At first, I was in a feeling of confusion and disbelief on how the return portion of the plane ticket that was a part of my scholarship award in 1967 could entitle me and my wife to fly round trip PRS/HKG/PRS?
In March 1975, I decided to go back to the Philippines. In theory, my return ticket to Manila was valid for me only. However, it was explained to me by the ticketing officer of the Air France office in Brussels that with the special promotion offer, he said that my return ticket could also buy me two round-trip PRS/HKG/PRS tickets.
As my wife's ticket was only valid until Hong Kong, I had to book and pay for her the HKG/MLA/HKG flight that seemed still interesting to me because I wanted her so much as to see the Philippines and meet my family personally.
My older sister was too happy to welcome us at the airport upon our arrival and finally to meet my wife for the first time. Then, she accompanied us directly to our family house in Balik-Balik where my mother was impatiently waiting for us and meeting my wife in person with great delight.
We spent the first week mostly in Manila for her to discover and explore the city. The first day, my sister accompanied us to meet relatives and friends. the second day, I showed her the famous sights where the tourists go, like the Intramuros, Rizal park and the Paco cemetery. I showed her the places I frequented when I was young, like the secondary school and the university where I studied. The third day, I took her to the offices where I last worked before leaving for abroad, such as the UN agency and presented her to my former colleagues who were too delighted to meet her and make her acquaintance.
Then, we proceeded to Makati where I took her to meet my former professor at the university who worked at the French consulate and last but not the least, I took her to the auditing office where I worked for a few months before I left to present her to my colleagues who thought I was joking when I told them without batting an eyelid that I'd go to France and to find myself a white foreign wife to marry. On the following days, my sister took us around to meet her colleagues at the convent and to show us their school in Tondo.
On the eve of Palm Sunday, we went to Pantranco to take a trip to Baguio and stay overnight. When we passed through Calasiao, I pointed out the house where I was born, but we didn't stop because we had too little time to make a stopover. By the time we arrived in Baguio, we directly booked a bed in a hotel on the Session Road near the Cathedral. We took a rest and refreshed ourselves to tour the city and have a dinner in one of the restaurants at the public market.
On Palm Sunday, we went to the Cathedrale to hear mass and went around the city before catching a bus for Manila. There wasn't much to go and see except for the lake in Burnham Park. We took the first bus to Dagupan to spend some time sunbathing at Bonoan beach. Incidentally, I bought a big bucket of fresh oysters. Finally, we arrived in Manila after 10 pm.
During the Easter week, we didn't go around too much but visited the churches and spent some afternoon in the Japanese garden at Rizal park. The following afternoon, we went to the Paco cemetery to visit Rizal's grave and to explore the area.
One day, we were invited by my former Vietnamese colleague at the UN for an excursion to Tagaytay with his family. We went to see and admire the Taal volcano and its environment, then we bought some fruits like mangos and papaya from the local vendors who were lined up along the way.
The following day, we went to the Nayong Pilipino village to go around and explore the place and to watch a colorful performance of the Moro dance, as the main show. I was highly impressed because it was executed beautifully and well done professionally.
On the Holy Friday, my friend Alex came to accompany us to go and watch the local passion play complete with crosses and costumes and even with a chariot driven by a horse somewhere outside of the city. The weather was hot and there were foreign tourists also present. Although they were amateur performers, I think they could outperform the seasoned actors of Cecil B. De Mille.
On Easter Sunday, my sister and her colleagues from the convent came over to my mother's place to help prepare a party for her birthday. We had a sumptuous lunch and my mother enjoyed our company because Sara and I would be leaving for Hong Kong the next day.
https://pablolayson.blogspot.com/2026/08/stopover-hong-kong.html
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