State Visit: BORACAY

Manila, Philippines
21 June 2009

Could'nt sleep. Running on fumes now. Worried that if I sleep, I might not wake up early enough to catch that early Cebu Pacific flight from Manila to Caticlan, so I just took some toothpicks to keep my eyes open, drank more Coke light (what they call Diet Coke in the Philippines) took a shower and waited it out.

If Greenbelt impressed me, Terminal 3 of the NAIA airport takes the cake. This is a world class airport. It gives every Filipino its dignity back. After witnessing that garbage of an airport that is Terminal 1, seeing Terminal 3 makes me want to blow up Terminal 1 myself. I mean can we hurry up and blow that old airport already?

FORGET THE GUY IN THE PICTURE. LOOK AT HOW SPARKLING THIS TERMINAL 3 IS!!

So we get to the airport bright and early, really psyched over this trip! I remember the first time I heard about Boracay when I was in high school. Then it was just a dream to me, only heard it from classmates wealthier than me. I mean how can I even fathom going there, I was just a high school student asking for baon everyday. So I promised myself that if and when I get the chance to go, I will go to Boracay. Several years late, but hey I'm almost there!

So grabbed breakfast from one of the restos inside the terminal and waited. Of course not before going through security and again lining up separately from the women. (It is really funny.) Oh this was also my first encounter with a so-called celeb: Keanna Reeves. Ok I admit. I wanted to take a picture of her. Not for my own benefit but for this blog. I mean wouldnt it be nice to have a celeb in here? But thankfully I came to my senses and decided against it.

I SAW YOU LOOKING AT ME KEANNA...

Question for any celebs out there. Do you guys really wanna be noticed? Or recognized? Is it good for your egos? I ask this question because it seemed like Keanna wanted me to notice her. She at least looked at me three times and of course I pretended not to know of her. And with me not acknowledging her presence, her and posse just amped up the volume of their conversation! Ugh!

So after that brief encounter and my chicken mami that by the way had chicken wings on it with bones and all, we all went to our gate. By the way, is it just me or has chicken mami reinvented itself? I remember the chicken of chicken mami as real meat, as opposed to what I got. I mean if not for the noodles, I wouldve thought I was eating tinola!!

As we wait for our flight, i noticed two men wearing a barong tagalog approaching our gate accompanying this older woman. I immediately knew that this lady was somewhat important. Took me a while to figure out who she was but after a few minutes I figured it out. It was Filipino-American businesswoman Loida Nicolas Lewis. If not for the two bodyguards/escorts who took her to the gate I wouldnt have noticed who or what she was. All the time she was there she was texting away on her cell, never even saw her look left or right. I guess that was my second encounter of a semi celeb.

After a few moments, we were called for boarding. We took this bus to take us to our plane. Pretty cool, although the damn thing was not airconditioned. No complaints though as it was 4am, not too hot and it ddnt take more than two minutes to take us to our plane.

This was the first flight out of Manila to Caticlan for the day so it was not full. Again, the plane was dominated by Koreans. When my sister told me about the enormous number of Koreans in the Philippines, I never thought that it was this big. I thought it would just be a sprinkle of them, kinda like how Asian Indians were in the late 80s. Damn I guess Koreans do love the Philippines huh?

Anyway, we were fortunate enough to get on a sparkling brand new Cebu Pacific plane. Not that I have a fear of flying but it does help alleviate one's fear when you know that the aircraft you are gonna be looks and feel like it wont break in two mid flight. The plane was tended by two pretty hot looking flight attendants. I ddnt care much by their color scheme: khaki, orange and white but the girls were young, all made up and decked out in their uniforms outfitted by BENCH!! as evidenced by the logo on their sleeves. Big turn off definitely but hey the unis were tight enough so by all means.

BRAND NEW CEBU PACIFIC PLANE!

Took off soon enough and as soon as I figured out that those propellers on the plane would not disintegrate, slept like a baby. Thankfully I woke up just before landing and was able to see how beautiful Boracay is up there. Am I really going to that island? Ocean Beach in San Francisco or Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk got nothing on this shit!!!

THE VIEW FROM UP THERE

Thank god no one clapped when we landed or else I would've slashed my wrists. MEMO to everyone. Clapping during landing is not necessary unless your flight went through some crazy death defying maneuver or went through some kind of natural calamity. Act like you've been on a plane dammit!! If you really want to show your appreciation to the pilot, say thank you as you disembark.

So here I am Boracay. After all those years of yearning, I'm finally here. After all these years of answering no to white folks to the question: "Have you been to Boracay?" I'm finally here.

(Sgd.) H.E. President of the Philippines