Eric's Big Adventure - Part 9: A Bonus Day in the Philippines

Calling it a bonus day is a polite way for saying my flight was CANCELLED !!! The dreaded words on the departure screen were all to clear. What now ??? Here I am at the airport, tired after working a long day and already gone from my family for three weeks. Well, it was time to use one of the perks given to me as a Business Class traveler – access to the Mahubay lounge. There I found a line of people waiting to get the same thing as me. I needed answers to questions like when is the next flight ? What will you do to put us up for the night ? How do I contact my family to let the know ? and What about my connecting flights ?

No explanation was given for the cancelled flight until the next day. It appears some work was being done at the airport, perhaps as an aftermath to the storm, and it was not going to be completed until several hours after our scheduled departure of 10:40 pm. This would not have caused a problem except for the fact that the Immigration and Customs Office in san Francisco would be closed upon our arrival until 8:00 am the next morning.

I was able to contact my family by using the internet to let everybody know about my delay. As for accommodations for the evening, the airline said it was working on it and would let us know. Not good timing on our part because many of the available hotel rooms in the city were booked with people taking refuge from the lack of power in their homes caused by the Typhoon. It was close to midnight by the time we boarded a bus and found our way to The Boulevard Mansion Hotel. The “Mansion” was an older hotel which had not yet found its way into the 2000’s, as noted by their use of actual keys for the room and an aerial antenna for the tv , but anyplace with a bed and some air-conditioning was appreciated. No here was a unique feature which you would not have found in the States: a representative from the airlines traveled with us on the bus to make sure we checked into the hotel just fine. In addition, he AND the bus driver stayed the night at the same hotel as us so there would be no delays in the morning. I was impressed with that level of service !

The wakeup call came way to quickly, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and get showered. Of course all of my clean clothes were safely stored in my suitcases (which I checked at the airport the night before). No way was I going to retrieve four pieces of luggage and drag them to my temporary shelter for the night. As it was I had enough in my hands with my carry-on bag, my laptop backpack and several shopping bags of goodies.

We made our way to the airport at 8:30 am and went directly to the Mabuhay lounge. There they had my new boarding pass as well as connecting flight information ready for me as I walked in. Again, terrific service which you wouldn’t have found in the states. Our flight was scheduled to depart Manila at 11:00 am and ultimately took off at noon, bound for San Francisco. This time, instead of being in Business Class I was upgraded to First Class. Nice !!!

Some other notes about the flight …

· Remember all of those boxes which I mentioned that people were bringing into the Philippines upon my arrival ? Well I had a few extra bags myself for the trip home and I was shocked at the price of a $300 fee for two extra bags. Wow, good thing I have an allowance for that expense !

· We hit several pockets of turbulence during the flight, one of which ranks up there with the most violent that I’ve experienced. As a matter of fact, dinner had just been served and I had two nearly full glasses of water and soda that sent their contents sloshing into the air until I grabbed them. Good thing it was just my table cloth which was soaked and not my plate or my clothes.

· During one trip to the bathroom I noticed a bottle of mouthwash so I decided to “freshen up” after a meal. I poured a small amount of the liquid into a cup and them began to gargle. Holy crap ! As soon as I put that stuff in my mouth I felt a burning sensation and felt like my mouth was going to collapse upon itself. I couldn’t spit the mouthwash out quickly enough to prevent myself from gasping for air and even then it took almost a minute before the pain stopped. Ok, note to self: next time the label on mouthwash says “concentrated” it isn’t a marketing ploy to make you think its better at killing germs. No, this stuff was actually concentrated and needed to be diluted with water BEFORE putting the stuff in your mouth. Once again another instance of “Silly American”.

· If I consider the time I left the office to head to the airport (6:00 pm on Friday, Manila time), it was more than 42 hours before I made it home. I arrived home early Sunday morning just past midnight, which if converted to Manila time would be 12:30 pm on Sunday. Yikes !!!

This is the last post for Eric's Big Adventure.

