Eric's 2nd Big Adventure - Part 5: Off to Manila

After a week in Pune it was time to head to the airport and then it was off to Manila. The route from Pune to Manila is anything but direct so we first had to travel to a larger gateway city called Chennai which is located at the Southern tip of India. To give you an idea of the size I would equate the size of Pune's airport(pictured to the left) to our Clearwater-St. Pete Airport.

For additional perspectives on our trip be sure to keep up with Alex's blog at http://topdownviews.blogspot.com/

Luckily they had a lounge where we could enjoy a few ice-cold Kingfisher beers prior to take-off. Interesting enough after drinking a few Kingfisher beers we boarded a Kingfisher Airlines plane and yes, the beer and the airlines are owned by the same company. The beers were really good so we were hoping the airline was as well. Turns out that the seats in the plane must have been sized for the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. Alex had the aisled seat and I was the lucky guy in the middle. When I looked over at Alex I saw that his knees were planted squarely into the chair in front of him. It was one of those times when I was glad to be only 5'6". Other than the initial squeezing ourselves into the seat the rest of the flight was uneventful and we arrived in Chennai on time.

Chennai's airport was much larger than Pune's, mostly because it is an international gateway to many other countries. We collected our bags and cleared customs and then it was off to get checked into Singapore Airlines. Of course all we really wanted after being on the cramped plane was to find the Singapore Airlines lounge where an ice-cold beer would be waiting for us. If these pictures are starting to look redundant well they should because there's not much else to do when you are taking three different planes and traveling through four different airports before arriving at our destination. I am pleased to say the quality of the lounges continued to get better with each stop, thus making the long trip more bearable. Before leaving the airport Alex took advantage of a duty-free shop and purchased a bottle of Gin which was delivered to us as we got on the place. After nearly a three-hour lay-over in Chennai we were finally on our way to Singapore.

Alex and I were not sitting together on the flight from Chennai and I was just looking for some sleep so this leg of the flight was not very memorable for me. Alex, however, sat next to a guy who travels this area frequently and he was telling him about Singapore and how incredible the airport was. After we landed we discovered the guy was not lying because the airport was absolutely amazing. The place was like a combination of International Plaza, a fine resort and spa and an airport all-in-one. The place had fine shopping, luxury lounges and even several swimming pools. If you were tired and had a long layover they even had a short-term hotel called a transit hotel. The Singapore Airlines lounge was just as spectacular with a bountiful selection of food and drink. We hated to leave this place behind and vowed to return to the city someday in the future.

Now for the funny part about our stay in Singapore. As we got to the gate area we had to go through another metal detector before boarding the plane. Remember the bottle of Gin I mentioned earlier ? It turns out the store in Chennai failed to mention that we could not carry it on the next leg of the flight leaving Singapore. The security guy inspected Alex's bag and found the bottle and told him that he could not carry it on the plane so he turned to Alex and said, "Would you like to step outside and finish it ?" We were both dumbfounded with the comment. Sure, let's run around the corner and finish off a liter bottle of Gin before boarding the flight. Something tells me that would be more of a security risk than letting us take the bottle on board. Makes me wonder if anybody else has taken him up on that offer before.

The final leg of our trip to Manila was uneventful and we arrived around 1:30 pm. During my previous trip to Manila in 2006 I arrived and departed in the dark so it was cool to be able to see the city from my window seat as we arrived. The picture below shows some of the rice-growing fields in addition to some houses.

After landing in Manila we cleared immigration and customs without incident and headed for the Shangri-La Hotel pavillion where our driver was waiting for us. During my previous trip to Manila I stayed in the Shangi-La Edsa and this time we stayed at the one in Makati City. Makati City is a hub of commercial and financial institutions so there is much more to see and do surrounding the hotel. But first things first ..... Alex and I were teased all week long in India by the following sign which we passed on our way to the office every day.

Of course we never saw the restaurant to go along with the sign so we both agreed we needed a good old-fashioned cheeseburger. We sat down in the restaurant at the hotel and enjoyed what seemed like the best burger that I've had in years. It was hard for Alex to contain his smile as we consumed our "Cheeseburger in Paradise".