Manila — San francisco Philippine Airlines PR104 Flight Report
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- Taipei — Manila Philippine Airlines PR895 Flight Report
- Manila layover tour: first glance of the Philippines 1. Binondo
- Manila layover tour: first glance of the Philippines 2. Quiapo
- Manila layover tour: first glance of the Philippines 3. Intramuros
After an eventful day in Manila, I hopped on a grab taxi to go to the airport. Initially I was even thinking about visiting Okada or the Asian Mall first, since it’s still early for my flight. But I realized quickly on the taxi that given how slowly the taxi was moving, how heavily the rain was falling, and how wet my entire body was, I should just head straight to the terminal.
The ride from Downtown Manila to the airport took nearly 1hr and 30 mins. I even fell asleep multiple times during the ride, and woke up only to find that we had barely moved. Near Pasay City (the southern city where the airport sit), my driver suggested going on a newly built “sky-line” to avoid the traffic (which charged a small fee too). Apparently the government’s solution to horrible airport transportation was to give up the existing roads, build something on top of it, and charge extra money from passengers. But the traffic seemed to be equally bad— I could only imagine how much worse the “normal” route would be.
Finally arriving at the airport after 1:30 (with my body still soaked in water). a trip that fully manifests my travel style.
結束了充實的馬尼拉一日遊，我搭上grab前往機場。因為離起飛尚有5–6小時之久，我本還打算先到機場旁的購物中心、或者朋友曾經大顯身手的賭場轉轉，但搭上了車我便深感此舉不妥，計程車在車陣中艱難地移動，狂風暴雨傾瀉而下，而我剛受暴雨洗禮已渾身濕透，在車上冷氣中直發抖，還是趕快到機場得了。
從市中心到機場的grab竟花了接近一個半小時，期間我多次睡著，驚醒後只見車仍困在車站中幾乎沒什麼動彈。車至鄰近機場的Pasay市後，司機告訴我機場有一新建的外環道，雖需收費，但可節省部分交通時間，然而真上了外環道，交通壅塞依舊，真不知「正常」道路的交通會是多爛。
終於抵達馬尼拉機場，一個半小時的冷氣不足以吹乾我濕透的衣服，真是感覺命都去了半條，非常有我本人的旅遊風格。
You may remember from the previous article that Manila airport was actually smooth and easy. Well actually — forget about it. The security lines are in absolute chaos, as if some kind of exodus was taking place. Dozens of bags were piled together at the X-ray machine, while neither the bags nor the their owners were barely moving. It seemed like a regional airport not capable of handling such level of traffic, but scramble to make it work somehow.
In front of me was someone holding a Philippines passport, while wearing a T-shirt with Korean slogan “Dokdo belongs to Korea!” on it. Could she be married to a Korean husband, or maybe she was a foreign domestic helper working there? I wondered. Filipino domestic worker has been common in Taiwan, but few people take efforts to understand their culture, their struggle and the overwhelming global inequality leading to a country having its people as its major exports. What kind of story may this person have?
Behind me, on the other hand, was a typical American tourist, presumably just finishing his vacation in Boracay, waiting impatiently in line. Perhaps he was taking the LA flight, which departs an hour early than my flight to San Francisco. Throughout my brief journey in the Philippines, I pondered numerous times about what would this country be like had it still been a US territory.
In the middle of the line another X-ray machine was suddenly turned on, and some people ran to the new line. It turned out to have 2 machines serving 1 line of people, while the original place only had 1 machine serving 2 lines of desperate passengers! It nearly took me an hour to go through security. This is even slightly worse than LAX.
我在上篇文章曾說馬尼拉機場不錯 — 現在我要收回這些言論，馬尼拉的出境安檢簡直是災難，彷彿一個大型難民營般，X光機上直接堆滿好幾十包行李，而不論行李或人都幾乎沒在移動。看來這個機場根本不是為如此人流而設計的，已經嚴重超載，工作人員則這裡一點、那裡一點地補救，讓他看起來像仍在運作的模樣。
我前面的女士拿著菲律賓護照，卻身穿寫有韓文「獨島是韓國的！」的衣服，我暗想她會不會是遠嫁韓國的外配，或者是在韓國辛苦工作的外籍勞工？「菲傭」在台灣太常見了，而我們對菲律賓的認識卻少得可憐，少到對他們相當不尊重的程度，對他們的文化、他們的奮鬥、與背後全球化下的剝削、壓榨、乃至一個國家以人口為主要輸出品的現象一無所知。我暗想，眼前這個人背後可能有怎樣的故事？
我身後則是位典型的美國遊客，大概剛從長灘島度假回來，在隊伍中不耐煩地來回踱步，或許他是搭比我早一小時起飛，前往洛杉磯的航班？整趟旅程中，數次引發我對菲律賓與美國的思考，如果菲律賓如今仍是美國的海外領地，將會是什麼模樣？
排到一半時，另一台X光機突然開了，有些人跑去那裡排了新隊，因為調度不善，那條人龍竟有兩台X光機疏散，我們這隊則是相反，兩條人龍只有一台X光機…..最終通過安檢幾乎花了一小時，馬尼拉機場簡直快比世界最爛的洛杉磯還要糟糕了。
Entering the Marhaba lounge — the one my friend Wiew recommended. Food was good — featuring the Avocado ice cream which I had 3 bowls (seems fitting now that Im going back to California). But it looks more like an average dining hall instead of a lounge, somewhere good for having a meal, but not so much for resting. The floor was not cleaned very often either. Shower was available in the lounge, which I did plan to use initially. Unfortunately security took much time, and my clothes gradually dried up by itself anyway. So I only changed my socks at the end.
