I Got My Hair Did

Days 20-24, Mon-Sun Jun 30 - July 4th

Day 20, Mon Jun 30, 2014

Today I had my first breakfast at my new hotel, Poco A Poco. We're allowed to choose one meal and have it ready by a certain time at the restaurant or delivered via room service. Wow, that's a tough choice. Get out of bed and powder my face for food, or have it handed to me on a silver platter? If you know me well enough by now, you know that I'll always go for the latter option. So for today, I opted for 2 skinless longanisas, garlic rice, 2 sunny-side up eggs, and mango juice. And it was delivered promptly at 7:45 AM. 

The meal also came with what looked like ketchup. I learned that this was actually banana ketchup, aka sweet ketchup. The Filipinos have a major sweet tooth and put sugar in everything, even their ketchup and spaghetti sauce. I wonder what their dental insurance is like?

So one of the managers here, Alfred, goes home to his province of Bulacan over the weekends. Last week we were talking about food (no surprise there) and I had mentioned that I loved chicarones.  Well I was in luck. Apparently his region of Bulacan makes very tasty and fresh chicarones, so he brought some in on Monday for the entire team.  They were very crispy, though after eating 5-6 pieces, I had to put the bag away. Fresh or not, eating too much of something that deep fried just doesn't feel right in my stomach. I love fried food as much as the next person, but you could really taste the vegetable oil in some of the pieces. Unfortunately, after being opened, they go stale quickly and were no longer edible after a couple of days.

Day 21, Tue July 1, 2014

Not too much going on this week.  I was able to capture the sunset from my room today. The view would be nicer if we weren't next to an abandoned lot... 

So I had my first experience of Barretto tonight. I would never go here alone as a female. When I was initially booking hotels, I saw availability at the Wild Orchid Resort, which was right outside of Subic Bay. Dustin had warned me that I should not stay there because the area was pretty much the red light district here. And thank goodness I took his sound advice! Barretto is a neighboring town of Subic where there's a large strip of bars that men go to for entertainment. This reminded me a lot of Chaweng Beach and parts of Bangkok in Thailand. Except I think this would put those bars to shame.  Each bar was set up with a stage either at the back or the middle of the bar, where the girls would gather. Unlike go-go girls and dancers at the clubs in the Vegas, these girls barely dance let alone move a muscle. They just stand there in their scantily clad attire and 5" heels, trying to look sexy and appealing for the bar guests. It's sad because most of them look like they're between the ages of 14-16, and there's no saying they're not! To be fair though, Asians have the tendency to look anywhere from 5-10 years younger than they actually are. I'm guilty of that myself. Most people here think I'm 24-26. At this point in my life, I'll take it! Ok, back to Barretto. So the objective of these women are to be selected by any man in the bar. If they are selected, it costs the patron around 150 pesos to "rent" them for the night. The patron as well as the girl are free to do as they please. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.  For the rest of the girls who are not "chosen", they still have a chance of earning some extra cash. Each table in the bar has bucket filled with say, 15 ping pong balls. For ~200 pesos, a patron can buy the entire bucket and toss the balls inside the bucket towards the girls. At this point, it's a pigeon fight for these ping pong balls. All I can think of is "Mine! Mine! Mine"! For each ball that they pick up, they earn 20 extra pesos, which is 50 cents, but a lot compared to how much they would make if they don't get picked that night.

It's actually pretty sad to watch this as it's very demeaning to women.  When I start putting on my judgmental hat (which is very hard not to on a daily basis here), I remind myself of where I am.  And remind myself how lucky I am that I will never have to put myself in a situation like this.  The irony of this entire thing is that the US is the reason this type of environment even exists. When the US Navy was stationed out here, sure they brought business and a filtering system for the water (I will forever be thankful for that), but they also created this "opportunity" for the American men to hook up with the local women.  For the local women here, and they still have this perspective to this day, marrying an American guy is liking winning the lottery. So any opportunity to present themselves as attractive and appealing women to easily strike it rich is encouraged (at least in Barretto).

