Chinese New Year: To the Philippines!

While we in the West celebrate the New Year on January 1^st, many East Asian countries still follow traditional lunar calendar holidays. The Chinese New Year was in early February, and unlike back home, it’s not just a one day affair. One week off is considered short. Our school had a full three weeks holiday! Now we didn’t get a full month’s pay, but I’m not complaining about a 21 day vacation.

Chinese New Year lasts for a full week, and many people get two or three weeks off of work for the holiday. It might
be interesting to stay in China for the festivities, but most of the celebrating is a family affair at home. Hundreds of
millions of people travel during the New Year, so prices soar and transport is even more jammed than normal. Sounds
like a good opportunity to go abroad and leave the crowds behind!

In the months leading up to our holiday I was debating where to go. I didn’t want to travel all the way back home considering I was looking to escape the cold, not run towards it. The finalists were Myanmar and the Philippines. I’d never been to Myanmar but heard great things. As for the Philippines, I’d been twice already for a total of over two months and enjoyed every day.

The visa process in Myanmar was more complicated and flights pricier. In part on my recommendation, three of my colleagues – Trevor, Joanna, and Justin – decided to visit the Philippines. With that in mind, I settled on the familiar to the unknown. Now I enjoy exploring new places, but there’s lots in the Philippines I haven’t yet seen, and good friends make for an added bonus.

I'd spent lots of time in the north (Luzon) and central (Visayas)
regions of the Philippines, but this time around I also wanted
to explore the southern island of Mindanao.

On Saturday, January 30^th my flight left Hangzhou. I was due to depart at 5:20 pm and left four hours earlier from my apartment. I could have taken a taxi, but the airport is on the other side of the city and I’m too cheap for that. Instead I planned to take an airport bus from the north bus station. After waiting to hail a cab from my neighborhood for 15 minutes with no sign of success, I opted for the local bus. There was no direct option, so by the time I made it to the north station it was 2:10.

I was told that buses depart every half an hour for the airport, but found out the schedule was actually 2:15 and 3:00, not 2:30. The ticket officer informed me I’d have to wait for the 3 pm bus.

“I’m cutting it close,” I thought, “But it’s not too close to panic.”

And besides, what could I do at that point? The 3:00 bus was running late, of course, so we didn’t leave until nearly 3:15. Joanna said the trip should take an hour, give or take traffic. So that meant I would hopefully arrive an hour before my flight. Fortunately I had a domestic transfer so it wasn’t an international flight.

Well, weekend Hangzhou traffic, especially leading up to the holidays, can be brutal. As I squirmed in my seat and nervously checked the time on my phone, an hour went and passed. The trip took nearly an hour and a half! As we pulled up to the departure drop off at 4:40 I was sure I’d missed my flight.

Hangzhou is notorious for its traffic, especially with construction of a new
subway line and infrastructure for the G20 this fall.

“Okay,” I thought, “I’ll just check the counter to see if I get lucky, but assume that I need to buy another flight to Xiamen (where I was due to transfer).” My onward flight to the Philippines wasn’t leaving Xiamen until the following day, so I could still make that plane.

I arrived that the check-in counter at 4:44 pm and proceeded to hand over my passport as if nothing was wrong. They employee began typing away; after several minutes she said: “Your passport number is incorrect on the booking. It’s one number off. You’ll have to go to the service desk to change it.”

“Do you know what time my flight departs?” I asked, trying to sound calm. After conversing with her colleague she must have changed it on the computer, because the next thing she told me was, “You don’t have much time, you need to be quick,” as she handed me my boarding pass and a special badge that read: “Last passenger.”

“Oh, I can run fast,” I exclaimed. After thanking her I breezed through the VIP security line and rand to my gate, which was on last call. I wasn’t even the last one to board the plane! From check-in counter to sitting on the plane in less than 15 minutes must be some kind of record – or at least I felt like it at the time!

My flight to Xiamen went smoothly, and I arrived in the coastal city by 7 pm. That evening I checked into my hostel and walked around the downtown shopping area, which is near the water. Xiamen city is actually on an island and connected by bridge to the mainland. The central city is compact and great for a stroll; I was impressed with how developed and clean it appeared (one food street did have trash piled up in the middle of the road, with cars driving over it, but most places were sanitary).

The main walking street near my hostel in Xiamen

My flight the following day didn’t leave until nearly 6 pm, so I had until early afternoon to check out the waterfront, Xiamen University, and hike the hills south of the city center. Overall I was impressed with Xiamen; I don’t know if I’ll make it back but it was a nice stopover.

That evening I boarded my Xiamen Air flight to Manila, where I’d be meeting Joanna, Justin, and Trevor! Here are some pictures I took during my day in Xiamen: