First Part of the Story
10PM. I received a
call on my celphone.
A PAL call center agent was on the other end.
“Please be advised that your 8:30AM flight to Naga tomorrow
has been cancelled. Passengers will be rerouted to Legaspi at 1:30PM,” he said.
At first, I politely asked him for the reason.
Airport closure? No.
Bad weather? No.
Aircraft trouble? No.
He explained that there was a need to realign flights. Realign?!?!?! By then, I was very upset. A dam inside me broke and I proceeded to give
the agent a piece of my mind.
How could PAL cancel a flight I had booked for myself and my
kids 5 months ago? We were on our way to
Caramoan and rerouting our flight from Naga to Legaspi would mean our missing
the boat that would take us to Caramoan.
How could they think we would be jumping for joy with their last minute
efforts to make it up to us?
Realizing that it was useless venting my disappointment on
the agent, I requested for a refund.
His response: You will need to immediately send an email request
to PAL stating the reason for the cancellation.
After which, PAL would evaluate the request and after 30-45 days,
process the refund through the credit
card company used in the transaction.
Now this got me going again.
I did not have wifi connection. He countered, “please go to
the airport early tomorrow morning and proceed to the ticketing office with
your claim.”
Are you kidding me??!?
Finally getting the hint from my sarcastic tone, the agent
relents and meekly tells me that he will bring the matter up to his supervisor
and call me back.
While waiting for the PAL agent to call me back, I make a
frantic call to my son and daughter. We were disappointed at the turn of events as we had been
looking forward to a weekend adventure. I had researched and read blogs and
reviews on what to do (island hopping and snorkeling in clear waters) and where
to finally stay ( Residencia de Salvacion).
Cancelled all because flights had to be realigned.
Realigned??!!
My daughter made a call to the travel agent (e-philippines)
who had arranged our transfers and itinerary. While I, in turn, quickly made a call to Residencia de Salvacion. After apologizing for the late call, I explained the situation to the manager. She cordially
informed us that it was no trouble at all and understood clearly. We would get our refund.
My daughter, as well, did not have trouble getting the travel agent to agree to
immediately return our payment-- in full. (For local travel assistance, do check and click e-philippines for trouble-free and the smoothest travel arrangements)
At 11PM, I was feeling better about the whole matter. Then I
got a call from the same PAL agent.
He reported that his supervisor has approved moving the deadline for receipt of my email to Monday. There was no need to go to the airport. (Hurray!)
But as advised earlier, it would take 30-45 days before any refund would
actually take place.
Shortly before midnight, not wanting to dwell on the
negative, the kids and I agreed on other plans for our three-day long weekend—one
day at a time.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Bicol has been, for the longest time, a region I had always
wanted to visit. Mayon volcano, the butandings (whale sharks), feast day celebration
of Our Lady of Penafrancia, pili nuts,
sili and coconuts.
My kids and I will find another time to visit Bicolandia but
for the time being, I share with you a fiery dish I learned from a
Bicolana. It might just blow your top off---
but I mean that in a positive way!
Bicol Express
¼ kilo sili
espada or sili pang sigang
Milk
extracted from two coconuts
n 1st extract is the cream (squeeze the grated coconut in a sinamay or cheese cloth)
n 2nd extract is the thin milk (to the grated coconut, add 1 cup warm water then squeeze the watery milk from the coconut)
1 small
onion, diced
3 cloves
garlic, crushed
1 thumb-size
ginger, crushed or sliced (optional)
4 to 6 T shrimp paste (bagoong)
100 -500
grams pork (belly is good), sliced ( more pork for a meatier dish)
In a
casserole, saute in a little oil the garlic, ginger and the onion. Add the sliced sili.
Next goes the pork belly and stir until light
brown.
Add the thin milk and the shrimp
paste. Simmer until pork is tender. If need be, add a little more water should the mixture be drying up.
Add the coconut cream and stir until the
resulting sauce has thickened. Continue
to simmer until the oil from the milk appears.
Serve with
lots and lots of steamed rice.
Note:
1.
You may add more pork in relation to sili if you
want a more meaty dish. Or the other way around, if you want more sili than pork.
2.
Don’t add all the bagoong in one go. Add it a little at a time. Tasting and adding
more as you cook (depending on your preference for saltiness).
3.
To reduce the sili heat:
a)
Soak the sliced sili in water with a little
salt. Rinse and drain prior to adding to the pan.
b)
To further cut the spiciness, instead of cutting
the sili diagonally, cut in half length-wise. Remove the seeds. The slice the
sili into strips.
4.
If using canned coconut cream, divide contents
into two. To one portion, add enough water to make 1 ½ cups. This will be your
thin milk. The other portion will be your thick milk.
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| Siling Labuyo: Small but Terrible! |
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