Comments on: Manila From Above…

By: Betchay

Betchay — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 15:38:23 +0000

Photo #7- Aptly shows why Cavite City was once called “Tangway” which means a Peninsula, a land mass surrounded by water except for an isthmus connecting to a mainland. It has 3 bays surrounding it: Manila bay, Bacoor bay and Canacao bay.

My best aerial view: once,while the plane was gaining altitude and following the highway I was able to pinpoint our house! :)

By: Footloose

Footloose — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 15:06:41 +0000

Thankfully, Air Canada is not as avid airplane space exploiter as domestic carriers in the states. I would seriously consider taking up hatha yoga if I were you.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 14:54:21 +0000

JC, I agree, they are confused. Crappy planes at full price. But like you say, there isn’t much choice around these days… To fly to Cebu RT is roughly $110 right now, for two hours in the air. But they are offering a RT to NY via Vancouver for $1,100 or so, for some 36 hours in the air. The former domestic airfare is 80% more expensive per hour of flight… :(

By: JC

JC — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 12:58:25 +0000

I agree with you regarding PAL’s latest A321. Economy section is extremely crowded while Business Class and Premium Economy looks dated. They even use A321 for their Hong Kong, Haneda and other international destinations. The A321s PAL use for international destinations does not even have IFE for their economy class. They should have lowered their airfares considering the removal of IFE, but it seems they are charging full service fares for budget service. PAL also use their new A330 for their Cebu flight and the seats in the Economy are even narrower than those in A321, and the aisles in A330 are so narrow that hand carry luggage with wheels cannot even pass through the aisle. The A330 seats in economy are configured as 3-3-3 when normally it should have been 2-4-2. I dislike taking flights using these new PAL airplanes but sometimes we don’t have any choice.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 04:46:47 +0000

And I kind of agree that we are due for a big one sometime in the next 30-50 years... See this worrisome article, and this one too. And even if our personal back-up plan was to move to Cebu City after a massive Manila quake, they just discovered a fault running across Cebu City as well. :(

By: Blaise

Blaise — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 04:18:58 +0000

A few years ago, we invited someone from National Disaster Coordinating Council in our office to talk about emergency response, disaster preparedness, etc. She was discussing about safety areas one can go to after an earthquake (open spaces, parking lots), then she mentioned that for the MOA area, the nearest, safest place from there is already Taft Avenue! And yes, that area is prone to liquefaction, as the speaker said.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 04:01:37 +0000

Carl, I am told that at some point in the past (several hundred years ago), the Laguna de Bai was connected to Manila Bay and boats could reach it quite readily. That would make complete sense that the body of water would be called a “lagoon” or “laguna” rather than a lake or “lago”… it also suggests that the water in the laguna may have been brackish, with sea water meeting up with fresh water. I agree with you that the color of the lake is strange, and frankly, I am not sure what commercial fish is raised there… tilapia? bangus?

By: Carl

Carl — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 03:51:16 +0000

We were based in Cebu last year so I’ve taken this route several times as well. Say what you want about the city, but Manila is beautiful. One thing though is that I’ve always been disturbed by the quality of the water in what I assume is Laguna Bay. Especially the parts with the fish pens. The water is either gray or brown. It makes me wonder how it affects the taste, or more importantly, cleanliness of the seafood taken from those areas.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 13:20:31 +0000

Reclamation sounds as though it’s restoring something that was previously owned although it’s nothing of that sort. They probably use the term to avoid landfill which for all is associated with dumping of garbage. But my major concern is how long will they be able to keep this foothold. What with the polar icecaps melting at an unprecedented rate that results in rising sea-level all over. It seems more prudent to invest in something that can be buoyed up than on something that will be engulfed.

By: shane

shane — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 06:32:39 +0000

ami’s comment re MOA offices…roughly 5-6 years ago when MOA was still relatively new…my friends and i noticed that there were already uneven “patches” in the open parking lot…and i heard that a company rented only one space instead of its initial two because of that worrisome liquefaction possibility…