Author Topic: Philippines/Tokyo TR  (Read 12785 times)

Offline Proisrael

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Philippines/Tokyo TR
« on: February 26, 2015, 04:50:55 AM »
I am sitting in the JAL business lounge as I start to write my first TR. I will write some now and try to finish later and add some pictures.

This trip was thanks to Etihads price mistake and Dan for posting. Before I started this trip my main worry was how was the flight to Abu Dhabi going to be in terms of comfort and my need for tiffilin on the plane. When we got to the gate however the tiffilin worry was lessened by the fact there was approximately 20 Jewish people with about 7 or 8 men. Some were traveling to Johannesburg and others to Mumbai I was the only one going to Manila. The plane itself (jet airways) was by far one of the worst seats I ever sat in, they are very hard and very uncomfortable. The entertainment system is a disaster. Bring an iPad with movies if you plan on flying with them.

Once on the plane after a slight delay we now needed to figure out how and when to daven. I decided to brave it and asked the flight attendant if I can use the back galley to daven. She said sure and asked if she could watch as we davened, I said sure if you would like. As we davened there must have been 8 stewards/stewardess watching us. After we finished they started asking all these questions telling us it was the first time they saw a Jew on their plane.

After landing in Abu Dhabi we had about 30 minutes to get to the next flight to Manila. Rushing through the airport the little I made out is its older very cramped and packed with people. There is a lot of construction currently ongoing there as they are building some more terminals that should be very nice and modern from what I hear.

The flight to Manila is about 7 hours once again on the worst possible seats imaginable. The flight was very uneventful except the food was from Europe and they did not have it double wrapped so we could not eat it. It came from Brussels and was about 3 months old.

Once arriving in Manila you knew it was a different world. So many people walking with masks on their face the airport looks old and dingy. You go through a very fast immigration process once past immigration you get your bags fairly quickly. Once we got our bags  and changed money which was awesome as it was a 1:45 rate, we headed to Avis for my reserved automatic car. Once I found the hut they call a reservation office I knew I was in trouble. They have NO COMPUTERS it is all done by fax and papers. They couldn't find my reservation and had no cars so we decided to just take a taxi and get the car on moitzei shabbos. There are 2 types of taxis you can take either regular taxi or coupon taxi which is a lot cheaper (and you do not need a coupon for). It cost about 650pesos to get to my apartment which was approximately one hour away with the traffic. I rented an apartment through AirBnB.com I got a 2bedroom 2 bathroom apartment for approximately 45 dollars a night the complex had a pool which you needed to pay 1$ to get in. The apartment itself had a mobile wifi which was very convenient for us. It had 2 flat screens like a regular hotel with a dining room and living room.the reason we chose this location was its very close proximity to chabad.

 

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2015, 05:01:23 AM »
Our plans of coming back was to go back with JAL business class for 55k. Now the Philippine government does not allow you to buy one way tickets out of the Philippines unless you are physically located in the Philippines. So we had AMERICAN reserve our seats and hold it until we arrived to go pick up the tickets and pay the taxes in Manila. So Friday morning we left to go get the tickets from their office in the century park hotel. The minute we left our apartment gated complex we knew we were on another planet. The poverty here is mind blowing kids are so malnourished when they run all you see is bones their eyes are so sunken in its sad, however they are the happiest people in the world they all smile when they see you all say good morning how are you sir. We walked a few blocks to the main road to take a taxi to the hotel, the taxi cost 2$ for 45 minutes! Once at the hotel which was a very nice building we got our tickets and decided to check out the largest mall in the Philippines which was right outside. Now the walk from the hotel to across the street again you see the dilapidated huts and extreme poverty and then it disappears as you walk into a mall that Beverley hills would be proud of.

My flight is boarding so I will try to continue within the next few days

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2015, 05:45:17 AM »
How was your experience at Chabad there?
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2015, 09:12:14 AM »
Regarding one ways from MNL if you pay a ticket it tickets.. If you buy it with miles you need to go down to the office. Weird!

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2015, 10:33:20 AM »
The malls there are polar opposites from Israel and very different from America, Every single item that they sell has 2 or 3 workers that are there to ask you if you need help. In the beginning its actually a very cool feeling but after about 15 minutes it gets very tiresome. They all have allot of respect always call you sir. After the experience at the mall we left to the bay, I thought the air would be cleaner there but it was a disaster. You can barely breathe there it is advisable to just stay away from area. We literally choked  our way back to a taxi to our apartment.

We got ready for shabbos and started our walk to Chabad which was approximately 15 minutes away by foot. The chabad house is located in a gated community which is an upscale area, surrounded by all the poverty. Once you walk in though the smell dissipates and your back in a nice green area. Friday night we had about 20 people for minyan with about 12 staying for the meal afterwards. The meal was delicious and the rabbi his wife and the family are very sweet and nice people, offering anything that you may need fro the entire trip. The next morning we had some issues getting a minyan but eventually we got 10 and had the meal after that and then davened mincha.

