Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sunday 17th June 2007 - Filipino hospitality :- unrivalled!
Mandaluyong street. Singapore airport
Sunday 17th June 2007
3am, we’re up and saying our final goodbyes to people we only met 24 hours previously but feel we’ve known for years. The hospitality we received was second to none and genuine and we truly appreciated it. At Ninoy Aquino International Airport we sit and wait for our flight details to appear on the board and when they do we begin queuing. However, Filipinos and other Asian races are not very good at a peculiarly British institution and so pockets of people start appearing in random places near the check-in. We check with the couple in front of us that they are queuing for the London flight to which they agree. However an Airport worker starts to organise everybody into a line for the Singapore flight and he informs us that this area of the “queue” is for Taiwan flight. So we go to the back of a rapidly lengthening queue! Then the check-in desks put up a new sign for E-Ticket holders to check-in. Result for us as we have e-tickets. So we queue and another check-in desk worker comes to see our ticket. “This not e-ticket sir” “Yes it is, I booked it on the internet and it says Electronic Ticket Booking.” “yes sir but you do not have a printed e-ticket” Give me strength, I am about to have an argument with him when Lu intervenes in Tagalog. We now go straight to the check-in desk an get booked on the flight with the seats we had already pre-booked 5 months ago. He is very helpful and helps carry our bags and fusses around until we are sorted. She has never told me what she said to him!
When we board the Singapore Airlines 767 we take our seats and the flight to Singapore begins without incident. On arrival at Singapore, Changi we have 50 minutes to disembark and connect with the 747 flight to London, which should just give me enough time to nip in to the Duty or Tax free shopping area and buy some drink. As we approach the embarkation lounge for our flight they have already loaded most passengers and we are some of the last to arrive! Well at least we have less time to sit in the cabin. We are lucky to find that there is an empty seat beside us so it gives Lu a little more room to stretch out and sleep. This flight is almost full so we were really fortunate. The food was again, really good. We were served a lunch with plenty of wine and Lu had another Singapore Gin Sling which the flight attendant managed to spill on my white shirt! But she went and got a cloth and some soda water and after a few minutes dabbing all the rather fetching pink colour had been removed! So handy tip, keep soda crystals at home for nasty coloured wet stains. I think I watched 3 or 4 films during the flight and after about 4hours from having had lunch we were served with dinner, more wine and then some more wine. I was unable to sleep on this flight but Lu seemed to have no problem, she seems to be able to go to sleep at the drop of a hat! Some things just aren’t fair.
The flight arrives only a few minutes late at Heathrow which is pretty impressive when you hear of so many flights being late and delayed. I would most definitely recommend Singapore Airlines to any one who is taking a flight on a route which they cover. http://www.singaporeair.com/ The Flight Attendants are attentive, polite and courteous all the time, with nothing seemingly too trivial for them to attend to. The food is outstanding and prepared (I think they mean designed, because I can’t imagine one chef producing all the meals for one airline) by an Internationally renowned chef who I’ve never heard of! All the meals are offered with a choice of dishes, usually a fish, choice of 2 meat and some vegetarian but you are required to specify vegetarian when you book the flight. The meals are served with proper steel cutlery and drinks are served in glasses not the nasty plastic things offered on charter flights. All seats in economy are the second largest size available from airlines so you do have a little more leg room and seat width than normal. I especially liked the head rest which had little bendy wings on the edges which you could turn in so holding your head a little more snugly whilst you rested. Well we are back in chilly old England having missed all the good weather you had while we were gone and as usual it doesn’t feel good to be back! I only half mean that really as a destination like the Philippines is a real assault on one’s senses and sensibilities. So the familiarity of home is reassuring but does also highlight the differences in the way of life experienced in both countries, the infrastructure of our towns and cities and the high standard of living we generally enjoy. However the unfailing cheerfulness, hospitality and desire to make your stay happy, of Filipinos is inspiring and sometimes a little overpowering. I have also found that a Filipino will say yes to almost every request you make of them because they find it most difficult to say no. I think this is in some way because they think it reflects badly on them personally and they will not be thought of well. But to a westerner it means that you are sometimes disappointed because an arrangement was made that your Filipino friend has no intention of fulfilling because he felt he couldn’t say no to your face. I do not mean that in any way as a criticism, merely be aware that a cultural difference such as that is not so important to the Filipino as to us. When it happens to them they just shrug and move on. I suppose it’s all about being a little more laid back and relaxed. Filipino Time is also another big cultural difference. We arrange our lives around fairly exact timings, “meet you at 9” and so we do meet at 9. Filipino time “meet you at 9” means meet you at whatever time I am ready after I’ve done this and that, been shopping, had dinner and phoned a few friends. And nobody minds when you arrive 2 or 3 hours later than arranged!! Finally, getting the full story or all the information needed to make a decision from a Filipino is nigh on impossible. You need to be a master inquisitor to drag the information from them, they will not volunteer it willingly, not from a malicious sense but because they genuinely believe you can read their mind and know exactly what they are arranging. For example, when we travelled to North Luzon we were being driven by Dodie and we were to stay at 3 hotels during the 4 days. I knew I was to pay Dodie for the journey, diesel and his time and I obviously knew I was to pay for Lu and my accommodation. What nobody had told me was that I was expected to pay for everybody’s accommodation and food. I didn’t mind, especially when you consider the low cost associated with the Filippines and that we were being accommodated at Hotel Encarnacion for free, but if someone had just said at the beginning that was the arrangement we wouldn’t have had our embarrassing moment in Vigan and Pagudpud. Having said all that the trip was absolutely superb and my companions were all good fun
3am, we’re up and saying our final goodbyes to people we only met 24 hours previously but feel we’ve known for years. The hospitality we received was second to none and genuine and we truly appreciated it. At Ninoy Aquino International Airport we sit and wait for our flight details to appear on the board and when they do we begin queuing. However, Filipinos and other Asian races are not very good at a peculiarly British institution and so pockets of people start appearing in random places near the check-in. We check with the couple in front of us that they are queuing for the London flight to which they agree. However an Airport worker starts to organise everybody into a line for the Singapore flight and he informs us that this area of the “queue” is for Taiwan flight. So we go to the back of a rapidly lengthening queue! Then the check-in desks put up a new sign for E-Ticket holders to check-in. Result for us as we have e-tickets. So we queue and another check-in desk worker comes to see our ticket. “This not e-ticket sir” “Yes it is, I booked it on the internet and it says Electronic Ticket Booking.” “yes sir but you do not have a printed e-ticket” Give me strength, I am about to have an argument with him when Lu intervenes in Tagalog. We now go straight to the check-in desk an get booked on the flight with the seats we had already pre-booked 5 months ago. He is very helpful and helps carry our bags and fusses around until we are sorted. She has never told me what she said to him!
