On a rainy day

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When it rains, it pours, but life goes on. Sometimes, you tweak things up a bit.

Who let the dogs out? We did; we weren’t feeling like a dog walk in the rain.

But it being Friday and all, there was the group hike to attend to. Flat street walks around Barretto are getting a tad boring in a “been there, done that” multiple times kind of way. But our newest group member, Michael, has a nice roomy car and lives out on the far side of Subic town. So, we took a Jeepney to meet him in his neck of the woods, and he drove us to San Antonio. We hadn’t hiked out there in almost a year. We parked at the FRA (Fleet Reserve Association) and plotted a course from there. Given the weather, we stuck to the pavement for the most part, but everything had a fresh new feel about it anyway.

Clouds on the mountain
Rainy day people, Gary, Michael, and Scott
Off we go down the highway
Signage at the elementary school
Strolling through a San Antonio neighborhood
We saw houses like these
And this one, literally right next door. Most of the houses were somewhere in between these two extremes.
A road we opted not to traverse
Getting off the pavement for a bit. Luckily it didn’t turn out to be a goat fuck.
The rice fields are enjoying the rainy weather
It was good to have a bit of elevation above the swampy fields
Probably the best part of our walk
The rare bridge that is both over and under the water
A tree that caught my eye
Embracing the freedom that comes with wet feet
On the road again
A Filipino Naval Station (it used to belong to the Americans)
A well-maintained elevated road with no puddles is a rarity in my adopted country
Village life
Highs and lows
You looking at me?
A river runs through it
A new ‘hood to explore
Time out for a lollipop delivery
Not today, thank you
And back to where we started
The FRA is one of my favorite San Antonio hangouts
Sorry guys, the waitress isn’t on the menu
But tacos were, and I had some. The waitress asked, “Hard or soft?” I bit my tongue to keep my demented mind from saying the first thing that popped into my head, then wisely said, “One of each, please.”
Our 7K journey

And that was how our rainy-day hike in San Antonio went down. Got home later than normal, so I decided to just hang out at home for my Friday night.

Swan got busy in the kitchen. She wanted me to try her beef burritos.
A different blend of salad
Tasted great with ranch dressing
The burritos are served. A different blend of ingredients than I use, but very tasty indeed!
And Swan can brown a tortilla better than I do.

So, let me throw this out there. Spain ruled the Philippines for five hundred years. My Filipina prepared my meal. I say that makes burritos Filipino food. I mean, Spain brought them to Mexico, and everyone says they are Mexican food, so what’s the difference? See, I do eat the local food!

I fired up Netflix and decided to watch a Filipino movie with my Filipino dinner. Here’s the trailer:

I’m not going to review it. It filled some time, had a couple of funny parts, and kept me somewhat entertained. The dialogue in my version was Tagalog with English subtitles. I don’t speak the local language, but I could tell the subtitles didn’t always match what was said. For example, a twenty peso tip was called twenty dollars in the subtitles. Mildly annoying, but that’s on me for not learning the local language.

In other news, John Kim posted this on Facebook today:

Just came back.
Thanks for the moral support, cash & wheel chair donation and quick loan to be released from the hospital. Including dialysis, I was paying average p13000 daily. Stayed there for 9 days. I am still half paralyzed but the doctor says I could walk again with therapy. I can stand up for seconds now when I can hold to something to support my weight, so it’s a big progress. Visit me when you can, it’ll mean a lot to me.

Glad to hear it! Keep fighting, John! And see you tomorrow for dinner.

Today’s YouTube video has Reekay expounding on the bar scene. I’m pretty much a “regular bar” guy these days, but Wet Spot is technically a dancer bar, Although they just stand around on stage waiting for lady drinks. Anyway, the stuff Reekay warns about are, for the most part, rookie mistakes. Even when I was single, I wasn’t really into the bar fine scene. I mean, I paid for sex in different ways (remember my friends with benefits program?), but I probably only took a girl from a bar once or twice a year. Some guys prefer taking bar girls home. As one whore monger told me, I don’t pay the girls for sex, I pay them to leave in the morning. Whatever floats your boat. But the lady drink thing was a lesson I learned the hard way during my first weekend in Seoul. When it was time to go, my tab was $300. Oops!

Alright, to the humor then. Such as it is.

Knockin’ on heaven’s door
Women don’t do too well against men in Olympic boxing, either.
I can relate

Alright, I’m running late to get started on my Saturday evening out. Back with more of adventures tomorrow!

I always enjoy these “first-time hearing” song videos. Here’s what they said about this one:

4 thoughts on “On a rainy day”

  1. An old buddy of mine is in the PI right now. His dad died a few days ago. My buddy doesn’t like the local food, either, despite being half-Filipino himself. He leaves in a couple of days.

    Enjoy the nonstop rain!

  2. There must be a Filipino restaurant somewhere nearby in Seoul. You should see for yourself. For me, it’s not that I hate the food, but there are usually options I like better.

  3. I’ll see what I can find. My buddy’s mother, not a Filipina, used to make chicken adobo, which I love. So I do know that bit of cuisine. And lumpia appear in some form or other throughout most of East and Southeast Asia, so there’s that. I think I have, at least, a good start.

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