Manila Misadventures#1: It smells funny

It began with a gleaming hope and excitement, not unlike the one I had when I set out to go Worlds 2008. But unlike Bangkok, what I encountered as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was definitely not anything in the same league as my expectation.
Why?

1. It smells funny. It smells old.
2. It does look old. Even more grim than cengkareng - something I thought not possible, given that Cengkareng was described as "inferior to many international airports in the region" by Wikipedia.
3. It has no fast food chains. I know that is ridiculous, but we couldn't help wondering, as "we've been in Indonesia too long and we instinctively rate 'human development' in various cities according to the franchises established there, i.e. from least developed to most developed: CFC, KFC, McD, Starbucks. Thankfully the city has plenty of fastfood, a curse in disguise of blessing.
4. We actually called it Bandara Palangkaraya, with no knowledge whatsoever what lies upon the ground of Palangkaraya. For all we know, Palangkaraya might have a better airport!

And off we went to an ill start..

Bonus: snapped at the check-in hall

"Offenders will be prosecuted by Hongkong Police upon landing in HongKong"
Ahem.