Homeward Bound on SQ34 &SE Asia Travel - Limited Photography

[RedEyeflight]

The aircraft takes off from 02C 40 minutes behind schedule. It is a bumpy take-off into the dreary monsoon sky.



As the seat belt sign comes off, I settle in and dim my window.





I connect to wifi and start messaging friends.



Lunch was served on this intra-ASEAN flight. A choice between pork with rice or chicken pasta. I chose the western option.

Meal tray presentation. Included a prawn starter and vanilla bean ice cream.



Chicken pasta.



The main was decent. The pasta tasted a bit on the salty side.



Appetiser



Vanilla bean ice cream as dessert



Meals were cleared with slightly over 90 minutes left of the flight. I wasn't in the mood to watch much Krisworld. I probably watched 2 TV episodes and read for most of the flight.

[RedEyeflight]

Forward Y cabin one hour before landing.


Toilets were furnished with dental hygiene.


Sink and washbasin.


As we neared MNL, we circled above the airport for 10 minutes due to congestion. We began our final approach exactly on schedule.



Landing at MNL.


Pulling into gate 116 at MNL's Terminal 3 at exactly 5.45pm, our arrival time.



It was a quick walk to immigration. Thankfully, announcements were made during the flight of the need to fill up an online customs declaration form. I connected to NAIA wi-fi and scanned QR codes on posters plastered throughout the arrival area. I stood in line and filled out the form as I waited. Lines were long and snaking. The dedicated ASEAN lane was subsumed into the general queue and so I was not given priority. Just before 7pm, I cleared immigration and went downstairs, through customs and out into the waiting area.



The waiting area is crowded and I buy a Filipino SIM for my old iPhone SE. I take a Grab to my hotel in Makati. After some confusion, I am finally picked up in an old Toyota SUV. The driver adds 35 Pesos to my fare to go by the Skyway, a highway system in the city. In less than 20 minutes I am at my hotel.

[RedEyeflight]

An assortment of photos from my 3 night trip to Manila.

Visited the National Museum of Fine Arts which had an excellent collection of art by Filipino artists including Juan Luna who resided in Paris and was an activist during the Philippine revolution of the late 19th century.









The museum occupies the building that used to house the Filipino legislature. Pictured below is the senate chamber with a mural depicting various important moments in Philippine history.

[RedEyeflight]

I walked over to Intramuros, or city within the walls - a part of Manila built by the Spaniards for Europeans in the 16th century. Unfortunately, many original structures do not remain as they were destroyed by earthquake or World War II bombing. The most visible structure still standing is the walls that encircle the neighbourhood.

Stopped by Illustrado, a restaurant serving local dishes, and had Kambing Kaldereta, a beef and potato dish from Northern Luzon.



Spent the rest of the afternoon on a bicycle tour of the area.

The area around the walls used to be a moat, but was filled in by the Americans and turned into a golf course.








Fort Santiago.

[RedEyeflight]

On the following day, I went to Manila Hotel, a historic building akin to Raffles Hotel where General McArthur had stayed and led the war effort.



Had lunch in the lobby. Chicken dumpling soup.



Headed back to Intramuros to San Agustin church, the oldest church in the Philippines founded in 1571 together with the modern city of Manila. The current church building was completed in the early 17th century, and renovated in subsequent years. The church contains a vast museum with artefacts from the Spanish colonial era depicting the church and raison d'être of the time.

Museum contained many paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries.


Church organ made of native materials in the 1700s and restored in the 1990s.



Wedding procession going on while I visited.


Exterior of the building.


Took a walking tour of Binondo, the city's Chinatown, which also happens to be the oldest Chinatown in the world.



The tour ended with a ride on a public Jeepney. This was probably the highlight of the whole trip. Jeepney's are converted US World War II jeeps. There are over 40,000 jeepneys roaming the streets of Manila. Jeepneys behave like a bus. They have a fixed route and passengers can embark and alight at any point along their routes. Capacity is limited, with many carrying up to 12 passengers. Modernising transport in Manila and in the Philippines have been challenging given the entrenched nature of the system.

[RedEyeflight]

On the day of my departure, I roamed around Makati and chanced upon this open air church built in the middle of a shopping complex. Interestingly, it was the product of a friend of a developer family who wanted to provide a space for Catholics to worship in Makati.



Flight: SQ 919
Aircraft: Airbus 350-900 (9V-SHF)
Origin: Manila
Destination: Singapore
Class: Economy
Date: January 2025

With Manila's nightmarish traffic, I overcompensated and left my hotel around 1.30pm for a 5pm departure. I arrived at the airport at 2pm.

The airport terminal was crowded. Passengers could only be let in if they showed their ID and ticket, which is common in this part of the world. The guard didn't bother checking me and asked what airline I was flying.

SQ had been assigned the D-row in Terminal 3.



With KFES status, I had a dedicated check-in counter. There were no queues when I arrived and I was checked-in quickly.



Expecting long queues at immigration, I was pleasantly surprised when there were no lines for foreigners. Still I used the ASEAN lane which was deserted. The immigration officer had trouble locating my stamp. Soon I was stamped out of the Philippines with 2.5 hours to kill.

