Manila Diary - Blunders

Edit May 18: The account of my vacation has gone on too long, with edits and other stuff I have put down all that I have gone through. If you've gotten this far, you deserve a big hug from me. I put down all my thoughts into my Pocket PC, it’s just an entire month of re-adjusting and refining all my thoughts that I get to finish this.

One more note during my Manila stay before the real highlight of the trip (which came, appropriately, in the end, for a slam-bang finish) was my seeing my ex-boss Joecon.

We had a breakfast meeting in his house and we chatted up a great deal. The old man has been sadly diminished, though not significantly. Maybe I notice this because the light in my life is burning more strongly than it ever did during my years of service with him. Or maybe because he has been weighed down by all the problems and he has few competent people to lean on. In a way, it was weird justice because in his own way, he drove people like me away.

I expected him to offer me a job, which was one reason why I basically avoided him during my entire vacation. Interesting prospects, by the way, but it was just too late for me to worry about it (as if I would, with the plans I have made in KSA). If the mood during that day kept up I would expect a little less acrimony IF I do work for him again, but my personal prescription is a big fat NO, of course.

I’ve saved the best part of this story for last…

Remember at the start of my tale I bought a PDA phone?

(Go back, go back, go BAAAACCCKKKK)

When I got home after seeing the SHARE folks for the first time in a year, I spent about five hours getting used to it and putting in entries for my schedule, INCLUDING MY RETURN FLIGHTS to Dubai and KSA. Of course I wasn't in tiptop condition (jet lag) and pretty tired to boot. It didn’t help that I had a few beers that night, though less than usual.

So it was that it happened that I encoded my flight out to Dubai on Tuesday, April 19, instead of Wednesday, April 20... (!) How did that happen I can no longer decipher or try to divine . . .

The result, of course, was that I packed my bags and made all the arrangements to leave on Tuesday. I managed to get a hard-pressed Robert (who had a catering appointment to handle that evening, bless you, Robert, for making time!).

What happened to me was like an out-of-body experience. If it weren’t happening to me, I could have sworn it could have been a skit out of a comedy. As it was, I would relate it to you:

Otep gets off the car, waves off mother, sister, and househelp who wanted to see him off. The trio fight back tears while Robert, visibly hurried, says goodbye too.
Otep pushes the trolley up the ramp, not noticing that he should go to the POEA section, not noticing that he is making a ruckus because he put 54kg worth of luggage onto the trolley.
Otep fumbles around among his things, in his usual clumsy way, for his ticket, Overseas Employment Certificate, and passport. When he gets to the guard, he proudly presents his documents, as if saying smugly, "Isa akong Bagong Bayani! Worship me! Hahahahahaha!!!"
Guard, nonplussed and poker-faced, says, "Ser, bukas pa po ito. Tingnan ninyo, o… April 20."
Otep is SHOCKED (with a strange premonition that some shitty thing will happen, as if often does, to him. Poor soul. Aww!!!) and looks at the guard with the straightest face, "Ha?! Ganoon ba?" (Looks at the ticket, wanting not to believe) "Oo nga 'no!" (Wanting to pat the guard on the back and hit him over the head at the same time).
Otep turns his trolley around, again, noisily, as a long queue of people waits to get into the terminal. Otep does not look into their faces, and dials his sister's phone number, laughing at himself because there just wasn't room enough to cry or be humiliated. He pointedly does not look at the guard or at the other passengers.

(I'm now pausing for your benefit)...

It just took 20 minutes for Robert to broadcast this incident to SHARE people and the gang, the same amount of time it took for them to get back to the Departure area. To quote him: "Pare, kahit na late ako, sulit ang araw na ito!" And I can believe him. I was really sorry for ruining the evening for Robert. Tough call. Of course, the returns for him were huge. I would be stumped to come up with a blooper to top this one as one of the greatest loser moments EVER? My posting a neon-green, colored "L" on my forehead wouldn't have done the same kind of job….

Couldn't you imagine what that guard was thinking while looking at me for about 20 minutes while I waited? Priceless, priceless would be an understatement of a term.

So anyway, I did make it to my flight to Dubai the following night. I spent the next 36 hours with my sister who's based in Dubai, which needs another story for me to tell. Suffice to say that:

1) Dubai is a great place to live in, but not necessarily to save money. Everything is so darned expensive!
2) The head honchos in Dubai are probably among the most progressive and visionary in the entire Gulf. I haven't met a whole of Emiratis, but I can safely surmise that per capita they are among the most open-minded of the Gulf Arabs. Otherwise, I don't see their leadership making some headway in transforming their country.
3) Still, I wouldn't take anything away from a KSA-based life right now.

Things I did in Dubai:

1) Wild Wadi Water Park! What a great place! Pound for pound, though, I'd give Ocean Park the thumbs-up over this, but I had more fun here because I was able to enjoy more of the attractions. Grateful that my sister made the arrangments.
2) Almost getting detained. We took shots of some locals, which generally would be halal if one would go about it surreptitiously. However, we did it in front of the security guard, so we got called into the park office and had to delete the picture.
3) Eat an epicurean meal for the last time. We went to the Fairmont Hotel for dinner - a nice setting of steak! Met up with Sheila B, based in Dubai for some time and getting more womanly while she's at it.

Things I did not do:

1) Visit the strip, or see some of the ladies of the night. 'Nuff said.
2) Get a good night's sleep.
3) Have a sad moment.

So that ends my tale of the first-ever vacation from KSA. Hope the memories will keep me strong enough for the months ahead.

I AM RETURNED.