Ravin wearing my glasses

Josh and Ravin..

Oh my gosh, for a moment I thought I was back in Olongapo, or Subic Bay, man sure would like to vist Baguio again, what a beatutiful place Baguio was.

Scamp,

I didn't know that eating dogs was illegal now. From what I remember, beef was prohibitively expensive and Lassie made a good substitute. At least, back then, you didn't have to worry about stepping in a steaming pile of dogshit!

As you probably recall Dan, P.I. dogs (aso) are small as compared to what we usually have around but ya got it right about pile dodging skills. That is a timeless and acquired art form I reckon. Beef is still pricy so the diet is mostly centered on fish, pork, chicken, vegetables, fruit and the mainstay, rice. An average family will knock down a 50-kilo bag of rice in a month and a meal without rice is unheard of. Angeles and Olongapo are all very sane now, more or less, eh. The volcanic lava flow from a couple of years back changed the landscape drastically and the former US Navy base at Subic is now a merchant ship repair facility. A handful of the same ?businesses? cater to the merchant Sailors that are marooned at the repair yard but nothing on the scale of them olden days. Even the Olongapo strip, Magsaysay Drive, is paved now so those times of the ?Mud, blood and beer? are just stuff of memory now I guess. I won?t get to Baguio this time around but you are correct Robert, it is a beautiful City and is the summer Capital of the P.I. Them politicos clear out of Manila for the summer and pretend to be doing something useful in Baguio. Maybe they do, but rumor has it that other things go on that have very little to do with Government and more to do with illicit population increasing activities, or so it is alleged. Maybe moving the DC Beltway inhabitants to Vale, Colorado, for a three-month period each year would yield a similar phenomenon, who knows.
;)

Scamp

Scamp:

You make me SICK . ( not really ), remember I lost my PI wife there from one of those Jeepnies in Cavite City.

Damn, I sure do envy you ...........

BTW dont eat any Baloots ( sp )...........

enough.............

Yes Reeb, I remember your loss and still feel real bad about it. To be sure these Jeepnys thunder around on the ragged edge way too much and bad things happen. In Lucena, they tried signal light traffic control but to no avail as things went from mild chaos to a complete thunder dome kind of thing. Zo, at every intersection they are back to a ball/snarl of machines and people but somehow it all works and folks get where they are going. Not to worry about me and balouts. No way and I?m sticking to it, but really enjoy the other cooking. I get an ?F? in the habhab eating style. That?s where the item is eaten from a flat banana leaf, no hands allowed. And then an F- in the kamayan style of eating where the only utensils used are the fingers. Out of pity, I am eventually given a fork and spoon except in one instance. The pic is of a restaurant in the river, literally, and only habhab and kamayan styles were served. I made a clumsy mess of it and the folks had a sense of humor about my predicament, but no pity and no utensils.

Another resturant in the river pic.

But then, I got something I could handle. A young coconut and a straw. ;)

Scamp,

I recall cousin on stick that was often sold on the streets. I saw the other night that they are letting Japanese back into the country. When I was there they would not let them on the ground they walked on.

I recall in 64 or 5 a Japanese ship broke down close to PI and the Navy had to send escort ships and guard them the entire time they were in port.

It goes to show you that times change and when the old die off and the young tend to look the other way or can't related to the horrors of the war back then. I wonder if they miss the American's over there? I know they liked our money.

Once again have good memories about PI and saw many things. The volcano blew in 63- or 4 just before I got there killed 500+ in Manila and sulfur permeated the air the entire time I was there.

I also know they got some huge bugs (snakes don't bother me) but the bugs - whew! I used to make me wonder if they ever bit me during the night if I'd have any blood left in the morning.

Used to trade with the old head hunters and I had several of their goods stored away somewhere at my Ma's, but when she passed everything went into the trash bin and that was a sad day for sure.

PI is great but the wet weather and heat can be overwhelming at times. How's the volcano doing since it blew top?