Toda and Zoe at Anvaya

August 18, 2008 - Long weekend. Day trip to Anvaya Cove, near Subic, with some TODA folks and Zoe...also grabbed some pics from Roxy and Claire's multiply...hehe.

Zoey at Zoobic

Long weekend. Subic with my folks, Zoe and Bok. Grande Island for a day. Watched a bit of the Subic Frisbee Tourney when we got back to the mainland. Bok went to party while I watched over Zoe. Haha. =p

Also visited Zoobic Safari.

Zoe's Zoobic Subic Trip

Long weekend.

We took the spanking new SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway) to Subic, and travel was a breeze! It took us around 3 hours to get to Subic from Cubao. We had stopovers to eat, pick up the folks, and look for some supplies, and Bok always drove within the speed limit! (100 kph). So...potentially travel from Manila to Subic could even be faster! :)



The Return to Grande Island
Bok and I visited Grande Island two years ago as part of his company outing. This weekend, the place was still packed with people going on company outings. I think there were around 2 different companies having day trip activities, while another famous accounting company even spent the night there. Well, Grande Island is conducive for company team building activities. They have a pool, an okay beach, clear waters, dining/ballroom/sleeping facilities -- plus you get to feel you're so far away because you have to board a 15-minute ferry to get there. Hehe.

Zoe Pole Dancing on the Grande Island Ferry

Rough cost: They have aircon hotel rooms that cost a little over 2K and can fit 4 people. (2 double beds). Buffet breakfast is included in the hotel rate. Other meals aren't. But their restaurant does serve delicious food in generous servings. Rough range would be 200-300 per small dish good for 3-4 people. Merienda is a bit expensive -- pasta would cost almost 300 pesos, and a small bottle of mineral water costs 30 pesos. If possible, bring your own drinking water and snacks.

For information on Grande Island, rates, and how to get there, visit their website.

Zoe's verdict: Happy Baby

Zoobic Safari
Zoobic Safari bills itself as the only tiger safari in the Philippines. Like a regular zoo, it has different animals like snakes, goats, deer, rodents, birds, crocs, etc. But the highlight really is the tiger safari -- where you get to ride in an enclosed jeep through the "open" area where they keep their tigers. The catch? When we rode through the 'safari', we spent only about 15 minutes and viewed only 3 tigers. Well, according to the tour guide, only tigers less than a certain age (I think it's 3 years old) are kept in the open safari area....when they get older, they get too wild, and are kept in cages in their "Close Encounters" section.

Hooters

There are areas where animals like ducks, chickens, pigs and goats roam free, so there are petting opportunities for little kids.

Some notes: Not really handicap friendly. Lots of walking, and getting on and off jeeps or vehicles. And notice...there are no lions. Yet. According to our tour guide, the owner wanted to really just concentrate on the tigers...but since people keep on asking where the lions are, eventually the owner just might give in to crowd pressure....

Rough cost: 395 pesos for the tiger and croc package.

For more information, visit Zoobic Safari's website.

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Other areas of interest in Subic:

• Ocean Adventure
• JEST camp
• and a lot of other areas of interest
  

Travelogue - Macau HK

Some travel memories stick with you. Like stepping out into the wide open spaces of Utah with fellow wide-eyed travellers, or drinking cold 5-peso beer with backpackers in Hanoi, or hiking in Sagada, diving in Coron and my very first trip to Boracay.

Two weeks ago we went wreck diving in Subic, and all I can say is, diving through the holes and windows of ship wrecks is the closest thing I have felt to flying. Sure, I felt like a dog doing tricks and jumping through hoops, and swimming 90 feet below sea level is hardly what you can call the closest thing to flying, but I really felt like I was floating out there. And for 750 pesos a dive, the experience was well worth it.

So when I have to remind myself why I am currently living beyond my means, this is what I hold on to. The promise of a life well lived. The lure of living in the moment, of seizing every opportunity, of not being a slave to what society dictates should be the priority. The fulfillment of having done the best that I can, in the way that I wanted to. In simpler words, what the heck, I tried to be happy.

