Subic Bay

Yesterday we took a road trip with friends to Subic Bay. It's about a 2 and a half hour drive northwest of Manila. We packed up the cooler and the Jeep and hit the road early to get out of the city before traffic could slow us down. Once we hit the open road it was blissful. Green rolling hills and jagged rock formations covered in palm trees lined the highway. Lots of little villages and fields and fields of rice patties. The drive itself erased the stress of Manila from our minds. Once at Subic we set up shop at Cayman Beach Resort with a "deluxe" cabana and charcoal grill. Our friends we were with have a daughter Addie's age, so Stella and Addie played in the sand together and became fast friends. We grilled pork ribs and ate fresh fruit. The weather was sunny and the water was refreshing. It was a perfect day-trip out of the city. Addie had no reservations about the beach this time. She immediately covered every inch of her skin in sand and pulled our hands towards the water. She walked a bit with her Daddy picking up coral and shells. For two little girls who didn't have a nap that day they did fantastically well at the beach. Towards the end of our beach day we were visited by wild monkeys! They came out of the jungle behind us looking for food. You can see Justin, Addie, and I peaking out of the cabana to get a look at the monkeys up in the trees. Addie (the animal lover) loved the monkeys. The girls crashed on the ride home. Our fun-day-at-the-beach officially ended when we hit Manila traffic which added an additional hour and a half on the trip home. The only other downer was when we stopped at a rest-stop for food. All of us were excited to see the Wendy's Hamburgers sign, only to have our hopes stomped on when we found out the store had closed. This left us with a bunch of other gross choices, KFC being the least nasty of them all. It's strange ordering at familiar fast food chains in the Philippines. First of all they had no biscuits (what the?), so we ordered two "fun shot" meals (basically chicken nuggets, fries, and a soda pop) for about $4 total. Needless to say it wasn't so "fun". There is a reason we don't eat KFC in the States and now we will never eat at KFC in the P.I. again.

After we had one panic-inducing mix up in Quezon City trying to get on EDSA the right direction toward Makati (home) we sat in traffic until we were in familiar territory. We were never so glad to see Spendido Gardens! The day was exhausting but in a good we-did-something-fun-today way. We will definitely be making our way to Subic again soon. Getting out of the city was just what the doctor ordered.