violist

The soup of the day was congee. I passed so can't report.
Garlic rice and tomato pasta. Sardines, which I eschewed
in favor with some almost palatable chicken sausage with
herbs. Later I rethought my decision and went back for a
sardine, but they were gone by then.

Today there was, for no discernible reason, a lot of
difficulty getting a cab, as in an hour.

Our destination: the Southwestern bus terminal in Uniwide
Coastal Mall, whence we were to ride to Tagaytay and the
famous Taal volcano. When we got there a dispatcher waved
us onto the Celyrosa Express (not unlike United Express),
to which we paid P60, half what the air-conditioned nonstop
buses cost. I think we lost half an hour using it, but I
doubt that was crucial. It's a local bus, but it uses the
same route as the fancy ones. This all was fine, but the
ride was so fraught with strange mechanical noises that I
was fearful that the bus might break down at any moment. In
fact, the only unscheduled stop was halfway, for gas. I'd
probably happily do it again, though the un-air-conditioned
nature of the ride meant that back at the hotel I scraped
untold amounts of soot and grime off my skin.

Problem. I thought I'd conveyed my hoped-for destination
(the jeepney terminal) to the conductor, but the guy put us
off in the wrong place in Tagaytay. Not too bad, as it was
near the local Jollibee, and having seen stores all through
metro Manila, lili thought it was time to try it out. Now
the stores in the city heavily advertise chicken and fries,
so that's what she had her mouth set for ... only chicken
was off, fries were off. By way of consolation, she had a
Champ (Big Burger Goodness), an apparent competitor of the
Whopper. This was super-dreadful, the burger being a soggy
meatloaf analogue. It being well into lunchtime, I had
garlic pepper beef and rice with three "Shanghai rolls" for
half the price of the burger. The flavor of the food wasn't
too bad - discernible spice, lots of garlic chips on top -,
but the meat itself was just a bunch of gristle. I didn't
particularly object, as I like gristle; what I objected to
was that the Shanghai rolls - little lumpias filled with
vegetables and pork, sort of like flautas in size; these
aren't bad in concept, but in reality they tasted as though
they had been boiled in soap. I blame rancid coconut oil.
Some guys who were sort of randomly hanging out on the stoop
of the restaurant tried to sell us a kris, pretty weird.

From here we took a jeepney (new minimum 8.50) back through
town and to the terminal, where someone tried to talk us
into a trishaw ride to our destination for a hugely inflated
price - I offered 1/3, or five times what the jeepney would
cost, and he said no. The jeepney costs P18 to People's Park
in the Sky, designed as a retreat for Ronald Reagan on his
scheduled visit to see his friend Marcos - when Marcos was
deposed, the project was abandoned, and now what's there is
a shell designed for a palace with what is said to be one of
the finest views in the country. Of course, when we arrived,
it almost completely socked in. Also rather cool and very
windy - the whistling through the radio tower and the ruins
could have served as the soundtrack for a film about Scott's
explorations. We waited around for an hour for the fog to
blow off, but it didn't. Got a jeepney to take us to the bus
stop, where more touts ushered us on to another bus, this
time air-conditioned and rather nice but with the regular
small seats, run by Cavite Batangas. For 78 you get not only
the a/c but a movie, today the recent thriller Lucy, which
stars Scarlett Johannsen and Morgan Freeman, though from our
spot in the back I could tell them only by voice (there was
a speaker a couple feet from my head). This was also a local
local and took almost as long as the ramshackle one had; it,
unlike what the guidebooks say, didn't return us to the bus
depot but rather let us off at a busy crossroads several
blocks away. At rush hour. No taxis. Seeing our bewilderment
a tout came to our rescue and flagged one down by the easy
expedient of standing in its way in the middle of the road.
The quoted rate - meter plus 50. I gave the tout 20, and the
taxi driver gave him 20, and everyone was happy. This driver
too got us expeditiously back to the hotel, where a shower
and a beer were most welcome.

lili having been disappointed with her lunch, we went off to
look for fried chicken. Not particularly wanting same, I
returned to the place that had the good satays and picked up
a skewered stuffed squid for a buck and joined lili at KFC,
where the only breast they had was a spicy (she wanted the
skin but can't eat spicy), and the only thigh they had was a
mild. In addition, with the "loaded meal" they threw in a
regular wing, gravy and mash, two big lumps of rice, and
beignets with chocolate sauce that lili likened to Bosco.
So I got the skin and leavings of a breast piece, most of
a thigh, and the less attractive (to her) bits of the wing.
The thigh skin went to satisfy her crunch craving.

