Singapore Airlines ranked number 2 among the World’s Best Business Class Airlines 2024 by Skytrax. It ranked number 4 in Best Business Class Airline Seats, number 2 in Best Business Class Airline Lounges, number 3 in Best Business Class Onboard Catering, number 3 in Best Business Class Airline Lounge Catering, number 5 in Best Business Class Amenities and overall number 1 Best Business Class in Asia.

My recent business trip allowed me to relook at what I felt about the Business Class route from Manila to Singapore (and back) in this review.

Lounge in Manila

I’d give it a decent rating of good. It wasn’t crowded because it was exclusive for Singapore Air passengers and the food was fairly alright for a lounge in Manila. The WiFi was horrible when the lounge was at 75% capacity.

On time?

Not a chance. Our flight from Manila to Singapore on SQ 917 was delayed due to the late arrival of the aircraft. The original 210pm flight departed past 3pm. They rushed us to the plane and in the mad rush, the service on Business Class was compromised. Not even a towel or water was offered as I tried to get settled in.

Seats, amenities and more

The seats are nice. Lie flat and just light up the panel for the controls. That winged portion the left side of the chair was useless and had a difficult time drawing down the shade.

The entertainment was good as you had solid choices. No amenity kits but you could ask for a sock or slippers (I asked for slippers) and the toilet was stocked (although not too well). There are two toilets at the mid back and one in front. But that’s not good considering business class had 42 seats with two business class sections divided by the toilets in the middle. So yes, the toilets were busy all the time.

I loved the fact that WiFi was free on BizClass at 30,000 feet! It was great for texting and doing some email work.

Food from Manila to Singapore

There wasn’t much choice as half were Filipino dishes. Seriously!

The appetizer was better than the main course. I couldn’t understand the flavor of the pork and noodles (which was way too salty).

After getting into Changi Airport, one needed to take the train from Terminal 3 to the arrival area. And wow, their hassle free immigration point was superb.

You just needed to fill out myICA form 3 days before your trip and all you needed to do was scan your passport, have a photo taken and your thumbprint at the automatic “immigration” gates! In less than 60secs, you’re out!

It’s the same process on the return trip.

Compare our immigration lines in Manila with that of Singapore in the photos below.

Yes, I’m envious. Embrace technology and make it a tool to enable the bureaucratic process of the ailing Philippines. This process alone will improve our tourism industry.

The lounge of SQ in Singapore had food galore. It offered a good mix of choices and the food was better tasting than the bland choices in Manila.

The return flight

Never fly during a storm. So I couldn’t fault the airline for such a delayed and turbulent return flight. While we pushed back at exactly 930am, we were super delayed returning because of typhoon Carina. Circling the air for more than an hour and being number 10 on queue to land was awful. Not the airline’s fault as Mother Nature had her way.

Book the cook

Because I didn’t want to get disappointed with my food choice (again), I booked the cook. And they offer this only on flights out of Singapore or long hauls.

And yes, who says you can’t have lobster thermidor for breakfast? The food was okay, and not great but better than the food out of Manila.

The verdict

So what’s my rating on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best)?

For a regional flight on Singapore Airline, I would give SQ a 4 for seat comfort, 5 for entertainment choice, 2 for amenities, 4 for overall service, 3 for food and 4 for lounge.

This short review is on the Jen Hotel (a Shangrila Hotel) on Orchard Gateway.

Got a club room for this two night stay for a meeting in this beautiful country Singapore. The club room provides access to the lounge and gym.

When you get to Orchard Gateway, you need to take the lift to the 10th floor to check in. Oh, the lift is horribly slow.

The mobile check is on the extreme right. Unfortunately, the girl didn’t know what to do when I showed her my mobile phone and the app that showed that I have checked in. It took quite a bit of time to get my room key because she had to ask the other attendant on what to do.

Finally, when I got my room key, I was off to my room. And the next set of lift was another wait as the lifts in this hotel are awfully slowwwww.

It’s a small room. No frills and the shower had no hot water. I didn’t bother to inform them anymore as I was tired and wouldn’t want to be changing rooms at this point.

Dinner was a quick one at the rooftop restaurant Trippi. The hamburger and mocktail was a decent one. The breeze was fine. The pool looked inviting. The view was stunning.

Breakfast starts at 7am. And the choices in the lounge area aren’t much but decent enough. It’s self service but even service wasn’t up to expectation for a Shangrila brand.