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 8: Sightseeing in Manila

This blog under construction

Next Blog: A Bonus Day in the Philippines

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 7: In the Eye of the Storm

Typhoon "Milenyo" (international codename: Xangsane)


Wow, this is not what you want to wake up to and discover that its heading your way, but that's what happended to me on Thursday, the 27th.


I don't know if storms come together quicker here than at home, but I didn't hear anything about this storm until one of my drivers, Arnold, told me on the way home from the office Wednesday .


As we made our way from the hotel to the office you could tell the weather was picking up. The winds were becoming more intense and gusting. The poor guys who drive the tricycles had to deal with the wind AND the rain. When I entered the elevator of our building it was earie to hear the wind howling through the elevator shafts. You knew from the start this wasn't going to be an ordinary day at the office.


Surrounding the Accenture building is plenty of new construction, which is kind of scary when you consider all of the debris which tends to surround a construction site. Our team is located on the 10th floor of an 18 story building, which meant that we had a great view of the event. As the storm strengthened the debris started flying through the air. Debris was flying everywhere, billboards were ripped to shreds and trees were toppled. The temporary construction barriers came toppling down and the scraps of tin covering them went flying into the air.

At one point during the storm the winds were so strong that the entire building was swaying. Now if you are on a cruise ship swaying is ok, but in a tall office building it is a little unnerving.


Milenyo was the 13th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, disaster officials said. For good local coverage of the storm here are some links to stories from the Philippine Star:

‘Milenyo’ shuts down Metro:
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/show_content.asp?article=277462

More days of darkness:
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/show_content.asp?article=277616

Government trains sights on giant billboards:
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/show_content.asp?article=277626

Tropical storms regularly hit the archipelago. Typhoon Milenyo, with winds of up to 130 kph (81 mph) and gusts of 160 kph, roared through Manila, ripping up lamp posts, roofs and billboards and bringing the city to a near standstill.


In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died in central Leyte Island in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.

Next Blog: Sightseeing in Manila

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 6: The Accenture Team

This blog under construction

Next Blog: In the Eye of the Storm

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 5: Shopping in Manila

Shopping in Manila is unlike any experience I’ve had. In a city of more than 10 million people one would expect to find a few stores, but to say there are a few malls and other places to shop would be a drastic understatement.

Directly across the street from my hotel was my favorite place to shop and eat – Mega Mall. As previously described the Mega Mall had some of everything, anchored by SM’s Department Store and Grocery Store. If I needed a couple of Cokes or bottled water for the room, off to Mega Mall. If I wanted to get a few Polo shirts or a new pair of pants, off to Mega Mall. If I was hungry and wanted some food, off to Mega Mall. If I needed a big screen TV, well … you get the picture.

Mega Mall certainly wasn’t the only place to shop in Manila. As a matter of fact, on the day I traveled to see the Mall of Asia I passed by at least eight other malls to get there. No kidding !! Now in a city this densely populated you won’t find valuable space taken up by a strip center. Instead, most shopping complexes are constructed like rectangular, multi-story buildings.

When it was lunch time in the office, where do you think we went to eat ? Why the mall, of course. The “office” mall was a part of a complex owned by another retailer known as Robinson’s. In addition to the mall, Robinson’s owned the building which the Accenture office was in.

My favorite day of shopping occurred when we traveled to a place called GreenHills. Greenhills was a place where you could haggle for the price to pay, so I brought along some of the people from the office to help me with the negotiations. Shopping with me this day were Cris, Karen & Hegel. I was looking for a handbag and wallet for Stef, some pearls for the ladies back home and something worthwhile for the guys. Wow, did I come to the right place for those items!

My first purchase was a Coach handbag and wallet. Now is this the real Coach product or a knockoff, that I don’t know, but the quality appeared to go good so I found several that I was interested in. I asked for the initial price and they said something like 1500 Pesos. I figured I might have more negotiating power if I purchased more than one item, so I made a counteroffer of two for 2000 Pesos. We haggled back and forth and finally settled in at two for 2200 and that included two wallets which were not part of the original deal. Ok, so I impressed my friends with my negotiating skills and we went to the next series of booths looking for pearls.

