Charles Apple

DAY TWO - SUNDAY/MONDAY

Is it odd to begin a travel blog with Day Two? No more odd than spending nearly 24 hours on three airplanes, I suppose.

My mom came to visit over the weekend. She and her husband left early Sunday to drive back to D.C. to catch a plane for Texas. Sharon drove me to the airport at midmorning. My plane left right after noon Sunday, Eastern Daylight Time.

My layover in Detroit was longer than expected. Northwest air was using a 747-400 to fly us from Detroit to Tokyo. I’ve never been on a 747 before. My God, those suckers are huge.

They shouldn’t charge you a fare for a 13-hour flight. They should call it rent. This was my home Sunday and Monday.

There was some sort of mechanical problem that was never fully explained, which put us way behind. Knowing I had only a 90-minute layover scheduled in Tokyo, this made me anxious.

Finally, they loaded the plane. What a mess. Very disorganized. I began to get very, very nervous about the Tokyo stop. If Northwest is just as disorganized there and if I’m in an airport where I can’t read the signage, I could be in big, big trouble.

I had a long time to stew about it. The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was 13 solid hours. Good grief! At one point, I wondered if they’d show a movie or something. Oh, yeah: They showed a movie. Three movies! The Prestige with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, Man of the Year with Robin Williams and the animated film Flushed Away. I enjoyed the first one a lot more than I thought I would.

I expected to sleep on the plane — I usually have no problem at all sleeping on airplanes, as long as I have a window seat. But I doubt I got more than three hours’ sleep total on this flight. It was packed. Very uncomfortable. For 13 hours.

Interestingly, we flew over northern Canada and Alaska. I noticed with amusement that frozen Alaska lakes look just like the 3D map I drew of Denali National Park ten years ago.

We arrived in Tokyo an hour later than scheduled. They told us our connections were “still good,” but he status board — in English, thankfully — listed the flight status as “last call.” Those of us on that flight rushed wildly for the next gate. Which appeared to be on the next island over or something. They even made us go through another security checkpoint. At least I didn’t have to take my shoes off this time.

When I arrived at the gate, I was surprised to find them only starting to board our flight. Just as in Detroit, Northwest was very, very late boarding the 747-400 from Tokyo to Manila. But while Northwest conducted a real zoo in Detroit, the scene in Tokyo was very calm and organized. Airport employees lined the corridors, indicating which way to scurry if you were making connecting flights. “Manila — this way!”

An airline employee stood at the back of the line with a sign that listed which rows were now boarding. Passengers lined up in an orderly fashion. I was very impressed.

Once we got aboard, I was disappointed to find someone in my seat. The lady had no intention of giving it up, either. One of the flight attendants guided me to a seat in the middle of the plane. I didn’t want to be an asshole, but it wasn’t just the window seat I was giving up, it was sleep. We had another four hours and 45 minutes in the air before we landed in Manila. I was counting on that shut-eye.

When they came around with drinks, I asked for a Diet Coke. The flight attendant handed me a Budweiser instead. I tried to explain that he made a mistake — I’m not interested in paying Northwest’s inflated prices for a beer — but the attendant insisted. Finally, he explained: The man over there bought it for you.

I looked where he gestured. It was the man whose wife was sitting in my seat. He grinned and waved.

My faith in humanity is restored by a Budweiser. It probably won’t be the last time.

In the middle, at least, I had a good view of the movie: Flicka. I am not making this up.

We arrived in Manila at 10:48 p.m. local time Monday night, two whole minutes ahead of schedule. That’s about 23 hours and 12 minutes after I departed Norfolk. What a long, grueling day.

One of the first things that greeted me here was a band — I presume, a local band — playing in the airport for the tired travelers waking toward the luggage claim area. The song — and again, I am not making this up — John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

I just had to tip them.

By this time, I was feeling pretty worn down. Luckily, customs was no problem at all. They glanced at my forms, rubber-stamped me a couple times and passed me through. I guess I don’t fit the profile. Whatever that is.

The Manila Hotel is expecting a large number of guests this week for the Publish Asia 2007 conference. Hundreds of publishers, editors and other newspaper executives are gathering here for a week-long event. The workshop at which I am speaking is one of the sideshows for the main conference.

