Day 12: Back to the Philippines

I had a leisurely breakfast, relaxed in my room, then caught a cab to the airport. I could have done a train, but I still had a lot of Baht left over, and I was feeling lazy. 

I went to the check in counter, Kuwait Airlines was who I was traveling back with. I give them my ticket and my passport. They then ask for my out bound ticket. In the Philippines you need to prove that you will be leaving the country in order to get into it. I tell them I don't need one, my work visa is on page 9 of my passport. My passport is then passed around to several different ticketing agents all speaking in hushed tones as they look at it. Eventually it gets back to the guy in front of me who then tells me "This isn't a real visa." I work in a Freeport zone, which means I don't pay tax like other people who work in say Manila. Because of this my visa is slightly different then there the standard issue one. I try to explain this to the people at the counter. They proceed to be very unhelpful. I'm sent to wait in this one area. I'm surrounded by people who have not complied with the rules. There's a large Korean family with large quantities of durian fruit which is banned in the airport. Its pretty much the worst fruit in the world because it smells like decaying caracas and sweaty gym sock. Why people think its a good idea to put that in their mouth I have no idea. But they're there trying to argue that it shouldn't be taken from them. Eventually I get to talk to a person and explain whats going on, he says that they will fax my visa to Manila immigration and see what they say, but this may take three hours. At this point I'm 45 minutes from boarding. 

I  then tell him if it would be quicker I have a ticket leaving the country for the 22nd of June. "That should work, where is it?" 

"In my email."

"Why didn't you bring a printed copy with you? Don't you know you need exit ticket to get into the Philippines?"

"I HAVE A VISA!"

I'm then sent to Cathay Pacific for them to print me off a copy of my ticket for June. I bring it back to the ticket guy, he then looks at it "This is no good, you can only be in the country for 30 days, you'll need a visa for an extended stay." 

"I ALREADY HAVE A VISA!" Theres a fair amount of arguing, and then they consult the other employees around them in Thai. I'm watching as the time gets closer to my flight. 30 minutes to boarding. Eventually the man hands me my boarding pass and passport with angry look and says, "Here, but they won't let you into the country." 

"Thank you. And they have been for the past two years."

I ran through airport, got to security, I'm always amazed by how few people understand how security works. Yes, all metal does include the keys and change in your pocket. Yes your watch counts. No you can not bring a 2 litre water bottle on the plane.

But I made it through, got to the gate with enough time to go to the washroom before we boarded. Upon arrival I was let back into the Philippines no problem. I flagged a cab, it only took me 5 attempts to find one that was willing to actually put on the meter. After a very long bus ride back to Subic (we ran into far too many Easter parades).  It was nice to be back.