First overseas work travel

I feel very thankful to God for this opportunity to travel overseas for work. It is something that will never every happen if I did not change job. Everything is paid for and there is no bond. Eventually there is nothing free in this world so I hope after I know my KPIs and what I am supposed to do with my new appointment, this overseas trip will not be something that I regret. Lol.

It was my first time taking taxi to the airport in the morning so there was something to learn. It took me almost 1 hour to reach the airport. With a school just one bus stop away, the taxi took 10-15 minutes to reach me although the estimation during the phone booking was 2-4 minutes. Terminal 1 was surprisingly rather empty and my check-in queue was pretty short.

Despite the tight timing, I decided to have a quick breakfast at Plaza Premium Lounge. I just registered my Arrture on Thursday and thank goodness by Friday my free lounges already appeared in my account instead of the promised within 5 working days. My departure gate was at D while Plaza Premium Lounge was at C gate and I had difficulty finding the lounge. Although I only spent about 20 minutes there, it was worth it. I think this is easily the best lounge in terms of the food and drink choices that I ever experienced in Changi Airport. The turkey ham, chicken ham, and luncheon meat were good albeit rather salty, the miso soup was quite thick and authentic, the kwetiaw could not make it but the meatball was nice (no wonder I only saw 1 remaining meatball), the potato salad was refreshing although I would enjoy it if the potato slices were more bite-sized.

My breakfast at Plaza Premium Lounge

These were only what I managed to try. Others were kimchi ramen, sandwiches, and the usual cereal, milk, toasts, juices etc. The canned drink options in the fridge were quite huge too but I could only provide space for 1 can of Ayataka.

I flew with Philippines Airlines (PAL). It was my first time and I have to say I am quite impressed. I think the plane is clean, the cabin atmosphere with blue leather kind of seats is refreshing, and the food is pretty good. Usually the food in place is heated in a way that somehow only the meat gets heated but not the rice or the vegetables. The food I had was warm for everything and the taste was one of the better ones. The only 2 things I dislike is there is only one set of toilet at the rear of the plane and there is no in-flight entertainment. If these two things are present, PAL can really give a lot of airlines some competition.

Manila is another example on why I have the sentiment that the cities in South East Asian countries are more or less the same especially with the traffic, the disorganised things, and the city layout. I feel Manila is quite unique because the style of the highway reminds me of Europe (the lanes are quite narrow) while some of the skycrappers remind me of Japanese style, especially with some buildings exactly next to the highway. My parents used to be sent for work in Manila many years ago and they said Manila was comparable to Jakarta. Yep, they are correct and I was not too shocked. Haha.. Now I think Jakarta is actually not that bad because I think Manila has more buildings which look older and poorly maintained. It is quite sad to see 'atas' shops/offices/hotels have very nice lobbies and interior while the outside looks quite bad with peeling paints and dirty walls.

I am staying at Citadines Salcedo Makati which is a service apartment so the studio room has kitchen and microwave that I doubt I will be using. So far everything is looking good. I thought I could earn some KrisFlyer miles but my stay is not eligible since it is booked under corporate rate. Oh well.. looks like I cannot earn any free miles from this trip T_T

My home for the next 4 days

After much deliberation, I decided to bring my sports shoes as a push factor for me to utilise the gym. After tonight's dinner, it seems that the shoes only waste the space that I can utilise to bring more food. Haha.. Forget about gym and I am resigned to the fate that I will definitely gain weight lah. Firstly the free breakfast will definitely be more than the 2 slices of bread that I usually have as breakfast. Secondly I cannot supress my curiosity to try food that I never tried before. For dinner I tried Adobo which actually reminds me of semur. My downfall was the dessert T_T I decided to try Saba Con Hielo. Well saba turns out to be banana. If I knew it was just banana, I would definitely not try. It was interesting because the thingy looks like banana but the texture was not like the banana fruit. It was not soft and not fibrous but rather chewy. Anyway it made me really full and no way I could gym tonight.

Saba Con Hielo (the white thing is coconut milk)

So that is my first day in Manila. Tomorrow it will be a proper working day so I am looking forward to it.