My squid was unfortunately stuffed with hashed unripe tomato
with a little onion, no more. I squeezed out this
unappetizing mixture and ate the body, which was pretty
good, with one of the lumps of rice.

The beignets were sort of like erasers.

violist

Breakfast: tomato soup, really a thickened clear broth with
bits of tomato; fried bangus (milkfish), bony but tasty; and
penne pesto.

We walked down Ayala yet again (despite lili's saying that
she never wanted to see that street again, with its roots
and stumps and vendors of fishy-smelling things), because I
needed stamps for my postcards, and what hotel desk doesn't
sell stamps? this one.

The post office, a local landmark, is at the corner of Ayala
and Malugay (I persisted in calling it malunggay, which
means horseradish), or so we thought. There's a door on
Malugay with a signboard outside "Manila Post Office," so in
we went, only to find that it was the employee entrance. No
worries, the guard led us through the mail sorting rooms and
to the public lobby, where I got my stamps and all was well.

The Yuchengco Museum is right near there, and it sounded
interesting. The Yuchengcos are a wealthy old Filipino
Chinese clan, and the museum, in the Rizal Bank building,
is mostly a collection of the family's stuff. On the top
floor is a history of the bank and a paean to the patriarch
Alfonso, with the obligatory shrine to Rizal. Downstairs are
the art collection, with a more modern or experimental focus
than the other museums. I found few things to admire, but
the sculptures and the small traditional textiles display
were kind of interesting. The price is P100, a bit steep
considering the National Museums cost only P150. Allow half
to one hour, probably not more.

When we got back to the hotel we discovered we'd been locked
out of our room. This was fixed promptly, and it was close
to checkout anyhow. We got our traps together and trundled
them down and had a bunch of beers.

A cab to the airport came when ordered and got us there in a
real jiffy, it being a weekend.

As you need a boarding pass to get in the building, outside
was a mess, with people waiting for their people, milling
around, trying to sell stuff, and so on. For those with the
fancy blue passport at least, the initial security was
negligible.

A long line at the Jetstar checkin showed that it hadn't
opened yet, so we waited for half an hour until that
happened. The line is a lot shorter for people who have
pre-web-checked-in; it's to the left.

The second security was negligible as well, as was payment
of the exit fee (P550 - Internet reports anything between 0
and 750). Emigration was easy, though lili got slightly held
up for some unknown reason.

Terminal 1 is in the throes of major renovation. You can
see that it aspires to be a mini-Changi, but there's a way
to go. It's not so horrid as people claim, but food and
diversions are scanty.

I was not entitled to access to any of the lounges here, as
I was not on either a OneWorld or a Star flight; lili is,
through Priority Pass, and she gets to have a guest admitted
for $27, while the public a la carte price is $20 (P894).
What's with that? I paid the fee, still having a bunch of
pesos left, and we went in. Some time later, one of the
attendants chased me down with my 6 pesos change.

Bargain hunters note: there are also the middle-class lounge
at P650 and what is apparently another lounge at P450. It is
said that the 650 has better booze but worse internet.

The room: reasonably attractive, pretty comfortable seating
in adequate quantity. Good lighting and interesting reading
material (newspapers, magazines, airline magazines).

Catering:

a murky soup served with mantou; this looked unappetizing
enough that I didn't bother even trying;

penne carbonara was like mac and cheese with bits of deli
ham loaf - bland but probably comforting enough for a
particularly unadventurous segment of the western clientele;

industrial but palatable roast pork buns of which I had two.

