Minneapolis Airport to Narita Tokyo – 28 Dec 08.
8:30am Woke up – still had some packing to do. Gave the house the once over – took garbage out, unplugged the electrical vampires (e.g. TV, Microwave, etc.) and furiously re-packed carry-on. Only had two hours before Kev’s parents will come to drive us off the Airport. 10:30am – Kev’s parents are in the driveway and, as usual, we are running behind. 10:45am, On the way – got dropped off at the Airport at 11am. Ate at Subway – tried the Flatbread Chicken Florentine – yummy, Kevin had the regular healthy stuff...blach! 12:05pm – Boarded the plane – early, I guess because it’s a full flight – Kevin tried to get upgraded to First Class – got shot down because we are using mileage tickets.
Airplane Ride….
Sat in a two-seat row at the very back of the airplane – a good choice for seats, but it’s way at the back of the plane. Texted peeps that we were on the way and to check our blog during our trip. We watched movies, SUPERHERO and MAMA MIA – both funny. We couldn’t sleep much on the plane – so Bobby played games on Kevin’s phone while Kevin fiddled with the netbook. Eleven hours later the pilot announced that we were about an hour and 45 minutes from landing – we made good time – almost an hour ahead of schedule. People were getting antsy.
Landing….
3:53PM – Tokyo time. Touched down and taxied – turned cellphone on and no friggin’ signal. Long wait for egress. Peeps just couldn’t wait to get out. Fifteen minutes later we deplaned. Queued for international connecting flight and went through another gate security. After 15 minutes, we were inside Tokyo Narita Terminal 1. Hunger called so we looked for Food Shops among the many high-end duty free shops…Hermes, BVLGARY, F. Salvatore, Cartier as our eyes bugging out at the prices….oh well….wait till China!
Eating….
Decided to get just snacks since Kevin said, we’d get dinner on flight to Manila. Ordered dumplings and edamame. The dumpling was hot and good. Edamame was cold – Kevin liked it though. Hey Mikey, he likes it! We bought Pocky (pretzel-like sticks dipped in chocolate)…Yum…brings back Bobby’s childhood memories. Kevin liked it too. Kevin liked everything we ate. We meandered through our gate area …lots of Flips (Filipinos). It made Bobby feel like he was in the Philippines already.
Waiting…
6:05pm Tokyo time – Boarded plane to Manila. Kevin had to go through an extra pat down at the plane entrance. The Japanese woman giggled the whole time she was patting down Kevin – uh hum! Plane ride from Tokyo to Manila was uneventful – we were so tired. We collaborated on finishing the Northwest magazine crossword puzzle – pretty easy when you had two heads working on it. Kevin watched “BABY MAMA” on the plane’s projector – while Bobby was playing a game on Kevin’s cellphone. Tried to grab some naps…Bobby couldn’t but Kevin managed a 45-min nap.
Landing….
Plane landed at 10:45pm Manila time. Egress on the plane was a bit organized this time around – Flips were more polite. Customs was a breeze for Bobby – he just flashed a smile and he walk-right through – even bypassed the line. Kevin had to wait among the riff-raff! Hah! Baggage claim was another adventure. When you travel with Filipinos the “term” baggage could be anything – lots and lots of cardboard boxes tied with a cord, stuffed trash bags wrapped in Duct tape, even some big TARGET Grocery bags – again wrapped in packing tape came down that baggage carousel. Of course, there were some bad elements – some guy’s stuff was stolen right out of his baggage and was he so mad that he started crying. Poor guy.
Taxi….