Once airside, I headed to the gate. SQ917 to SIN, the mid-afternoon departure which was operated by 9V-SHS that day, was just leaving the gate. It does seem like SQ is assigned gate 112 at MNL T3 on a regular basis.

NH 789 at the neighbouring gate operating as NH870 to HND.



FIDS at T3. Not many international departures. Suspect that most of the crowds are heading to domestic flights on 5J.

[RedEyeflight]

I walked around the terminal to kill time. There weren't many international brands. Instead, there appeared to be a lot of mom and pop stores and local brands.




Spent time reading at this mom and pop cafe.




Also perused a cigar shop.

[RedEyeflight]

As boarding time approached, there was no sight of our aircraft. Finally, at 4.15pm, 9V-SHF pulled into gate 112 arriving as SQ912 from SIN, 25 minutes behind schedule.

The gate area is crowded and it appears this will be a completely full flight. Boarding began 10 minutes before our scheduled departure time. Boarding is somewhat chaotic as passengers line up before it commences. However, the gate area space is quite tight and lines form in places for no apparent reason.



9V-SHF, a 5-year old regional A350.




Refreshed Krisworld system.


Seat pitch



The flight was completely full. Many passengers had large carry-on bags. Cabin crew struggled to find space for all the carry-ons passengers brought. The overhead compartments where I was sitting filled quickly and passengers had to re-arrange bags in compartments away from their seats and find any available place to store their bags. What I noticed, however, were many passengers still placing bags on their front or back instead of on their sides. This is where having survived the brusque service standards of US airlines came in handy. I placed my bag in the bin on its side. Even when bins were filling up, cabin crew did not insist that bags had to be on their sides and no announcements were made mandating passengers to put bags on their side. Most bins filled up quickly and cabin crew did not re-arrange bags on their side to create more space when they became full. I do wonder why this was the case. We were already running behind schedule by this point as the aircraft had arrived 25 minutes late from SIN. In addition, the turnaround in MNL is a tight 1 hour and 15 minutes, so even this small 25-minute delay can have a significant effect on on-time performance. Nevertheless, given that this is probably an issue isolated to regional SEA flights, I can see why the airline might not instruct passengers to be more mindful of how they put items in the overhead compartment.



View from my window seat 51K.



The boarding doors closed around 5.25pm, 20 minutes behind schedule, and we were immediately pushed back from the gate. Cabin after boarding.



Unfortunately, because MNL has only one long runway, we got caught in evening congestion as we waited for aircraft that were both landing and taking-off.

Just after 6pm, we were finally airborne.

[RedEyeflight]

Hot towels were handed out once we were airborne. Unfortunately, they were lukewarm when they arrived. But it's understandable given that the crew were working under tight time constraints.



At this juncture, boarding music was still being played even once we had reached cruising altitude. Don't get me wrong, I find SQ boarding music very soothing. But when you are sitting directly under the speaker while listening to it for more than an hour, it can become very grating on your ears.

Meal service began shortly after hot towels were collected. Again, a choice of pork with rice or chicken and mashed potatoes. I went for the latter.



Main.



Dessert was some type of coconut pudding.



Once trays were cleared, I watched some Krisworld. I took some pictures of the new interface.








Wi-fi is not working when I try logging in.



Cabin just before landing. Soon our 3 hour flight would come to an end.



Banking right over Batam.




We land on runway 02L. It is then a short taxi to our arrival gate, C20, at T1. We arrive 25 minutes behind schedule.

9V-SHF parked at the gate. It will do SQ800 to PEK later that evening.



I am greeted by the carpets of Changi. I go downstairs through immigration. The autogate scans my face and determines I am admissible into Singapore. With no checked baggage, I waltz through customs and into the arrival area.



- Fin -

[RedEyeflight]

- Final Thoughts -

I had a lot of fun writing this TR. While I am sad to leave the US, it feels good to be based in Singapore again.

I enjoyed my trip to the Philippines. I had never been there before and I was curious after living for several years in the US and learning about Philippine history. The Philippines was also the only ASEAN country that I had not been to, and with some time between jobs, I thought why not take a quick trip there. Had I more time, I would definitely have wanted to see more of the country. But as I am a lover of cities, the opportunity to see Manila was already fruitful for me. Moving onto SQ, the airline did not disappoint even on this short ASEAN sector. Crew were excellent on both sectors and the onboard offering greatly surpassed what one would need on such short flights. It goes without saying that luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends. Even with the small snag at MNL with the overhead bins, the crew on SQ919 were equally superb. In my experience, this seems to be a practice on most SQ flights, of crew not being too concerned about overhead space, which is understandable.

I hope you enjoyed reading this eclectic trip report. Hope to bring more content in future.

Take care,
RedEyeflight

[yflyer]

A very nice read, RedEyeflight! Thanks for sharing!

[RedEyeflight]

A very nice read, RedEyeflight! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks yflyer! Can't wait to read the remainder of your report.