I felt a little out of my league looking at the pearls. How does one know the difference at first glance between a good pearl and a not-so-good one ? Well, I was going to find out. I figured that one good way to know the difference in quality would be to see how much the vendor wanted to “protect” certain items. After walking around several of the booths we stopped at one which hit me for some reason. I found a selection of pearls which I liked and started negotiating. Sure enough my theory worked. When I kept trying to drill down the price on a certain selection of pearls she kept suggestion that for that price I go to a different type. Not me, I found the ones I wanted and just need to get the best price. Using the power of volume purchasing I was able to negotiate for three strands of pearls and three sets of matching earnings for 6000 pesos. Since this was less than half of the price where we started I was rather proud of myself.

My last purchase was a pair a “Rolex” watches. Now there was no doubting the authenticity (or lack thereof) of these watches, but they still looked nice and I wanted a pair for the guys. Since there were so many of these watch vendors I tried a new strategy. In addition to the volume purchases I wanted to find out what the rock-bottom price was going to be. One way to do that was to insist on a price for a watch which the vendor was unwilling to give. Even after saying that I wanted two watches the lady said “No way – you go find somebody to sell you the watches for that price”. I think I really pissed her off ! Using the info I obtained from the pissed-off lady I went to another vendor and settled in on a fair price for several watches. Well, it was time to call it a day so I had my driver take my friends back to the office where I originally picked them up and then it was back to the hotel for me. What a good day !

Next Blog: The Accenture Team

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 4: Sports, Can I Please Watch Some Real Sports on T.V. ?

So anybody who knows me understands that I am an avid sports fan and that I follow sports passionately. Football, NASCAR, Baseball are definitely among my favorites. Second tier sports include Hockey, Basketball and occasionally Golf.

Following your favorite sport from overseas can be a bit of a challenge. Sure, the hotel has four channels dedicated to sports 24 hours a day. The question is, are the sports on television the ones you want to watch ? Well, if you like watching the World Snooker Championship, or are in the mood for an occasional Ping Pong match, then you are in luck. If you are a fan of the other football, known to us Yanks as Soccer, then you might be in a dream environment. You can watch all of the English Premier League soccer you want. For the games you miss, there is SportsCenter to help you with the highlights. Yes, ESPN is on tv, but it’s not your standard ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, or ESPN nth. It’s an international version of ESPN, complete with its own programming schedule.

So while you couch potatoes were home on Saturday enjoying college football, I was watching the 888.com World Snooker Championship. While you were watching baseball I was watching the International Ironman Championships. While you were watching NFL football, I was watching Futbol. Look, I'll admit that many times I was actually watching some of these sports. I did, however, have to draw the line at the ESPN Jump Rope Championships.

Other sports which I had more than enough opportunity to watch included Rugby, Ping Pong, Badminton & Motorsports of all kinds.

I will admit it was quite interesting to see Sunday Night Football on Monday morning and Monday Night Football on Tuesday morning. Too bad that I was in the office andhad to work !

Ok, so aside from sports on tv I will admit that I had the opportunity to see some sports you just won't find here. One night on my return to the hotel there was a flyer under my door advertising a hotel-sponsored trip to see Cockfighting, or "Sabong" as the locals call it. It was billed as the national pastime in the Philippines. In addition, the flyer said it is one of the most ancient spectator sports, originating more than 5,000 years ago in Persia. Although it would have been interesting to see, my free time was very limited so I took a pass on this offer.

Next Blog: Shopping in Manila

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 3: Adventures in Food

Ok, let's make this very clear. I am anything but an adventureous eater. As a matter of fact, other than missing my family very much the prospect of eating unknown objects was the biggest thing I dreaded about the trip.