You’d expect that at the club floor or room, you’d get a bit of perks for the room. But that doesn’t apply here. All rooms have nothing in the room ref. If you wanted something to munch on or something to drink, they had a vending machine near the elevator for you. Talk about scrimping.

My final verdict? I’m wondering how it even got tagged as a 4 star hotel. Plain and simple – it’s 3 stars.

The relationship between the physician and the pharmaceutical industry is once again put in the spotlight due to an alleged “pyramid scheme” from doctors who engage in getting credits in exchange for prescriptions AND enticing colleagues to prescribe the products of the pharmaceutical company in order to earn additional credits and benefits.

The Philippine Food and Drug Authority issued FDA circular 2013-0124 on September 5, 2013 which adopts The Mexico City Principles (https://www.fda.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Mexico-City-Principles.pdf) for Voluntary Codes of Business Ethics in the Biopharmaceutical Sector.

The MCP was adopted in 2011 during the US APEC host year and was recognized by APEC leaders and ministers.

Six principles form the pillars of the MCP:

1. Healthcare and patient focus means everything we do is intended to benefit patients.

2. Integrity means dealing ethically, honestly and respectfully in everything we do.

3. Independence means to respect the autonomous decision-making of all parties, free from improper influence.

4. Legitimate intent means that everything we do is for the right reasons, is lawful, and aligns with the spirit and values of these principles.

5. Transparency means a general willingness to be open about our actions while respecting the legitimate commercial sensitivities and intellectual property rights.

6. Accountability means a willingness to be responsible for our actions and interactions.

During my term as director for the CDRR at the FDA, we constantly monitored and reminded the industry to manage their entanglements with physicians. While it is not wrong to promote any biopharmaceutical product, promotions should be within the scientific merits of the product, sans pomp and enticement.

Some physicians may not be able to discern entanglements with the industry as some believe that “gifts” are entitlements to them. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

The greater the value the gift, the greater the responsibility. Gifts do not need to be ostentatious to be a bribe. A bribe is a bribe, regardless of value. It is the intent that is crucial.

A lawyer commented that this practice is not illegal, but it is unethical.

Undue influence is legally defined as “influence by which a person is induced to act otherwise than by their own free will or without adequate attention to the consequences”. Undue influence clouds clinical judgement in the healthcare system.

The practice of medicine is not a business. Our relationship with patients rely on trust, compassion and respect. There should be no lines that blur the relationship between doctors and patients at all touch points.

And the guiding principles of ethics – TO FIRST DO NO HARM – is the overarching dictum that should be followed.

In January of 2019, my mom who was then 82 was diagnosed with colon cancer (Stage IIIA).

She underwent surgery on February of the same year, but refused to undergo chemotherapy. She said that she was old already and did not want to have to struggle with ‘quality of life’ issues. We actually had bookings for our trip to Tokyo in March of the same year. A month after her surgery, she struggled to make it with us to the trip.

It’s been five years (and more) since her surgery, and it’s been a roller coaster ride of having to deal with health issues. With the love and care of her family – my niece, nephew, sister and my partner – we were able to manage through several speed bumps on health.

I’ve always believed in the power of prayers. Sometimes, when we ask for those small miracles, someone up there listens to us. As a man of science, I believe that we are only instruments of God.

On a balmy Maundy Thursday in Tokyo, my mom wanted to visit a church. Unfortunately, we could not use the PWD lift because there was no one around but the Tsukiji Catholic Church (https://tsukijicatholic.org) was open. We spent 30 minutes there in meditation, thanking God for the extended journey in her life.

Unlike our trip last year where we stayed in the hustle and bustle of Ginza, this time around was a more reflective one. (Did I not blog about how reflections killed my Apple Watch?)

We spent more time bonding and enjoying each other’s company. At my age, I began contemplating more on what my mom’s journey was and how my journey of accepting struggles and resilience brought me to where I am today. No complaints. No regrets. Just pure acceptance.

Because love, is what pulled us through those difficult times.

Love, was the miracle.

The first Apple Watch Series 1 came out in 2016, I was one of those who flew to Tokyo to grab one.

There was that fascination over, yes, owning a watch that synced with your phone, apps and all!

Over the years, the Apple Watch evolved as technology advanced as quickly as the iPhone.

As quickly as the phones changed, so did the watches. And the other digital devices.

A few years after the launch of the Apples Watch, many other brands came out with their own versions of the “smart watch”. And smart phones.

