-appearing' in my notes. So keep reading! Oh, here it is hehehe! The aerobridge floor is colored red, and the walls are pink! I said "bakit kaya"? It's not really red as in "bright red" hehe! More of various shades from red to maroon and well, as you can see above, "dull pink", hindi "dainty pink" or "powdery pink" or "sanrio pink...

Paalala at babala: some terms or topics in this story are too technical. Baka ma-nosebleed ka! A new terminal building, a new location, the same runway. This reminds me of the Davao International Airport - the terminal building was "transferred" to the other side of the runway! Is this a trend? Maybe! Is anything wrong with that? Not for us the travelers, I think. If ever it did/may adversely affect people, they would probably have been those who do business/work at or with the airport. Like ground crews. Arrival. Anyway, here are my notes on the new airport. As said in the previous story, I arrived at it like this.., And I said "It's new yes, though not really that big. There are even no aerobridges". Thus, to the arriving passenger, getting off the plane and reaching the terminal building is still the same process as before. Meaning, you still go down the plane via airstairs, and walk on the tarmac to reach the arrival area. If anything, as far as ...