My first day in the office was hectic. Before I knew it it was time for lunch and therefore, my first real experience with food here in Manila. Up until this point in time I had spent most of the previous two days either in the hotel or across the street at the mall. In either case I had not experienced the local food (McDonald's doesn't count).

I was kind of scared at this point in time. Just a few hours before a conversation led to my discovery that a previous visitor from SolutionWorks, Alex Araujo, had eaten a dish called 'The Balut'. Here is the textbook description: A balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They are considered delicacies of Asia and especially the Philippines, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, baluts are mostly sold by street vendors at night in the regions where they are available. They are often served accompanied with consumption of beer. The Filipino word balut roughly translates to mean "wrapped".

Okay, I don't care how hungry I am you won't find me eating that. If your stomach can take it use the following link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut

So now maybe you can imagine how my mind was racing before lunch. I went to lunch with the team's Manager (Cecile) and Team Lead (Sherilou). We went to one of Cecile's favorite restaurants called Cafe Juanita. To American's like me you might think a name like that would mean Mexican food. Nope, the choices were an amazing variety of Asian dishes. I was relieved to find a lot of things on the menu which I wanted to try. I settled on a tasty chicken dish that had a nice spice (Sorry but I can't recall the name).

Getting Me Out Of My Comfort Zone:

Day two in the office tested my adventerous side a bit more. We had a team lunch and went across the parking lot to the local mall where they had a variety of restaurants. We had reservations for a place called Max's, a chain a restaurants based in the Philippines.

It turns out they served family-style dining which that means they bring a variety of dishes and everybody takes a little of everything. I let the experienced people order the food and then waited to see what would arrive.

The first item to arrive was harmless enough. A yummy looking whole fried chicken, cut into pieces (1st picture to the left). The next several items were definitely going to test my stomach.

The next item to be passed my way: Sinigang - Tamarind Sour Soup (2nd picture to the left) This dish is assorted vegetables in tangy and sour tamarind soup. Your choice of Shrimp, Pork Spare Ribs, Mackerel or Milkfish. Ok, I tried the broth and it wasn't too bad. I wasn't sure what the meat was in the soup, but I tried a little bit and managed to stay alive.

The third item to come along was Crispy Pata (3rd item pictured to the left) This dish is Deep-fried Pig's Knuckles simmered in special marinade and deep-fried to perfection. Served with a special sauce. Believe it or not, I tried a bit of this too. I figured that I've eaten Pork Rinds before, so I started with the skin. Man, deep-fried pig knuckles. They don't waste any part of an animal around here, do they ?

Ok, so I had to draw the line at the last dish. Kare-Kare (4th item pictured to the left) was the last dish served. Stewed Oxtail simmered in a rich peanut sauce until tender. Served with vegetables and shrimp paste to liven up this native delicacy. Mmmm, I've got your attention now, don't I ?

I discovered this restaurant has made its way to the US. Check out the website for more info: http://www.maxssf.com/

Days three and four in the office were filled with more opportunities for adventures in food. I enjoyed a tasty meal at a restaurant called Bacolod Chicken Inisal which consisted of grilled chicken and some "flavored" rice. I feel better that I didn't ask what the unknown substances were in the "flavored" rice 'cause I'm sure I didn't want to know. It did, however, taste quite good so I rather just leave it that way.

I'm sure there will be more adventures along the way. I'll try to document the more noteworthy ones. One item of note is the incredible number of selections that I am finding on some of the menus. The Chinese restaurant that I visited today had to have more than 100 items to choose from. By the way, I somehow passed on the marianted JellyFish.

Next Blog: Sports, Can I Please Watch Some Real Sports on T.V. ?

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 2: The First Few Days

Wow, still recovering from the travel. It was weird traveling in total darkness for almost 24 hours. I guess I didn't think about it before my trip but when I left @ 6:40 pm on Thursday that was the last time I saw the sun until it came up @ 6:00 am in Manila --- on Saturday. Subtract the twelve hour time difference and that's almost 24 hours without sun.

