Philippines Day 7: Farewell Philippines

Date of Visit: 26th March 2012

After spending a week in Philippines (mostly around Manila), it's time for us to pack our bag and leave this fun-going and adventurous country. And because our flight back to Kota Kinabalu was in the evening, therefore we still had more time to loiter around before going to the airport. Check-out from Friendly GuestHouse and brought along our heavy luggage to Robinsons Place Mall. Decided to have our brunch here as well as, another last minute shopping here. Really couldn't get enough of shopping!

#1: Decided to try their KFC cause it's totally different from our Malaysia KFC

#2: My brunch - Pasta Bowl Fully Loaded. Comes with a pasta bowl mixed with fried chicken, one piece of chicken, rice, brownies and a drink. Cost P165 (approx. to RM12)

#3: My friend decided to add another side meal - Cheezy Bacon with Fries

Take note that KFC outlets in Philippines were non-halal. In Manila itself, halal choices were kinda limited. Even other fast food chains such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut were not halal as well. 

#4: A top for just P100, which means RM7 per piece. It's freaking dirt cheap and now you know why we can't stop shopping around?

We took taxi from Robinsons Place Mall to Pasay Bus Station for a 3 hours bus ride to Clark International Airport. We requested the taxi driver to turn on his meter but he refused cause according to him, it was traffic jam at that hour. Because we afraid that we might miss the bus, hence we agreed to pay the amount he requested for. Taxi drivers in Philippines were another insane and mad driver I ever came across. You can't imagine how close their car to the car next to them - seems like less than one inch apart only.

#5: From Pasay to Clark Airport, it cost P450 (approx. to RM14)

Upon arriving Pasay Bus Station, we were being told that the bus is almost leaving and we rushed as fast as we can into the bus. Lucky us! We managed to be in the bus, or else, not just the bus we missed, even the flight we might be missed out too. By the way, good news to those who will be flying with AirAsia to Clark International Airport (formerly named as Diosdado Macapagal International Airport) cause there will be free shuttle services exclusively to AirAsia and AirAsia Philippines passengers on certain period, whether it is inbound and outbound flights. [Source]

#6: Terminal fee for P500 (approx. to RM35) for international flight

The main reason behind why we managed to secure such a freaking dirt cheap airfare which the cost of return for just RM45 only was because the airport tax wasn't included. So bear in mind to leave P500 on your last day in order to pay for your terminal fee and not spending  them all. Not just for flight from Philippines, even flight from Indonesia, most of their airfare weren't included the airport tax. So do take note for those who haven't been to any of these two countries.

Latest News:
Revised on Clark International Airport's passenger service charge/terminal fee currently as the following: 

• International Passenger Terminal - P450.00 / departing passenger
• Domestic Passenger Terminal - P150.00 / departing passenger

#7: Clark International Airport is kinda small - almost the same size of our Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 2. 

And that's concluded my third outbound trip for the year 2012. One thing that I learned from this Philippines trip is "To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries" and I'm totally agree with this quote. Before this, I thought that Philippines might be one of the dangerous country but looks like I was wrong all this while. The local were so friendly and helpful to us. Well, in some places I might saw few signs like "Please deposit your firearms upon entry" and it indeed gave us a huge shocked but then it shows that they are also trying to secure everyone safety indeed.

#8: My Peso leftover

Whether will I going back Philippines again? Perhaps yes but not so soon cause there are so many places and countries for me to discover at this moment. To be frank, there are plenty of places in Philippines that you could visit and explore, not just in Manila itself. From pristine beaches and marvelous natural wonders to interesting historic sites and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, Philippines pack many exciting things to see and do. And million thanks to Lilyriani from Globetrotter for sharing this - 10 Top Tourist Attractions in the Philippines.