A day well spent

Ouch! This one hits a little too close to home. As always, thanks for reading my online diary.

A very nice day in the life yesterday. During the dog walk, Swan mentioned needing to go to the Subic marketplace to buy candy for this week’s candy walk. She then surprised me by suggesting we walk there together. Works for me! Here’s how we did it:

On Alta Vista Avenue
We took the back way to avoid the National Highway as much as possible
Entering San Isidro
Still making our way through the backstreets of San Isidro
On the other side of the river now
Swan chatting with a friend in her old neighborhood
On the Govic Highway
A cookie delivery in Calapacuan
Up the alley
Between the walls. Flood control?
Our path leads onward
A sight that makes eyes sore
A sight for sore eyes
On the National Highway
Heading into Subic town
Over the river
The busy marketplace road
The store with the candy bags
A box of sweets for delivery on Sunday’s candy walk
Our journey to the marketplace was just a tad over 7K. We took a Jeepney back to Barretto.

Not a bad walk on a sunny and warm day. Some R&R at home, and then I asked Swan out on a date. When I told her my plan for dinner and drinks at the Kon Tiki beach bar in Kalaklan, she enthusiastically agreed. So, we headed down to the highway and grabbed a Jeepney for the Samba Resort, about 3K away.

Arriving at our destination
At the Kon Tiki
A beer with a view…er, I mean a bar with a view
The best view
On the beach
Looking the other way
Kon Tike from the beach
That girl again
Our friendly waitress.
The menu. A bit higher than I’m used to paying in Barretto, but this is resort pricing.
I did the fish and chips, and I was pleased with the quality of the fish and the thick sliced fries.
Swan had the chicken fajitas. She was expecting a wrap, but requested rice on the side. I had a taste, and it was fine; I just don’t think it was to Swan’s liking. She gave her leftovers to our waitress.

We were the only customers during our visit, but I got to meet the owner, Paul. He’s a nice guy—Swedish, I think. He is partners with the owner of Harley’s on Baloy. On weekends, they offer a buffet menu, which he says is very popular. They have plans for opening similar venues in Barretto and on SBMA. Swan and I both enjoyed our visit, and I expect I’ll be back on a bi-weekly basis for my beach bar fix. Oh, another thing I liked about the place was the laid-back music played at an appropriate volume. I complimented the owner on that, and he said there is a set playlist that the staff is not allowed to alter. Good on him. It was cool to be sitting on the beach listening to The Beach Boys’ hits from the ’60s. Although, the thought did occur to me that in the 1960s I never heard music from the ’20s being played.

The best customers at Kon Tiki

It was seven-ish when we finished and walked back out to the highway to catch a Jeepney back to Barretto. I was surprised that the first several to pass by were all full. I thought the commute from Olongapo would be over by then. A trike pulled up and dropped a passenger, so we happily filled the vacancy and rode in comparative comfort to Wet Spot for our nightcap.

It was good to see owner Daddy Dave back after his recent hospitalization. We had a nice catch-up chat, and he’ll be holding court at tonight’s SOB after a two-week absence. I’ll see him there later.

And so ended a better-than-average day in my neck of the woods.

Of course, the big news is the jury verdict in the political trial of former and future President Trump. I’ll confess to being disappointed in the outcome. My money was on at least one juror standing up for justice despite personal animosity towards Trump. I hope this travesty serves as a wake-up call for the American people, but I have my doubts. I guess we’ll know soon enough.

Surely, there can’t be 81 million Bobs out there.
But then again, Biden voters aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.

I’m glad to be living in the Philippines, where I don’t have to observe the destruction of America up close and personal.

Today’s YouTube video is of the SOB dance team from La Oficina bar. They will be hosting tonight’s event.

And now, for some laughs:

What about herstory, bigot?
Sounds like my kind of place!

Today’s song is one I probably haven’t heard in fifty years or so. I saw it mentioned on Quora and had to go check and see if it was the same one I remembered from those long ago days. It was. It is the only Japanese language song to become a top forty hit in the USA.

8 thoughts on “A day well spent

  1. A sight that makes eyes sore

    Really think about forming a team and cleaning that shit up. A bunch of men together, and you can be done in a few hours.

    At the Kon Tiki

    I got curious about what “Ekahi” means, so I looked it up. It’s apparently Hawaiian (or some Polynesian language), and it means something like the Japanese “ichiban,” i.e., “Number One.”

    Kon Tike from the beach

    The place with the inconstant spelling!

    Although, the thought did occur to me that in the 1960s[,] I never heard music from the ’20s being played.

    I guess if you go from 2024 to 1964 (i.e., mid-60s), that’s 60 years. So in 1960, if you go back 60 years, that’s 1900, well before the Roaring Twenties.

    Surely, there can’t be 81 million Bobs out there.

    As someone wrote on Instapundit: “81 million votes, not 81 million voters.” Who wins depends on who counts the votes.

    Biden himself said that. Along with his mentor Stalin. And conservatives are to blame for being so passive, over the decades, as to allow lefties to occupy all the positions of power in our culture (news, the arts, academe, the military, etc.). Burn it with fire and start again, but more carefully and prudently next time.

  2. Food looks good!
    I always chuckle when I see Loco Moco on a menu in Hawaii, where it’s quite common, or “Loko Moco,” as Kon-Tiki spells it. After all, in Spanish this burgers-rice-gravy mashup translates as “crazy snot.”
    That snot a joke. Sorry, just had to.

  3. The sad thing is even if you did clean it up, it would all be back in just a matter of days. Most of the locals just don’t give a shit about litter. Once it is out their window, it is not their problem.

    There were quite a few things on that menu I didn’t recognize. Some descriptions might help ignorant old fucks like me.

    Math and grammar are not my strong suits.

    Yes, the right is also to blame for the mess that is our country. I fear for the future. Where is the outrage?

  4. Loco Moco is actually very tasty (usually) if you can get past the imagery or are blissfully unaware of the translation, like the Japanese American teens in Hawaii who came up with the dish. Hawaiian truckers love it.

  5. There were quite a few things on that menu I didn’t recognize. Some descriptions might help ignorant old fucks like me.

    I wasn’t sure what remark you were addressing when you wrote that. For what it’s worth, I wasn’t remarking on the menu—I was commenting on what was written on the Kon Tiki roof. It says “Kon Tiki Ekahi.”

    And now that we have smartphones, our own little God in a pocket, if there’s something we don’t know, we can just look it up. If we’re curious.

    The sad thing is even if you did clean it up, it would all be back in just a matter of days. Most of the locals just don’t give a shit about litter. Once it is out their window, it is not their problem.

    I addressed that in a previous comment: it just means that, once you engage in the battle, the battle never ends, which means you’ll always have a purpose to drive you.

  6. Kev, well, I guess I could have looked up those menu items. Commenter Drain Snake has already described Loco Moco.

    The litter here is just overwhelming. I know action speaks louder than words, but no one seems to care. The expats don’t litter, but no one has ever expressed a desire to do something.

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