And since photos aren't really allowed at these bars, Google has provided me with an example of what a typical bar in Barretto is like:

Day 22, Wed July 2nd, 2014

I decided to get my hair did today. Hey, when in Subic right? It's been awhile since I've done anything different to my hair, so why not? The great thing about hair is that it'll always grow out again. So try away right? The salon I chose is next door to Gourmet Garage and the Starbucks I visit daily.  It looked pretty legit, so I walked in. I decided to get highlights for my hair. But since my hair is naturally pretty dark, the salon suggested that I also dye my hair to allow the highlights to blend in better. For a quick trim on my ends, color and highlights, it came out to around 5000 pesos ($116 USD).  The advertisement out front said 600 pesos for highlights.  When I asked the lady about this price, she told me that 600 pesos was for the low end chemicals and that she assumed I wanted the best (aka most expensive) option.  Ok, she was right.  By no means was this service "cheap", but it's slightly cheaper than what I'd pay for in the states for all three services. So when I said I'd take a chance, I didn't mean I would choose something too cheap that would end up destroying my hair.  I also knew this salon was more high-end since they had a digital perm machine. What's a digital perm you ask? The last time I was in Asia for work in Hong Kong, I got a digital perm. It's basically a machine that perms your hair and is controlled by a digital temperature readout. Oh, and it looks like a crazy Medusa machine. In any case, the salon I went to is called Atrirum Salon and Spa. They did a great job with my hair and the highlights weren't too light. I had gone close to becoming a blonde 2 years ago, and didn't think it worked too well with my skin tone.  So I opted for a darker shade this time. As I was leaving and finished with my highlights and color, they asked if they could take a photo of me with my new hair color and do for their webpage. At first I thought, wow I'm going to be featured on your homepage? No, it was just their Facebook page, where they apparently posts photos of all of their clients. In any case, they had me pose in front of this conveniently placed backdrop that made it seem like I was a celebrity at a movie premiere.  I got a few photos on my iPhone as well, but I'm going to post the photo from their Facebook page. The guy took down my name after he took my photo. When I found their Facebook page, I noticed that they wrote a short blurb about each person's new hairdo, along with their name. So I was expecting something like, "Sophia and her new highlights".  This is what actually got posted:

I suppose I'm flattered that they called me "Ms. Vietnam"? I'm pretty sure I said I was American. And pretty sure I also didn't say that my hair made me feel sexier. LOL. This quote is hilarious and complete BS, just like everything else here in Subic!

Later that night I went to trivia again because it's that time of the week. And lucky for me, my mood was enhanced, I felt sexier and confident due to my new hair.  So confident that I was able to place 2nd in trivia.  Score! Thank you Atrium Salon and Spa! Here was my prize (another bottle I left at the bar):

Day 23, Thu July 3rd, 2014

On my drive to work today, I saw a group of monkeys. I was going around 70 kmph, which is around 41 mph, when I came about these monkeys. Most were off to the side of the road, with the exception of a few that were actually on the road! I saw that there were no cars behind me, so I did a complete stop at this point. And no, not because I didn't want to run them over, but because I HAD to get a photo of them. As I was breaking, there was one monkey that stared me straight in the eye. I'm pretty sure he thought I was going to run him over because he pulled a move out of the matrix on me. You know the scene where Neo is dodging those bullets from Agent Smith and Trinity realizes that he can move like they do? In any case, this monkey could move like they do! He bent backwards and stayed laying there, stiff as a board when I was quickly approaching then breaking. I'm pretty sure he thought I was going to run him over, so he decided to go flat as board to avoid becoming the next road kill. By the time I got my iPhone out and ready to take a photo, most of the monkeys had retreated back to the woods.  Though, I was able to capture a photo of this monkey:

And on my way home from work, there was this yellow jacket or some form of bee that would not leave my windshield.  I didn't feel like cleaning off it's remains if I decided to use my windshields. Instead, I accelerated my car and hoped that it would go flying off due to the extreme wind speed. Mission accomplished. The next day, my coworkers told me that this type of bee was very strong and typically would not get blown away by the wind, even if you're driving fast. I guess they hadn't met an American yet!