I have nothing against technology. In reality, I am one of those who embraced the craze.

On our recent trip to Tokyo, one realization struck me when my Apple Watch died on me. Yes. It literally lost power several times. And I knew this 5 year old watch (yes it was a series 4), was ready to retire.

And while I was looking at my “dead” watch at Shinjuku, the realities that struck me were:

1. The watches had no resale value. These smart watches had a life span. They don’t last like the phones and no matter how expensive

It’s been awhile since I posted a blog.

I know that many followed this blog for the COVID-19 updates during the difficult times of the pandemic. As we saw better outcomes with vaccination and treatment, you will agree with me that it is time to move on, albeit still cautious of how SARS-CoV-2 can possibly evolve in the future.

With that said, I chose the Greek word Ataraxia as the title for this blog.

It means, “a serene state of calmness, freedom from worry.”

The past three years have truly been difficult. Not only in terms of healthcare and economy, but the overall anxiety driven by the pandemic.

There are many who still live in perpetual fear of catching COVID-19 and still many who are confused with the isolation and quarantine rules when one tests positive for the virus.

Without a doubt, majority of the infections we are seeing now are mild.

I tested positive for COVID on May 1, 2023.

Because it was a holiday, I had a 3 km run in the morning of this very warm day. After a good shower, I asked my family to have lunch in the mall. We always pick sitting outside (where there is good ventilation) in spite of the heat. After lunch, we went around the mall (with masks on). I told my mom that I felt a bit exhausted (and attributed it most likely to both the heat and the run). We went home early and I took a nap and woke up feeling better.

But better wasn’t good for me. That’s because this was unusual. I do some runs but don’t feel winded down. And because there were so many sick kids in the clinic lately, I decided to swab myself. And I was positive.

I didn’t have any other symptoms. No fever, cough, cold or loss of taste and smell or pain. Nothing at all. But I isolated for 5 days and continued to wear a mask up to day 10. I was already negative on the 7th day (with day 0 being the first day I tested positive) and a repeat test on the 9th day continued to be negative. I short, I was fattening myself for a week and binging on Netflix and Disney Plus and working online.

It dawned on me – how many people had symptoms similar to mine and did not bother to test? As I’ve always told my patients, you don’t need to have fever to be positive for COVID-19.

None of my family who were exposed to me had COVID. Maybe because they all had COVID infection already 6 months ago and I was the only one left in the household that has not had natural COVID infection. Could it also be due to the fact that I received my bivalent in the US in October 2022 that I was ‘protected’ for a couple of months? But the circulating strains currently are not covered anymore by the bivalent vaccines that are being provided.

That week of catching COVID gave me time to mull and think about life after COVID infection. This will most likely be a viral infection we all will catch (just like influenza) and there will be a variety of circulating strains from a dominant variant and sub variants. Those that have had the natural infection will have more robust protection and those that have had vaccination will be protected against more severe clinical illness.

Catching COVID taught me a valuable lesson in medicine post-COVID.

Ataraxia should be how we look at the current COVID situation.

Work. Eat. Drink. Travel. Relax. Have fun. Repeat…

Life, after all, should be celebrated.

Nobody saw it coming.

Not even the experts at disaster preparedness. It took the World Health Organization to even decide calling the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in China, a pandemic.

Like a thief in the night, COVID-19 stealthily took over our lives and changed the way we lived in the last three years. Even as the WHO declared that COVID-19 is not a public health emergency any longer, those three years were undoubtedly painful ones.

People needed to change behavior. With high mortality at the beginning of the pandemic in the 21st century, science needed to step up quickly in order to find treatment and vaccines against the virus.

Unfortunately, as science raced to address the gaps of healthcare, the virus mutated to more evasive variants and sub variants. They too, needed to survive.

The casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic was not only health-related. Deaths, post-COVID sequelae, and other unaddressed health issues which were not attended to during the pandemic because of fear of going to hospitals and contracting the virus was something we needed to address. Immunization against common preventable diseases were placed on hold. Necessary work-ups for other ailments were on pause mode, worsening the saddled healthcare systems globally.

But health wasn’t the only major casualty of the pandemic.

The economy of various countries, particularly those that remained in lockdown for the longest period of time suffered the most. People lost their jobs because businesses had to close. Those that survived would need time to recover the 2019 numbers. And it’s not going to happen overnight. It will take more resources and deeper pockets to continue operating the same way we did 4 years ago.