A chocolate brownie was extremely mediocre but Tanduay rum,
also not so special on its own, made it terrific.

Blueberry panna cotta was somewhat better but ever more
dairyful.

Napoleon VSOP from the oldest Philippine distillery,
whose name shall be discreetly and forgottenly unnamed,
was pretty nasty. This bottle oddly carried a label "Makati
Supermarket Alambang P210.50." What the lounge was doing
buying booze retail I haven't a clue. The product is raw
and uncouth - not worth the calories.

Other liquors, neither generic nor top shelf, were also
available, as was a cooler with San Mig, Tiger, and soft
drinks.

violist

3K 764 MNL SIN 1740 2120 320 8DE

This took off from gate 8, which we walked right past
(there is a big Royal Orchid sign that obtrudes in front of
the tiny gate 8 sign); not a big deal as row 8 is in the
last boarding group. There was still plenty of overhead
space. The flight was manned by staff who did their job in
a somewhat impersonal way, not a big problem. lili had
another hit of that Koo Coo stuff; I passed. Some guy across
the way, apparently an elite of some kind, JetStar or maybe
Qantas, had preordered chicken rice, which although it
smelled like chicken and green peppers, seemed okay, and he
ate it in a jiffy (and bought another). Me, nah, the steamed
buns had been enough.

Again, my bag came out expeditiously - not so amazingly fast
as in Manila; I imagine it had a bigger system to negotiate.

I'd picked the Capri by Fraser because it advertises a
shuttle, but repeated e-mail inquiry met with no response,
so we had to wing it. It so happens that the service leaves
from the bus depot in the bowels of the terminal (B2 I
think); the stop is marked by a sign that reads, in very
un-Singaporean fashion (I paraphrase)
G
Grand Mercure r Grand Mercure Grand Mercure
Grand Mercare Grand Mercure
Grand Mercure n Grand Mercure
Grand Mercure d Capri Grand Mercure
Grand Mercure Gr nd Mercure Grand Mercure
M
It turns out we'd just missed the shuttle by a couple
minutes, so we called to find that the next wasn't coming
for another hour.

Some guy nearby was helping a discommoded family and also
took us under his wing; it turned out he managed ground
handling for Emirates. Thank you, whoever you are - a
fine ambassador for Singapore and for Emirates. We got a
taxi driven by a Hainanese Singaporean guy who drove us
around a bit, purporting to get a little lost (as in
getting near but across two lanes of traffic or a
construction site from the place, and so on) - the fare
was $12. Whatever, we were just happy to find a place to
sleep. We walked in to a bright snazzy lobby and a huge
waft of aromatic lavender/evergreen aromas, a bit jarring.
Check-in was polite and easy, but I asked for a shuttle for
0400. Turns out the shuttle doesn't start until 6; as I had
an 0700 flight, this seemed to be cutting it a little close.
So I arranged for a cab.

The room was quite large, well appointed, brand spanking new
- not bad at all. I characterized this as like an Aloft or
Element (which I am not totally hostile to despite my horrid
experience at the Aloft at Dulles, which was never quite
satisfactorily resolved); lili added "on steroids." I
recommend this (if you can get the shuttle) as an alternate
to the Ambassador Transit Hotel, whose rates it is said are
expected to increase dramatically in the coming year.

The cab came right on time at 0500 - same guy. Same price.
He must have this down to a science.

violist

UA 804 SIN NRT 0700 1440 772 20B Ch9^

Check-in was a model of Singaporean efficiency.

I didn't get upgraded, oh the heartbreak. I'd thought of
upfaring to a Q, but unheeding of common sense I chose to
save a couple hundred dollars and stuck with my W, with
this sad result.