Even though I’m not here for the main event, though, they treated me like a VIP. They had a car for me and everything. I felt very special. As opposed to the way I probably looked.

By 1 a.m., I was in bed. What a day.

DAY THREE - TUESDAY

Mabuhay!

It’s pronounced ma-BOO-hi! It means “welcome.”

The Manila Hotel is one of the city’s historic landmarks. Gen. Douglas MacArthur lived here in the years leading up to World War II — in fact, the hotel custom-built a suite to his own specifications in 1935.

The entrance to the Manila Hotel.

The lobby is quite elaborate. Note the beautiful wood ceiling.

I’m told they give tours of the suite; I’m hoping to see it. I may have mentioned that my grandfather served in the Philippines in the latter stages of the war. He was a major at the time and was a huge MacArthur fan. He loved telling me stories about the war in the Pacific. My grandfather died in 1972 when I was ten years old.

(Click on this thumbnail to enlarge.)

Unless I’m mistaken, that’s MacArthur’s crib, there on the left. Beyond are some passenger terminals. Yes, the hotel owns its own passenger ship.

Beyond the ship is the beautiful Manila Bay. Farther still — you can’t really see it in this photo — is the Bataan peninsula. I’m told this view is particularly gorgeous at sundown. I’ll let you know.

In addition, MacArthur is buried in Norfolk. His personal museum and papers reside in a memorial occupying the former Norfolk city hall building. So in some ways, I feel right at home already.

This is, without question, the fanciest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. The floors are parquet hardwood. They give you slippers to keep your feet warm. Nearly every counter or table top is marble. The bed is an old-style, four-poster.

(Again, click on this thumbnail for the view from my room)

My room faces west — away from the bay, but I have a great view of downtown Manila, Rizal Park and the old Spanish walled city of Intramuros.

I need to get out and see some of this today. I’m told that exposure to direct sunlight is one of the best ways to get adjusted to the time difference. Which is exactly 12 hours from Eastern Daylight Time, by the way.

But first priority is to finish my slideshows. I have most of them set up. But I need to add some polish and finalize what I hope to cover. It’s been suggested I try not to speak so fast during my presentations — those of you who have heard me speak before probably know what I’m talking about. So I also plan to do some trimming.

I brought a small number of handouts with me, but I’m counting on the folks from IFRA to make copies for me. I have no idea how many folks we’re expecting at the graphics and design workshops. More than the four I had Friday in Richmond, hopefully.

As I type this, it’s 10:53 a.m. Tuesday morning. Which is nearly 11 p.m. Monday night in Virginia Beach — well past my bedtime. Yet I feel pretty good.

Knock on marble.

The only problems I’ve had is a slight headache that won’t go away — which is pretty typical in sleep-cycle disruptions, I think — and an extremely painful right foot.

During the plane flights, my right foot kept falling asleep. I tried to wiggle it as much as I could, but nothing seemed to work. I probably should have found excuses to get up and walk around more than I did.

When I finally arrived at the airport, I found my foot was so sore that I could barely walk on it. I felt like an old man, limping through the luggage claim area.

It felt better by the time I went to bed. But this morning — man, was it tender. The entire arch of my foot, the heel and the ankle was throbbing.

I’m hoping this goes away soon.

I went downstairs this morning to meet Peter Ong, the man who put these workshops together and the guy who invited me here. He took me on a quick spin through the conference area, which was bustling with opening-day activity. At first glance, it’s very much like an SND workshop, except everyone is dressed much, much nicer. I can tell already that I’ll be horribly underdressed for this week. I’ll be in Hawaiian shirts and Dockers; these guys have on three-piece suits.

Publishers. You gotta love ‘em.

Also, the exhibition area — where the booths are located — is HUGE. In fact, unlike SND, where you have meeting rooms and then one area with booths, I’d describe this place as a huge booth farm with a few meeting rooms sprinkled around.

I was there only a few minutes. Gloria Arroyo, the president of the Philppines, was on her way to address the conference. I, in my jeans and golf shirt, decided to make myself scarce.

The exchange rate this morning — here in the lobby, at least — was 46 pesos per American dollar. Or a little more than two cents per peso. Three twenties bought me a huge wad of bills with a LOT of zeros on them: $2,760 pesos. I can tell I’m going to have a lot of trouble with money this week.