The taxi ride to our “hotel” was nice. The driver was very talkative and filled us in on what’s happenin’ in Manila. He spoke mostly in tagalog so Kevin had no clue what was going on. Since we were only staying for a night’s sleep over the driver switched to talking about political stuff. We passed by the biggest mall currently in Southeast Asia – appropriately named MALL OF ASIA. I wonder how it compares to the Mall of America? Maybe more Asians and less Americans. Just next to Mall of Asia was STAR CITY – an amusement park, with “winter wonderland” adventures where peeps from the tropics can experience what winter is like. They even have manufactured “snow” and it’s really, really cold (per the taxi driver). We arrived at our destination hotel/motel named SOHOTEL. At first, the pursers had no clue who we were but lucky for us, Bobby printed out our reservation booking. Kevin accidentally reserved it as “KEVIN JARDIN”. I guess he’s taking Bobby’s last name now! We got taken to our room by a very nice purser. He was courteous and accommodating. There were some discrepancies on what the Hotel said on the internet and “reality” when we got there. For starters, we found out that the hotel was an “hourly” hotel when the pursers started asking us how many hours we booked the room. We were confused but then we showed them our reservation booking and it said “one night for 1600 PHP (Philippine Peso)” and it dawned on them that it was for 24 hours. In case you are wondering…in the Philippines - hourly hotels are geared for LOVERS who want to meet for their ‘illicit’ affairs. Yep, we didn’t see that coming. We booked a Deluxe Room since it looked ‘pretty nice’ looking at it from the internet and the description– but in reality, it was just a small room with a queen size bed. Sheets were pretty clean though. Flips like to iron and starch the hell out of linens – so it looked pretty crisp. The bathroom had that faux marble decor. On the desk table it was apparent that we were staying at an hourly hotel since prophylactics and personal lubes were part of the “free amenities”. Oy vey! We were SO tired at this point that we skipped going out for a drink. We went to bed at 1am Manila time (11am CST)…it had been a nice 27-hr day.
"Lovely Faux Marble Toilette!"
30 Dec 08: Cars Backfiring…
Throughout our sleep…we were both jolted awake by very loud cars or trucks backfiring. We thought they were gunshots…like the ones we’ve heard in our neighborhood in Minneapolis! Could it be that we are in a safer neighborhood than Whittier?
9 am….
We got up around 9am Manila time. Discussed our days iti – showered and Ordered a two “Filipino” breakfasts for our room – Cooked rice sautéed in onion and garlic, “tocino” Chicken/Beef combo (marinated beef and chicken), a sunny side up egg, and two “longanizas” (a sweet tasting Filipino Sausage). Again Kevin liked it – he Eats anything!
11:10am – Went downstairs to Check-Out – Paid our breakfast bill and Had the hotel “car service” drive us toward the Airport to fly out to Davao City – Bobby’s hometown. Kevin had the DigiCam and took pictures of the “scenery” outside the Car – Kids running, playing, begging, trolling wares into passing Cars. Driving in Manila is a hazard – most drivers don’t follow lane separators nor ‘right of way’ rules – most play “chicken” – e.g. whoever “chicken’s” out loses the right of way. People also don’t follow “Pedestrian” rules – they basically will dart across a busy thoroughfare – also plays “chicken”.
Passed a Jeepney - One of the cheapest public transit rides in the Philippines
Terminal Two….
Got dropped off at the International Airport at Terminal Two – it’s mostly the terminal for PAL (Philippine Airlines). We had to queue to get in the terminal doors – Guards were everywhere. We had to show our PAL reservation with ID just to get in the doors. We went through our first security sheck – bags and carry-ons got X-rayed. We meandered (Bobby like’s to use the “meander” word a lot!) to the counter to be checked in for our flight and checked our bags. The woman at the counter was pleasant and very nice...we wanted two aisle seats...since we both like to sit at those seats and she gave us two aisles seats, right next to each other. We thanked her and she sent us on our merry way. To get into the boarding area, we had to queue again to pay for the Airport Tax, while queuing some rude woman tried to cut in line in front of us – Bobby glared her down with a mean and dirty look and uttered some words to her – with that she heaved out of the queue. Don’t mess with Bobby...he will cut you down! We paid our Airport Tax and went through another security check.
Terminal Gate where Bobby found a free WiFi but no internet connection - Manila's F'd Up! Convuluted Internet service...
The plane….
We boarded the plane at around 1:00pm. The plane was very new – an Airbus A320s – with four flight attendants in their starched up, color coordinated, very tight-uniforms with the exception for the ‘guy’ flight attendant...he was sloppily dressed. The girls were pretty for sure. They served us complimentary eggnog cookies with coffee, tea, & water and newspapers – a far cry from Northwest’s pretzels and paid snacks. We were impressed by the service.
Davao International Airport….
We arrived 20 minutes early than our scheduled arrival time – again, impressed by PAL – Bobby had read that P-A-L stands for “Plane’s Always Late” – but not on this flight. We got our bags and proceeded to head outside to wait for Bobby’s nephews - since we were early, we didn’t see them – Kevin had time to “meander” around the Airport to take pictures. 15 minutes later, Bobby saw his Nephew “Owie” (Real Name Zoey) and his little brother Arnel. Introductions made and we took a taxi for a 10 minute ride to Lorie’s (Bobby’s sister-in-law) house.