When we board the Singapore Airlines 767 we take our seats and the flight to Singapore begins without incident. On arrival at Singapore, Changi we have 50 minutes to disembark and connect with the 747 flight to London, which should just give me enough time to nip in to the Duty or Tax free shopping area and buy some drink. As we approach the embarkation lounge for our flight they have already loaded most passengers and we are some of the last to arrive! Well at least we have less time to sit in the cabin. We are lucky to find that there is an empty seat beside us so it gives Lu a little more room to stretch out and sleep. This flight is almost full so we were really fortunate. The food was again, really good. We were served a lunch with plenty of wine and Lu had another Singapore Gin Sling which the flight attendant managed to spill on my white shirt! But she went and got a cloth and some soda water and after a few minutes dabbing all the rather fetching pink colour had been removed! So handy tip, keep soda crystals at home for nasty coloured wet stains. I think I watched 3 or 4 films during the flight and after about 4hours from having had lunch we were served with dinner, more wine and then some more wine. I was unable to sleep on this flight but Lu seemed to have no problem, she seems to be able to go to sleep at the drop of a hat! Some things just aren’t fair.
The flight arrives only a few minutes late at Heathrow which is pretty impressive when you hear of so many flights being late and delayed. I would most definitely recommend Singapore Airlines to any one who is taking a flight on a route which they cover. http://www.singaporeair.com/ The Flight Attendants are attentive, polite and courteous all the time, with nothing seemingly too trivial for them to attend to. The food is outstanding and prepared (I think they mean designed, because I can’t imagine one chef producing all the meals for one airline) by an Internationally renowned chef who I’ve never heard of! All the meals are offered with a choice of dishes, usually a fish, choice of 2 meat and some vegetarian but you are required to specify vegetarian when you book the flight. The meals are served with proper steel cutlery and drinks are served in glasses not the nasty plastic things offered on charter flights. All seats in economy are the second largest size available from airlines so you do have a little more leg room and seat width than normal. I especially liked the head rest which had little bendy wings on the edges which you could turn in so holding your head a little more snugly whilst you rested. Well we are back in chilly old England having missed all the good weather you had while we were gone and as usual it doesn’t feel good to be back! I only half mean that really as a destination like the Philippines is a real assault on one’s senses and sensibilities. So the familiarity of home is reassuring but does also highlight the differences in the way of life experienced in both countries, the infrastructure of our towns and cities and the high standard of living we generally enjoy. However the unfailing cheerfulness, hospitality and desire to make your stay happy, of Filipinos is inspiring and sometimes a little overpowering. I have also found that a Filipino will say yes to almost every request you make of them because they find it most difficult to say no. I think this is in some way because they think it reflects badly on them personally and they will not be thought of well. But to a westerner it means that you are sometimes disappointed because an arrangement was made that your Filipino friend has no intention of fulfilling because he felt he couldn’t say no to your face. I do not mean that in any way as a criticism, merely be aware that a cultural difference such as that is not so important to the Filipino as to us. When it happens to them they just shrug and move on. I suppose it’s all about being a little more laid back and relaxed. Filipino Time is also another big cultural difference. We arrange our lives around fairly exact timings, “meet you at 9” and so we do meet at 9. Filipino time “meet you at 9” means meet you at whatever time I am ready after I’ve done this and that, been shopping, had dinner and phoned a few friends. And nobody minds when you arrive 2 or 3 hours later than arranged!! Finally, getting the full story or all the information needed to make a decision from a Filipino is nigh on impossible. You need to be a master inquisitor to drag the information from them, they will not volunteer it willingly, not from a malicious sense but because they genuinely believe you can read their mind and know exactly what they are arranging. For example, when we travelled to North Luzon we were being driven by Dodie and we were to stay at 3 hotels during the 4 days. I knew I was to pay Dodie for the journey, diesel and his time and I obviously knew I was to pay for Lu and my accommodation. What nobody had told me was that I was expected to pay for everybody’s accommodation and food. I didn’t mind, especially when you consider the low cost associated with the Filippines and that we were being accommodated at Hotel Encarnacion for free, but if someone had just said at the beginning that was the arrangement we wouldn’t have had our embarrassing moment in Vigan and Pagudpud. Having said all that the trip was absolutely superb and my companions were all good fun
Labels: filipino, Ninoy Aquino Airport, Pagudpud, Philippines, Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airport, singapore Gin sling, Vigan
