A bush fire welcomed us in General Santos City airport. This Christmas season is very dry, literally. Rain has not fallen for more than a month so the land is scorched. I guess stuff like this are bound to happen. I was wondering why our plane took a bit longer to land, circling over the nearby towns several times. We spotted fire fighters battling a bush fire in one end of the runway during one of the passes. Thankfully the fire was quickly under control and we did not have to divert to Davao some 200km away.

With the coming New Year and the fireworks and firecrackers that go along with the celebration, fires can easily happen, especially in urban areas. Have a safe New Year everyone!

My internet connection is sporadic at best, will return to blogsphere next year.

I was able to go home for the Holy Week this summer. Went to the airport early, just to be assured of a window seat, on the right side of the plane, just on the right row. I know how the plane is going to approach the airport and I tried taking photos before but the weather was not kind. This time weather was perfect.

Someone was already seated in my seat when I boarded the plane. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Excuse me mister, but I think you are in my seat..."
Schmuck: "Oh is that right? But I requested for a window seat..."
Me: "Maybe you did, but they didn't give you one, did they? Please check your seat number."
Schmuck: "Do you really need a window seat?"
Me: "Yes I do, more than you think..."
Schmuck: "Can we exchange sets later?"
Me: "OK, as long as you get up during the landing sequence, I have to take photos".

It didn't take a few seconds for him to realize his possible predicament. He stood up and we exchanged seats. Picture taking trumps everything. (In hindsight, if he really wanted that window seat, he could have waited for me first and asked me. I would have let him have the seat)


General Santos City is considered the Tuna Capital of the Philippines. Tons and tons of tuna are processed daily in its world class fish port (32 hectares, took USD 26 million to develop) which can accommodate more than a thousand fishing vessels . Unfortunately I was not able to take a photo of the fish port from the air.




The area around Gensan used to be very barren. Now mango plantations are sprouting everywhere to meet the increasing demands of the nearby Dole cannery in Polomolok as well as from those mango processing plants in Cebu.