Blogs from Pampanga, Philippines, Asia
May 23rd 2010
Last May 22, 2010, we were invited by my officemate Henry to his hometown, Sta. Rita, Pampanga for the celebration of their annual town fiesta in honour of St. Rita of Cascia. St. Rita is known as the patroness of impossible causes. Kampampangans are really religious and traditional. Going to Sta. Rita was a challenge. We were stuck in a NLEX heavy traffic (Traffic #1) - four hours from Clover Leaf to Valenzuela. The cause of the traffic was just the on-going construction of a new exit. We arrived at Henry's cousin's house in Guagua, Pampanga at 2:30 PM to eat our late lunch. The usual Filipinos "handa" during fiesta were served. Kare-kare, Menudo, Lumpiang Ubod plus my favorite Mangga with Bagoong were among the "handa". After the late lunch, we went to Henry's house in ... read more
April 9th 2010
Three reasons why I consider myself in a way as a Kampampangan: (1) My grandfather was from Bacolor (trivia: Bacolor was the former capital of Pampanga before it was transferred to San Fernando), (2) I can speak and understand Kapampangan but I must admit I can understand more than I can speak and (3) my surname is Angeles (hehehe). I have discovered the answers why I should be a proud Kampampangan during our Pampanga Tour last July 2009. Discovery #1: Kapampangans are good cooks and love exotic dishes. We ate our breakfast at Bale Capampangan in Dolores, San Fernando. Take note at a price of Php 100 we had a filipino style buffet meal partnered with a sooo chocolatey hot tsokolate (so redundant!). It was one of the best breakfast I ever had, but the El ... read more
February 14th 2010
Since I was a child, I've heard plenty of appreciation of the country’s one and only Hot Air Balloon Fiesta being held every month of February in Clark Field, Angeles City, Pampanga. So when I had a chance on February 14 of 2010, I grabbed the opportunity, packed my things up and headed north to experience the show in the air. I really thought I would go there alone so I was a little nervous because that was my first time to visit the place. Thankfully, one of my colleagues decided to go with me so it was a relief. We started our trip as early as 3 in the morning. I was still sluggish as we walked going to the bus terminal in Cubao, a busy district of Quezon City. The first bus to depart ... read more
Achtung baby - alone in Angeles (Angeles City, Luzon, Philippines)
Published: October 13th 2009Asia » Philippines » Pampanga » Clark
October 9th 2009
(Day 553 on the road) How to write a blog entry about a place that has such an awful reputation as Angeles City in the Philippines? The place is possibly the sex capital of the world, with between 10.000 and 20.000 prostitutes selling their bodies every night. During the time of the U.S. airbase here, as many as 100.000 working girls were offering their services. I had a morning flight the next day from Clark airport just outside of Angeles, and decided to spend the night here instead of crazy Manila and see this place for myself. I soon realised that accommodation in Angeles is definitely not geared towards backpackers, and after walking around for an hour in the afternoon heat with my backpack looking for an affordable place to crash I finally had to admit ... read more
June 1st 2008
During the Holy Week, I happened to read a news item in a local paper about an unusual celebration of Lent in Barangay Cutud in San Fernando, Pampanga. I was staying in an hotel in Manila then, trying to cool my heels off inside an air-conditioned room after my daily travel to popular tourist spots in the city. Everyday in late March and April, it was unusually hot in Manila, more so in Central Luzon and in other parts of the country. Holy Week is observed with deep seriousness by a predominantly Christian nation like the Philippines. As early as Monday, every church in the country and in almost every barangay would erect a makeshift structure with chairs and tables and decorations of religious ornaments/photos depicting the Passion of the Cross or the suffering of Jesus ... read more
March 17th 2008
Next in my itinerary of travel or adventure (whatever you call it) is Angeles City. It's just an hour's drive from Manila. I left my hotel in Ermita early in the morning after taking a free breakfast of corned beef and scrambled eggs. I did not take the taxi waiting outside the hotel. "Are you going to the airport?" asked the driver. Although I was headed for Angeles City, I did not tell him that. If I rode in his taxi, I would have paid much in taxi fare. The reason was that driver works solely for the hotel to drive guests to the airport or to other destinations in the city. And you have to shell a hefty fare should you decide to ride in his taxi. Now I am learning. Right now, I am ... read more
December 22nd 2007
Day 19 Went for a walk in the morning around the streets near our Hotel. Noticed a nice hand-crafted outdoor setting in one the garden areas of the Hotel. Already early in the morning it was warm. While swimming in the pool, I witnessed the sunrise-interesting to watch the sun's rays lighting up the hills. Once light, I took this photograph of the view down to Subic Bay. We had breakfast in the Dining room-once again there was a large group, so the staff had to arrange the tables accordingly. Tim had Eggs Benedict (which looked very tasty). img=http://img246.... read more
December 21st 2007
Day 18 We were up & dressed to leave for Subic Bay by 5:30 am. There were 2 reasons for leaving early 1) to beat the peak hour traffic & 2) one of the vehicles we were taking to Subic, had a number plate that did not allow it to be driven in Metro Manila after 7:00 am. The traffic was light & we were out Manila without any problems, ending up on the Tollway. We passed through Pampanga, a region that was affected badly when the Mt. Pinatubo volcano exploded. When we left the the tollway, we stopped at Jollibee for breakfast. After breakfast, we continued on our way. The road was only a single lane until we reached the Subic district, so the going was a bit slow sometimes. We passed quite a number ... read more
August 10th 2007
Mt. Arayat, a trekking spot located at Brgy San Juan Bano, Arayat, Pampanga, rising to a height of 1026 m (3366 ft.) above ground level is also the legendary home of the beautiful fairy, Mariang Sinukuan. It's my third time to reach the peak of that dormant volcano and yet I got really fascinated over and over seeing the topview of Pampanga, Bulacan and other nearby provinces... Before hitting the planned activity me and my co-leaders in our federation got a really lesson experience..It was October 12, 2006 as the news reported that Bulacan area is one of the affected areas of a named typhoon. The rain pours so heavily that I consume most of my day texting and communicating with my members. We have planned a trek activity two months before the planned date October ... read more
The curiously high incidence of dirty old dogs in the nightlife
Published: August 12th 2007Asia » Philippines » Pampanga » Clark
July 20th 2007
Having read numerous reports about the direness of Manila, we were pleased that our budget flight from Macau was going to deposit us at Clark, an old USAF base north of the capital. As we discovered, this place had a grimness all of its own. Flying in over northern Luzon, we saw very green countryside with little in the way of habitation. A grey sky greeted our arrival with spots of rain - not too surprising given that it's the rainy season now. We had no idea of the geography of Clark so simply took a taxi to a decent-sounding hotel plucked from the pages of the RG. A sign at the front of the hotel warned that all ladies entering would have to show ID for proof of age. The few guests we saw all ... read more
