Of Monkeys and Pineapple Pies

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to Subic. The first time I went there was, oh, maybe seven years ago. We drove down there to visit the then newly-opened Ocean Adventure, where I got a kiss from a seal and one of the resident False Killer Whales (miss her). I always thought it was rather... quiet, Subic. As soon as nighttime falls, I sort of fall into this weird mood--a little sad, feeling a little left of center. If I didn't have company, and the promise of more things to explore in the morning, it probably would not have been worth it. The first time we were there we were a little freaked out. Someone had told us how strict the SBMA police were about traffic violators that we were driving with a stick up our asses. Ed, my hunny, more so than most of us. He hadn't been there before either, much less driven around there. We slept in this hotel (affordable by our standards!) up at Cubi Point that looked like a deserted mental asylum. If there weren't four of us, and if there were no TV, I'd have convinced everyone to pack our bags and go back home. We'd simply drive down again in the morning. Impractical, yes. Life preserving, definitely.

Our first night there, our host (the PR for Ocean Adventure then) took us to this steak place, up a road where there were no street lights. I was surprised there was even an establishment up there, and more so that they were open. What a dreary affair. I'm sure the place is gone now, but I do recall us almost driving off the road (because we couldn't see the sidewalk) . The following day, our companions decided to play a trick on us by getting up early and banging on our door. Problem was, it wasn't our door! It was some poor guy's room! Rudely awakened and probably scared as hell, our friends heard him ask who it was from inside the room and, realizing their mistake, they bolted! I'm sure he had better names for them than "jerks."

Our stupid adventures in Subic did not end there. We had gone back there about two and a half years ago with better friends and once again, the dreariness was surpassed only by a feeling of utter disbelief. Our host then, a well-meaning, really nice guy from this hotel chain we're staying at (not the haunted asylum place anymore) took us "clubbing," for a lack of a better word. We ended up in a gay bar, with female impersonators singing "It's Raining Men" and some rich dudes (who probably couldn't get it on with real women) slipping Php1000 bills into their string bikinis. Great, right? And to think my hunny, almost deaf as he was by then due to the whole unbelievable turn our trip had taken, even thought he was propositioned by our host. It was a misunderstanding... but that bit kept us laughing back in our hotel room for a very long time (tears were literally streaming down our eyes!). The next day we drove to Clark for the Hot Air Balloon Festival and again, he thought the toll gate girl was flirting with him. But give the guy a break, all of us in the car heard the same thing: "Seksi niyo sir..." as opposed to what she really said, which was "Sa Exit niyo sir (bayaran)..." What the hell, hun?

Oh, and we were almost attacked by the monkeys up at the Point. I know, we really should have heeded the signs not to feed them. But they were cute (and I say this despite the fact that I don't really like monkeys to begin with). One even wiped her mouth with the tissue paper that she got from us when she took the food. We have that picture too, but we'd have to dig up our old files so just take my word for it. Anyway, all the other monkeys seemed chill when we were feeding a few. But after some time, the ones farther out started advancing, and were becoming a little menacing. One even tugged on my friend's pants; a few others hissed and bared fangs. Then we realized, the Alpha Male had finished eating, and it was time for the rest to eat. And boy, were they mean. We ran to our cars like fools. All the while thinking by the time we could get the door closed, one of them would have beaten us inside and attacked us all! Moral lesson: pineapple pies and monkeys don't go well together. So not funny! But at least that year I held a tiger for the first time in my life... and everything that went wrong just melted away.

Suffice it to say that after all that, we had some misgivings about going back to Subic. But when we came back late last year, things had started to look up. For one, Waterfront Road is much more developed now... and towards the end of it, to the far right if you're facing the bay, stood a beacon of light. Red and blue, alternately, but inviting just the same.

The place is called The Lighthouse. Indeed, a boutique hotel with a small lighthouse. It does nothing for the ships, really, but alluring for tourists. We love this place not only because they were kind enough to approve our request for a stay, we enjoyed being there. No, scratch that--the stay was a Godsend. The rooms are cozy, the beds are lovely, pillows are fluffy, the food is good, the pool to ourselves (that time) and the staff is great! And, each room has a giant LCD TV! They have four kinds of rooms, and some, curiously the twin sharing rooms (Aqua Terrace, I think), come with a bathroom with a glass wall. As in, let's just say from the tub you could watch your partner zonked out in bed and catch your favorite show on TV. It is freaky if you end up sharing the room with someone other than your partner, but for couples it's right and dandy! You must stay there if you have the chance, if only to chill out in comfort while you await the turn of the day to get on with your other adventures like jetskiing (that you could rent from a place at the Waterfront), going jungle survival training, or visiting Zoobic Safari (go visit my tigers!).

I've rambled long enough about Subic... so I'll probably write up something better for The Lighthouse in another entry (God knows the place deserves it). It's just, I'm happy that if and when I do find Subic calling out to me again, I know there's a place I can stay at that would not depress the hell out of me and let me bask in the rejuvenating power of a good weekend getaway.

Best Kept (Philippine beach) Secret!

Aquamarine!

It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

The place: Pangasinan

It’s easy to get there… all you need is a car (and gas, of course). But the few hours of travel is so worth it when you see this.

When we were there last year, the sea was restless. You couldn’t swim without being tossed around pretty good. Thing is, I don’t think it’s advisable to swim here. The corals are pretty rough. The only thing we managed was to wade in the water, but even then, it shook us up pretty bad and kept throwing us back up onto the shore.

