August 21, 2023

20 hours – Cleveland – NYC – Seoul – Manila

I left on Sunday morning at 6:00 am. I landed in Manila at 10:30 Monday night. I don’t know when Sunday turned into Monday.

TBH, the entire experience was overwhelming. The NYC to Seoul was 15 hours (I think?). All I know is when you fly Korea Air, even the safety videos are in K-POP

From Seoul, I flew into Manila and got in at 10:30 Monday night. I have no concept of when Sunday became Monday. I essentially lost two days, it was very disconcerting.

Everything online said you had to fill out a health form and get a QR code three days before arriving. (They’ve been really strict in the Philippines about COVID.) I had been trying to fill it out, but had been unable to log into the website and just figured ‘well, I’ll deal with it when I get there’, but it made me anxious the entire flight. Turns out, no one cared! Waved me right through customs – I had been worried about nothing! Next, I changed my money and $300 turned into P18,000 Philippine pesos. Felt like I was living like a housewife, lol

MRI had arranged for me to spend the night in Manila before the final leg to Baguio. The next morning, my driver was picking me up at 10:00, but I thought I’d check out the local sites a little before I headed up the mountain, and start to get a flavor of the culture I’d be spending the next three months in.

I found:

McDonald’s

7 Eleven

and Starbucks

At the Starbucks, I did discover this ‘coffee jelly’. Its like little coffee jello shots at the bottom of your frap. Not a fan

There were a lot of random kittens roaming around but the Passport Health place where I got my shots warned me against interacting with animals – if I got bit or scratched I’d have to go home right away. I guess they don’t have rabies treatment here? So anyway – hi kitties, don’t come near me!

The Manila Hilton is the best Hilton I’ve ever stayed at. It had a dog park with an amazing message

And a pool with a swim up bar that opened at 10:00 am. I need to get back here

But alas my driver also showed up at 10:00 am so I didn’t have time to check it out.

Leaving Manila looked at lot like when you leave Manhattan and head to JFK. In fact, I wondered if those lost two days had just been a fever dream spent in Terminal 5

But then we got out of the city and headed north. We could have been driving through Ohio and Indiana for all the farms we passed. The same except different

We drive along the highway for about 2 1/2 hours, then exited at a rest stop. I paid 20 pesos to pee

Let me just pause here to comment on the bidet situation. For 20 pesos I got toilet paper AND a bidet. The airports had bidets. The plane had bidets. America, you need to step up your bidet game

After we left the highway we headed up the mountain. Three hours and sometimes it got a little scary. I’m never going to complain about the drive through PA again.

Along the way, there were shops and stands beside the road, carved into and sometimes just hanging off the side of the mountain

We passed a bunch of furniture stands along the way. I asked my driver about it and he said it’s from them cutting down the mahogany trees to expand the roads. The locals use the wood to make beautiful furniture. It’s super cheap to purchase here but expensive to ship home

Oh by the way, here’s my driver that got me to Baguio safe and sound

By 3:30, we arrived. The LeFern Hotel – home sweet home for the next two weeks (before I transfer to my final landing place)