Olongapo (Subic Bay)
Water tower from well,
Olongapo is built close to and
among hills and was once the home of the US Pacific Naval Fleet. We made many
trips here when stationed at Clark AB (30 miles away) to visit Nori’s sisters
Floria and Lilly and shop at the Navy Exchange. We purchased all of our Sansui
component stereo system and our Noritake china set there, of which, we still have
to this day.We arrived early afternoon at
Lilly’s home on a hill top to meet Annie (wife of Lilly’s son Orville) and her
daughter who was living with Lilly.
All of Lilly’s grown children except Wilben
who lives and works in Olongapo are working overseas. Unfortunately, there are
not very many industries in the Philippines, so their people are its major
export to work abroad. Ken, who is the son of Lilly’s daughter Mary Rose who
works in Japan, is also living in the house. Next door lives Grace (wife of
Lilly’s son Oliver) and their 4 children. Lilly has 6 of her 14 grandchildren
close by. To make a long story short….after Wilben and his wife and their 3 children
arrived to visit us, we had a total of 21 family members and Roger the driver
all hungry. Do you know how noisy and hectic it gets with that many folks in
the same house? Somehow the ladies managed to put something together and we all
ate. Later that evening 10 went to their own homes and the next day 4 more left
and now only 7 including Nori and I were staying in Lilly’s place.
Sunday: Wow it was pretty quiet
except for those pesky chickens in the neighborhood every morning….there was
even chickens hanging around Claire’s house too. Did you know that they crow way before
sunrise…I am a city boy…and not quite used to those sounds so early. I just
remembered, when Nori’s dad immigrated (long story) to the US back in 1995, he
was from the farm and very homesick. We found a rooster refrigerator magnet
that when you pushed it, it would crow. He loved that silly thing and every
morning we would make it crow for him so he would feel at home
Monday: We decided to go to the Palengke (open market) using a jeepney and
Annie came along to show us the way and which jeepney to take and which to
transfer to.Shoe market...Nori is in heaven!
Look at how many
different rice choices
there are!
Open Market in Olongapo.
Salt anyone!
Vegetable section ( Gulay)
Fish (Isda) Section
Jeepneys are the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines which are made from US military jeeps left over from WW II and are known for their flamboyant decoration and crowded seating. They have become a symbol of Philippine culture. Jeepneys are often manned by two people, the driver and the conductor and the conductor manages passengers and takes care of fare collection. At designated stops, a dispatcher will usually also be present, calling out route and destination and ushering in passengers. In most vehicles, however, only the driver is present, and passengers have to ask the adjacent passengers to pass on the fare to the driver. The driver in this case, relies on the honesty of the passengers to pay the proper amount of fare, as he has no way of checking how much is paid by each individual. Now, the Philippine government regulates their use. Drivers now must have specialized licenses, regular routes, and reasonably fixed fares.
The one that we took seated 22
including the driver and I too had to pass monies up front. My brother-in-law David asks “How many people
can you fit in a jeepney? One more he
says” Things have changed for the better concerning safety and there is not too
much overcrowding of jeepneys in the cities…but all the rules are gone in the
rural areas.
Tuesday: 1 May: Holiday (Filipino Labor Day): We needed
a special cable to connect to the internet thru a device called Smart Bro which
uses a cable with a USB on one end and an A/V connector (camera size) at the
other end so we went to town. We tried a few phone shops which there were
plenty of but no one carried that cable and suggested that we go to the only Smart
Buddy Phone store in town. They no longer carry that type of Smart Bro or cable
and since then, had upgraded to a Wi-Fi device. I suggested that we go to a
computer store to find the cable and we did at SM. Like I said, they got
everything including a rice cooker to use at the house to make it easier for
the cook and free up one of the burners on the tiny stove. Later that evening we
learned a new card game called tong-its, which is similar to rummy but a few
different twists.
That evening Gail came for a visit. I had never met a blue
eyed Filipina before now. Gail is the daughter of Lilly’s sister-in-law. What a
delightful and intelligent 25 year old young woman, who loves to travel and has
been doing so since she was 16 years old. I was very impressed with her English
and friendly personality and did I mention that she is a full RN. Gail and I
exchanged great web sites and Cebu Pacific Airlines was one that she said had a
special 2 day only sale of up to 90% off their flights. She stayed for diner
and spent the night.
