On this trip was determined to go somewhere besides AC,,, since was there for almost 16 days,,,went to Subic. Actually next time,, and permitting am either going to Puerto Galera, or Boracay,, the beaches at Subic,,, to say it lightly SUCKED. BUT... just the ride through the countryside was worth the trip.

GETTING THERE:
Tickets for two was 14oop{? have forgotten exactly}, used Swagman, and say to anyone give em a try,, they were A1.

Stayed at By The Sea, in Barrio Barreto... 1300p nite. Room,, fridge{ comes without the extras,,empty in other words}, tv....no remote,,, alas some of you may not remember life before remotes,,,, AC, stayed in the bayside rooms,, lesser prices and more pricey avail. Restaurant, okay,,, service at same fair. Next door a few,,, Mangos, run by an ex-serviceman from Texas, did not meet him,, but maybe next time. Across the street I saw the Confederate flag,,, WHAT???? To those who are not from the US,, see history USA 1861-1865. Had to check it out,, a guy from the Navy,, Arkansas born runs it. Nice guy. Gro's there,, Mangos,, well, it was a bar and restaurant, food allright, if you can run the pesky cats off. One was determined to sit at my feet the entire time,, have never seen a cat eat an onion,, but this one did!!!!

Other entertainment:

Well, one thing is bring your own, and now I also know where to go to swim. Some Brit expats there told me how to get around and about Mangos/owner is Marvin.... Blue jeepneys,, take you out and back to where you want to be,,in this case the hotel, Yellow jeepneys take you the other direction.

So with my tour guide from AC, we hit a few places, some names evade me, FoxHole, Proud Mary, Old Navy, to name a few. Most were pretty LAME.
Dancers usually danced one or two at time. Some places they danced in a group, but NOTHING LIKE AC where it looks like the field of flowers growing in the wind, here,, sorry to say more like a few thistledowns, blowing solitary in the breeze of a pasture.

They must have been something in the Navy days at Subic though, one place well,, it reminded me of the flic the "Deer Hunter" where the guys in the Nam bar district during the war, then the DeNiro character goes back at the ending of it,, the bars were jumping in the former,, but dead in the latter. Here,, one place maybe 2 customers,, these guys were expats, tourist or what, 8 girls maybe,, service was great,, just dead. One place,, only filipinos,, period,, but again, everyone was great. Served some soup that my lady wanted,, it was pretty good,, but hey,, thought it was complimentary,, bet if she had been with a flip,, it would have been,, ah what is 20p among friends???

One place was fairly new from what was gathered, with a MEX name, like Cantina Pete's or something,, the guard wanted my camera even though no sign said "cameras prohibited", well, this is my new digital and leaving it at the door with this guy is not on my list, told him would unload the disc, but not hand the camera over,, hey,, might give you the clip out of my pistol, but am not going to hand it over,,,same/same with my camera,,, so we did not go inside here,, but across the street.Old Navy and a place above it.
Here,,again the old " small world afterall" came to play.

My lady did not speak a lot of english, she had curly hair, and that does something for me, as a youth,, my hair was curly, and it is said you are lucky if you have curly hair. You know,, it may be true...anyhow,, so we had communication problems ...a little, I used english, SPanish, SPanglish, and the few...tagalog words,, she did her best too. The bartender asked where I was from,,, then Lo and Behold,,her HoneyKo was from the coast of my state,,, never met anyone in another country {or mine for that matter} who knew where Bayou La Batre,Alabama was,, but this lass knew it well. Hope it works out for her one day!!!!

The bar, mostly GRO's,,, took some photos,, these girls were not on the same rung as the AC girls, but again,, A1 in service and conversation. My girl and the bartender talked, and as interpreter the bartender told me somethings my lady had been trying to explain.

Went back and ate at Mangos,, then crashed.
Only to be awakened by a group of dogs having some form of Pontifical high mass outside the rooms at about 2am,,, told the guard to give me his shotgun and would solve the problem,, he ran em off without firing a shot. Guess if I had blasted them and the restaurant closed, the meat would go to waste.
We had planned to swim the next AM,,since it had poured rain that PM of our arrival,, BUT,,, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.... finally it stopped but the beach was NASTY.... so just coffee by the seashore. We walked along the beach,, dug some shells,, and fought off the hawkers of the trinkets and trivials.
Ride finally came, and back to AC.
My first week was in the Clarkton, now am checking into the Orchid.Suprise, suprise lay in store.