10 minutes later….
We arrived at Lorie’s place – and Lorie, Opet (Real name is ZEUS – Owie’s Older Brother), Judy (Owie’s wife) and Ax (Owie’s Infant Son) were all waiting for us – they had dogs also. Another round of Introductions made for Kevin’s benefit. We spent several hours talking – mainly Bobby’s last visit in the Philippines. Bobby has not seen his nephews and sister-in-law for more than 20 years. Now his nephews are in their early 20’s – Bobby felt OLD for the first time in his life! Owie’s son Ax will be calling Bobby “LOLO BOB”! (which mean’s GRANDPA BOB) when he’s ready to talk...which will probably next year. Speaking of Owie and Judy’s son – Ax is one cute baby! (see pictures).
Gifts from Abroad….
Bobby unloaded all the goodies he brought for his Nephews. Owie got his DigiCam and his Son’s Baby bottles (bought by Dan - Bobby’s older bro). Opet got his iPod and Laptop (from Dan). Bobby also brought a portable DVD Player for his little brother ARNEL.
Pomelos, Mangos and San Miguel RED HORSE Beer….
Lots and Lots of conversations later – Kevin was offered a fruit that is very abundant in Davao City, the POMELO, grapefruit’s bigger and sweeter relative. Bobby also missed this fruit so much that he ate a lot of it. Lorie had dinner ready by 7pm. She cooked us plenty of good food. For dessert, we had CASSAVA CAKE – made by Judy’s mother (They own a bakery business) – it was very Yummy. After dinner, we went up to their rooftop veranda. Owie bought RED HORSE Beer from a “SARI-SARI” (corner convenience) store right next to their house. It was Kevin’s first taste of a Filipino beer and he liked it of course. It’s a strong beer! We waited for Bobby’s party-girl cousins – Leia and Zyra. They were supposed to be at Lorie’s house at dinner – but were late because they were still shopping. It was good to see them.
Karaoke Beer Halls….
Kevin wanted to see some nightlife in Davao on his first day – Bobby was wavering because he was still tired from a 27 hour flight. We decided to go out for just a few hours at an area where “Drink” bars are located. In Davao City, happening places are segregated – Drink Bars are all in one place and Dancing Clubs are all in one place – they said that most people go to the Drink Bars first because the alcohol is way cheaper and then go the Dance Clubs to burn off the consumed alcohol and sober off – Dance Bars liquor is expensive. We thought, the Drink Bars crowd would be less because it was a weekday – but we were wrong – it was crawling with peeps. Then it dawned on us that it’s the holidays and that people have two week vacations for X-mas and New Year. We ‘meandered’ around the area to decide which venue we wanted to go in. There were a lot of kids selling cigarettes. In Davao City, there is a non-smoking ban on all public places (unless there a designated kiosk) including the public streets. The bars are the only place were people could smoke besides at their own house and property. As we walked, we heard ‘live’ music being played and it was good. We checked it out – the place was packed. The place had a neon sign that says “IDOL GRILL”. We got to a table and ordered our drinks. In the meantime, the band on the stage were playing pop songs – and the lead singer started signing Beyonce’s “IF I WERE A BOY” and everyone started paying attention – she had good Pipes! (See video). Her band also do “live karaoke” where they accompany amateur karaoke singers – and these singers were good too. While that was happening, a group of kids as young as 7 years old in matching camo t-shirts sat next to our table. Bobby’s cousins started saying – those kids shouldn’t be inside these kind of establishments – I guess the adults accompanying the kids heard and they told us that these kids are a band and were scheduled to play that night and we were like “Oh Okey” probably some ‘hokey-pokey’ U-ke-le-le type of deal. Then we heard them play – Bam! See the videos and decide for yourselves. These kids are awesome!
Winding down…..
Bobby was getting drunk from drinking TANDUAY rum (a Filipino Rum) that is very cheap! The place only sold beer, wine and that RUM...no cocktail mixes. Nobody wanted to drink wine and besides they were the only expensive things on the menu. Since Bobby doesn’t really like drinking beer he was forced to drink the RUM mixed with Coke. Lo and behold, he liked the TANDUAY rum. After consuming the bottle of rum with the help of Owie, we all decide that it was time to head home. We got back at Lorie’s place around 1am.Picture Links*
*28 Dec 08 - Msp to Tokyo (not Much)
*30 Dec 08 - Manila to Davao
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