So no Silver Kris for me. Instead the SATS lounge beckoned.
Truth to tell, it is much better than the old one - reminds
me of the United Club in Hong Kong, with a substantial open
area, fairly attractive in the impersonal glass and metal
way. Relatively few facilities, though (read: I couldn't
find the bathroom). Catering pretty decent. A Hampton-like
spread was offered; in addition, a steamer with assembly-
line but tasty enough shrimp dumplings and two kinds of bao
- minced weird pork and minced chicken with mushrooms
(tentative identifications). The best food on offer was
Indian - those broken rice cakes called I think idli served
with a coconut sambar and a fairly spicy and quite excellent
lentil curry of which only a few tablespoons remained, alas.

On the plane, the digs were okay - more than enough legroom,
more than enough seat width (I am not too fat), but no
recline, I believe because the machinery was broken. Still,
it was comfy enough, and given my lifetime Platinum I can
have this seat preassigned, and maybe it's K and L fares in
my future. My seatmate was quiet and pleasant and managed to
crawl across me without waking me when on the way to the
lavatory. Speaking of which, despite the lack of recline
and my tendency to slump off into the aisle, I got a good
3 hours of sleep on a 6-hour flight.

A genial Indian flight attendant chatted pleasantly with
us before the flight and was moderately attentive during it.

I woke up for breakfast, which I'm glad for, as it was
better than most of what I was served in business on the
other flights: soy sauce chicken, half a very fatty thigh,
over shrimp roe vermicelli with a few shreds of bok choy,
a mediocre fruit assortment, and a plastic-wrapped almond
cream bun. I like scraps, and the chicken was right up my
alley. My seatmate looked at it, wrinkled up her nose, and
pushed it aside. I didn't scavenge her leftovers but thought
of asking to do so.

The flight, fairly bumpy with a bit of a tailwind, got in
close to half an hour early, and we were to the gate in
close on record time. Further, they'd opened the premier
security lane (though the divider was ignored by many), and
the extra security was relatively quick, so I had a good
hour and half. I thought of going to the ANA lounge in 4
this time (it's dim and dark but less crowded; also closer
to my next gate), but as I passed the RCC, it didn't look
crowded. I asked the guardian if it was going to be busy;
she allowed that this was a quiet time of day, so I decided
to give it a try.

The living rooms were half full, and most of the carrels in
back were empty.

Lunch was soba noodles, chicken Smisnuggets, and a cream of
corn soup that tasted as if it actually had been made with
cream. There were also I believe little sandwiches on offer,
plus the usual edamame, potato chips, and such. Sadly, no
inarizushi, something I look forward to for its filling
sweet starchy diabetogenicity.

I eschewed my normal homage to the amazing beer machine and
checked out the red wines - Ginestet Bordeaux and something
from the Pays de l'Herault, no thank you -, and ended up
with a double shot of Kirin VSOP brandy. Word to the wise:
just say no. There's a hint of grape flavor, but mostly it's
a neutral spirits taste. Next time back to the beer machine.

I'd had a shower at the hotel, really, truly, and it had
been only a 6-hr flight, but I felt almost as sticky as
after that unairconditioned bus ride to Tagaytay. Maybe it
was the unfamiliar experience of coach. There was no wait
for the rooms, and the attendant was especially genial and
polite. The rooms have been renovated fairly recently, and
though the water pressure is still dicey, it's a generally
pleasant and refreshing experience. Someone asked me about
the amenities, and I said that they're handed out on a
need-to-use basis now. This is still the case.

It was a one-minute stroll to the gate, where boarding was
in full swing.

violist

UA 804 NRT IAD 1635 1505 772 8C Ch9^

The only problem with this seat is that people in the aisle
turn right from the entrance and bump into your seat, which
at least is sturdy enough to protect your shins from the
impact (this is I believe generally inadvertent); plus then
instead of going through the public area ahead to cut over
to the other side of the plane, some want to use our foot
space, which makes it tough to relax (this I believe is
generally deliberate).

My seatmate was a man of few words, fine with me, and what
words came out seemed well formed and well informed.
However, communication with the cabin crew was in grunts
and hand signals only. I don't know what the staff think
about this, but I was sort of amused.