Sometimes I forget I am in another country but other times I am very much aware. One of those moments of awareness begins when you pull into the drive at the Hotel and there is a bomb check-point out front. Men with mirrors inspected underneath the car while a K-9 police officer and his dog checked out the trunk of the car.

Most everybody that I've met has been very friendly and helpful, and they all speak English remarkably well. The hotel is fairly large at nearly 20 stories tall. My room is very spacious and the decour is quite contemporary. How about this for smart in a hotel room --- upon entering the room you have to insert your room key into a device which then turns on all of the lights in the room.

The room has a good-size closet as well as a refrigerator. I did have a bit of an adventure with the iron. Overseas many of the electrical outlets are 220V, not 110V. Apparantly the iron in my room is meant for a 110V circuit but I plugged it into the 220V outlet. Ooops, all I heard next was zap and then off went the tv. Since I was ready for bed anyways I waited until the next morning to report my incident. A maintenance guy had to come to my room and crawl in the ceiling to reset the breaker. So sorry about that - Silly American !!!

So the number and types of the vehicles on the road are amazing. There are many which you don't see in the States, including something called Zeepneys and motorcycle sidecards called tricycles.


Pictured: A variety of Jeepneys in Manila. Check out this link for more info: https://amr.mail.accenture.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeepney

Most intersections do not have red lights nor stop signs. It's like everybody makes their way into the intersection at the same time and somehow they make it through to the other side, without a scratch to show for it. Amazing ! On top of that, the lines on the road are really a waste of paint. They're not even used as a guideline. The car horn is a better tool than the lines on the road !

My first couple of days in the hotel were a bit of a blur. I didn't know if I should be awake or asleep and how to best adjust to the time change. After getting settled in my room I gave in to my tiredness and hit the sack. I was hoping to get just a few hours sleep but it turned out that I didn't awake until about 5:00 pm. Imagine waking up from a long sleep and realizing the night is only a few hours away. Soon most everybody else in the city would be going to sleep.

I had to get out of my funk so I got changed into some shorts and walked around the hotel. It didn't take me too long to circle the complex before I ended up back where I started. It was then that I realized that a mall was close by. Turns out it was actually right across the street, so off to the mall I went.

To get to the entrance of the mall I had to pass by a large taxi-cab pick-up area. Definitely not the typical taxi's that you see in the US. These were more like mini-vans with seating to hold a lot of people. I couldn't believe how many people were crammed into some of these vehicles. If I didn't know better I would have sworn they were part of a college fraternity and they were trying to set a record for cramming people into a vehicle. Unfortulately for the people inside that wasn't the case.

To get into the mall you passed through a security area. Males went through one entrance and females went through the other. I entered the mall through the anchor store (SM) and once inside was amazed at how big the place was. The mall itself is five stories tall, but the department store was also five stories tall. It was like a Super Wal-Mart on steroids. In addition to the department store, SM had a full-service grocery store in an adjacent building. I wandered around and checked out the goods before proceeding into the heart of the mall.

Pictured is Building B of SM Megamall. Check out this link for more info: https://amr.mail.accenture.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_Megamall

I was thinking to myself that back home we don't get this many people into a mall unless it's Christmas time. Here it occurs most everyday. I was hungry at this point in time, so I was on the prowl for some food. What did my eyes spot next but my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world - McDonald's. And this time I literally meant, whole wide world. I'm sure that I'll get chastised for coming to Asia and having McDonald's as my first meal here. After see some of the food on the airplane, however, I wasn't taking any chances.

The Asian version of McDonald's does not contain your normal menu. No Sir, extra products like the McSpaghetti and the new McRice burger were on the menu. I settled for my normal meal, a double-cheeseburger and fries, but instead of costing me $5 it was only $2. Wow, McDonald's for only $2. Now I could get used to that :-)


Pictured is the McDonald's McRice Burger. Check out this link for more info: http://goingglobal.corante.com/archives/2005/09/28/mcdonalds_scores_with_mcrice_burger.php

Next Blog: Adventures In Food

Eric's Big Adventure - Part 1: The Journey

My First Blog, and what a story to tell !

