Philippine Travel Notes

Here is another circuitous trip I had. We can consider this a circle trip, or a series of circle trips. This wasn't only in the country (mainly abroad). Yet, full of fun learnings. My route went like this: TAC ✈ CEB ✈ TPE ✈ HAN ✈ DAD ✈ SGN ✈ PNH ✈ REP ✈ HAN ✈ VTE ✈ DMK ✈ MNL ✈ CEB ✈ TAC. Hahaha, ridiculous? Well it was fun! The little red planes above are international flights, while those in other colors were domestic flights inside their respective countries. Oh okay, let's describe the codes. For easy identification and understanding, I numbered the flight legs - 13 flights! I went from Tacloban to Cebu. Then Cebu to Taipei transiting to Hanoi and Danang. After Danang, I went to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) transiting to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After Phnom Penh, I flew transiting at Siem Reap (that's still Cambodia) going back to Hanoi, this time to stay a few days. After Hanoi, I departed for Vientiane in Laos. After Vientiane, I jetted to Bangkok's ...

After all the news, the craze and the fanfare about their return to Balangiga, after a little more than a century, by the Americans, I went to see these 3 bells, uncrowded! Now what? Hahaha, I don't know! They are bells, like many other old, historic or historical bells you see everywhere on earth. You and I knew, that upon return, they were not to be kept (again) in a box and forgotten for another century. They were/are to be used again or displayed forever . So, why was everyone (except for Balangiganons) so crazy about being there during the actual return/arrival of the bells? Because Duterte was there? Wheh! Para saan? I'm saying what I said above because... days ago, many friends, family, subscribers, colleagues kept asking where I was, why I was not there to see the bells, and so on. One said "lumipad pa kami galing Cavite, nakita naman namin, but we were not able to take photos w/ the bells, andaming tao, you could have guided us kung andito ka "....

This is Part 10 of the Sights & Scenes On My Iloilo To Cebu To Tacloban Flights. Departure: Cebu This CEB-TAC flight was not delayed. At 5:02PM, plane's door was already closed. The plane's surroundings were already empty & clean, everything set for departure. And pushback at 5:03PM. This last PAL ground crew waved goodbye to the pilot. As we taxied towards Runway 04 (that's about 3kms), I saw this bukaw again hehe! I silently laughed at the sight of the blue container van , that does not belong here. Hahaha, nasaag ang amaw! That is used for/on cargo ships, the sea vessels, not on airplanes. Well, at least I haven't seen or heard of such a thing riding on an airplane! P&O is an ocean shipping and holiday cruise company. Bakit napadpad dito? Cute! Takeoff: Cebu Entering and turning left on Runway 04 to finally fly back to Tacloban... And off we rolled! Good I was on the left side of the plane. I could see the airport! And lift off! Woh...

This is Part 9 of the Sights & Scenes On My Iloilo To Cebu To Tacloban Flights. Arrival: Cebu Buses ferried us to the terminal (as usual), where we saw this Manang! It looked like she was putting those sheets into the clear plastic trash bag. Some of those sheets were flying off, and she was having difficulty catching-securing those. Fellow passengers helped her pick some sheets blown towards our path, and that's what caught my attention. Hmn, old memoranda and tables/statistics of/from PAL. Aw yes, since that's a PAL office inside that door. I wanted to go hop by and remind them that rubbish should be secured in the trash bag 'while still inside their offices'. Paano naman kasi, ang sikip-sikip na ng office na yan for an entire Station Control . I think its width is only 4 meters. They should relocate to some wider area at say, T2. No, I did not peep in. I had to rush. I remembered I was still going home. Mind Your Trash But I know something about...

This is Part 8 of the Sights & Scenes On My Iloilo To Cebu To Tacloban Flights. What/Where Is Remote Parking Being a small propeller plane, our flight was not to dock at any of the gates of T1. It is normal herearounds, and we're all used to this, right? We get ferried by busloads! There there.... we were headed to the Aircraft Parking Bays across the MCIA Cargo Terminals . Oist, if in the past I hated this bus part of air travel, nowadays I cherish it. Why? Well, I get to see other, derivative, amusing parts of airport/airline operations! The Scenes At MCIA Remote Parking Here's a fantastically alluring example scene of many separate activities: First, there are 2 separate and different planes. It just so happened that at the time I took the shot, my position (angle) accidentally made them look as if just 1 airplane! In front is an Air Juan plane. It's a Cessna Grand Caravan 208B EX. That is their land version (obvious ba?), as they have a seaplane ve...

This is Part 7 of the Sights & Scenes On My Iloilo To Cebu To Tacloban Flights. Wonderful Views Again: Mactan I heard sighs of relief, probably including mine hehe! Landing time. This is Cordova . Approaching from south of the island. Therefore, we were landing into Runway 04. This happened before .., I could see the Cordova Tourism Center in Brgy. Day-as. Syempre, Lantaw Floating Restobar right side of the causeway. Pioneer in that area. Oy, I saw parts of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway ( CCLEX ) under construction! I will be honest, I'm not that excited about this CCLEX as most other people in Cebu. I have two reasons - personal and analytical (yes, me ganun)! 1] On the personal side, wala man koy labot ana gud hehe! I live in Banilad Mandaue, V&G Lacion and future home is Catarman Liloan. All got nothing to do with that link . I will probably only be able to use it just for curiousity's sake, or when I'd be roaming around with my usual bu...

This is Part 6 of the Sights & Scenes On My Iloilo To Cebu To Tacloban Flights. Pushback: Iloilo Okay, so we departed at 11:16AM. Yes, "departed" as in abante agad since this was a small plane on an empty tarmac. No need for a tow truck to push our plane away! By the way, there was something I noticced with our schedule, though I didn't bother much about it. My ticket said 1120H, the gate TV said 1140H, yet we left 1116H. Ta! Takeoff: Iloilo This meant I would be arriving in Cebu even ahead than I expected (1210H). Yey! 1118H the plane was already positioning for takeoff at Runway 02. Looking great! Thrills & Chills I was seated right-side window of the plane, and at 1123H, I was above Leganes . Directly below me (foreground of photo) are brackish aquaculture farms of UPV near the Jalaur River. Far right is Iloilo city proper. Ahead (middle of picture) is Guimaras. Not long after Skytreats were served. They had to rush, this is a quick flight ...

This is Part 5 of the Sights & Scenes On My Iloilo To Cebu To Tacloban Flights. Down at the ramp, no buses. Cadillacad! Oks lang, since it was a gloomy noontime! And aha children! You should know what those things at left are. Do you remember? If you've been reading previous articles on this blog, we've already discussed igloos ! Aw hey look, there's another PAL staff. Nasa initan sya, pero naka-smile naman! Nowadays, I cannot anymore identify their roles from just looking at their uniforms, since they wear only one kind. He could be a ramp or passenger handling manager. But look far behind that guy. That was one of the reasons I clicked that shot. There's a 'train' of pushcarts being pulled by a baggage/cargo tug . Kids (and me) love them! One more thing, there's a Cebu Pacific plane on a takeoff roll. How did I know it was taking off? Ah eh I just knew! Bakit, si Madam Auring lang ba ang pwede manghula? I also took this next photo for tho...