Day 49

We really slept in. It was so quiet and cool inside the room that we took advantage of it and just took our time waking up. We did not get out of our room until 11:30 am.

We checked out, had a glass of soymilk and iced tea, read the papers, checked email and then headed out for our last fling in Manila. We took a jeepney to China town and had lunch at one of the several Chinese veg restaurants. Then we took a jeepney to the city hall area and walked to SM mall for a soy, banana, and chocolate smoothie. Then we went in to see Venom and Final Destination 3 (both mediocre). Afterwards, we had dinner at Bodhi.

Finally, we went back to the pension to collect our bags and took 2 jeepney rides to the airport, terminal 2. Our flight was delayed for 2 hours and finally took off around midnight. Many passengers were dismayed when the delay was announced. They handed out snacks, but nothing vegetarian, not even plain bread. The officer said, “I’m sorry we don’t have anything vegetarian. So what would you like – hamburger or hotdog?” So, I explained why those are not options for me. Later they told me that they had someone make something for us—tuna sandwiches! I explained again to her that tuna is fish and not vegetarian. She said that another passenger was also vegetarian, but tuna sandwich was all right for him. I said, “Then he is not vegetarian.”

The airport situation continued to be quite dysfunctional. For example, the foreign exchange was closed in the boarding area. All passengers are forced into a cordoned off area next to the window while awaiting boarding. This means you must check out and back in if you need to use the facilities, each time going thru an additional security check involving body search. Also, the initial security screen results in confiscation of things like nail clippers, razors, and potato peelers. Instead of a single long queue at the ticket counter, each counter has its own line, which results in uneven waiting times for different passengers.

The flight was 11.5 hours. There were several good movies shown (Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, etc), but the sound system in our seats were not working. We had only radio, no tv sound. Food was okay—2 meals. Unfortunately, I accidentally left Ole’s%