Because the peso is the main denomination, here, though, the price tags on things are quite alarming. Room service for a Diet Coke, for example, is listed at 125 pesos. My God, that sounds expensive! But it comes out to only $2.72. Not bad, considering. It’s also better than buying a soft drink from the minibar. That costs 130 pesos — a whole 11 cents more than room service! Not including a tip, of course.

From top to bottom:
20 pesos, worth about 43 cents.
100 pesos, worth about $2.17.
500 pesos, worth about $10.87.
1,000 pesos, worth about $21.74.

Spot-checking the room service menu — the only thing I have handy — an 8-ounce sirloin steak dinner would cost 685 pesos. That’s a little less than 15 bucks. Pretty good for room service. An “imported” beer — say, Heineken — is 240 pesos, or about $5.22. A “local” beer like San Miguel or Miller is only 125 pesos, or about $2.72.

I’m already struggling to find a quick way to convert. The best I’ve come up with so far: Take the number in pesos, cut it to one-fifth — or twenty percent — and then move the decimal one place. So if something costs 300 pesos, twenty percent of 300 is 60. Move the decimal to make it six bucks.

Mister calculator tells me I’m off by 52 cents. So I guess I’ll have to think of something else.

I hate math.

The primary English-speaking paper here is The Manila Bulletin — which, I gather, is one of the big sponsors for the Publish Asia conference. The paper put the opening of the conference across the top of A1 today — or, at least, the headline. A small story starts much lower the page and then jumps inside. The conference is also covered by an editorial and a wide array of ads.

The design of the Bulletin is a bit primitive, by U.S. standards — about like a typical small-town weekly. Or, more precisely, like the design of most U.S. metros 30 or 40 years ago. They have to start a lot of stories on their section fronts because they have very little inside space. The sports section was only four pages. The only ad in the Bulletin’s sports section was a quarter-page house ad on page E1.

The Bulletin gave me my first belly-laugh of the week, though. A large mug shot of former Philippine president Joseph Estrada appears on today’s front page. The reason? He was granted a ten-hour pass from his “resthouse and detention quarters” to visit ihs 101-year-old grandmother and to receive an award from the city government of San Juan — apparently, a suburb of Manila.

It’s an “Outstanding Citizen” award.

According to the story, the former president is serving time for “plunder and perjury.”

Staying hydrated will be an issue for me here. It’s very hot and very muggy here in Manila — Think Poynter in July or August. They stocked the minibar here with Coke and Sprite — which, naturally, I can’t drink. I asked the housekeeping crew to fix me up with some sugar-free drinks.

The hotel has no vending machines at all. The folks in the lobby cafe laughed this morning when I walked in and asked for three Diet Cokes. But I felt much better after I drank them.

By the way, they don’t have Diet Coke here. They call it Coca-Cola Light. It tastes the same.

The nearest convenience store is a good ten-minute walk, the concierge tells me. That’s a little too far for me — especially with my aching foot. I’ll try to get by with scrounging in the lobby.

And blogging will be a lot more difficult than I had hoped. There is no internet access at all in the rooms. There is a small room downstairs with a few computers, where one can log-on. A half-hour of internet access costs 300 pesos, or a little more than six-and-a-half bucks. Wi-fi is available in the lobby for the same fee, which sounds better to me than sitting in a little room in the bowels of the hotel.

I bought three half-hour sessions and one full-day pass. The full-day pass cost me 800 pesos, or about $17.39. That’s less than a day of access cost in Orlando last summer.

I’ll have to write when I can and then haul my laptop downstairs to post to my blog. Oh, well.

Again, the plan for today is to finish my slide shows — I have three formal presentations in three days, plus a brief piece on proactivity plus additional roundtable-style segments. I also hope to get outside for just a while.

Peter Ong is here already. I arrived Monday night. Tonia Cowen gets here today at 6:35 p.m. Kris Viesselman gets here late tonight via the same flight on which I arrived last night.

We start tomorrow — Wednesday — at 9 a.m. sharp. That’s 9 p.m. back home.

I’ll shoot a few quick photos and try to get this posted this afternoon.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 6:06 am and is filed under Workshops, Charles Apple, Newspapers, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.