The next weeks activities I shall start next week IH.

Offline solls108

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2015, 11:08:04 AM »
Looking forward to hearing what activities you do there?

How much were tickets?

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2015, 11:33:17 AM »
Looking forward to hearing what activities you do there?

How much were tickets?

There is a lot of activities I will detail later on.
I got the tickets via the Etihad mistake for 350.

Offline solls108

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2015, 11:34:36 AM »
There is a lot of activities I will detail later on.
I got the tickets via the Etihad mistake for 350.

I assume you are there now?

Offline avrumy22

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2015, 11:36:26 AM »
Wait, the flights to Abu Dhabi are not on ethiads new modern planes?

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2015, 11:46:00 AM »
No they are on the very hard Jet Airway airplanes.

Offline moish

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2015, 05:08:58 PM »
not always, i took the auh-mnl flight recently on ey livery

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2015, 07:04:50 PM »
No they are on the very hard Jet Airway airplanes.

Getting me very excited for my upcoming flight ;)

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2015, 12:26:02 AM »
not always, i took the auh-mnl flight recently on ey livery

Correct.  I said the flights to auh

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2015, 12:48:50 AM »
No pictures?

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #14 on: March 01, 2015, 12:52:42 AM »
Seems from this comment online, that the Jet Airways planes are better than the etihad ones in economy. (https://disqus.com/by/sarinjalal/).

"The EY100\101 is Etihad equipment and though newer, very uncomfortable in the coach class. They have 3-4-3 and no snack\drinks bar. The crew is rather plasticky and not very friendly. On the other hand with EY102\EY103 (Jet equipment), the crew is extremely friendly, genuinely cares for your comfort, the seating is 3-3-3 (18" seats and wider aisles) and a snack\drink bar in the middle of the coach class. The best part is the arrival at JFK is AFTER the peak-traffic on the belt-pway, so driving back home is extremely easy compared to the late afternoon arrival of EY101. I have decided to stick EY102\103 so long as they retain the Jet equipment."

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #15 on: March 01, 2015, 02:27:10 AM »
No pictures?

I have not had time to organize anything. I unfortunately landed in JFK to find out that my brother in law was niftar while I was on the plane and my wife was on a plane in JFK about to leave to Israel.

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #16 on: March 01, 2015, 01:54:43 PM »
I have not had time to organize anything. I unfortunately landed in JFK to find out that my brother in law was niftar while I was on the plane and my wife was on a plane in JFK about to leave to Israel.

BDE. Very sad to come back to.

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #17 on: March 02, 2015, 03:55:02 AM »
BDE. Very sad to come back to.

One of the worst possible things.

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #18 on: March 19, 2015, 05:50:27 PM »


Sorry for the long delay, Had a lot to take care of the past few weeks....The mall is a very interesting experience, they have about 3 sales associates by each rack of clothes that are literally throwing clothes on you. There is no avoiding them! However they all have smiles and address you by Sir!

After having enough of the attention we left the mall to check out the bay. The walk to the bay was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. The smell was almost unbearable the 10 minutes to walk from the mall to the bay were the longest 10 minutes in my life. We figured the bay would smell a little nicer but we were very mistaken. After a few minutes we couldnt handle it anymore and decided to just get back to the apartment (unfortunately took a while to get a taxi there).

Once back we prepared for shabbos and headed out to chabad. Officially it was a 10 minute walk but they had blocked the main road to the Chabad house so it ended up taking around 20 minutes. Weather is very nice this time of year. The chabad is located inside of the Rabbis house, they had about 20 people for davening and around 15 stayed for the meal after. I must say there is nothing like Chabad the warmth and welcoming is amazing!! Food was great atmosphere was also very nice. Shachris the next morning (10:30) was a little smaller maybe 10-11 people.

After shabbos we left Manila to Clark which is located right near the mountains to get ready for the next days trip. We again used AirBnb for 3 nights 27 dollars a night! 2 bedroom penthouse suite. Sunday morning we decided to go visit this hotspring located near some old volcano it was a full day trip, you get taken on an hour 4*4 jeep to about 20 different hot springs where you spend about 2-3 hours going from pool to pool. The location is amazing set right on the side of these towering cliffs. After the springs you get buried in sand which is supposed to be real good for your skin.....and then some mud bath (I will never understand these things).

The second day was spent (shopping)

The third day we got up about 6AM to go visit Mt Pinatubo. Which was a volcano that exploded not to long ago. The trip there is really breathtaking takes about 2.5 hours on a 4*4 through these valleys and streams animals are all over the place you are literally in the middle of nowhere. Once you get to the volcano you need to climb for about 45 minutes to reach the lake. The hike is through a dense tropical forest (jungle). The views from the top of the volcano are absolutely amazing.

Will continue some time next week and hopefully get to the pictures then as well!


Offline Emkay

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Re: Philippines/Tokyo TR
« Reply #19 on: June 16, 2015, 05:21:34 PM »



Will continue some time next week and hopefully get to the pictures then as well!
i believe its next week by now