Philippine Travel Notes

This was a Lion Air Boeing B737-900ER (Registry: PK-LHT ) for which this airline has 70 units. Yes that many, and for this kind of plane alone! Well, they are the 2nd largest budget airline in Southeast Asia . This was a 1-hour 5-mins flight from Medan to Banda Aceh, so I didn't expect to see anything wow. I did study the emergency exit procedures for this aircrraft, since I seem to have been riding too many Airbuses in succession here and there lately. When it comes to safety, we all must know the specifics. And that is why my attention was caught by this rather despicable seat-pocket in front of me. Yuck! Yes, kadiri! In my mind I just said "ganun na nga talaga pag budget airline, bumababa and standards". Biglang parang ayoko muna huminga! Lahat ng babasahin gulagulanit, warakwarak at nanggigitata! And I don't know why, I removed all of them to see the bare reality of the seatpocket in front of me! Di ko alam ano sumagi sa isip ko, talagang binulatlat pa,...

Let's talk about Medan City just a little bit. I made an overnight layover here on the way to Banda Aceh from Kuala Lumpur, because the available (one-a-day) direct flights did not fit my preferred schedules. I've been to this place many years ago. The airport was even still at city center (more of that later). but come to think of it, I don't remember many things Medan, except that this was where I first ate Durian! It was almost 5:30PM when I checked-in at my hotel. So, I just tossed my bag to the bed and hurriedly went down and out to street hoping to catch glimpses of whatever else I can in the immediate vicinity. Ha! I knew this would still be here, as it had been for many many years, almost forgotten my many! Many people refer to this as the Train Monument in Medan, for in fact it is. It was a real Steam Engine Locomotive of the Déli Railway Company , circa late 1800s. I'm not sure if that's still the authentic one like what was there many years ago. Bu...

Let's continue my stories on this trip out of the new Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 . Not that there is anything to shout to the whole world about -especially since I prefer to tell only stories on Philippine travel. But I do have notes from here and there, that might be useful to dear Pinoy Travelers. Such as: aircraft used by Air Asia on their Cebu~Kuala Lumpur flights, are Philippine registered planes (just like those on their domestic flights), meaning owned by Philippines Air Asia , with IATA Code Z2 . This started with a curiosity why my flight number was "Z2 7110", not "AK 7110" - because I knew long ago that the two-letter IATA code of Air Asia, Inc. (a company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is AK. On top of that, my connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Medan Indonesia also on Air Asia, had "QZ 125" as flight number, not "AK 125". Curious, I also searched that, and I learned that the airline is Ind...