TO BEGIN

Chilled Appetizer
Vegetable roll and sweet sesame pork with mango-chile sauce

Fresh Seasonal Greens
Carrots, cucumber and croutons
with your choice of creamy wasabi dressing or
shiso vinaigrette

I can't speak for any of this.

MAIN COURSE

Tenderloin of Beef
Mushroom bordelaise sauce, twice-baked potato
and asparagus

Breast of Chicken
Morel mushroom sauce, chive mashed potatoes, green
beans and carrots

Fillet of Striped Bass
Lemon herb sauce, saffron basmati rice and mixed
vegetables

Japanese Selection
Appetizers of braised duck, grilled prawn, salmon and kelp
roll, abalone and yuzu citrus

Actually, it seemed to be grilled duck and braised
prawn, fine with me. The duck, maybe a third of a large
breast half, was insufficiently fatted to my taste but
full of flavor; the shrimp, rather overcooked, still had
a lot of juice and fat in the head, which redeemed it.
The kelp thing turned out to be a mess of assorted
matchstick-shaped scraps, not a roll at all, seaweed,
dried squid, maybe a little salmon: didn't taste bad.
The abalone was a whole little 1/2 oz one in its pretty
brick-red shell; if it wasn't canned it might as well
have been. The yuzu was candied, surprisingly appealing
in texture, surprisingly tasteless.

A main course of braised sea bream with leek, carrot, okra
and tofu, simmered turnip with minced chicken sauce, shrimp,
shiitake mushroom and peas, marinated sugar snap peas,
mushroom and cod roe, vinegared tomato and crab salad, miso
soup with pork and vegetables, steamed rice and Japanese-
style pickles

Other than the fish being way overcooked, this was an
interesting meal. The veggies were very soft (no leek) but
pleasant. The simmered turnip, really tasteless, was topped
by an egg-drop cornstarch sauce with mince, a small chunk of
shrimp, and peas and maybe a sliver of shiitake. Sugar snaps
were marinated in what passes in Japan for mayonnaise (it's
more like Miracle Whip). The crab salad would have been okay
if there had been enough to taste - I guess a tablespoon
mounded up over half a giant tomato. Funny about that soup
- I took a slurp and found that it tasted kind of like tea.
In fact, it must have been loaded onboard dry and then been
reconstituted. After a stir, the stuff tasted almost
recognizable. No vegetables to speak of except for a slice
or two of scallion; no pork except for a Sen-Sen-sized white
unidentifiability. No pickles.

TO FINISH

International Cheese Selection
Grapes and crackers served with Port

Dessert
Ice cream with your choice of toppings

No dessert for me. The Germanish FA tried to test my
resolve but accepted my excuses that the main meal had been
too big, which it actually was. I did accept a glass of
Quinta do Noval LBV 08 Port, which was well balanced, with
the usual menthol, wood, and stone fruit flavors, not too
sticky sweet and of a decent texture.

MID-FLIGHT SNACK
Fruit and light snacks are available at any time following
the menu service. Please help yourself or ask a flight
attendant for today's selection.

PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

Omelette
Potatoes, pork loin and pork sausage

Scallop and Shrimp Yakisoba
Sauteed noodles with scallops, shrimp and vegetables

Cereal and Banana
Served with milk

By this point 10 hours into the flight, the food had
begun to push the boundaries of edibility, the noodles
congealing into gum and the seafood into erasers. I am
usually disappointed with Japanese scallops anyway, far
preferring north Atlantic ones, but these could just as
well have been surimi. At least, if they were surimi, the
manufacturer has gotten the texture close. The shrimp were
of a rather high marine taste but hardly shrimplike. None
of this came as an enormous surprise.

After the main meal I slept nine hours almost solid, waking
up about 3 minutes before breakfast.

I had planned a US Air segment run to anticipatorily protect
my OneWorld Sapphire shininess, but this blizzard thing
intervened, and I lost out on 8 segments for $250. I guess
I'll have to do a bunch of Charleston turnarounds to make
up for this (from Washington, as low as 77 roundtrip, check
it out).

END