進入吾友Wiew推薦的Marhaba貴賓室，這裡的食物還不錯，且有冰淇淋可自取（酪梨口味尤佳），但這間沒有什麼貴賓室的舒適感，充其量只像個食堂，地板衛生也不佳。這間貴賓室有提供衛浴，我本便計劃使用，但因安檢浪費太多時間、且衣服差不多已經自己乾了而作罷，最後也就換了雙乾淨的襪子而已。
MNL has flights to Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) which is rarely seen elsewhere. In addition to typical East Asian destinations, flights to the Middle East carried a huge flow of people going there as foreign labors, working in often inhumane conditions for their families back home. 3 weeks ago (also during this trip) I had the privilege to visit the Filipino Expat community in Doha, Qatar, so you may look forward to my trip report soon.
馬尼拉機場有罕見飛巴紐的航班，其他航點除了東亞其他城市之外，也有科威特、吉達等中東航班，大多是載運前往當地工作（條件經常相當不人道）的外籍勞工，三週前我便有幸參觀卡達杜哈的菲律賓社群。
I exchanged my remaining pesos back to dollars ($12) and walked to the gate. I took a cup of beer out from the lounge, planning to have it on the flight as a celebration to a successful ending of this trip. Unfortunately, another security check before the gate took it away. At the gate, American sports game was playing on a TV screen, a prelude to everyone’s journey to the US.
In fact, the Philippines did remind me of the US in many ways.
我將剩餘的披索換回美元後走向登機門，剛剛在貴賓室中拿了一瓶啤酒，準備上機做為慶功之用，不幸在登機門前的安檢被沒收了。登機口的螢幕播放美國運動賽事，似乎在為每位旅客的美國行做心理準備。
菲律賓確實與美國有相當相似之處。
I was reminded yesterday via email that the in-flight entertainment may not be available. To my surprise, it’s actually working perfectly (well not quite, because my remote control was broken, but I’ll give it a pass).
Unlike yesterday’s half-full flight, this flight was nearly 100% full. If only they assigned one Filipina next to me…..(since there are so many beautiful women on street!)
昨晚我才收到郵件，說這段航班上的視聽設備可能故障，幸好一看是完好的，僅有遙控器故障我便無視了。這次航班是全滿的，可惜隔壁坐個大哥，不給我來個菲律賓姊姊，馬尼拉街頭漂亮女生之多可是東亞國家之最啊….
I would never have expected Philippines Airlines to provide an in flight item bag for economy. This was way beyond expected — even Qatar Airways, the supposedly #1 airline, didn’t provide this. The bag, along with the seat and the blanket, were all in Philippine Airlines’ theme color: purple.
另外一點相當超乎預期，是菲航居然給了備品包，就連號稱第一的卡達航空經濟艙也沒有在給備品包的。備品包、坐墊與毛毯都是菲航代表的紫色。
In flight menu — this was also beyond expectation. Only a handful of airlines (Turkish, JAL etc) provided this.
The downside was, they didn’t provide the bottle water like on yesterday’s flight, and this was when I needed the most though…..because I had too much sweet avocado ice cream at the lounge, but my beer was thrown away by security. When I asked for it, they only provided a cup.
航班上還提供餐點目錄 — 這也是超乎我預期，畢竟只有土航、日航等少數比較好的經濟艙會提供紙製菜單。可惜這次不像昨天剛起飛後就提供礦泉水，偏偏我因為啤酒被安檢沒收，剛剛又吃太多冰淇淋，正渴著，按燈也只要到一杯水。
Beef lasagna with dried mango. I also ordered a cup of Asahi beer (to compensate the one security took away from me) while watching the Japanese movie “Shylock’s Children.”
正餐是牛肉千層麵與芒果乾，我也要了一杯朝日啤酒，以彌補剛剛被丟掉的那瓶做為慶功之用，剛好搭配一部日本電影「夏洛蒂的孩子們」。
There were a huge collection of movies to choose from. But I was way too exhausted, so I spent the rest of the flight listening to Filipino songs and trying to sleep, with a little bit of success. I was way too tired to eat the breakfast (supposedly some sausages and eggs). This seems to be the trend ever since I obtained the priority pass (PP) lounge access thanks to Chase bank.
機上娛樂選項還是很多的，但我因為太累，後來只有聽點音樂並嘗試睡覺，最終也成功短暫睡著。送早餐時我因為太累，直接拒絕不吃了，自從有了PP卡能進貴賓室（感謝大通銀行），搭飛機時飽食不成問題，我便經常連飛機餐都吃不下了。相較吾友Wiew可以連去三間貴賓室吃飽喝足後上機再吃，吾自嘆弗如也。
Even more surprisingly, there was barely a line in SFO, so it only took me 5 mins to pass immigration. This got to be my new record — at worse times it could easily took over one hour.
抵達SFO後異常順利，居然無人排隊，我很快便入境了，過去倒楣時還有排隊超過一小時的。
I wondered around the airport and had some not-too-appealing American Chinese food for dinner. Taking the BART and Caltrain back at a chilly Bay Area night, hopefully one last time before I graduate, to Palo Alto.
索性在舊金山機場晃晃，吃了一家賣相非常不佳的美式中餐當晚餐，再搭火車回到Palo Alto — 希望這是我畢業前最後一次從機場歸來了。
