Simple pleasures

One time we were at the neighborhood mall, we decided to have some soft serve ice cream for dessert after a hearty yakiniku and shabu-shabu lunch. We spotted this stall selling some inexpensive soft serve ice cream and they had many kids as customers so we got one cone each to enjoy while walking around.

Soft serve ice cream on a waffle cone dipped into chocolate syrup (shell?).

Such simple pleasures are typical of what we truly enjoy compared to the more complex (and expensive) treats. I count taho, puto and fishballs as among those I enjoyed and still enjoy from time to time. I haven't tried the "sanitized" scramble I've seen in malls but I had my share of scramble bought from the vendor near the school where I took my elementary and high school.

-

On airline food - Manila to Colombo via Singapore

Traveling to Sri Lanka via Singapore was my preferred route over the ones via Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok. Though the last two are great destinations. I bet KL is despite haven't being able to go there yet. I have been to Malaysia and by land but went to Melaka. And I have been to Bangkok many times before. But I consider Singapore as another home; perhaps a close third to Japan's second. And Changi is the best airport in the world, and great for layovers like the one I made between Manila and Colombo. Here's a few photos I took of the inflight meals on Cebu Pacific and Sri Lankan Airlines.

We were running out of seats for the Manila-Singapore leg of our trip so I bought tickets that included a meal. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to change the meal from the default choice so we ended up with Beef Bulgogi for breakfast.

It wasn't bad and could pass off as tapsilog (tapa/beef strips, sinangag/fried rice and itlog/egg)-like meal but without the egg and on the spicy side.

The Singapore - Colombo leg of my trip was on board Sri Lankan Airlines. This was a legacy carrier and not a low cost carrier like Cebu Pacific. In fact, Sri Lankan Airlines is part of the One World alliance so I was able to credit the miles to my JAL card.

I chose the fish and noodles with the broccoli instead of the chicken curry and rice. I was worried by stomach won''t agree with the curry and we still had hours of travel ahead of us. True to form for a legacy carrier, the food was better than what we had at Cebu Pacific even though we were at economy class.

Overall, I thought the food was okay for both legs of my Manila-Singapore-Colombo trip. The Singapore-Colombo leg even had excellent tea after our meal. What would you have expected for a Sri Lankan carrier? They do produce the best tea in the world!

-

First impressions of Sri Lanka at the airport

They say a country's gateway provides travelers or visitors a first impression of the country. The following few photos and my observations pretty much describes my first impressions.

Upon clearing immigration, travelers are greeted by duty free stores lining up along the corridor to the baggage claim area

These were mostly shops selling liquor/alcoholic drinks and appliances.

The previous observations on duty free shops showed me what were popular items for returning Sri Lankans who likely wanted to get something upon their arrival to bring to their families. Those included household appliances like TVs, stereos, refrigerators and washing machines, and souvenir items like whiskey and brandy that would be something to share with families and friends (for celebrating their return). This seems to me as a scene from the Philippines at Manila's international airport in the 1980s and 1990s when overseas foreign workers (OFWs) returned from abroad to take their vacations from their work there. Cigarettes, liquor and appliances were also popular at the airport where the prices of these items were significantly lower due to their being duty or tax free. Perhaps the only other item as popular for returning Filipinos at the airport were chocolates balikbayans (returning Filipinos) bought for their children.

That said, allow me to add another impression made upon deplaning at the Bandaranaike International Airport. Instead of heading towards the terminal, we deplaned on the tarmac and was taken to the terminal by bus/transporter. This was much like the local airlines at NAIA Terminal 3 where domestic flights were commonly served by transporters connecting aircraft with the terminal. As one colleague traveling with me observed - parang sa atin lang (it's just like in our country) - upon seeing a bus waiting to take us to the terminal as we deplaned.

Passengers deplaning from our Sri Lankan  Airlines plane

A view of passengers deplaning from the rear door of the plane to an awaiting bus

Another view from the bus of passengers and crew deplaning from the front door

More on Sri Lanka soon!
-