Travel to the Philippines Part 1

It is already November, and the situation has changed a bit from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I traveled to the Philippines for work from the end of September, so I will note it down here as a memorandum.

It was a very anxious situation due to the pandemic, but I obtained my 9a visa and entered the country safely.

It took about a month to obtain the 9a visa and a little over a month to get the entry permit to apply for it, totaling just over 2 months.

Now, the 9g visa has mainly changed, so it might be difficult with the 9a visa, but it seems safer to expect that obtaining a visa might take a few months.

Although it may not need much explanation since various places have already reported it, when entering the Philippines from Japan, a 14-day quarantine is mandatory (it seems that Japan is now classified as a green country and does not require quarantine).

The scene at Narita Airport looked like this; it was quite empty.

I was told that the flights were already fully booked when I made the reservation, but looking around, there were hardly any passengers on board. Is it the understanding that operations are required to run at such a low density?

Upon arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, there are various things related to quarantine that you have to go through.

At some point, I was required to repeatedly submit a QR code called the One Health Pass, which needs to be registered before entering the country. I thought I would be waiting for quite a while, but I was able to leave the airport in less than an hour.

I stayed at a certain hotel in Makati. The check-in at the hotel is done through a separate underground parking lot from regular guests. The basic assumption is that you might be carrying a virus, so the check-in process is very strict.

The room is entirely on a floor reserved for quarantined individuals, with chairs placed in front of the rooms, and meals are delivered three times a day at scheduled times. You cannot go outside even one step.

After check-in, sandwiches were distributed, which made me a little happy. I thought eating this late at night would make me gain weight, but I finished it all. The tuna sandwich was quite tasty.

Each meal looked like this. The rice was warm (which was pleasantly surprising when I picked it up), and the taste was decent.

＜Example of Breakfast＞

＜Example of Lunch＞

＜Example of Dinner＞

The sunrise on the first day in Makati. A 14-day life of confinement.

However, looking at the current situation, it seems that the memory of COVID will soon fade away.