30+ hours to the Philippines

I'm torn over whether to tell all this as a narrative or to just play it straight.  I think I'll do my best to just play it straight.

Our journey began on a mild evening in Denver Colorado.  The sun's rays reached over the Rocky Mountains as a final farewell.  We would not see its light again until we were somewhere over Japan.  I donned my brown fadora and hung my whip from my belt...

Ok, really.  We left Denver for San Francisco around nine, then from San Francisco to Hong Kong at 2 am.  We were delayed a little bit as the flight's original 2nd officer was ill and we were forced to wait for a replacement.  Cathay Pacific is a pretty nice airline, each seat has it's own entertainment system, complete with movies, games, and music.  This made up for the fact that the seats did not recline.

The flight over the Pacific was very bumpy for long stretches of time, but never frightening at any point.  We were treated to beautiful views of Tokyo sometime during the early morning hours.  Masses and masses of tiny twinkling lights covered many square miles.

Soon after, we were amazed by the sight of Mt. Fuji.  It was truly breath taking.

It wasn’t long before daylight washed away the night, and the sun rose over a cloud covered South China Sea.

The descent into Hong Kong had all of us glued to the windows.  It was just like every picture I’ve seen.  The sea was emerald green, and was framed by sandy beaches.  The green hills and mountains were peppered with tall buildings.  Busy roads wound their way through patches of suburban settlements.  Classic Chinese pagodas sat right next to massive modern power line towers. In the distance, Hong Kong’s skyscrapers rose through a thick fog.

 

Once we were on the ground, Hong Kong’s airport was modern and clean. People of every race, religion, and creed could be found at each turn.  Hong Kong was truly a nexus of trade and transportation for this part of the world.

After the 14 hour overnight marathon from San Francisco to Hong Hong, the quick hour and a half jaunt to Manila was over before we knew it.  The process of going through Philippine immigration control, getting our baggage, and getting through Philippine customs was fairly painless, though time consuming.  To catch our connecting flight from Manila to Bacolod (Ba-ho-lohd), we had to jump on an airport shuttle, which was surprisingly new-looking.

 

I thought I had seen crazy driving in Paris and Puerto Vallarta.  I thought I knew what it was like to clutch your seat and wonder if the driver knew what he was doing.  Sadly, I had no idea.

 

Drivers in the Philippines are more like a swarm of ants or bees in a colony than “drivers” in the traditional sense.  Lanes are really just a suggestion, and to get through the winding interchanges, our driver literally had to drive haphazardly across several lanes of busy traffic to reach the next turn.

 

When we finally made it through the Manila Traffic Madness, Terminal 2 stood ready to receive us.  2 security checkpoints, 1 grumpy baggage clerk, and an hour’s wait later, we were on a Philippine Airline’s 737 headed to Bacolod City to meet Papa Dan, Mom Barbra (yes, if I added the extra “a” into Barbra’s name to make it Barbara, I would fear for my life), and Juliette (the Cunningham’s Filipino assistant).

 

The plane was clean but well-worn.  Mist blew from all the plane’s air conditioner vents, and added to the surreal experience.  Lower the lights, add a couple of strobes and lasers, and you could have the worlds highest-altitude rave.

One hour later, we were in Bacolod, but we hadn’t arrived yet.  Papa Dan drove like a true Filipino, avoiding the intruding traffic, blasting his horn with reckless abandon, just like he’s been doing it for the last decade.  Through it all, I felt as safe as would a babe in it’s mother’s arms.

Soon we arrived at the Saltimbocca Tourist Inn.  Amenities are familiar, our toilets flush regularly, we have water heaters and televisions, and the beds are clean and firm.  A tropical courtyard with tropical birds completes the experience.  It’s not the Ritz Carlton, but it’s truly as nice as one can hope for when traveling abroad.

We dined at a local restaurant, feasting on barbequed chicken, which may very well have been the best barbequed chicken of my life.  It was delicious.  The chicken was accompanied by rice and roasted garlic.

After diner, Papa Dan treated the tired travelers to a series of decadent treats at a nearby bakery.  The coffee we had with dessert did little to diminish the oncoming exhaustion brought on by 30+ hours of grueling travel, and as soon as we reached the hotel, this chronicler was out for the count and completely unable to report on anything that happened until this morning.

Breakfast was good, we had our choice of sausage, fish, or chorizo to go with an egg and rice.  Afterwards we went to the local mall to pick up some necessary items.  Water, plug adapters, underwear.  If it weren’t for the humidity, I could easily been at the Westminster Mall in Colorado today.

We will begin ministering soon, and we are as excited as we can be. 

I’ll post more soon.  Look for more pictures and video.