Wednesday: 2 May: Another trip to
the market to buy food and why not the SM grocery store. When we were about to
enter the place, Nori’s sister pointed out that down the street was the Subic
Bay Free Port Zone.
There was a walk in entrance that was open to the public
where imported duty free goods from the US, Australia and Japan were available which
anyone could buy. So off we went to check out this new shopping opportunity for
goods from back home. It was like the BX and commissary together but bigger.
The selection for fruits and veggies were not so great but they had plenty of
US can and dry goods and the meats were from Australia. We bought too much to
carry using a jeepney, so we hired a taxi to take us home. I also bought a
badminton set for the kids and I and Nori got a pool for Lilly’s grandchildren.
Nori fixed up barbeque ribs for me that night (yummy) for diner. I checked out
Cebu Pacific to find a flight that would go to a resort island called Boracay.
The flights were good but when I tried to make a match with our RCI timeshare…it
just wasn’t happening. I decided to reverse the hunt by finding cheap last
minute or extra vacations that RCI offered and then look for a flight. It
worked and I booked our entire stay till the end of June which only left 17
days before we fly back to LA….just testing…not LA because our car is in
Vancouver, Canada. This is our schedule:
We leave Saturday for San Fernando, La Union with Nori’s sister Lilly and we will be on the beach for 5
days at the Sunset House Beach Resort. Their sister Merly lives 5 minutes away
from the resort but has no room for all of us or A/C. Got to have aircon.
We fly to Laoag because RCI time
share had cottages for $135.00 a week. We have never been that far north on
Luzon. We will be there 11 – 18 May. We fly out on the 20th of May
for China (Beijing) and come back 1 June. We also will fly using Cebu Pacific
specials to go to Legespi to visit Nori’s province and home barrio. We go from
5 June through 15 June.
The RCI thing was working so good that I found a place to stay for a week for under $200 in Tagaytay from 22-29 June. Unfortunately both Laoag and Tagaytay only had studio rooms available.
I stayed up late because of the time difference so I could call my
mother on her 85th birthday before her and my dad would go out for
breakfast. If you have been reading our blog, then you know that Nori and I
arranged for flowers to be delivered but I called a few hours before the scheduled
delivery.
Thursday: During the trips to and
from town, I took a few photos of interest that I wanted to share with our
readers.
This is a Filipino lei....(sampaguita) Philippine National Flower
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The lie above came from this type of bush >>>>
Today we went on a mission for our niece Anna (Floria’s daughter). Anna was born on Subic Bay and was baptized at the parish of St. Joseph in Olongapo City. Since Anna and Joel are going to re-new their wedding vows at a Roman Catholic Church in Sacramento in September, the church requested a recently stamped new baptismal certificate from St. Joseph. Why would you not use the original baptismal certificate is beyond me and if someone knows the answer, please comment on our blog. It turned out easier than expected, and the parish was next to the Palengke so why not shop again? I think that the venders are starting to recognize me…I must stand out or something…oh yea, I’m taller.
Tricycle ride back to the house (sa bahay).
Friday: We paid Grace and her
sister to wash and fold our clothes for our trip. Nori, Lilly and I are headed
out Saturday to La Union, San Fernando to visit…you guessed it…another sister
named Merly and her family. Let’s see now…there was Floria in Tehachapi, Rosal
in Delano, Clair in Laguna, Lilly in Olongapo, Merly in La Union, and we will see
Marita in Cubao, Quezon city and lastly Evelyn in Gabao (home town) in June along
with their brothers Roberto in the next town (Tongdol) and Samson in Bulacan.
Nori and I are booked to fly to
China on the 20th and planning to only bring carry-on size luggage
going there. If we buy new big ones in China where practically everything is
made (it should be cheaper at the source) we could fill it with goodies (what?…I
do not know) and use our new ones to bring our stuff back home. As much as we have
traveled, the airlines have managed to ruin many good pieces of our luggage and
the ones we used to get to the Philippines are on their last leg. Lilly had to
go to town to register Dorothy for school and she was going to stop and bargain
on our behalf for a carry-on size to go to China with. We showered, finished our
packing and hit the sack early so we could meet the taxi at 8:30 AM to take us
to the bus station for our 6 hour trip to San Fernando the next day.
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