There are lessons learned from this pandemic.

Lockdowns don’t work, particularly for poor countries like the Philippines, where majority of its people live below the poverty line. The fear of contracting the virus and getting sick was coupled with some very poor decision making from the previous administration. A bitter pill of truth that is difficult to swallow.

Disaster preparedness will require a political will. This will not be the last pandemic to strike us. If there are those in government who will misuse and abuse the coffers of the health department, we will end up waiting like beggars for dole-outs from donor countries for vaccines and medicines. By then, it would be too late.

If you look at the situation we are in today, we are still at the sad place in health.

We have little regard for the healthcare sector, and its healthcare workers. There is no budget for vaccines for its people and we remain mendicants in many aspects of health.

Quo vadis Pilipinas?

This isn’t a paid review.

A lot of people wonder how we were even able to get a room here. It’s not like a swanky hotel. It’s actually four stars. This reservation was made 6 months ahead of our planned trip. Hoping that nothing would come in the way, I went ahead and booked the three rooms for a party of six adults.

Located right smack in the Ginza district, this hotel has the minimalist and environmental-friendly feel. The location is the crown jewel stand out for this hotel. Right in the heart of the Ginza district, where the posh high-end shops are never ending, the hotel is just a few steps away from Mitsuhikoya and Matsukaya Ginza, as well as the branded names of Fendi, LV, Gucci, Prada, Hermés, Bottega Venetta, Valentino, et al, or the likes of Apple and Samsung flagship shops, Ginza is home to several Michelin starred restaurants and the more upscale Tokyo Peninsula.

So why pick the Muji Hotel at Ginza? But this hotel is not without hiccups! Aside from the aforementioned location, the flagship Muji shop is located on the first five floors and a Muji Diner at the basement of this building. The hotel, with 79 rooms, is located on the 6th to 10th floor. The stores and diner close at 9pm daily. That means the access to the hotel from the main shop closes as well. You will need to use the hotel entrance at the back of the store to gain access to your rooms after 9pm.

The reception is located on the 6th floor. There is no luggage service, so don’t expect a baggage boy come rushing to the doorstep to meet you. There is also hardly anyone at the front desk after 11pm. When we arrived close to 11pm last Sunday, I called the hotel and was asking where the entrance was, we couldn’t understand each other. While the staff may speak English, it’s quite basic and things get lost easily in translation. This is, after all, not the Four Seasons at Maranouchi (a favorite of mine).

The rooms are decent. Most of them follow a type C design. In reality, when Muji had bought this building, it was originally designed to be an office and not a hotel. Which accounts for the way the interiors of the hotel have been retrofitted to an appealing but not functional look.

There are standard amenities which you can take home with you. It’s a mini version of what you can find at the Muji store.

As modern as it gets, there isn’t a switch in the room (except the bathroom). All appliances, lights, curtains, alarm, cleaning services and phone calls are made through a smart pad. That includes the level of lighting and whatever you’d want to operate in your room without having to stand up. Just bring the tablet with you to control all settings.

Breakfast does not stuff your face in a buffet. Although still a buffet, it’s a rather simple spread of traditional Japanese dishes. Breakfast is at the WA Restaurant to the left of the front desk. To the right of the front desk is The Atelier – Muji’s library – where there are tons of reading material and coffee, tea and some baked goods. The bakery is located in the first floor, while the diner is at the basement. The bakery and diner are open after 11am. Food choices are standard and limited.

Your stay at the Muji Hotel won’t be complete if you don’t visit their whole 5 floors of shop – from fashion to household needs and appliances to school and office supplies and to their famous diffusers and scents.

Here’s the photo gallery of the five floors of the Muji store below the hotel.

The Muji Hotel at Ginza has its plus and minuses. With Uniqlo and GU just at its side and the posh shops a few steps away, it is, hands down, the best location in Ginza.

But if you’re looking for a hotel with less hits and misses, Muji Hotel at Ginza is over rated as an eco friendly hotel doesn’t really work well for the elderly and persons with disability. If you fall into the latter category, this should not be a choice for you.

It’s also stressful that they require all guests to check out promptly at 11am. And they need all the card keys when you check out (so that means that there’s no taking home those card keys as a souvenir). But there is always a place to put your bags in the lobby and you can always have lunch at WA if you’re waiting for a late afternoon flight.

You can reserve a room online at this link: https://hotel.muji.com/ginza/en/