Letter from Manila again 1981



passport stamped for my departure from Philippines
 

I was a bit more wiser when booking my return ticket back to Manila from Cebu. No, I did not take an easy option to catch a flight, I booked a first class cabin for myself and made sure I locked my self in without any food and had a good night sleep through out my journey. On arrival at the port in Manila my friend, who arranged to meet me was no where to be seen and this time I knew what she looked like,( though all the people on the Islands looked the same to me). So I hired a taxi and left my life in the hands of their God. I agreed the price of my ride before I boarded the taxi with my luggage, however my taxi driver had no clue where he was heading; at times I stopped the taxi to ask the passer by for help and left my belongings and the rest of my host’s boxes (I was a courier for my host too), praying that the taxi driver will not runaway with all the loot. Luckily, the taxi made it to my friend’s house, how ever the cost of the taxi had gone sky high, and I had to borrow money from the maid to get rid of the taxi and the driver. According to the maid my friend had not shown up for the past 2 days?

 I was coming to the end of my stay in Philippines and it was also time of the year when Christian families of Manila were thinking of Christmas decoration and the shops were stocked up with white plastic Xmas trees. Yes, can you imagine white plastic Xmas trees in hot, hot sunny Manila, the sight of seeing them made me ill and also sadly made me home sick too.  

My final departure from my friend’s home was another saga which I need to share with the readers of this blog. My friend worked for a travel agent and was use to meeting people at the airport during arrival and departure times. As planned, she accompanied me to the airport and what happened next was a very new experience for me and I would never want to repeat it again.

 Whilst I was in India travelling by plane, I had carried some duty free cigarettes for relatives of mine and was given a good advice by fellow traveller, not to carry anything for anybody; it can land me in all sorts of trouble with the custom officers. Ten months on, I had forgotten all this. At Manila airport my friend saw me off at departure lounge and gave me a wad of money to buy 250 boxes of duty free cigarettes which, she explained will be picked by another friend of hers inside the duty free area. A favour I could not refuse for all the hospitality I received for a month.   I had very little idea what 250 packets of cigarettes looked like and when I bought them and quickly realised the huge plastic carrier bags full of cigarettes packets I got myself lumbered with, I wandered around like a headless chicken wanting to get rid of them; at the same time looking for some eye connect with some official who was in with this racket!!  I was finding it hard to see anybody who would take this burden off my shoulders, so I decided that if I don’t get rid of 250 packets in the duty free area, I shall distribute them all to the passengers in the plane to Japan. Whilst these thoughts were invading my mind, I saw a signal by an official and followed him to the cabinet where I discreetly placed the 250 packets and lived to tell another tale of mine. Another official approached me with money in his hand for some more packets and you can guess what I said to him?

 

I boarded my flight to the land of the rising sun, Japan with my head in the sky!!