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11.147 Bulgogi

katch4246

11.147

31 (Sun) May 2020

Bulgogi

3.0

by Korean Air

on flight KE 624

-Manila to Incheon-

with the Family

Enhanced Community Quarantine, Day 75 / Repax Day 0.

After 6.5 fun/fruitful/frenetic years living as an expat and working at WHO in the Philippines, the time has come to go home.  I will be eternally and profoundly grateful to the country and the people for their hospitality.

After all the shit that I’ve gone through over the past few months, I felt that I had earned the right to get and stay sloshed during quarantine in Korea, so I had planned to buy buckets of expensive booze – in fact, I had prepared an empty carry-on case that could hold 8 bottles.  Doh!

Whereas GMTD is ostensibly a food blog, and food wasn’t a reason behind the move – though frankly, with all due respect to Filipino culture, I was getting kinda tired of the food, not only the local cuisine but also the restaurant scene and grocery shopping – I won’t go into details here about the many other factors that led us to the decision to leave.  COVID-19 was part of it, at least to get us out quickly before things got too bad.

DATE (post)

 Total GLOBAL cases (new) : deaths (new) Total KOR cases (new) : deaths (new) Total PHL cases (new) : deaths (new) Total USA  cases (new) : deaths (new)
Feb 1 (11.027 Doomsday Pork Belly) 11,953 : 259 12 : 0 1 : 0

7 : 0

Feb 23 (11.049 Cheese Pizza)

 78,811 : 2,462 602 : 0 3 : 0 35 : 0

Mar 7 (11.062 Miyeok Guk Ramyeon)

 101,927 : 3,486 6,767 : 44 5 : 1 213 : 11

Mar 9 (11.064 Stir-Fried Watercress and Shimeji Mushrooms)

109,577 : 3,809

 7,382 : 51 10 : 1 213 : 11
Mar 12 (11.067 Bagiuo Beans in Oyster Sauce) 125,260 : 4,613 7,869 : 66 52 : 2

987 : 29

Mar 16 (11.071 Bitokes à la Russe)

 167,515 : 6,606 8,236 : 75 140 : 12 1,678 : 41
Mar 21 (11.076 Broccoli with Chogochujang Sauce) 266,073 : 11,183 8,799 : 102 230 : 18

15,219 : 201

Apr 4 (11.090 Rice)

 1,051,697 : 56,986 10,156 : 177 3,018 : 29 241,703 : 5,854
Apr 17 (11.103 Naksam Bokkeum) 2,074,529 : 139,378 10,635 : 230 5,660 : 362

632,781 : 28,221

Apr 24 (11.110 Jjol Myeon)

 2,626,321 : 181,938 10,708 : 240

 

 6,981 : 462

 

 830,053 : 42,311
May 11 (11.127 Original Chicken) 4,006,257 (88,891) : 278,892 (4,531) 10,909 (35) : 256 (0) 10,794 (184) : 719 (15)

 

1,271,645 (25,870) : 76,916 (1,552)

May 26 (11.142 Pan-Seared Scallops with Broccoli & Baby Corn in White Pepper Sauce)

 5,404,512 (99,780) : 343,514 (1,486)

 

 11,225 (19) : 269 (2)

 

 14,319 (284) : 873 (16)

 

1,618,747 (26,158) : 96,909 (1,046)

May 31 (11.147 Bulgogi)

5,934,936 (117,551) : 367,166 (4,461)

 11,468 (27) : 270 (1) 17,224 (590) : 950 (8)

1,716,078 (21,214) : 101,567 (1,263)
At check-in, we were informed that the business lounge was closed, so we had to improvise by finding an empty corner near the boarding gate and cordoning off our space with luggage.

For the departure, we implemented an evacuation protocol involving multiple layers of masks, hand sanitization at various checkpoints throughout the terminal, strict isolation prior to boarding, and eating only self-packed food.

The plane – one of 9 international flights still operating out of the country – was full.  Fortunately, we were able secure business class seats, much easier to maintain physical distancing on board, though I noted with alarm that the passengers in coach were packed in.
The extra leg room allowed for Louis to stretch out in his portable house (thanks Kat!).
As the farewell video made for me at work would suggest (thanks Kat!), I will be remembered only for drinking Coke Zero and Scotch whisky.

Thank god, we got out safely.

(WHAT)(WHERE)

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