A tiny slice of heaven

Two days at a resort with an infinity pool, beach, kayaks, laundry service and buffets, so there was some kind of food for everyone, not just mangoes. But I digress, so let me return to the end of yesterday.

After the ceremony we were taken to, of all places, an Italian restaurant, where we all got the same thing, spaghetti and meatballs. We were amused by the shooters menu which included such delights as "Screaming Orgasm," "Mind Eraser" and "Brain Hemorrhage." Those of us who wanted alcohol made do with beer.

The food wasn't bad, a little on the sweet side, so here is a chance to discuss how meals were arranged. Breakfast was generally a buffet, but occasionally you ordered off a limited menu. Lunch and dinner were usually set meals, like in the Italian restaurant: no choice. Sometimes you had a choice of two things, and those choices were barbecued ribs or a cheeseburger. I hate barbecue and in any event, those meals were gigantic. I enjoyed my cheeseburgers and asked no questions about where the meat came from. We usually were offered a choice of beverages, regular beer, light beer, a variety of sodas, juice, tea and coffee. I never drank anything that didn't come out of a bottle or can I opened myself, and nothing with ice. I saw enough out on the roads not to take chances. After all, my uncle died of amoebic dysentery. Enough said.

Then, on to the resort, which was near Subic Bay, but not close enough to it to have Americanized plumbing. Here we are relaxing on our patio. Well, not me; I took the picture.

 

 

These are the grounds.

 

And here's the infinity pool with me in it. My first infinity pool ever!

 

 

 

The day after we arrived at the resort we had a lot of stops.  I may get the order wrong, but I think the first place we went was a jungle survival school run by members (present and past) of the Philippine Army, where we learned how to make a fire, utensils and food out of basically nothing, and get water out of a vine, and so on. That explained in part why I felt like I was on a forced march through a jungle most of the time. At the school they had what I believe is the only handrail in the Philippines.

 

 

This was complemented by their delightful walking paths,

 

which led, eventually, to this view of Subic Bay.

 

 

After that we went to this bizarre museum which had no air conditioning but did have moving dioramas of things like assassinations. It was hard to understand what we were doing there, exactly. Staying out of the sun, I guess.

 

 

Outside the museum were more interesting artifacts, such as the phone and electrical system

 

 

Click picture to appreciate the complexity of this installation.

 

And this indictment of pollution. The actual translation is "Clean air zone. No running of (smoking) engines." A man was pissing on the other side of the sign while we were standing there, admiring it.

 

This was a long day, so I'll break it up into two posts.