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A new shop at Bohol-Panglao Airport
There’s a nice store at the Bohol-Panglao Airport. It was not yet there last year when last I was in Bohol so it was new to me. At the time, the additional coffee shops were still being fitted out.
A Nomad store greeted us as we cleared the final security check at the airport
They had all kinds of products including food and souvenir items like shirts, magnets and key chains.
OTOP stands for One Town, One Product, which is a program promoted across the country. This encourages various towns to identify, make and promote unique products including food items. Aside from those from Bohol, there are products from other provinces like otap and dried mangoes from Cebu, Napoleones and pinasugbo from Negros, pastel buns from Camiguin, and biscocho and piaya from Iloilo. I usually get frozen longanisa or chorizo at the store.
There were also stuffed toys, travel items and handicrafts
We first saw Nomad stores in Cebu’s Mactan Airport and at Laguindingan Airport (Cagayan De Oro). It is a welcome addition at Panglao though there are many small stores there already and there’s a local souvenir shop at the check-in lobby. The common denominator for these airport stores is that those airports are operated by Aboitiz, which has taken on airport operations and management as a business.
The other stores are still there including the Island Souvenirs shop and this small store selling wonderful muffins and cookies. The latter one I recommend to those who are making some last minute purchases to eat at home or at the airport while waiting for the boarding call.
Other stores at the ground floor of the airport
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Quick escapes
We decided to take an unplanned trip to one of our happy places. Our daughter loves Panglao and this was our nth trip with her. The weather though appears to be uncooperative.
We are hopeful that tomorrow will be better. At least the forecast is fair weather for both Saturday and Sunday. I’m not sure if we will have an unplanned boat ride. This is a short, quick escape so perhaps we’ll just stay at the resort. Quick trips like this is really for recharging one’s batteries given all the stress especially at work.
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May-time pilgrimage
Last April 30-May 1, there was another ‘Alay Lakad’ to the shrine in Antipolo. The pilgrimage walk started in Quiapo Church (Black Nazarene) and ended at the Antipolo church (Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage). Dubbed the “Walk for Peace,” there usually was a lot of people considering the number of devotees as well as May 1 being perhaps a holiday. Antipolo and Taytay LGUs at least put up stations for assistance to pilgrims.
We started hearing Mass again at the shrine last Sunday as our daughter prefers going there instead of at the chapel at our village. She’s gone to two Lenten Alay Lakads the past two years so maybe she felt this was a kind of pilgrimage for her, too.
For those walking from Metro Manila, there are two general routes to Antipolo. One is via Ortigas Avenue Extension and Tikling junction and the other is via Sumulong Highway and Masinag junction. You can take public transportation from Cubao or Crossing where there are jeepneys and buses. Many terminate at the Robinsons Antipolo mall terminal. But there are many other smaller terminals around the city including some near the Simbahan itself. There are also many tricycles that can take you to the shrine from various points in Antipolo including the Line 2 station at Masinag. Line 2, of course, is a convenient and fast way to get to Antipolo from Manila and Quezon City.
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Impacts of the energy crisis on tourism – the transport perspective
The Holy Week holidays practically begin this weekend with an expected exodus of people from Metro Manila and its environs (NCR Plus or Mega Manila depending on which term you prefer). Many people take a vacation during the Holy Week. Most probably go for a homecoming. Taking advantage of the holidays to visit their hometowns and have reunions. We did so for most of Holy Weeks past and in my father’s hometown, they take advantage of the homecomings including those of balikbayans from overseas to have a general homecoming at the town’s High School.
Many others in the past decade have their vacations during the Holy Week. The past years saw especially after the pandemic saw people travel abroad to catch spring time in temperate countries like Japan and Korea, even in Europe. Others prefer to travel in the region as Southeast Asian countries provide interesting destinations including the usual Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Singapore. Of course, you can also do local with people flocking to destinations where the beaches are like Bohol, Cebu and Palawan, just to mention some of the choices.
The view from the Shang in Bangkok – we spent the Holy Week there in 2024
Tourism will always involve travel and transportation. The industry will suffer much with the ongoing crisis as fuel prices will eat up a lot of travel budgets as fuel-related expenses will make travel prohibitive to many. On the supply side alone, airlines and maritime companies might have to cancel trips if they cannot sustain fuel supplies. Thus, planes will have to be grounded and ferries/vessels will have to reduce trips to conserve on fuels. That means people cannot travel to tourist destinations and will have to cancel and get refunds (if they can’t reschedule) from their accommodations (hotels, resorts). Less tourists means other businesses suffer, too, including restaurants, cafes and eateries, souvenir shops, and others depended on tourists for incomes. Damay-damay na, as they say.
