Philippines Holiday

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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 of roadside shops selling hand-carved wood furniture. When we were close to Subic we started to see lots of roadside stands selling Crabs.

We reached Subic around 9:30 am. It is a place quite different to Manila, it is very ordered, clean. There are no squatters or beggers & they are very
strict on road rules - in fact when you enter into Subic, they give you a sheet of paper with all their local road rules (when you depart Subic, you have to
return it to the guards !).

Next, we checked out some possible overnight accommodation-the Subic International. It was supposed to be a 4-Star Hotel, Ruby checked one of the rooms
& declared it to be a no-star rating, so we decided to look elsewhere.



We found a resort at All Hands Beach, but they did not have a vacanies, so we moved on. However, we were delayed for a few minutes because one of the vehicles
did not want to start, so we had to get out & push.



The Subic Bay area is well known for it's wild monkeys. Sure enough, in some of the more bushier areas, we saw them as we were driving along the road. The local authority
does not want you to feed them (there are do not feed signs in those areas). We found another beach resort, as a place to stay, but it was to expensive for our
large group.



We decided to try a resort in the hills, Mountain Woods, where Eleanor had stayed when she & her party went to Subic. The rooms only had 2 single beds, so they
had to squeeze in 2 more folding beds, so we could have 4 people in a room. I went to have swim before lunch in the green tiled pool.





After 12, we had some lunch in the Hotel's Gazebo.



After lunch, we boarded our vehicles for a drive to a local Zoo called Zoobic Safari. Lita's mother (who is 84) had to show her ID card to get a Pensioner discount



We were to have a tour guide for our inspection of the zoo. While waiting for the guide, we were entertained by a monkey called Johhny (& his trainer).



The tour guide led us first through the Reptile house. There was all sorts of reptiles including a Burmese Albino Python.



Next, we boarded a transport vehicle & went into a compound to view Tigers in the wild.



We had pay about a 100 peso's to have a keeper feed a tiger. Eventually, the tiger climbed up on the roof of the transport.



There were many different types of animals, including Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Hogs, Bears, Squirrels, Eagles, Deer & Camels. In fact, the tour guide encouraged us to feed leaves to the camels.



While we were in a area called Rodent World, we witnessed some Native boys doing a Monkey dance & performing a mock battle. During, the Monkey dance one of the Native boys actually climbed up a tree with the speed & agility of a monkey !



More animals included: Civet Cats, Ducks, Llamas, Crested Macaque, Peacock, Otters & Crocodiles.



Once again, if you paid some money, you were able to feed the crocodiles. A chicken was attached to a rope which was attached to a pole. It was quite exciting to witness the feeding, as there wer many crocodiles all fighting for the chance to get at the chicken.

We returned to our Hotel & had dinner in the Dining Room. I had Sansrival for dessert (there was just 1 piece left in the restaurant). Outside the dining room, there must have been lots of mosquitoes & bugs, because the electronic mozzie zapper suspended from the ceiling, was crackling every few seconds.

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