Cebu, Baguio and Iloilo

What a crazy month this is. Ian is booked to host Chooks to go every weekend this month and I have been travelling with her.

April 3rd – Cebu (Terraces, Ayala Center)
This was a one day situation. We arrived at Manila Airport, bought the ticket that Philippine Airlines were kindly holding for me (thanks guys, you saved us hours of hanging around). Passing through multiple layers of security after checking in, we arrived at the departure lounge where we quickly found the Cafe which allowed smoking. We settled down and began going through some presentations that we had planned.

Our flight was called and we boarded. I was surprised to see that our plane was a Boeing 747-400, my favourite commercial jet. There was a lot of room on the jet as it was less than half full. I find it so sad to see such a huge plane less than half full and not being used to its full potential.

We flew over the Mayon Volcano, one of the most perfect cone volcanos in the world.

Within an hour and a half, we were making our final decent and lining up for vectoring to our final approach. The speedbrakes were extended to slow us down to the correct landing speed which I believe is around 146 knots for a 747-400.

Landing at Cebu International Airport, we began to taxi to our gate and out my window I could see two huge Galaxy C5 planes.

We were picked up at the airport and were driven through Cebu to our hotel which had kindly been booked by the event management team so that we had somewhere comfortable to rest.

The hotel room was absolutely fantastic. The best that we had stayed in so far. The staff were very nice. No matter how hard I tried, there was nothing that the Diamond Hotel in Cebu could possibly be faulted for.

We went downstairs to the restaurant and had a meal and a drink. I could not find anything I wanted to eat, so I just had a beer (yay beer!).

After our meal and drink, we went back upstairs to rest before the event.

Soon, it was time to leave for the event at the Terraces in Ayala Center Mall. The event was err at best a mess. The staff did not seem to know how to use the technology they had in their hands and very little seemed prepared. I went and found a bar to hide in.

After Ian finished hosting the event, we got in a cab and went straight to the airport where we went through security, checked in and went to the Airport Bar which allowed smoking. As I was walking through the departure lounge which was filled with passengers waiting for their flight to arrive, I noticed that on the TV was a burning aeroplane. It was a documentary on the Discover Channel about plane crashes. What shocked me most is that no staff seemed to be concerned enough to turn the channel over. if anyone is a nervous flyer, this is the last thing you want to be watching in the departure lounge of an airport.

The flight was 45 minutes late and when we boarded the Airbus 320 I found that my seat was completely dismantled. The base had came away and I could pick it up. I requested another seat and was told to pick any that were free. I moved to the back of the plane with Ian.

The flight arrived in Manila just after midnight and we took a cab home.

April 9th – Baguio (SM Mall)

We left for Baguio on April 8th at a few minutes past midnight (the very very early morning). The coach ride was around 7 hours and we arrived in Baguio in the early morning. It was only 12C and everyone on the bus was freezing cold. It was so cold, we cold only just see our breath. While I was cold, I was not as cold as everyone else as I am used to temperatures like this and it was fairly mild for me.

We were picked up from the area the bus had parked and taken to our accommodation which was the Ayala Cottages and was very nice indeed. Wood panelling throughout. Very old English with hunting paintings on the walls. However, the only heating was a log fire, but there were no logs!

Outside, there was due on the flowers and grass.

On the grass was a swinging chair.

A family of chickens was roaming around the yard.

The view was stunning. I have been so used to living in Manila that it such a change to see a city that is not totally flat and the buildings just seem to spill over the hills as far as you can see.

Later that night, we sat outside and had a bonfire to keep warm.

The next day, we got ready and arrived at the event in SM Mall, which for some unknown reason was an open air mall. I can understand this in somewhere like Manila where it is always hot, but here in Baguio it was hovering around 12C at night and 18C during the day. Special guest judge for this event was Derek Ramsey who I had met before at the Star Magic Ball. The event began with music and the dance teams competing had been sitting with the crowd, suddenly jumping up all at once and dancing to the music. It was a real crowd pleaser and the audience erupted with cheers.

The event ended the way it began, with the entire crew dancing to the music and the audience joining in, lost in the moment.

Ian and I walked around looking for a restaurant we both liked. Eventually, we decided to go out of the mall to the 50s Diner we had been told about.

As soon as we had finished our meal, we headed back to our cottage, packed our bags, got a cab to the bus station and boarded the bus to manila, a 7 hour non stop bus journey.

We arrived in Manila around 4:30am on April 10th. Jumping in a cab (after ploughing our way through scalpers), we headed home to drop off some bags. We had just one and a half hours in the house to get a shower and re-pack our bags before we needed to leave for the airport as we were flying to Iloilo in a few hours.

April 10th – Iloilo (Robinsons Mall)

Arriving at Manila Airport early, we collected my ticket and found a cafe that we could eat in while I worked online.

Within a few hours, we were able to check in and made our way to the airport cafe so that we could smoke. When our gate was called, we went to the gate and I took some pics of planes as I waited for our plane to arrive. It was another Airbus A320, the Jeepney of the skys. I hate these planes. They are horribly designed and have been prone to many accidents. The most well known was during the launch of the A320, showing off all of it’s state of the art safety features at the Paris airshow. Thousands of people watched as the A320 proudly flew straight into a forest at the end of the runway, crashed and promptly exploded in flames.

The Jeepney A320 took off and we were on our way to Iloilo.

Arriving at Iloilo Airport, we disembarked, collected our baggage and met our contact who drove us to our hotel. The hotel was fantastic and the event management team had ensured that a large meal would be served for us within minutes of arriving.

By this point, I was exhausted. While Ian and Louise had managed to sleep on the bus from Baguio to Manila and on the plane from Manila to Iloilo, I had not been able to get any sleep. I have never been able to sleep on any vehicle. I went to the hotel room, drank a beer, but the TV on and passed out. I woke up at around 7pm and had missed the entire event. Ian was on her way back to the hotel.

I grabbed Ian’s laptop and went downstairs to get some beer and do some work online. Shortly after, Ian arrived at the hotel, we had a few drinks and then went out for a meal. After hunting for a restaurant that was open, we found Ocean City. As we went to walk in, Ian grabbed one arm and Louise grabbed the other. So, I ended up walking into the restaurant like some pimp with a woman on each arm. “What do you think the people here are thinking when they see this” Ian asked. “Lucky bastard” I replied.

The meal was fantastic and it was probably the best Lemon Chicken I had ever had. After we finished our meal and drinks, we made our way back to the hotel and went to bed.

We woke to the sound of the phone ringing. It was our wake up call after just 3 hours of sleep. It was time to get up and go downstairs to the hotel reception where a driver was waiting to drive us back to Iloilo airport so that we could catch our 6:50am flight back to Manila.

See the post I made bitching about the problems we had with the airline on our return flight.

We landed in Manila just before 8am and made our way to ABS-CBN so Ian could collect a cheque waiting for her. I waited in starbucks so I could have a coffee and check on my online work while keeping an eye on our suitcases.

Once Ian returned, we jumped in a cab and headed home. I was completely exhausted and passed out within a few hours, after completing some urgent work.

What a trip. Thanks to everyone who made it possible. I will have more updates on future trips coming very soon.