Of course, travel is best experienced with someone. Sweet dreams are made of these, memories and shared dreams. Over the weekend, we boarded a Tiger Airways flight to Macau. It was my second time to go to Macau this year. The first time though, will always be special. This time around, I arrived in Macau and met up with my friends (Jao and Wacks) who were there a day before me. We were supposed to meet at the Fisherman's Wharf area...and so from the airport I boarded the airport bus without even knowing for sure if the bus would be passing through Fisherman's Wharf! More than 30 minutes into the bus ride, I was praying "Please God, let it pass near Fisherman's Wharf". And guess what, next thing I knew the next stop was Fisherman's Wharf. Talk about coincidences and blessings!

In Macau we stayed at Auguster's Lodge near Casino Lisboa and Senado Square. The owner's wife was Filipina, and though the bathroom was common, the bedrooms were clean and well maintained. During the next few days we travelled via ferry to Hongkong and visited Disneyland, Ocean Park and several other HK tourist spots. In Hongkong, we stayed at the relatively cheap Joy Guesthouse in the Sham Shui Po area. At HK$ 225 each night for three people, it was relatively a bargain (as compared to HK$ 450 in the Causeway Bay area). The place was clean and had its own toilet in the room, although the rooms were smallish, similar to most Hongkong guesthouses. There was also a slighty suspicious chicken-poop smell sometimes, but after a few minutes the aircon masks the smell (either that or your nose will get used to it).

Back in Macau we spent a lot of time snapping pictures at the Macau Tower. We contemplated whether or not to do the SkyWalk (where you can walk on the edge of the tower), but the couple we saw doing the SkyWalk were a bit bored. The SkyJump though was out of our budget already.

We also spent some time getting lost in the bus. It turns out the buses have a different route going to one place, and another route when doing the reverse trip.

During our last night we gave in and ate a hearty dinner at one of the Portuguese restaurants at Taipa Village, ordering curry crabs, baked mussels and fried rice.

Macau-HK photos at my Multiply site.

Looking back, it was a miracle we survived such a hectic IT. Imagine, going to Lantau Island in the morning to view the biggest Buddha (which we didn't get to see because of the super thick fog), and then spending the whole afternoon in Ocean Park, having dinner at the Causeway Bay area, then going via Star Ferry to the Tsim Sha Tsui area and walking around the Avenue of Stars. Our first day in Hongkong was no different...upon arriving at HK after lunch, we were greeted by rain, rain and more rain. Finally we were able to board the bus towards Sham Shui Po, then we walked and finally arrived at the hostel. Leaving our bags there, we proceeded to Disneyland, spent the afternoon til early evening there, catching the fireworks and going straight to the night markets afterwards. And then onwards to Lan Kwai Fong to sample the expat nightlife. Since it was "expat" nightlife, of course the prices were expensive. We ended up buying beer at 7-11 and hanging out like the jologs we were. We did almost everything listed in our IT, except for Victoria Peak (too foggy), and Coloane Island tour (lack of time).

On the plane ride back to Manila, there were dragonboat rowers from Manila Dragons on the flight. They just came in from a competition in Guangzhou, and were bringing with them their dark blue Nike sponsored jackets and winner trophies.

Which reminds me...I haven't rowed in a looong while either. And with me spending another late night, I doubt I'll be able to wake up early later to row.

Oh well, there's always next time.

Photogenic Grande Island

The agreed-upon meeting time was the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM. 4:30 AM?! But I haven't spent a whole weekend at home with B since the wedding, and I wanted to spend more time with him. So it was that jetlagged me accompanied B to his company outing to Grande Island in Subic.

For 3 hours we travelled north towards Legend Hotel in Subic. Near the hotel was the pier where we boarded a boat which took us to photogenic Grande Island.


One hour later, we were at the island. Very clear waters greeted us. I can even see the jelly fish swimming by the boats. All around, there was a great view of the surrounding mountains. The white sand beachfront though was a bit small. However, the waters were still very clear...although if you go a bit farther from the shore there were a lot of menacing-looking seaweeds. We only spent the day there though, so we didn't get to experience the comfy-looking cottages and accommodations. Instead, we baked in the sun, swam in the man-made salt-water pool (with water pumped in from the ocean), and swam some more in the beach.

During our trip, there was another company outing, and lots of other Asian foreigners spending the night there. There are facilities available for jetskiing, fishing, and other water sports.

Grande Island is located at the mouth of Subic Bay. It has an area of approx. 1/2 square mile, with the highest point being 167 feet above sea level. It was formerly known as Fort Wint during the American period. Grande Island has been a natural point used to protect shipping in Subic Bay since the 16th century.