Philippines

It's been slighly over a year since my last blog post, so I thought it's about time I create a new one, and have it be my recent Philippines trip. Note: this will most likely be a really long blog.

Back in April 2022, my dad was making plans on travelling to the Philippines (more specifically, the Bicol region) to visit the farm that he and his brother owned. I wanted to come with him, which he was fine with, mainly because I wanted to take a vacation from work. He also asked me these two things:

1. Improve their network/WiFi
2. Source a CCTV Solution

He needed it to be cheap, while also easy to use (key word cheap). We've already deployed the Unifi Protect CCTV System at our house, so I thought this would be perfect to do, and we can also integrate the Unifi Network into this as well. However, my dad wasn't buying it, since he was thinking that this would raise the price up by alot. After a bit of convincing, we were able to go with this setup.

So, time for planning.

Only problem, were a couple of things:

1. Most houses have concrete walls, and since this house is a bungalow style (only one story), and to have optimal wireless connections, you won't be able to get away with just 1 access point (I mean, you probably can, but since the walls are concrete, the connection quality will most likely deterioate).
2. Electricity isn't stable, especially in the rural parts of Philippines. Buying a reliable UPS will solve this issue.

The items that we bought are as follows:

1. For the Cameras:
   • x3 G3 Instant
   • x3 G3 Flex
   • X1 G4 Bullet
2. For the WiFi/Network Solution:
   • x2 Unifi 6 Wifi Lite
   • x1 Access Point AC Mesh (For the Outdoor deployment)
   • x1 Access Point AC In-Wall
3. For the brain, we went with Unifi Dream Machine Special Edition, as this was practically an All-in-One solution (especially the POE ports)
4. Since we were going to deploy some of the devices outdoors, instead of running multiple cables for the multiple devices, we decided to also grab x2 Switch Flex paired with the Switch Flex Utility for proper Outdoor protection

Fast forward to October 09 2022, that's when we flew to the Philippines. We took Philippine Airlines' Premium Economy (PR119), mainly because it was a direct route to the country itself, is one of the few airlines that flew to Legazpi after landing in MNL, and I wanted to splurge in our seating arrangement (but we'll get to the end when I flew back in Business Class). While waiting to board, I was playing on my Steam Deck, which was pretty cool. Yay for portability.

I wish I took pictures of our Premium Economy Seats, but it was almost midnight when we boarded the plane, and I was already tired at that point. One of the nice perks of Premium Economy was that we had priority Boarding with the folks at Business Class, so that was cool.

1st stop was at Vancouver, for a refuel. Due to the airspace restriction, they had to take a longer route. It wasn't too bad, as we didn't have to get off the plane.

After taking off again, it was practically another 8-9 hours.

Finally, we land in Manila.

Afterwards, it was another 8 hour layover before taking the final flight to Bicol International Airport.

Now it was time for the main legwork, which was creating the new system. It took a roughly 2-3 days to do it, but it was mainly a success. I didn't take alot of pictures during the process, as usually at the end of the day we were tired and wanted to crash to our beds.

I did take some pictures though.

My only gripe was that I wasn't able to place the ISP provided Modem/Router into Bridge mode, due to the stupid policies that PLDT (the ISP provider) that they created. So, Double NAT it is (Not a huge problem, but still somewhat annoying).

Now the main reason why I went to the Philippines was for vacation, and boy oh boy, the scenary is sometimes worth it.

Here are some of the pictures:

I won't be posting everything that I did, mainly due to privacy reasons.

I will however talk about my flight back here to Toronto.

Originally I was going to be flying back in the same cabin class, Premium Economy. However I wanted to splurge a bit more, and since I most likely won't be coming back in a couple years, I thought that my flight back should at least be super comfortable, and to end it in a good note.

How the airline does it, is that you can bid for an upgrade to a higher class to try your luck. So, that's what I did. I tried my luck, and lo' and behold, I somehow got the luck.

While my flight from Legazpi to Manila was still at Premium Economy/Comfort, the Business flight was from Manila to Toronto.

After I lannded in Manila, transferred terminals, and went through Security one more time, I had a few hours to hang, so I went to the lounge. The lounge wasn't too bad. Nice interior, and the food was good.

This practically gave me time to continue playing on my Steam Deck.

When it was time to board, I was basically able to bypass all the lines, since Business Class. When I got to my seat, man it looked pretty.

Lots of legroom, fancy food, you name it. It made my flight back to Toronto really comfortable.

After landing in Toronto, I was one of the first few people out of the plane, and since I decided to fill out the ArriveCan App, it made border control really fast to do. After getting out of the plane, I was essentially out and ready to be picked up within 15 minutes. Protip: Actually do the optional ArriveCan mobile app, you'll get through Customs quickly.

I don't know when the next time I'll be back at the Philippines, but I'm aiming for my next stay to be a month, so that I can really explore the country a bit more.