Renew Yourself in Subic Bay, Philippines

Authored by Charles W Davis Jr.

What is your dream of retirement? Sitting on a tropical beach sipping a drink as the sunsets? Sitting on your back porch looking at the distance mountains? Everyone has a different view of retirement. People are living longer and it is possible that you will have as many years in retirement as you did working years. Those years are more likely to be active. Some people look at retirement in the old tradition, work till your 65, move to Florida, play golf or bridge, sit watching television till you and your friends are all dead. More and more people are throwing away those old fashion notions and "retirement" becomes "reinventing" their lives . In the last couple of decades, pre-retirees are looking outside of their own country to retire. The more adventurous nature of the current baby boomer is having them look for something different. They want a comfortable live style but are flexible to what that means. Make a list of what you enjoy and what you want in life. Then explore how to get there. You may find that getting to what is important in your future is not as far off as you thought. Once you have your plan then put it in motion. The Philippines is one country that is becoming increasingly popular. Having been a Spanish colony for centuries there is a Spanish flavor to the country, and having been an American territory for decades it also has a large American influence. English is widely spoken and is in fact one of the country's official languages. The people are genuinely friendly. The cities and urban areas are well developed. The country is seeing an increase in international tourism. Many of the items that attract tourist to an area is equally attractive to retirees. The Subic Bay area is very well suited for retirees. Having been the home of a US Navy base it is used to Americans and has a large number of retirees. This book explores Subic Bay as a place to live and enjoy your reinvented retirement. Ideal for singles and families.

Awards bestowed by HRH Prince Leonard on the occasion of the 39th Anniversary of Secession!
Twenty First day of April 2009

(Subic Bay, PHILLIPINES)

Bestowed with the Rank of Knight Commander in the Illustrious Order of Merit.

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I like to thank my staff and friends for thier support and input to this award.

Recently Bella Dimayuga of Bella Dimayuga Productions asked me if I would assist in a promotion they were doing. Since we were working on developing her web site and online marketing, it seem like a great opportunity. The promotion she was doing was for a condominium project called Uptown 21. They were having a fiesta built around the Legendary Korean Basketball Super star , Shin Dong Pa. The promotion lasted about a week, while I was to help photograph some of the key activities. It was very interesting to step back into a “professional” photographer role again. The events were fast paced in some cases and a hurry up and wait in others. While not originally part of the promotion, the photos included coverage of the People's Choice awards where Bella and the Philippine Juicy fruits both received awards. By Bella efforts the People choice award group also extended a award to Shin Dong Pa.

Television and radio interviews were a part of the promotion as well as a motorcade , a fun basketball games event and a show at the fiesta. Overall I took a thousand photos, some exceptional. It will take a while to sort which ones I like best but I have put a link to some on my photography page. it was a lot of work but nice to be back into photograph for a while.

the link to the selected photos

I had planned my new years to be one of quiet reflection, some writing, as well as a time for some un-distracted business planning. I has booked myself into a resort in Pundekit,San Anthony Zambales. This beautiful area along the south China Seas is about a hour drive north of Subic Bay and is the home of a number of different resorts. New Years is often associated with rebirth even the symbolism of father time leaving and a new baby arriving, I happen to be lucky and happened upon the perfect way to start the countdown to new years. On New Years eve right before sunset, I saw a man walking along the beach carrying a wash tub. Gathering around him was a group of children trying to peer into his tub,adults were also tagging along. Reaching a somewhat smooth section of beach he set his tub down and the children dropped to their knees and gather around it. The mans name is Mike Robertson and he is from the Environmental Protection Agency of Asia, A non profit group involved in environmental projects. Mike is responsible for the Pundekit Turtle Conservatory and his tub contained 154 olive ridley turtles that had hatched early morning.

The west coast of Luzon is the nesting home of a number of marine turtle species. Like many people around the world, the people of the Philippines used to capture turtles for their meat and shells as well as collecting the eggs. Now public awareness  has caused that to change. The Pawikan festival held in Bataan each November is a prime example. A four day event celebrating turtle conservation,with dance competition, ecology contest, musical performances and other events leading to a ceremonial release of  turtles. The release in Bataan are some of the earliest hatchings of the season. As early as July a turtle may show up to lay a clutch of eggs but hatching are rare, it may be that the bad storms has cause salt water to enter the eggs or it may be they were not fertilized. Turtles start nesting in October according to Mike, he said that there is often days between finds but by the end of November and early December there may be five or more nest found each day and during that time he often finds two even three nest in the section of beach he patrols. By the end of December the number of new nest drops off. While it is mostly the Olive Ridleys that nest here, there are some hawk bills. In past years there have been some green turtles but so far this year none have been found.

When Mike had his group around him, he had them spread out in a line facing the water. He then walked down the line with his tub giving adult and child alike a chance to pick out a turtle or two to release. bending over or kneeling in the sand they released “their” turtles and encouraged them to crawl to the sea. Sometimes a strong wave would hit them and send them back to where they started. The people would rush to them and get them headed in the right direction. It took most of the turtles a number of times before they were able to make it safety into the surf. The process was repeated until they all were safely in the sea.

