Birmingham, England

One thing I don't like about European Layovers...

...they all look the same!

Besides, I don't like the weather; it's too cold for me, as I don't have enough fat to insulate my body.

That's why even before we got to Birmingham, I decided to stay cooped up in the hotel room- again. Argh! I promised myself I would avoid another freakin’ European layover.



I spent only over 2 hours out on the streets to take some pictures before hurrying back to the hotel. I got some nice shots of some buildings and didn’t even wonder what they stood there for. Everywhere you’d see people in suits scurrying about without any spark of life in their souls. It’s like the citizens here are stuck in a job limbo that they can’t get out of.

I pity them. How sad their lives are. I mean, why would you allow yourself to suffer in a job you hate? The people I saw look like they hated what they were doing.

As for me, I didn’t care that I forgot my comb and didn’t even bother to primp myself up...maybe just some sun block on my face. Damn this cold weather. Maybe that's the reason why people here were so grumpy. Hmmm...

Thank goodness for Vaseline. I couldn’t live without it in this kind of weather. I was only happy to be getting a few pound$ richer for doing this flight.

Beijing, China

PEK…

Peking?.. PEK! Ohmygosh! I’m going to Beijing!


I thought of all the places I wanted to go to: the Ming tombs, the Chinese opera, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China!

The flight wasn’t so bad. Though, most of the time, the cabin smelled of aged cheese. I wonder why they raise their feet on other people’s seats - and no one seemed to mind?!

Since we have arrived late in the afternoon, it was already too late to plan any sightings. A Brazilian colleague, Karina, wanted to go see the opera, but I figured I’d save my energy that night for our agenda the next morning. We actually wanted to go to the Great Wall of China; it was forecasted to rain, so we didn’t take the tour package to go there. We decided to go to the Forbidden City instead, since it was close to the hotel. We can just take a cab going there. Besides, there will be other Beijing flights, so we only had to see at least one heritage sight this time.

Waiting for nightfall, with nothing to do, I went out and explored a bit by myself. The people from concierge said there is a shopping mall nearby, but I walked far off the direction they told me. I didn't notice, because it didn’t look like a mall at all! It was like an old building with plastic strips for doors. You know, the ones hanging on fridge trucks? Yup, those were used for the entrance. I slipped by it, and found a wet market inside. There were stalls of fresh vegetables, seafood, meat, herbal medicines, and that sort. I figured I’d want to buy some food that I could eat in the hotel, but I was afraid to buy anything from there yet- they were selling live worms! I ended up buying a steamed bun and a health drink from 7-11 which was also nearby. The 711, I realized, actually sold more hardware stuff than food.

The next day, I met up with Karina to go to the Forbidden City. It was a sunny day after all! Damn those forecasts! Anyhoo…

It wasn’t far as I’ve expected. We got off at this red arch which I thought to be the entrance to the City. But the other tourists there said we had to take this cart ride going to the south entrance, so I hopped at the back of the cart and enjoyed a short but pleasant trip with a good view.

The entrance was grand and magnificent. We bought the ticket and this audio tour in which they’d give you this sort of I-pod thingy that walks you through the history of the place. The city was vast; though I wanted to see everything, I could only walk straight from end to end. There were sensors which trigger the audio contraption to play. It told me where I was, what the place was used for, the royalties who resided there, and other things I couldn’t remember. It sparked my interest to learn a bit more about the city. It was like being in another world, in another dimension. I loved being there. Surely I’d want to go there again!

I didn’t notice the time pass by so quickly; I was completely immersed in the Forbidden City’s magnificent history. Every time I reach a building, I’d hope for the audio thingy to talk me through what I was seeing.

“You have reached the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It is the ceremonial centre of imperial power, and the largest surviving wooden structure in the country. Look up, you will notice 10 gargoyles on its roof ridge, signifying it’s importance among all of the other buildings.”

…amazing….

“This is the Palace of Earthly Harmony...”

...let me guess… this is where the magic happens?...hehe

“…In the Ming Dynasty it was the residence of the Empress. However, the Empress moved out of the Palace following the Emperor's move out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity…”

…whoopsie…my bahd…

“However, two rooms in the Palace of Earthly Harmony were retained for use on the Emperor's wedding night. The wedding ceremony would be held in the main room, and afterwards the Emperor and Emperess would retire to one of these rooms. Between these two palaces is the Hall of Union.”

Woot! Mr. Emperor!

Reaching a smaller archway, revealing a building on top of the “man-made” hill, was a compact garden with beautiful trees and plant ornaments.

“This is the Imperial Garden. In some days, the Emperor would come here, and choose from among the girls lined up in this garden, as his next concubine.”

*cough*

We’ve finished the tour of the Forbidden City by arriving to the north gate of the palace, the Gate of Divine Might. Looking over my shoulder, I promised myself I’d go back to this place again some time in the near future. After handing back the audio pieces, Karina and I took a cab and went to Silk Market to do some shopping.

I was surprised that it looked very much like Greenhills, with the tiangges (bazaars) around. It would have been heaven for shopaholics if they were Chinese, but you wouldn’t be buying anything here if they raise their price a hundred times over once they know you’re a foreigner.

