Taipei — Manila Philippine Airlines PR895 Flight Report
After flying over the Pacific Ocean countless times, I finally had a chance to try Philippine Airlines long haul, and set foot on our neighboring country that we know so little about.
Philippine Airlines PR895 departed Taipei (TPE) for Manila (MNL) at 21:00, but check-in wasn’t available until 2:30 before the flight. Most passengers seemed to be Filipinos instead of Taiwanese — most of whom probably took the Eva flight at the same time.
I had a 23hr layover in Manila before the connecting flight to San Francisco the following night. This TPE-MNL-SFO one-way ticket cost only $350, less than half the price of all other carriers, presumably due to the inconvenient transit time. But I didn’t mind at all. In fact I would happily extend the layover by 1–2 days had the fare rule permitted.
搭過多次跨太平洋航線後，終於有機會體驗菲律賓航空，並踏足這個臺灣人均了解極少的鄰國。此次航班為晚上9點起飛，在菲律賓首都馬尼拉中停23小時後再飛往美國舊金山。check-in櫃檯相當晚開，直至起飛前2個半小時才由代理的華航地勤開櫃，只見排隊的乘客絕大多數為菲律賓人，鮮有台灣人，估計台灣人大多搭乘同時段的長榮班機。
本次TPE-MNL-SFO的單程航班要價僅350美元，為同時段其他航空的一半，可能是轉機時間過長而降價促銷，但此種長時間轉機的航班正合我意 — 若非機票fare rule不允許中停超過24小時，我都樂意把中停加長至一兩天以更完整地認識馬尼拉這個多元、熱情又有些惡名昭彰的城市。
Plaza Premium Lounge at TPE — been here once before. This is among the best lounges I’ve been to. Food quality and lounge vibe are both top notch.
桃園機場的環亞貴賓室 — 食物品質與整體氛圍都屬上乘。
Boarding seemed to start earlier than planned. Lounge screen showed the flight was at final call ~30mins before scheduled time, while at least 5 other flights scheduled to depart earlier still boarding. When I ran to the gate, to my surprise, everyone had boarded and the ground crew was running around looking for the remaining passengers. Never had I seen boarding done such earlier than scheduled.
登機不知為何提前開始，貴賓室中的螢幕很早就顯示我的航班開始final call（此時有若干表定更早起飛的航班都才剛開始登機），我只好小跑步抵達登機口，赫然發現機門已經清空了，大部分人都已登機，幾名地勤在附近尋找我等剩餘旅客，我還是第一次看到這種登機大幅提前完成的狀況。
Many said Philippines Airlines is like a pseudo-low-cost carrier, but my experience felt pretty standard.
Flight attendants handed out Philippines custom card for us to fill in flight, but this was actually not required to enter the country (as long as you have no goods to declare).
菲律賓航空評價不佳，許多人將其戲稱為「類廉航」，不過我實際體驗感到其水準不差，與其他傳統航空沒有太大差異。機上空服員發的海關卡其實入境時並不需要（僅有申報物品者需填寫）
Service was also beyond expectation. Maybe it was extra-comfortable because the flight was only half-full, so each person got more space than usual. Shortly after taking off, a full bottle of water was given to each passenger (a rare practice in economy nowadays), and a hot meal was served (ok-ish chicken noodles, I have low to no expectation to in-flight meals after having a huge meal in airport lounges). Meal was served in designed packages, and even the tissue paper had the airline’s logo on it.
整體而言菲航水準超乎我的預期，可能也是因為航班僅半滿，每人擁有較多空間而比較舒適。起飛後不久空服員就送上整瓶的礦泉水（現在在經濟艙中算難得的了），而且如此短的航程居然還送上熱餐（口感普通的雞肉麵，現在因為經常在貴賓室大吃特吃，對飛機餐都沒有感覺了）。餐盒、面紙等都有設計過，上面有菲航的標誌。
Entering the country was smooth (exiting, however, would be another story). We unfortunately had to spend $50 for an “electronic travel admission”, making it the most expensive visas in Southeast Asia.
入境菲律賓也相當順利。台灣人入境菲律賓需線上辦理一個電子旅遊許可，費用50美元，為東南亞最貴的簽證之一。
Right Outside Manila airport was a designated space for uber/grab/lyft — call, wait, and leave — smooth and easy. I’m sure anyone unfortunate enough to have landed in the car-centric dystopia known as LAX is familiar with the hellish transportation. Public transportation is virtually non-existent, and even calling an uber is a herculean task involving taking a shuttle to another area, walking in horrendous traffic hopelessly for minutes etc. “Seriously, the US couldn’t even do a better job than an ex-colony 3rd world country……” I pondered on my grab ride.
To be fair, though, Manila airport is still as bad as its reputation suggests, which I would learn quickly the next day.
馬尼拉機場一出去即有一個安全島供旅客叫車之用，我不禁想起美國LAX、EWR等機場地獄般的交通，走出機場那副末世般的景想，甚至叫車前還要搭一個接駁車到某一指定區域，拖著行李箱在機場外環道狼狽行走。反觀「惡名昭彰」的馬尼拉機場，叫車、等車、離開一氣呵成，在計程車上我不禁想著，為何美國的機場竟還不如自己的前殖民地呢？
（不過我隔天即見識到馬尼拉機場出境、安檢等如難民營般的慘況，還是不愧其惡名在外）
The taxi passed through a series of Chinese real-estate businesses, along with Chinese restaurants and casinos all with Chinese signs, showing how much influence China has on this country. My destination tonight was the probably its center — Manila Chinatown (Binondo).
As a side-note, I also saw some Taiwan-looking utility poles (those with yellow and black diagonal lines), making me very confused. If this were in Geoguessr, I would plonk Southern Taiwan right away……
I stayed at an average chain hotel — lobby and room both look quite decent, but the bed sheet had some stains on it, and water in shower kept leaking at night (it only cost $30 a night after all). The next day, starting from Chinatown, with limited time, I would explore as many corners as possible in Manila.
車往北駛去，一路上能看到許多中資的地產公司、中國餐廳與賭場等，遍佈中文招牌，說明中國自古以來對菲律賓的巨大影響，而我下榻之處便是其核心 — 馬尼拉中國城。
我住的連鎖旅館一晚要價30美元，大廳與房間看上去都不錯，就是床單比較多污漬，加上廁所水龍頭不斷漏水，半夜滴滴答答的令人難以入眠。隔天我將從中國城開始，在有限的時間內好好探索馬尼拉的各個角落。
