Thursday’s trek | Long Time Gone

***And then you get to the final chapter and start worrying about how many pages are left to be turned.***

Live ’em while you got ’em, that’s the best and only option. Here’s how that worked out for me yesterday.

Our housekeeper, Jane, is Swan’s niece and resides in our basement apartment with her hubby and three kids. It’s equipped with everything they need to live comfortably except a television. Our mission yesterday morning was to rectify that situation. There’s an appliance store on the far side of town, and I told Swan we could make that our walk destination. She was a little surprised when I took her the back way via the My Bitch trail and Rizal Extension, arriving at Robinson’s a little over 6K later. Here’s some of what we saw along the way:

***Swan looks so excited about taking the long way there, doesn’t she?***

That tall thatch grass has now been burned, which makes the walking easier. After all my time living here, I still can’t figure out the motivation for coming up here to burn. I also wonder how in the hell the fires don’t rage out of control, but they also seem to burn themselves out in due course.

***Those houses down there are on Rizal Extension. Up above is the Kalaklan Ridge.***

***A view of Subic town and the bay from here.***

***Once we were back on pavement, Swan was thirsty, so we stopped at a sari-sari store. You buy the Coke, and then it is poured into a plastic bag for take-out.***

***A wanted poster outside the local DILG unit.*** ***Be on the lookout, especially if you are a Korean.***

And then we arrived safely at the Robinson’s appliance store, where I purchased a 50″ Smart TV for a little under $400. Our downstairs residents were ecstatic.

Later in the afternoon, Swan and I made our way to the Kokomo’s floating bar.

***A US Navy MSC ship anchored in the bay.*** ***Civilians crew them, so I’m sure the bargirls will enjoy the company of young men for a change*** ***(military members are confined to SBMA when in port).***

Our visit to the floating bar proved to be a disappointment. No wine for Swan, so she had water. They wanted 120 pesos for a gin shot, plus another 100 for the can of soda water. I had one, and then we decided to move on.

***The raft coming to take us back ashore.***

But we weren’t giving up on our beach time. There’s a small resort named Tropical Garden, further up Baloy, owned by a Hasher (Goat Fucker). We decided to check out the vibe.

***The view of my fat ass on a barstool. As you can see, several other foreigners were enjoying some time at Tropical Garden.***

So, Tropical Garden wanted 180 pesos for a gin shot. Add in a can of soda water, and it’s nearly three times more expensive than a beer. Nope, no can do. I’ll have to find another way to reduce calories and carbs. I still haven’t been able to find out what’s going on with the unavailability of San Miguel Zero beer.

***Sunset on the beach at Tropical Garden.***

***Swan on the beach as we made our way to Treasure Island for dinner.***

***Our favorite place to eat on Baloy Beach.***

***And an excellent grilled pork chop for me.***

I’d given up on gin and soda by this point, but I enjoyed a couple of cold San Miguel Lights, then we called it an early night and headed on home. Notwithstanding the Kokomo’s disappointment, we enjoyed our beach time.

It’s December 2017 in the LTG archives, and in this post, I recount the once-in-a-lifetime experience of walking over 50,000 steps. It’s chock full of pictures of the area surrounding Camp Humphreys and the city of Pyeongtaek. Thanks to Kevin Kim for the challenge and inspiration to make the journey of a lifetime.

For today’s YouTube video, we’ll take a journey back in time and see what traveling on a stagecoach was really like. Spoiler alert: it was not a comfortable experience.

Now we will travel on to where the humor is:

***How’d that work out for the men on the Titantic?***

Another day, another post about yesterday. And now to get on with today.

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