Life in the Philippines

Happy Easter. I’ve said that in three different countries today to countless security agents. Eighteen hours, three airports so far and at current count I’ve been through six different security checkpoints and three immigration lines. I don’t question security, I dont have any problem with it, and I understand the need. I’m not sure I understand the need for multiple layers doing the same thing but what do I know? The oddest one today was the one that runs you through the scanner and rechecks everything before letting you have a seat at the gate. So the cup of coffee you just bought to enjoy while waiting for the plane can’t be taken to your seat and there is no place to sit other than the gate area. International travel tips that I would offer start with wearing easy access shoes. This on and off of tie shoes is a real pain. Stick the laptop in a part of the bag you can get to without to much trouble because you’ll be pulling it out multiple times. Dont over stock the snack foods because the first customs point (every country you stop in) won’t let you take them through. Some airports check your passports three or four times. Just keep it handy, no sense digging for it every time. Don’t believe the boarding announcements that says there will be progressive boarding. Well I guess it is progressive. It goes like this: Business/First Class, Elite status frequent flier folks, travelers with kids or needing help to the plane…and the third progression is ALL OTHERS. 60 rows of seats, 7 passengers across, almost full flight, just board when you want. Talk about a long wait as there is no logic to who is getting on when so there are multiple waiting periods as the people stop at their seats to load their carry on in the overheads. It’s a good thing they start boarding an hour before departure!
And then after all of this I hit US Customs…where you still are required to move your bag from customs through the inspection point, to your connecting flight. All other countries so far didnt require this for flights passing through.
I’ve got one more flight today then I am stable on the ground for a couple of days. By the end of a one week period I’ll be gathering more International Travel Tips which I’ll have the pleasure of trying out twice more before April is over. It’s gonna be a long month.

Ok maybe the title is not totally true but Korea’s energy conversation methods sure made me think.  I arrived late in the evening and took a bus to my hotel in Itaewon.  If you ever travel there and stay at the Hamilton Hotel, you can learn from my lack of knowledge. First, when the bus drops you off, you may have no clue where you are going.  Just cross the street and follow the sidewalk past the Hamilton Shopping Center. You can’t miss the hotel but arrving in a strange location and just being dropped out the bus door sure doesn’t make you feel secure!

Anyhow, back to energy conservation. I checked in and headed to the room. Opened the door and looked for a light switch. Could not find one other than this little push button to turn the entrance way light on. I moved over to the lamp, no switch.  Just as I started to check it, the hall light went off. Hmm ok, headed back over, pushed the button again and started looking for the switches. Light goes off again.  This is not good. The light doesn’t stay on long enough to find the switch.  I tried to turn the bathroom light on instead. I could find that switch, but nothing happened.

Just beside this little push button there was a card slot.  It mentioned securing your valuables etc. I thought it was an odd place to put a slot for your key when there was nothing there to open.  Just for the heck of it, I put my room key in the slot and guess what?  Lights came on all over the room.

Pull the room key out, lights go off.  Instant energy conservation for those who leave the room and want the key with them!  At a later hotel the same thing happened only it didn’t occur to me that the key not being in the slot was why I could not get the TV to start.  No key inserted must meanNO POWER.  In fact I confirmed the no power theory later on because I forgot that night and left the laptop on but plugged in. It shut down because it was getting no power.  So Go Green has real enforcement at Korea hotels, you have no choice to turn the lights off when you leave!

Here’s a snapshot of the key holder, power starter.
 

I’ve done several posts on things we miss while living in the Philippines. I thought it would be good to do a few about things you see in the Philippines which I don’t think you see many other places.

1. The family transportation may be a motorcycle. And the entire family rides at one time. Dad drives with smallest child in front of him. Larger child between Dad and Mom with Mom being the back person. It’s also unusual to see a child standing while riding but frightening when the standing kiddo is the one on the motorcycle.

2. It’s not unusual to see kids with pets but the different thing here is seeing kids with pet roosters.

3. America could learn a lot about going green from the Filipino people. Recycling is a major thing here. It is normal to see wait staff sorting the garbage to recyclable versus nonrecyclable.

4. Even people who appear to struggle with basic survival needs have cell phones.

5. I’m not sure I can imagine to many countries who have toilets but no seats or bring your own TP requirements.

I’ll share more as they come to mind. In short every country is different and different doesn’t mean wrong. It just means we decide what we can accept as is, what we need to adapt our way of thinking to accept, and what we need to decide if there is a way to change.

I spent the last 8 days in Korea.  It was quite an experience. We did a lot of road travel to go from one location to another.  Traveling through the airport was much easier than I expected and finding my way to where I needed to be wasnt as difficult as I thought it would be.  I flew on Korean Airlines and must say it was one of the most pleasant flights I have taken. The attendents are polite, helpful, and the overall attitude is very nice.  I found the same at the Incheon International airport also. The airport offers a variety of food types from Korean to Chinese to Japanese and of course there must be a McDonalds. I made a few pictures which I will try to download today and get added here as the week goes on.  It’s good to be back in my own bed again though!