Only God knows what the future will hold for these little ones, however they are off to a good start. the conservatories not only helps to counteract man's destruction but also helps to protect them from natural predators. In the wild, nest are often raided by other animals who eat the eggs. Birds will often feast on hatching as they struggle to the sea. Some experts suggest that as many as half the eggs laid never make it to the sea.  These one hundred fifty four turtles came from two nest along the the Zambales coast, and with the help of Mike and the volunteers who first found the nest, all of the eggs hatched and the turtles all made it to the sea. For the next 20 years the turtles will roam the world, most will not survive but those that do will return here. The females will crawl back onto the same beach and lay her own clutch of eggs

Recently took a short break and made a trip to Thailand. One my plans for the trip were a cooking class. A few years ago I had taken a half day lesson at Baipai Thai Cooking School and really enjoyed it so it was back for another lesson. The school is reasonably priced around $50 for a lesson and that includes pick up at your hotel. The school is small with largest class size less than a dozen. Each student has there own work station, yes it is hands on and lunch is included, 4 courses that you cook yourself. There were only 3 of us in this class, a fallout of the airport being closed for 10 days. I flew in 2 days after it reopened. Each class has something additional about Thai cooking, In my first class we made our own coconut cream starting by shredding fresh coconut using a traditional device. This time it was a trip to the neighborhood market.
Going with the staff to the market the assistant chef pointed out different fruits and vegetables and show how to tell if they were ripe. Back at the school, the first dish we made was the desert Khao Neaw Moon ,Coconut Sticky Rice. We did a little cheating here, since the rice takes hours to soak and time to steam, we started with the rice ready for the preparations. We prepared a coconut Marinate and soaked the rice in it setting it aside while we made the topping. While waiting for the rice to finish marinating, we had a demonstration on the next dish, then back to give more attention to our rice before setting it aside till dinner. Back to our work stations we worked on the appetizer Satay (grilled) chicken. This was very simple, just chicken breast on a stick grilled over a charcoal grill. What gave it a different taste was that while grilling we brushed it with coconut cream. It was served with a peanut sauce and a sweet and sour relish. Generally I am not a fan of peanut sauces but this one was outstanding. It had a curry paste, not hot, coconut milk and cream, and tamarind. After having a short break and eating our appetizers we moved on to the salad. The salad was Plah Goong, Savory Prawn salad. Besides how great it tasted and how easy and fast it was to prepare the largest comment I have that this would be a great lunch by itself, or a dinner entre if slightly larger serving.
The main course was Gai Pad Med Ma-Muang, Chicken with Cashew nuts stir fried. Cooking time for this was very short and not too much prep time either. The meal was great even if I did cook it my self

As in many events in the Philippines the opening item is the invocation. After asking the audience to rise the tone for the evening was set. Instead of introducing someone to delivery a long winded dry prayer Bella introduced the “Philippine Juicy Fruits”. They came on stage and sang a beautiful hymn. Wearing white outfits and artistically backlit they not only sang like angels but look like them too. The hymn completed Makopa moved to the front of the stage to sign the national anthem. ; see more details at the Greater Subic Bay tourism bureau blog.

I was able to get some photos of them while they were enjoying the beach and pool at Arizona Resort

Ok, I will be the first to admit that the Grand Ball was not as I expected. I had imagined a poorly attended boring event with a bunch of dowagers barely able to move around the dance floor. What I experienced was a high energy night of dancing (not me), fellowship and unbelievable dance exhibitions. Salsa Salsang Salpukan sa Subik was held November 30 the last night of the Subik Subik Bakasyon Grande 08 at the Subic Bay Exhibit and convention center. The attendance was slow building with really only a handful of people there to take the dance floor when the Nonoy Lopez band took the stage. At first, I thought my expectations were right. In the early evening most of those attending were older women wearing elegant party dresses. The few that initially took the dance floor, I observed, were stiff, had serious looks almost stone faced expressions with just the slightest twinkle of life in their eyes. As the evening progressed, I could see the expressions soften, the twinkle strengthen, the cheeks flushed with excitement and the dance stronger and more natural. These were not old dowagers. By the time the band took its first break, the crowd had grown to a respectable number, the dance floor had men and women off all ages and the energy level was high. While the ban and dancers took a breather, everyone was treated to a dance exhibition by the world renown Filipino dancer, Edna Ledesma. She is consider by many to be the best ballroom dancer in the country and is a judge at many dance competitions. Edna has been winning international championships around the world for years, and after the first few minutes of her dance you knew why. It is impossible to put words to the emotions that her performances evoked or even to attempt to describe the grace, energy and precision. You do not have to be a fan of ballroom or salsa dancing to appreciate her performance. When Edna had finished her dance and the band returned to the stage, there was a rush to the dance floor as dancers returned rejuvenated by the break and inspired by Edna. The guests during the evening were mostly locals but there were a number of tourist and other visitors. At one table was a group of ladies having the time of their lives. They were all Filipinos or former Filipinos living overseas from different places. They had all returned to the area for some sort of reunion. One of the ladies told me she been living in Japan for over 20 years and would be going back shortly. She said the evening was the best time she had on her visit back to the Philippines. She also said that when she got back to Japan, she would tell all her friends in Japan about Bakasyon Grande and will bring them with her next year. The catering company “Cherry Blossom” put together a very impressive buffet. The performances and entertainment managed by Bella Dimayuga were excellent. The organizing committee especially the three Marias ( Dra. Tess, Jean and Linda) did a remarkable job. There was just one major error made by the 3 Maria’s. They overlooked how to make people go home. When the band stopped playing at 1 am, almost everyone was still there, and a half hour later less then half of them had left. The almost universal comment through out the evening and especially on leaving was “Why have you not done this before?” and “do not wait a year to do it again” such encouragement has motivated the GSBTB to start planning on holding another salsa night in the spring  more photos