What’s beautiful is that, to get here, you have to get across a huge, rough patch of dead corals that can slice through your Havaiianas. Seriously. Our friend cut his feet because he was wearing thin slippers, lost his balance and stubbed his toe on the scraggly ground. But no pain, no gain. We love it because, first, there’s no sign anywhere that points to this part of the beach. I don’t think there are any resorts this side of the beach. The very few small houses we saw were privately owned. The only reason we got here was our guide, the owner of Punta Riviera, knew the locals and the way to this area.

Those overhangs? They are made up of dead corals. From what we gathered from our host, the water receded over thousands of years, leaving them hanging out (!) and looking out into the sea from the beach. And, like I said, they are made up of very sharp fossils (or whatever they are called).

The place is unbelievably gorgeous… It’s quiet. We hardly saw anyone around. The seven of us that visited then were probably the only ones there at that time (and what seemed like in the whole world). If you build a retirement house here, you could wash away all the stress in your system in a day! We pray to God this place remains empty and almost secluded forever—ergo, I won’t tell you exactly where it is or how to get there. Irresponsible tourists are the bane of this magnificent existence.

Bolinao and the Beach Dawg!

We don't really know this dog, but he seemed to be reading our minds... or mocking us. Pansy tourists who don't want to get their feet wet.

Story was, Bolinao had surprised us. Nobody ever told us to go visit Bolinao. We did so back in August (2007) because, well, we were bored with the usual places we've been to. And we saw this advertising billboard with the name of a resort... and we wrote them a letter and they would not be bothered having some media people over because, well, we guess they're already way popular with people who put up billboards. But thank God they did not approve our proposal because, upon our research where they were located, we found another place (called Punta Riviera, which I'll probably talk about in another entry) and the people were much nicer, open to having us stay for a few days and feed us. And through the resort's very nice owners, we got to explore a little bit of Bolinao.

Bolinao, Pangasinan holds a wealth of treasures that nature lovers would find alluring. There's pools of fresh water inside caves where, for a very small fee, you can swim (just pray there's not a bunch of other rather noisy tourists when you get there... so best visit during low tourist season); there's a stretch of off-white sand (but warning, there will be lots of people there... so head for the farthest points but keep an eye on your stuff); there's the old lighthouse to visit; there's the beach where, as the sea has receded over so many years, you are left with rough corals that partly protrudes over the water like small cliffs (lovely out there, but the sharp corals could get you!). And so on.

This lovely dog, we "met" while we were waiting for a small motorized boat to take us down a river. It had been drizzling, the weather about an hour away from becoming, well, bad... and the boatman our host had talked to did not show up. Classic miscommunication. But from the looks of our bunch, none of us wanted to go back to the resort yet, at least not until we knew there's really nothing to be done.

Our host got a boat, eventually, and while we were all daintily walking along the beach not wanting to get our feet wet before we went on the boat (God knows why... we were on vacation anyway and it's not like we would not get wet eventually since we'd been hanging out at our hosts' beach-front pool every chance we got), this dog showed us who "the man" was. Obviously him. Come on, you pansies... this is how you do it.

I think we managed to climb aboard marginally dry, but good God, his way was obviously more fun. Next time, I'd go with people who don't mind getting their feet wet!

Baguio Storm: Lizzie throws a rockin' party... and Joey "Pepe" Smith delivers the punch lines

I hate reading long, rambling, self-obsessed blogs, so let's keep this short and simple. For now, at least. Just over the weekend (Sept. 30 to October 2, 2007), Baguio turned into a rock star mecca of sorts when JB Music brought its "Musikhero" Music Camp to the sleepy mountain-top city drenched in rain. Even as a portion of Kennon Road literally turned into flowing mud and the weather dropped to a dangerous low, musicians from different age groups--from the budding to the living legend--made the wet "pilgrimage" to the town more famously known by our parents as "the summer capital of the Philippines," and camped out at the brightly-lit lobby of the two-year-old, Mediterranean-inspired Hotel Elizabeth, up at Gibraltar Road.

Gibraltar Road... sounds foreign and romantic. The weather--blistering cold we seldom feel back in Manila these days--even more so. But the gathering of these kindred souls just adds a little more warmth to the heart... even though you wish the night-long blues/rock jam sessions were done in a place less likely to host a corporate seminar on the same weekend. Because when you think of a Joey "Pepe" Smith giving a talk, cracking jokes and making like a cool (albeit slurring) cat on stage, or when you sit with your brewed coffee, bobbing your head to a continuous jam instigated by Pinoy rock titans Chikoy Pura, Jun Lupito and joined in by the likes of Vic Mercado (Bamboo, drums), Rommel dela Cruz, Francis Reyes (The Dawn, guitars) and Mark Escueta (Rivermaya, drums), you're thinking, wait a tick... I should be lighting up here.

But the rated PG trip serves its purpose nonetheless. In all the days of inspirational talks (sort of, where the kuyas of the industry give payong kapatid to kids on the way to becoming bona fide frustrated members of the music industry) and sightreading sessions (where the newbie musicians play appointed music by reading off a music sheet), peppered with the hotel's buffet meals and the occasional "what the heck" look from proper guests, it's the young musicians (a healthy handful chosen from many who auditioned to be part of the first-ever JB Music's Musikhero Music Camp) that go home with the goodies--and we don't mean the strawberry jam. Oh, and to the young guns who stayed up all night partying at the Penthouse (we got invited twice, but we were just too tired to go... thanks for remembering us when the pizzas came, Bel!), this might have been the glimpse of the rock n' roll lifestyle they are dreaming of.

But after the party comes the hard work. See you on your way to the top, kids! And to the 13-year-old drummer who seemed to be the star pupil of the whole show, we're looking forward to hearing more from you soon!