{"id":1826,"date":"2015-06-06T01:05:48","date_gmt":"2015-06-06T05:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=1826"},"modified":"2015-06-15T17:50:44","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T21:50:44","slug":"planes-vans-jeepneys-part-1-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1826","title":{"rendered":"Planes, Vans & Jeepneys – Part 1 of 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boss and I took a vacation, for three glorious weeks we traveled with our friends (three other couples from Virginia Beach).\u00a0 This first leg of the trip covered the period between May 14th through May 20th, 2015.\u00a0 With the exception of mechanical problems, our flights were uneventful. If the images do not load, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first leg of our vacation was based out of Angeles City<\/a>, Philippines. This city has nothing in common with the more popular Los Angeles, Ca.\u00a0 Walking around Angeles I felt safe, we stayed at the Clarkton hotel, #28 on TripAdvisor.\u00a0 The hotel was clean and the staff was, in a word: amazing.\u00a0 The six days we spent there were very relaxing.\u00a0 There is a large mall, complete with an Auntie Ann’s pretzel shop!\u00a0 Enough about the town, let’s get on with the activities.<\/p>\n

We headed south and visited a couple of attractions located on the former US Naval base at Subic Bay<\/a>.\u00a0 I never got to Subic during my time in the Navy, which is neither here, nor there.\u00a0 Subic Bay is a beautiful area, and I was one of the ones sorry to see it leave US control. How has it fared, The NY Times<\/a> has done an article in much better form than I could do.<\/p>\n

Ocean Adventures<\/a> is a sea animal show, very similar to the US Sea World.\u00a0 Ocean Adventure rescues sea animals, and if possible rehabilitates them and return them to the wild.\u00a0 If the animals are incapable of being returned to the wild, they are utilized in the entertainment show.\u00a0 Judging by the dolphins – they weren’t going hungry.\u00a0 I tried to volunteer to be part of the show (as the great white whale) and just work for steaks – but they only offered fish.\u00a0 So naturally I declined.<\/p>\n

ZooBic<\/a> is a zoo, located within an old ammunition bunker complex on the former base.\u00a0 It is much like any other zoo, except it is located within a bunker complex. We walked around the zoo, one of the camels decided to try some filet d’Joy and nibbled on Joy’s butt. The animals were pretty cool – but the highlight was the “safari” (driving in a caged in jeep through a very small area where the tigers are located) to feed the tigers.\u00a0 There were a couple of tiger cubs playing in the pool, and they were fun to watch.\u00a0 A couple of tigers were coaxed to our jeep and were fed through the wires.<\/p>\n

We climbed Mt. Pinatubo<\/a>. The view at the crater was well worth the time and effort to get there.\u00a0 The Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption<\/a> was the second largest of the twentieth century, second only to the 1912 eruption of Mt. Katmai-Novarupta in Alaska. While the eruption was tragic and the damage hard to comprehend, there is a pretty cool back story.\u00a0 The mountain and its surrounding area was home to 30,000 people and lush tropical vegetation.\u00a0 The Philippine institute of Volcanology and Seismology and the USGS were able to predict the time of the eruption, beginning an evacuation and saving thousands of lives.\u00a0 As a result, the loss of life was minimal; but thousands were displaced due to thick layers of ash. The van picked us up from the hotel and transported us to a town near the volcano, from there we boarded 4X4 trucks and drove for an hour to the head of the trail.\u00a0 From there we walked the 5.5 Kilometers to the crater.<\/p>\n

Cabas National Shrine<\/a>.\u00a0 This shrine is a tribute to those US and Filipino Army soldiers who were forced on the Bataan death march.\u00a0 The Shrine is built on the same location as Camp O’Donnell; which was the end of the 105 kilometer Bataan death march.\u00a0 Thousands of prisoners died while interred here.\u00a0 The boxcar is of the same type used by the Japanese to transport prisoners from the end of the death march at San Fenando Pampanga the roughly 30 miles to Capas, Tarlac and Camp O’Donnell.\u00a0 150 – 160\u00a0 prisoners were compacted into each box car, with the only ventilation being a slit in the door.\u00a0 The main attraction is an obelisk, surrounded by the names of those who died.\u00a0 From the road, there is a “Mall” lined with Philippine National flags, a very moving sight. There are 31,000 trees planted – all dedicated to the Filipino and American soldiers who were incarcerated and died at the camp.<\/p>\n

The remaining time of this leg was spent in Angeles City. \u00a0Quality time spent with our friends, celebrating their renewals and just….. relaxing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Boss and I took a vacation, for three glorious weeks we traveled with our friends (three other couples from Virginia Beach).\u00a0 This first leg of the trip covered the period between May 14th through May 20th, 2015.\u00a0 With the … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[72,64,105],"class_list":["post-1826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-travel","tag-friends","tag-holiday","tag-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/10.-Mt.-Pinatubo-crater.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1149,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1149","url_meta":{"origin":1826,"position":0},"title":"An experiment in Timesharing: 2013 Timeshare Journey \u2013 Final","author":"DR D","date":"November 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As you may have noticed, I haven't updated this in awhile. Well, this exercise in timeshare management has finished. I came in at $1000 below budget (not including the associated fees of a timeshare)! Proving that it is possible to stay full time in a timeshare for less than a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Timeshares"","block_context":{"text":"Timeshares","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/travel\/timeshare"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dan's Timeshare Journey","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/USA-DanTJ-251x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1145,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1145","url_meta":{"origin":1826,"position":1},"title":"Wyndham Skyline Tower – Atlantic City","author":"DR D","date":"November 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning boys and girls.\u00a0 Last weekend saw the boss lady and I in Atlantic City, NJ.\u00a0 We stayed at the Wyndham Skyline Tower, near the Resorts Casino. I was talking to my one and only faithful ready; yep, my cat.\u00a0 Anyway, he said I should write a review of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Timeshares"","block_context":{"text":"Timeshares","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/travel\/timeshare"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1016,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1016","url_meta":{"origin":1826,"position":2},"title":"An experiment in Timesharing: 2013 Timeshare Journey – July","author":"DR D","date":"June 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The end of June we made a switch. We didn't go to Branson, deciding instead to stay one more week in Farmington. With our added stay in Farmington, it increased our June cost, the new cost is $1417, which is higher than the $1280 we initially planned for. We find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Timeshares"","block_context":{"text":"Timeshares","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/travel\/timeshare"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":978,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/978","url_meta":{"origin":1826,"position":3},"title":"An experiment in Timesharing: 2013 Timeshare Journey – June","author":"DR D","date":"May 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At the start of summer, the last call vacations are drying up, and pickings at top resorts are few and between. As such, we'll be spending the next couple of weeks (months?) in lower rated resorts unless I can snag some good weeks. 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