TO AND FRO...

My flight to CDO almost got cancelled because of bad weather in the city. And when pilots say this, any seasoned traveller to CDO would automatically sigh in resignation because this would mean a likely cancellation of your flight. This is because the province's main gateway is located on a plateau on top of a mountainous area called Lumbia. What a bad day/way, indeed, to start a trip. The rains in the south were ongoing for days, and Leyte has just experienced a tragic landslide. We were seated inside the aircraft for an hour waiting for weather reports while Cebu and Davao-bound flights beside ours were already pulling out of their bays. Buti pa sila...


Flight for Cebu pulls out. Cebu is PR's first destination of the day, followed by Davao and CDO

This piece of news definitely makes up for the delay

Flight attendants serve "breakfast" as the sun starts to shine through the windows

"Breakfast." I didn't finish the banana cake. I'd rather munch on air than on a make-believe cake. Sigh. I miss the old days when they serve burgers and fudgey brownies. I wonder what's serving on Business Class.

ARRIVAL IN CDO

First sighting of Mindanao

The mountainous area around Lumbia

Oh dear. Houses near the airport? Call it bad planning.

More houses just beside the runway! Waking up at 7:30 in the morning to an aircraft landing outside your window must be the best thing in the world...

Fog at the end of the runway

The Lumbia airport building, unchanged since I first came here more than 20 years ago

You will not miss it: people standing and scrambling to get their bags even before the plane comes to a full stop.

Welcome to CDO! In line with the government's protection of Mindanao's 1B-dollar meat industry, foot baths are placed on the entrance for arriving passengers to walk on. This is to prevent the re-entry of Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) to the island. Mindanao has been FMD free since 2001, while the Visayas, Batanes and Palawan were certified free in 1986.

5J's new A319 prepares to leave...

while PR's A320 (which I came in) just arrived.

Here in CDO, do not expect a carousel. For many years, we have learned to go over the counter and grab our luggages from the cart that brought them in from the aircraft. Enjoy!

DEPARTURE FROM CDO (Saturday, February 25)


Passengers await boarding at CDO's Lumbia airport


Very good weather!

Small stores for last-minute pasalubong shopping!

Conking out in the midday heat.

I suppose this is how the Ultra stampede started. First, don't fall in line. Second, rush, rush, rush!

Unbelievable! A working DC3, here being loaded cargo

The A320. My favorite Airbus.

"I want to thank General Electric for their engines which provide the much-needed thrust to our flight..."

PR's "sun" against the bright, afternoon sun


Love that "smoke"! Must be the warm ambient air + freon = smoke (maybe...)

A view of the mountains of Bukidnon

Arrividerci, CDO!

A wide expanse of freshly-cut grass beside the runway

Farmers tend to their field, ignoring the noice and the jet blast from the nearby airfield

The city's newest cemetery project. If i am not mistaken, there is a common grave here for the victims of 5J Flight 387 which crashed in the mountains of Cagayan de Oro in February 2, 1998. 107 passengers died, including a former American professor.

The Pueblo de Oro project. Main feature is, yes, another SM Mall.

Downtown CDO

The Rio Grande de Mindanao's CDO portion flows out to sea. Note heavy siltation.

CDO's coast

Detail: the A320's winglets

Japanese snacks can surprise the uninitiated.


An hour of gags made the flight bearable, thanks to PR's Flights Of Fancy


Clusters of well-arranged villages greet us as we emerge from the clouds

Aircraft rolls to the right towards Manila



Industrial center (Laguna?)


Laguna? Bataan? I'm stumped.


Fishing communities in Cavite

So this is what's happening here. For a while we all thought this GMA project, which will directly link Coastal road to Cavite, is dead. Not so from the air. An interchange appears to be forming down there.

These are government housing projects but are not occupied years after they were finished. That's the Emilio Aguinaldo highway, more known as Coastal Road. St James Parish can be seen in the middle of the photo.

Sucat, Parañaque City from the air. Those 2 boxes constitute SM Sucat and its new Annex

Flaps open during what could be the softest landing in recent memory. I hardly felt the wheels touch the ground. Truly a PR trait - no bumpy landings.

The NAIA 3 will have its soft opening in June (am i correct?) with a 5J flight to Hong Kong

Docking at the Centennial Terminal 2

Go, go, go! Whoever gets all their bags first wins!

The beautiful A320 rests while a CX prepares to return to Hong Kong


Ah, to be in Manila again. There is order, at least inside the baggage claim area.

And here ends our trip...

Thank you for joining me! Our next out-of-town trip would be to the following:
1.) Aklan - June 2006
2.) Bacolod - September 2006

See you!