Day 24, Fri July 4th, 2014

Happy Independence Day Amurica! Oh wait, I'm not at home. Happy Filipino-American Friendship Day! Since it's not a national holiday in the Philippines, I had to go to work today. Boo! I think what I miss most about today are the fireworks along the bay, and the bbq's with friends and family. For breakfast today, I had some sort of fried fish, garlic rice, mango juice and 2 sunny-side up eggs. They told me this was a boneless fish, but what did I find inside my fish? Bones! What a surprise. Lies, lies, lies! I really gotta cut back on these heavy breakfasts. I'm not sure if my visits to the gym are holding the fort down. 

I Found Costco!

Days 13-16, Thu-Sun June 26-29th

Day 16, Thu, June 26, 2014

So I'm starting to really enjoy eating lunch with the team. I'm trying out new dishes and learning more about traditional Filipino food and culture.  Despite growing up in the states, I still have a lot of the same eating habit as the locals.  Today one of the guys, Rey, brought in jackfruit for me.  We had talked about jackfruit the day before and I mentioned how it was my favorite fruit. So we all shared this slice of jackfruit as part of lunch today.  I feel totally spoiled here and of course, loving it! I do see a trend with everywhere I go. I tend to bond with people quickly over the topic of food.  Maybe it's because I get a little too excited when talking about anything food related?  The team treats me really well and mana or Sheila is always making sure I get my lunch. So this is what it would feel like to be a true princess huh? Maybe I should move to the Philippines...

Today I had teriyaki chicken and some tofu and beef dish, and of course, with a bowl of rice.

And here's the LEGEN wait for it, DARY fruit, jackfruit. If you haven't had jackfruit before, be very careful in how you open it to get to the fruit. Although it looks very similar to a durian (spikey with a brownish green color on the outside), make sure you're opening a jackfruit and not a durian, or prepare your nose for the most potent smell in the world (see previous post). There are a couple of ways to remove the jackfruit from its shell.  The first is underwater and the second is brute force.  Similar to sap on a tree, jackfruit excretes an extremely sticky latex substance from the rind and fibrous parts of the fruit. As seen in the photo below, these scissors are screwed, but I'm not complaining since I got to enjoy the fruits of its labor. =)

Speaking of jackfruit, the guys at work told me that I could get my hands on some fresh turon at the SM mall in Olongapo. Olongapo? You mean I have to go to that side of town? Apparently there's a bridge I could walk across after parking in the Harbor Point mall parking lot in Subic Bay. It's kinda sad, but I was asking them on exact directions and was like, are you sure I can walk it? It's only a pedestrian bridge, so unless I'm willing to drive in Olongapo (which I'm not), this is my only option to fresh turon.  Turon is a sweet dessert, made up of a lumpia wrapper, banana, and my favorite of all, jackfruit, all put together and deep fried. I may have a sweet tooth, but I've found my match.  If there's one culture that loves sweets, it's the Filipinos. Their ketchup isn't regular ketchup, it's banana ketchup. And their spaghetti (think Jollibee's) is a sweet marinara sauce, because they're not consuming enough sugar in their daily meals as is, why not add it to every savory dish possible?

I was good today and worked out again. But since it was getting late and was raining (again), I too lazy to leave the hotel for dinner. Thank goodness for "The New Feng Huang Restaurant" (in a fake posh Chinese accent), as I always hear it on 96.7, Olongapo's local radio station. Dim sum for one again? Yes please. So I've been craving lumpia since I got here, and besides the lumpia I had at the KTV bar in Olongapo, I had yet to find any in SBMA. So I took a chance and ordered it tonight, along with the shrimp dumplings (loved it so much I got two orders), and the mango shake of course. To my disappointment (I should really have this phrase copy and pasted since it's used way too often), the lumpia had potato or some starchy vegetable in it, and was NOT lumpia. Why do you gotta skimp on the meat? What was I thinking I could get lumpia at a Chinese-style restaurant? They didn't even taste like traditional Chinese egg rolls either. This was one dish I did NOT finish, for once. FAIL.

 
















Day 17, Fri, June 27, 2014 

On my way to work today, I took an alternate route to avoid both the police at the stop sign nearby the airport and to beat the slow Jeepneys and buses at the next intersection. It's a little scary that passing them on the road has become second nature. Let's just hope I don't maintain these driving habits when I get back to the states or I'll have some explaining to do.  

