Adventures in Subic

Subic ("Sue Bick") has been on our "to visit" list since we arrived, especially when we started to hear about Zoobic, an attraction there that sounded right up the girls' alley.  When our friends, the Hables, casually mentioned that they were heading up to Subic this weekend and we should come, we not very casually at all hopped immediately online and made reservations so we could go with them.  It worked out great- the kids got along, and more importantly, the adults got along.  We rented a car for our first adventure driving here.  I've alluded to the traffic here, but it is nerve-wracking and chaotic and loud and lawless and everything awful you can imagine.  (In case you are unconvinced, there was a sign leading to EDSA, which is a main thoroughfare through Metro Manila, that stated that horses and carriages were not allowed- and that's pretty much the ONLY thing that isn't.)  Bruce was the sole driver and did a great job.  Subic is a 3 hour drive away- the first 90 minutes covers the 10 miles out of Manila and the second 90 minutes covers the other 70 miles or so.  Once we were out of Manila the traffic eased up a ton and it was almost like being home- except for it was rice paddies, palm trees, and water buffalo instead of fields and cows.  We made it safely and only got pulled over once. 

The kids jumped into the hotel pool immediately.

We were right on the beach. 

Katie, Kate, Luke, Aaron, and Kiki.  There's a couple of Hable kids missing.

Yesterday we went to Zoobic.  Everything here seems a little shabby or rustic to me...I'm not sure of the exact way I want to describe it, but the Philippines seems to be a country of long unfinished projects that were opened to the public anyway.  That said, although Zoobic didn't have a whole lot in the way of nice amenities, it was an amazing hands-on experience that my kids would have never had at home (probably because 80% of their day would have been illegal).

It started calmly enough with a photo op at the front gates.  We saw none of the pictured animals inside the park. 

But we saw tigers!  Right as we walked in there were 6 or 8 cages of tigers. 

Our tour started small, though, with birds and rodents.  We got to get very close.  I have forgotten this bird's name, but he had long eyelashes.  It was very mysterious.

It was maybe a little too close for Kate.

Me and an extremely vicious tiger.

 

These animals were called bearcats, and they looked like a cross between a bear and a raccoon.  For a dollar you could feed them pieces of banana- that's what is hooked to the end of Kiki's stick. 

When I was researching Zoobic, their website had said that you could get your picture taken with a baby tiger.  Oh, I wanted to do that!  Of course the girls did too, but you can only get it done if there are baby tigers in the park at the time.  The night before we went I actually had a dream about holding a baby tiger and I woke up nervous and worried that maybe they wouldn't have babies for us to hold.

So I was pretty excited when I saw these cute little sweeties:

But we weren't allowed to hold these!
Don't despair...

...because here in the Philippines THIS IS CONSIDERED A BABY TIGER!!!!!

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I might die.  This will go down in life as one of my favorite things we have ever done since time started. 
And the tiger is technically a baby because that's a bottle Bruce is feeding it.

And the thrills just kept on coming.

The Hables (Derek and Cathy).  This was their 14th wedding anniversary and they were not even cranky about spending the day with all of their kids plus all of us. 
Dear Cathy:  We have been friends our whole lives even though we just met.  Don't ask how that is possible.  Love, Me.

Having the Hables around made it possible for Bruce and I to try out having a son. 

After the tiger picture, we toured a couple of creepy museums.  (If I were to create a travel brochure for the Philippines, I would be certain to note for the casual tourist that all museums here are creepy, road maps are useless largely because road signs are non-existent, and to bring your own toilet paper.)  Then we got to load up into jeepneys with cages around them and drive through the tiger habitat.  The guides stuck pieces of chicken out so that the tigers would come right up to the jeepneys.

RAWR!
Cathy was sitting right behind the guide and wound up covered with raw chicken bits and tiger saliva.

There were also crocodiles- Kiki kept saying, "Best. Day. Ever."  You could feed the crocodiles too.

Right over the crocodile's tail you can see a piece of chicken on a fishing line that Kiki is lowering down.

On the way home we saw monkeys on the side of the road.  This day just didn't stop!

For Derek and Cathy's anniversary dinner we went to eat at a place called Texas Joe's.  It was surprisingly good barbecue, which just reminded us all of the States.   

We had breakfast this morning at Pancake house- we were kind of a spectacle everywhere we went.  Kiki was delighted to find that macaroni and cheese plus a waffle was a menu item. 

We went to Ocean Adventure today.  I'll be honest- after Zoobic it was kind of a let down.  There were several shows and a couple of very small aquariums and that was about it. 

Yeah...some dolphins and some sea lions and a bad lunch and a couple of photo ops and we were out of there.  Also, our enjoyment was decreased by the blazing hot temperatures and the non-stop whining.  One guess, based on the picture above, as to who was the whiner in question.