Man on the highway

I guess that makes me a highwayman. It turns out the walk from my house to the One Three Resort was closer to 5K rather than the 3K I anticipated. Even so, I have no regrets about foregoing the Hash trail as a matter of prudence. In keeping with my new normal, about 1K into my walk, I started feeling pain in my upper left leg. This continued and intensified until I hit 3K, and then, either I got used to the discomfort, or it went away. The leg still felt a little weak but not unstable to the point of collapsing. I’ll call that progress and hope it continues.

The On-Home venue in Calapadayan. I was just here last Thursday for the Grand Opening celebration.
Leech My Nuggets was the Hare yesterday. I apologized for missing his trail.
The view from here
And here
Settling in and waiting for the Hash circle to commence. San Miguel Zero wasn’t available, so I went with San Mig Light. That’s 3% alcohol versus 5%. By the end of the evening, the difference was staggering. *ahem*
The One Three menu offerings. I’m not a big fan of Thai food to begin with, and I didn’t know what most of these dishes even were. I took a flyer on the panang, and it turned out to be okay.
Some of the Hash gals
Watching the sun go down…going…
…going…
Gone! (full disclosure: I didn’t take this last shot, but it’s a good one!)

As I mentioned, when it was time to head back to Barretto, I was feeling no pain. I figured I’d take a Jeepney or a trike, whichever came by first. To my surprise, a vacant taxi came by. That’s the first time I’ve ever hailed a cab on the street in over five years of living here. You rarely see a cab this far out of Olongapo; an empty one is unheard of.

So, I rode back to my little town in air-conditioned comfort. When I got dropped at It Doesn’t Matter, the meter read 120 pesos. I gladly gave the driver 150, the amount I was prepared to pay for a trike.

A couple more beers at IDM (Zeros this time), and I knew it was time to get my ass home. I did make a stop at Sit-n-Bull for my weekly banana split to go. Home before 8:00 and asleep before 9:00. Sometime during that hour, I guess I created a misunderstanding with Swan, but we’ve put it behind us today. For the most part, anyway.

For today’s smile, how about this horny guy slingin’ the bull:

We’ll try again tomorrow. See you then.

5 thoughts on “Man on the highway

  1. Looks to have been a good walk. I enjoyed the sequence of sunset shots. What prevented you from taking your own version of that final shot?

    If the cab is 120 pesos, and the trike is 150, is it generally true that cabs are cheaper than trikes? That doesn’t make sense to me.

    re: Thai food you don’t know

    Surely, you can quickly Google those foods!

    re: “closer to 5K rather than the 3K I anticipated”

    I wonder if the Google Maps app might have been helpful here. It would have shown you the shortest route, but that might not have been the route you chose to walk, so it could be the app would have been irrelevant.

    Please see your docs when they’re back!

  2. @Kevin, John will know more about the cab/trike economics in the PI, but in Thailand, taxis do not want short rides, and if they accept one, they almost always refuse the meter. Tuk-tuks (the Thai equivalent of trikes) pretty much have the market on relatively short rides and can set the price higher. I am sure it was a pleasant surprise that this particular taxi used the meter.

    John – Pad Thai is always a good default Thai dish. Basically stir fried noodles with meat and veggies.

  3. Brian, the real issue is that taxis just aren’t prevalent like they are in most places. The only time I’ve taken a cab is from the mall, where they have a taxi stand. If some enterprising drivers set up here in Barretto I and many other foreigners would use them versus the dreaded Jeepney.

    I’ve heard of Pad Thai, just not my thing.

  4. Kev, I didn’t get that last sunset shot because I bailed out right after the Hash circle. I was at my SML limit.

    No, trikes are not generally more expensive than metered taxis. I tend to overpay trikes, but I figured my fare from Calapadayan would be at least 100, and I was prepared to pay 150 if need be. A Jeepney would have been 20 pesos.

    Google Maps wouldn’t have helped, there is no other paved route than the highway. I had guesstimated the 3K distance based on my hikes to the ATM which is a bit further up the road.

    Yes, a visit to the doctor is in my future.

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