So today was Mike's birthday. Unlike in the states, when it's your birthday, you have to treat others. So in traditional Filipino custom, Mike stopped by Dunkin' Donuts to get donuts for the entire team at the site. He mentioned that he had gotten a row (meaning 5 seats) at the Harbor Point theater to see Transformers for his birthday that night. He had mentioned to me that the first time he went to the movies here, because you bring in any type of food or drink that you like, by the time he got to his seat, all of the cup holders were taken.  And that when he asked people to move their drinks from his armrest, they totally ignored him.  So he now buys at least 3 seats every time he goes so there's no one there to steal his cup holder. Well, because it was his birthday, he decided to buy the entire row, and had extra tickets. And since I had no other plans, I got one of his tickets! C'mon now, me and plans in Subic? What could I possibly be doing on a Friday night? It's kind of sad that my response to "what are you doing tonight" is always, nothing, of course. This is definitely a 180 from my go go go lifestyle at home.

After the Transformers, which may I add has the worst acting in the world but cool effects, we headed to Paddy's for drinks.  Apparently Simona was waiting anxiously for Mike to arrive so she could bring out his birthday cake.  There were a few familiar faces and locals there celebrating his birthday.  The entire Paddy's crew, including Simona, came out to sing and wish him a happy birthday. And yes, I got to enjoy the cake as well.  And also ran into Kace and Ruth, my local friends there as well.

 









   
Day 18, Sat, June 28, 2014
Today was my first day to leave the Subic area. I rode along with Mike to Pampanga to run some errands. He mentioned there was a store there was very similar to Costco where I could buy some snacks from home. Costco? You don't have to ask me twice! The Costco equivalent is called S&R.

Pampanga is around a 1 hour drive away, which is technically the furthest I can be from work since I'm on call.  I have to be able to report into work within one hour if there was an emergency. This rule does suck for the weekends since I haven't been able to go anywhere really. If this rule was levied, I would be off to Boracay in a seconds notice! The drive to Pampanga had like 5-6 different bridge tolls. It's strange though, because at some of the tolls, you only pick up a receipt, only to give it to the next toll person a couple of minutes later. Way to be efficient...I would never do this drive myself after seeing what the traffic was like once we got to Pampanga.  Pure chaos. Several different lanes merge into one from all directions including a roundabout.  And it's basically whoever is the most aggressive wins the race. No thank you!

Before heading to S&R, the Costco equivalent, we stopped by the SM mall (a chain like Westfield) to pick up some random items. I had to take a picture of the Mr. Clean equivalent here, because yes, muscles are what get the job done! I wonder who would win in a battle between Mr. Clean and Mr. Muscle?

So we finally got to S&R. It WAS just like Costco, even with Kirkland branded items. So, like everyone else who shops at Costco at home, I got carried away and filled my cart with more items than I could probably consume in a few weeks.  But since I knew I wouldn't be back here again, my natural hoarding tendencies got the best of me. One of the items that I got here was longon. This is a fruit that is very similar to lychee on the inside, but is more sweet and less tart. Again, I'm quickly brought back to childhood memories of this fruit. Though, since it's rare to get fresh longon in the states, I grew up mostly eating these from a can.

So just like the Costco at home, the S&R has a food court with a variety of items for cheap. Unfortunately I had already eaten lunch, so didn't get to try any of these delights.

Day 19, Sun June 29, 2014
Today was my final day at the Subic Bay Venezia Hotel. I had been staying here for the past few weeks, but was on my way to Poco A Poco Hotel (2 blocks away).  When I originally did my hotel booking, I was supposed to book Poco for the entire duration.  However, it was not available for a few of the nights during my first two weeks here in Subic and I honestly did not see a reason to jump hotels every few days. Subic is okay and all, but sold out? This is by no means a hot travel destination. I found out later that there was a triathlon on Saturday, which brought in a lot more folks than usual to Subic. These people are CRAZY though. A triathlon in this weather and climate? These are some true athletes!

I probably should've taken photos when I first got to the hotel. In any case, here are a few photos of my home for the past few weeks. Please ignore the mess (I didn't make my bed since I was on my way out...then again, I never make my bed, it's a hotel)!

