Summer in Subic {Deetour}

I was supposed to go mountain climbing last Saturday, but some friends told me it’s dangerous to do that during election time, so I switched plans and early Saturday morning found Rome, Caloy and me in Thom’s car headed for Subic.

We arrived close to lunchtime and checked in early at Courtyard Inn, where our planner-slash-driver had made reservations.

After lunch at Meat Plus, we headed to the first on Thom’s itinerary, Ocean Adventure. We watched the dolphins’ and sea lions’ show. They were so cute and talented.

I wanted to touch a dolphin, but I would have to pay for 2,000+ for that, so I decided that one of the 100-things-to-do-before-i-did can wait until later, when I can afford to throw money away like that.

We also had a view of the aquariums, and even though it wasn’t as great as seeing them with you yourself underwater, at least this time I could take a pretty picture.

a bit of the sea lion show

Tired from the heat, we went back to the inn and were supposed to have an hour of sleep but overdid it, waking up at 7.

We had dinner at Seafood by the Sea restaurant, where they made really delicious kilawing tanguige. This was very important for me because this happens to be my favorite food of all time which is rare in Manila and the few I happen to have come across were all huge disappointments.

After dinner we went back to our room where we had some red wine before falling asleep.

The next day we woke up, showered, and had breakfast at the inn’s own restaurant, Aresi.

Then we checked out and headed for the fishing place where we could rent a fishing rod for P150 each and a floating hut for P200 an hour.

Thom, who had grown up in the states, used to fish, so he taught us what to do. We had brought some small fish as bait and he taught us how to hook them and how to throw them into the water.

Unfortunately, after an hour, none of us had caught anything, so we asked to be brought back to shore, fishless, yes, but at least I can now slash another item off my hundred-things-to-do-before-i-die list.

We were hungry and parched, so we looked for a place with no fish, bitter at not having caught a single fish earlier.

We tried Ristorante Italia, where we had authentic Italian pizza and pasta.

Then we were off to the go karts race tracks. It was much cheaper here than in Manila. We only paid P300 each for 10 laps around the race tracks.

At first I was really scared of bumping into something that I released the gas pedal everytime I rounded a curve. Call me silly, but driving is actually one of my secret fears, one that I have real nightmares of (I freqently find myself driving a car and then crashing it in my dreams).

Later on, though, when I realized that everyone had overtaken me and it would be embarrassing to come in oh so late, I swallowed my fear and stopped releasing the gas pedal.

It turned out to be really REALLY fun! Double points to me simultaneously conquering my fear and slashing another thing off my hundred-things-to-do-before-i-die list. Yippee!

After I pulled up last (as expected), we walked across the road towards the yacht club, where we posed for pictures outside, since we weren’t allowed in.

Then we headed back where we came from and posed for pictures by the lake. I must admit, that was one of the most wonderful sights I have ever seen in my life and owning a house by the lake remains to be one of my ambitions in life.

Rome and I also got into a boat that was tied to the mini pier and rowed off with it, much to Thom’s chagrin. We had a hard time getting it back in place, but thanks to my steering and Rome’s ingenuity, we eventually did.

boat bandits

We posed for more pictures before getting back into the car and heading for our last stop in Subic, the duty free mall to do Caloy’s and Rome’s favorite — shopping! I ended up loading up on cheap high fiber cereals and milk. I also tried a can of Hawaiian Punch, and for something non-carbonated, it tasted really good. After cramming the car’s trunk full with out purchases, we finally pulled out of Subic. Just in time, too, because it started to rain really hard.

We stopped for dinner in Pampanga at Plates n Platters, a carinderia by the roadside which served the most delicious beef caldereta. Their sinigang (the sourest I have ever tried), fried quail and sisig (which was pre-seasoned with calamansi) were also delicious. We had some yellow watermelon which we had bought off the street earlier for dessert, then it was back home to Makati. Outings with the TG’s are always fun.