Let’s hope the crisis will soon be over and this Holy Week, perhaps we can have some reflections and prayers while we take our health and re-energizing breaks.
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Landmarks: the Jaro Belltower
Here are some photos of a landmark in Iloilo that served as the reference for many jeepney routes. I recall from childhood that we rode the jeepney from Cabatuan and transferred here to another jeepney bound for city proper. Going home, we Di the reverse. We also hopped on a jeepney here to go to other towns like Leganes or farther districts of the city such as Molo or Arevalo. Of course, it’s different now after all the rerouting of public transport. Provincial jeepneys now terminate at the periphery of the city and no longer reach Jaro.
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Tambayan at NAIA Terminal 3 – Part 1
I am sharing here some photos of the food hall found at Level B between the arrival and departure levels of Terminal 3. I’ve read about the renovations and improvements over the last few months but I haven’t been able to go around T3 in a while. Most of my travels last year were via Terminal 2 due to my travels to Bicol. The photos speak for themselves so I won’t be writing labels for each photo.
There are many eating options and more are going to open soon. We had our lunch at Pancake House prior to proceeding to our gate for our flight to Iloilo.
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Robot barista at NAIA Terminal 2
In the previous post, I mentioned something about a robot barista at NAIA Terminal 2. Unfortunately, it wasn’t functioning at the time so I wasn’t able to try it out.
Another group purchasing coffee at the Robot Barista.
Perhaps there will be more of these in the future and replacing the manned shops at airport terminals. I imagine there might be these and vending machines providing food and drink at airports and other transport terminals.
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Back in Bicol – arrival at Naga Airport
I posted about the airports in Daraga/Legazpi City and Davao City as I knew I would be traveling to Naga City and likely by air. That likelihood became certainty as horror stories of 14-16 hour travel by bus became unacceptable for short trips where the travel times by road exceeded our actual stay in the city.
More on Naga City in the next posts!
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Bicol International Airport Departure
Before I go on another trip, here are photos I took of the Bicol International Airport prior to our departure from Daraga. We were just in time to check in for our flight back to Manila so I wasn’t really able to take as many photos as I usually did in other airports. I did take enough for a clear description of what to expect at this terminal.
Arriving at the airport terminal’s departure area
Check-in counters for Cebu Pacific
The terminal features a spacious check-in area.
The area is more spacious than other, more busy airports like Iloilo and Bacolod
I can imagine that even if there were more flights, queues will not result in the area being too crowded.
Another angle seen from the check-in area
The corridors are also spacious.
The terminal is well lit.
Entrance to the pre-departure lounge of the airport
I already wrote about and shared photos of the pre-departure lounge including the shops and eating options there. I look forward to visiting Legazpi City and its neighboring areas soon and perhaps get a clear photo of Mayon Volcano.
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Eats and shops at the Bicol International Airport
This is a continuation of the feature on the Bicol International Airport. I am sharing the following photos below so my readers can be guided about what’s available to eat and/or drink at the terminal.
Souvenir store at the entrance to the departure lounge
Turning to the pre-departure area – there’s WHSmith
The terminal has a spacious lounge surrounded by shops
Among the options for the hungry are Eat’s a Date and the familiar Bigg’s, which is a chain that originated in Bicol. I think they are the Bicol equivalent of Bo’s Coffee.
Some are familiar (Dunkin, Potato Corner and Sandwich Guy) while others are probably Bicol-based (LeSans, Daily Bites)
There are many local products for sale as souvenirs or for personal consumption.
There are handicrafts and shirts at the terminal. I highly recommend the shirt store for the quality and variety of designs. I believe there are better shirts here in general compared to the tourist areas like Cagsawa.
One shop sells local delicacies especially those with pili nut and chili – two items associated to Bicol.
Locally made chocolates are available at the airport. I’ve seen Mayon Gold at the NAIA terminals and can say that their pili nut crunch chocolate is good. I have another blog where I write about chocolates so I will not write about the taste here.
The chocolates come in individual bars for the different variants. They also have box sets or samplers.
More on the airport soon!
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Caught (up) in traffic 