I will miss this room. It sucks having to pack up every few weeks, but what's done is done. Onto Poco A Poco, which is supposed to be more modern.

So this hotel is famous for their Japanese-style accommodation.  Aka, hello bode I won't be using! The whole concept is still too weird for me.

So although this hotel is newer, it also opens up to the outside. Outside to an abandoned lot. It's a great view I have from my room!

So after I checked into Poco, I headed to Mike's for a BBQ. He was hosting a BBQ at his place for coworkers and friends. That was the purpose of the S&R trip the day before. He needed to get supplies for the party, including steaks and burgers to grill. Mmm, steak. Oh, and yes the red wine was mine. One of my purchases from S&R.

So I don't normally drink tequila, but I did make an exception for this bottle of Tequila Rose. It's basically strawberry milk with a hint of tequila. Yum!

For dessert, Mike's daughter Lauren made rice krispy treats.  The folks here have never heard of them before and kept calling them crispy rice. And I'm like, no no no! It's rice krispies (like the cereal)! And since they don't use knives here, they were also somehow able to cut up the rice krispies using only a fork. Now that's skill!

Adventurous Eats - Eating Like the Locals

Days 10-12, Mon-Wed June 23-25th

Now that I'm having to deal with less shenanigans on a daily basis, there hasn't been as many stories to update this blog with.  So to catch up with the last few weeks, I'll be combining several days into one entry, primarily focusing on none other than, food.

Day 10, Mon, June 23, 2014

I have the option of getting catered meals at work, but haven't really taken advantage of it till this week. Strangely enough, I really enjoy these meals since they're 1. Filipino local food, 2. like a home cooked meal and 3. allowing me bond with coworkers over the lunch hour. Each morning, mana (the helper in Tagalog) swings by my desk and asks what I want to order for the day.  She's a really sweet older Filipino lady and is always smiling at me.  I think it's because she thought I was Filipina as well.  She has a list of items to choose from and I have to ask her to read them to me each day since most of the items don't have a direct English translation nor do I know what all of the dishes are. Each day, we're allowed to choose 2 meals, which essentially means 2 dishes.  Each meal comes with a side of rice (because this is Asia), a choice of beverage (juice, chocolate milk, or soda), and sometimes an option for fruit. Both Mana and Shiela, one of the ABS-2 engineers, are really helpful.  When it's time for me to pick up my food, they always get me a plate, fork, spoon and a clean glass.  I can hear everyone back home saying, oh man, what a princess.  But to be fair, I've tried many times to tell them that I can get it on my own, but they insist.  Oh and knives don't really exist here. Filipinos eat all of their meals with spoons and forks.  Because apparently a fork is sufficient for cutting into meat, fish and whatever else you may need a knife for...I still haven't mastered cutting with a fork yet.

So for all of the skeptics out there, this next photo will prove that I am indeed out here for work, and not just an extended vacation. This is my obligatory nerd shot.

What you can't tell in this photo is how sweltering hot it is outside. Call me weak sauce, but 80% humidity and 85 deg (but feels like 93 deg according to the weather app on my iPhone) is no joke!

Before hitting up dinner on Monday night, I was able to get in a workout.  Again, I can't do more than 10 minutes of running on the treadmill because it's just way too hot, even inside the gym with the AC on.  Story of my life here in the Philippines.  Brooke's will be my gym for the next month or so.  And naturally, I'm trying to work out as much as possible to offset the insane amount of food I'm consuming.

After the gym, I headed to Sakura again for dinner. I was determined to get uni this time.  To my luck, it was available! So I ordered 2 pieces of uni nigiri along with a shoyu ramen (including a soft-boiled egg). My meal included a complimentary palette cleanser, which I can't really recall what it was, but here it is.

 

So this is what the uni looked like. I've only had uni in the states, but pretty sure it should be more orange than brown wouldn't you agree? But that didn't stop me.  I ate it anyway. It was decent execpt for the piece of sand I found in one of them.  Note to self, put uni on the no-go list.



















I was really looking forward to my first bowl of ramen since I arrived in the Philippines.  Sadly, like the uni, it was disappointing.  The broth didn't have much flavor and the noodles were not the authentic noodles I'm used to from home. The best part of this dish was the soft-boiled egg.  But where's the other half?