So where else do you begin the story of a three-week trip to Manila than with the journey itself. My flight departed Tampa @ 6:40 pm on Thursday, September 7th.

The first leg of my flight was on a Delta plane destined for LAX. A heavy downpour caused a 30-minute delay, so I was concerned about making my connection. We landed @ 9:00 pm (LA time), which only left me one hour to make my connection. It was even more challenging to discover that I had to exit the terminal and re-enter the international terminal, taking me through security once again. I was relieved to discover that my flight to Manila had been pushed back by 90 minutes. Even better, the flight was changed from making one stop in Guam to going direct to Manila.

Arriving at the gate for my flight to Manila was a bit of a shock. I've traveled on some large planes before, but never on a 747. I was shocked to see almost 500 people waiting at the gate for our flight. Included in the group were about 15 people in wheel chairs. I was seated in business class, seat 11K (see the seat map: http://www.philippineairlines.com/files/B747400%20N751-%20N753%20rev%2027dec05.pdf). Not only was it very cool to board a 747, but to go up the stairs to the business class section as well. All of the flight attendants were very friendly and they attended to your every need.

The flight was long and bumpy(a total of 7,261 miles). We traveled with the seat belt fastened sign turned on for most of the flight. We left LAX @ 11:30 pm and shortly after takeoff they served us dinner. The menu was very unique, at least for a boy raised on meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Seeing as I couldn't find the cheeseburge option, I settled for the orange peel chicken, which was actually quite tasty. This was after passing on the mini goat cheese-cake with herbed smoked salmon appetizer.

After dinner the lights dimmed and it was time to sleep. Imagine trying to sleep in a lazy-boy recliner and that's what it was like. Sure, it was comfortable, but for long periods of sleep it didn't completely work. I woke up several times and watched movies. I saw most of Mission Impossible III and later all of X-Men. At least I finally got to catch up on some movies that I had not seen.

The lady sitting next to me for the duration of the flight was named Let A (pronounced lay-ta). She was extremely friendly and was a native from the Philippines. She is a nurse and works with her husband, who is a doctor. They live in the southern part of the Philippines in the city of Zamboanga. According to our travel web-site, I would be strictly prohibited to travel to this part of the Philippines, primarily due to terrorist activity. You should check out the location using Google Earth and you will see it is very close to Indonesia, which has never been that friendly with the United States. Let A was very friendly and we exchanged business cards. I plan on sending her an email and thanking her for making the flight more enjoyable.

About four hours before landing, they offered some refreshments and assorted goodies. I readily accepted the cookies and chocolates, but I had to pass on a dish called Arroz Caldo. The best way to describe this dish is to take the verbiage directly from the menu as follows:

Arroz Caldo: Ginger-flavored rice porridge with salted egg chunks, fried garlic, chopped spring onions and line.

Now I don't know about you, but the last time I heard of porridge was when I was reading the Three Bears to my daughter before her bedtime. Just the sight of it made me close the lid back up (as I smiled at the flight attendant).

One more meal was served shortly before we landed, but I chose the fruite plate and other items which I could identify by site.

We landed in Manila @ 4:15 am (Manila time). It took almost an hour before my bags arrived. I guess I couldn't complain when I realized there were almost 500 passengers to unload. In addition to nromal luggage there were many boxes on the flight. Since most of the people were from the Philippines on my flight, it makes sense that they brough back assorted goodies from the US.

I met a representative from the hotel who escorted me to a driver and off to the hotel I went. Even at 5:30 in the morning there was a good bit of traffic on the road. I can't say that I had ever seen a street where there were five lanes of traffic and people in the right-most lane were making left-hand turns. Wow, I am not driving in this town !!!

I checked into the hotel and made my way to the room. The hotel is quite nice as seen in the picture below:

For more information on the hotel check out the following web site: http://www.shangri-la.com/manila/edsashangri-la/en/index.aspx

Next Blog: The First Few Days