You see, I was going to buy a strappy sandal, which would probably cost around a hundred pesos (us$3) in Manila. But I was shocked when they asked Y580 (us$86) for it. I managed to haggle it down to Y50 (us$7)! Believe it or not, I didn't buy it. No matter how good of a haggler you are, it’s stupid to waste your energy in bargaining extortions such as this. Forget it.

Anyway, I ended up buying some vegetables in the marketplace place again when we got back to the hotel. I wanted to take them with me back to Dubai. This time though, I didn’t even bother to speak. I just picked up all the things I needed, shoved Y50 in the seller’s basket, and I ended up with a bargain! Yup, If I didn’t talk, they’d think I’m a local, doing my regular shopping after work. So I only spent Y8 (us$2) of my market money. hehe

Being half Chinese, but speaking nil, I’m an alien in sheepskin in this country. I really should be thinking of studying Mandarin formally. Seriously.

Going back to Dubai was fairly easy as well. I even got to hold this cute baby boy who wanted nothing more than to sleep in my arms. Awww, such a sweet sweet boy. It's times like these when I feel that I have the best job in the world.

CapeTown, South Africa

“Attention reserve crew 388***, Please report to the Cabin Crew Briefing station”, came a raspy voice, amplified from the speakers all over the Emirates Briefing Center.

When they pulled me out from standby, I was frantic to know where on earth they’re going to send me to this time. The suspense was getting to me; I really don’t know how to handle things when they come as surprises.

Putting on my red hat and dragging my handbag on top of my trolley, I hurried to the station eager to know if I was going to do a quick turnaround or another layover in God-knows-where.

“You are going to CapeTown,” a man bulging in his white polo said, as he handed me the voyage report containing the flight information I needed.

In my head, I didn’t know whether I should be happy or dread the trip, as I have no clue what CapeTown was like, not as a destination, but as a flight with yet an unknown passenger profile. This is one of the newest destinations of Emirates and I have yet to receive details of how the service usually goes. I had no clue whether the passengers were going to be demanding, passive, or just a plain bunch of sleepy people.

As I scurried to the shuttle bus, the purser held me in immigration for a moment to introduce me to the flight deck crew. After which, I was introduced to the rest of the team as we rode along the airport runway.

Girl 1: “ayan na sya…yung pull out...koreana pala eh” (there she is, the one who got pulled out..so.. she’s korean)

Girl 2: “ah ok naman, mukha naman syang mabait eh” (oh, alright, she seems nice)

There were 3 filipinos huddled together in one seating row, looking at me. No wonder other nationalities call us the Filipino mafia, we always stick together anywhere.

“Hi, alam mo ba kung gaano katagal yung flight?” (do you know how long the flight is?) I asked the Filipina beside me, who I later discovered was one of our SFSs (senior flight steward).

“Oh, I think it’s going to be around 9 hours” she quickly replied.

“ah ganun ba. Ang tagal pala noh, akala ko sandali lang itong flight.” I snickered. (oh, It's that long- I thought this flight was going to be a short one.)

“…”,

she looked at me, seemingly puzzled, then her eyes widened,

“ hayyy pinay ka pala! anu ba yan, nag English pa ako!” ( You're a Filipina! And here I was talking to you in English!)

We let out hearty laughs and she introduced me to the other Pinoys.

The flight was difficult; the passengers liked to drink a lot and have almost depleted all of our liqueurs in the aircraft. I even had my skin peeled off my palm- from opening bottles of wine. Ouch!

Going to our hotel, I noticed a vast plain with plenty of scrap metal boxes littered randomly. Turns out, there were more shanties there than in Manila.

We were welcomed by the hotel staff with these colorful candies and yummy guava juice- a nice treat indeed. It was decided before we took a rest, that we Filipino Mafias would go together to Table Mountain the next morning. It was good because the others were taking the “package tour” which was unreasonably priced for us thrifty Pinoys. LOL. And it turned out that our own little adventure was way better than the packaged tour, because by the time they went to table mountain, it was already too foggy to see anything. We were lucky we went out earlier and saw this amazing view!



Good thing I brought with me this thick winter jacket; it was freezing cold up there! We took this cable car going up the summit. I was too scared to look anywhere so I just focused at the station on top. The summit was flat alright, that’s why it’s called Table Mountain. I couldn’t put into words how spectacular the view was. It was heaven. The clouds were at my feet, and the rising sun made everything look like gold. The sea beneath the clouds is sparkling like bright jewels, and the mountain beyond, called the devil’s peak, sharply jots out of the fluffy clouds.




We descended about an hour or so. We were famished so we decided to eat at the waterfront. There were some lovely restaurants by the bay, mostly selling fish & chips, but we decided on a steakhouse. This is South Africa after all, where steaks are a national pride. We had to have a bite of it.

Looking out at the ocean, I couldn’t believe how wonderful the sky was. Humans are not deserving of such a wondrous sight.

We should be grateful for each moment. For each moment, a miracle is created.