Day 11, Tue, June 24, 2014

Today we had some folks for KISI in town at work.  So we went out to lunch at Extremely Espresso, a cafe in Subic that is known for their NY-style pizza, as well as their coffee of course.  I got to meet one of the senior engineers along with the VP of KISI.  Not a bad deal networking with other folks in the industry and getting a paid lunch out of it as well.  It's a shame that they don't sell pizza here by the slice, because I'd be tempted to come here a lot more often. Oh, and I got a mango shake to go with the pizza because I cannot get enough of those sweet mango smoothies! Those mangos are like crack here!
 

 














After lunch, we dropped off the KISI guys at their hotel in SBMA, which happens to be the Lighthouse Marina. I'll be staying at the Lighthouse during the last 2 weeks of my stay here in Subic. According to TripAdvisor, it's the #1 ranked hotel in Subic Bay. I'm going to keep my expectations low though, because if the past few weeks have been an indication of what's to come, it's taught me to expect the unexpected. As we were dropping them off, I noticed this van parked on the side. "It's more fun-tastic in Subic".  Something tells me that the word fun here really means unsafe or with less rules and therefore, more "fun".  They should really have a disclaimer that says "surf at your own risk".

And because I didn't have enough food at lunch already, I stopped by Starbucks after lunch for more coffee.  This time I tried a new drink.  Iced coffee with jelly. The jelly was a harder yet chewy syrup tasting jelly.  It was a little too sweet for my taste but I'm all for trying out new experiences. Is this drink only sold in the Philippines? Do they have boba at the Starbucks in other parts of Asia?

On my drive home today, I was able to see the bat show near the airport.  I haven't been able to catch a photo of the bats when they're dormant, but today they were in full effect. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but focus on the middle of the photo. So to sum of what I've seen so far on my drive to work: goats, monkeys, horses and bats (oh my). What's next?

Since I was too full for dinner, and dessert is totally a different stomach, I stopped by Chow King after hitting the gym.  According to all of the locals here, Chow King (an Asian fast-food chain) has the best halo-halo.  Since I hadn't seen or tasted any halo-halo since I got here, I was determined to find some. And that I did.  This one included ube ice cream, yellow and red beans, condensed milk, shaved ice, green jelly and a few pieces of jackfruit.  All I have to say is why do you gottta skimp on the jackfruit huh? It's not like it's my favorite fruit in the world or anything. Typical Asian thing to do. Fill the cup with a ton of ice and cheap stuff, and skimp on the good sh*t.

Day 12, Wed Jun 25th, 2014

Today the highlight of work was eating durian. If you're not familiar with this fruit, it's a very spiky, potent smelling fruit grown in the tropical regions of SE Asia. Most people can't stand the smell of this fruit, and there's a select few like myself, who are lovers. Second to jackfruit, durian is my favorite fruit. I swear this is a genetic trait since my entire family loves the smell and taste of durian. In any case, some people at work had never tried durian before, so they bought it at the local market and brought it in to try.  But you do NOT want to open this fruit indoors, or the place will smell like it for days! Days I tell ya! So instead, they opened it out back near the antennas because that's much safer...Both Mike and Natalia (former SSL lady now part of ABS) tried it and hated it. I was like, great, more for me! I've been known to like very weird food items.  I attribute this unique trait to my upbringing.  I grew up in a pretty traditional Chinese Vietnamese household, so I've been exposed to most of these exotic fruits and foods in my childhood and are not put off by them. Instead of running away from these items, I am first to have at them.  Disclaimer for those who indulge in too much of it at once though, like garlic, it will stay in your system for awhile, and after any burp, you're guaranteed to get that wonderful durian scent in your mouth. Lovely.

And no, I didn't have this entire piece. I was good and kept to a more modest portion (not that anyone would be fighting me for it). And I totally wore yellow on purpose to match the durian..

So since it was a Wednesday, it was time for trivia night again at Paddy's.  This time I placed third. Score! And this was my prize. Local "Rhum".  The fact that rum has an "h" in it is not sketchy at all. Like the other winners, I kept this bottle at the bar to share with others since it was likely I wouldn't be having any of that stuff anytime soon.