Tourist Bob's
AC Daytime Entertainment Guide

1. GOLF
There are more golf courses here than there are golfers. On base, located at the two resorts, Fontana and Mimosa, are two very well-kept resort style courses. Your hotel can arrange transportation and greens fees, or if not, talk to Bee or one of the local travel agents. 

2. FLYING
Angeles City has its own flying club. http://www.angelescityflyingclub.com You can do a one-day, 25 minute introductory flight for P1200 and find yourself at the controls of an ultra light. Or for a little over US $1000 and 10 days time, you can become an ultra light pilot, complete with sport pilot license. As your honeyko would say "up to you"!

3. SKYDIVING
Mort at Margarita will be happy to teach you how to skydive, assuming he's not on vacation in the provinces. With thousands of jumps under his belt-some during combat-he's one of the most experienced skydiving master instructors in Asia. You can do a tandem jump from 10,000 feet or a solo jump from 3-4,000 feet. I'd recommend the tandem because you get 7000 feet of free fall. Of course, you have to overcome your homophobic tendencies and allow another guy to be strapped to your ass, but don't worry, no one will see. Cost is a few thousand pesos. I'm not sure of the exact pricing, but it's inexpensive relative to the States and worth every centavo.

4. MOTOR BIKING
You can rent a 200cc Honda XLR off-road bike for around P500/day. I'd highly recommend "Brown Sugar", run by a German guy named Franz. He maintains his bikes well and has a nice fleet of XLR's. You can find them parked at the Swagman Travel on Fields and a few other locations up and down the street. Expect to leave a passport or credit card with him (the bikes cost around US $2000 so he needs to know you're coming back) and advance payment. In return, you'll get a well-maintained bike, helmets (ask for two if you're riding with honeyko), and an overview of riding the bike. If you want to travel somewhere, Franz can give you valuable advice as well.

Personally, I would AVOID renting the bigger, 600cc bikes you see on the street unless you are experienced with big bikes. 600cc's is generally too much for cruising around town and the motorcycles weigh in at well over 300 lbs and are therefore hard to handle and impossible for one person to lift and right not to mention more costly to rent. 

Once you have your bike, you can explore the base or head out to Porac for day trips. Alternatively, you can plan a trip out to Subic/Bario Baretto or even Baguio for more extended rides.

5. MOUNTAIN BIKING
A number of outfits offer mountain biking tours. Talk to any of the travel agents. However, my advice would be to just rent a mountain bike (Premiere Garden Hotel, a few hundred pesos/day) and head out towards Friendship Highway. There are numerous paths off of the highway that you can take and explore small villages and the riverbed at your leisure.

6. HIKE UP PINATUBO
This one I HAVEN'T done, but I see advertised by the local travel agents and at Roy's Pub. From what I hear, it's worth it. At the top of our infamous local volcano is a crater lake and some amazing views. From what I gather, there are two types of tours. The hike and hike. And the drive and hike. The former is a lot of work and takes a lot of time, while the latter requires a 4x4 with lots of bouncing and then hiking.

7. POOL PARTY
Now, don't tell me you've been to Angeles and never thrown a pool party. Because that would mean that you like seeing unclothed girls frolicking but you're too lazy or cheap or stupid (no offense intended to lazy, cheap, or stupid readers) to realize that the best way to get young, semi-clothed, frolicking girls is to throw a pool party. The recipe is easy. Find a bar where you like several girls. Approach a girl. Tell her you're throwing a pool party tomorrow at *O'clock and they'll get free food and drinks and (optional) money. Buy her a drink. Better yet, barfine her and tell her to organize it. Voila! Pool party. If you like the idea but are too lazy to do even this, just hand a mamasan or papasan a wad of pesos and they'll do it for you. Invite your buddies to come along or be selfish and keep the girls to yourself.

8. PERIMETER ROAD BAR HOPPING
The "local" watering holes are actually removed in distance from the main strip of Fields. But they are easy to find. Just head up Fields towards the Oasis and you'll find small bars with names like "Garfield's", "Pecos Pete's", "The Other Bar", "Jolly Frog", "Honeyko's", etc. These bars tend to open early-around 2 pm or earlier-and have cheap drinks and a laid back atmosphere. Some, like Jolly Frog and Honeyko's, tend to at times be a little rowdier than the Fields joints. It's worth a bar hop on a lazy afternoon. Start at Garfield's and walk your way up.

9. MOVIE AT RICK'S
Rick's Cafe (located near Kokomo's and the Broadway Complex) has a non-stop, 24-hour lineup of movies. Some of the flicks are first-run ones currently showing in US theaters. The waitresses are friendly and a bucket of buttered popcorn complements any movie. The menu is a bit lacking and plain, however this is a great place to while away a day and you won't be disappointed by the quality of the video (5 large TV's) or the sound system.

10. SHOPPING
"Made In the Philippines" used to mean inexpensive, handmade items. Now it sort of means... well... nothing. However, there are some interesting places to shop if you are so inclined. 

A) MALLS. SAVER'S MALL is on MacArthur within spitting distance of Field's. It has a three story department store and numerous little stands where you can buy inexpensive t-shirts, cell phone accessories, and VCD's (video CD's, basically an MPEG-based movie CD that you can view on a VCD player or on your computer using software like WinDVD). VCD's cost about P90 each, come on two CD disks, and are NOT compatible with US sold DVD players. The encoding rate and therefore the quality of VCD's are lower than DVD's, and the defect rate is about 25%. However, the price is cheap enough to offset these deficits. SM MEGAMALL, in San Fernando (take a taxi). About a 20-30 minute ride from Field's on the Expressway lies the brand new SM Megamall. Go here to shop for name brand items. It has an Ace Hardware Store (same chain as the States) and numerous brand name outlets. You won't find any bargains, but you will find civilization complemented by a nice food court. 

B) NEPO MARTS. I never got around to asking what the English equivalent to "nepo" * is. However, there are several "Nepo" marts here locally. Basically, you can get cheap, knock-off clothes and cheap tools and cheap VCD's at these places. There are two within trike distance of Fields. One is in Dau at the "Marine Plaza". This market spans two blocks and ranges from military items from the defunct Clark Air force Base to plumbing, medical, and restaurant equipment. It's worth a few hours of perusing. The second is in Angeles City proper. It focuses heavily on clothing, cell phone accessories, and VCD's. 

* There is no English equivalent to the word "nepo" as in Nepo Mart. It comes from the name of the family that first opened the complex of buildings with the large number of stalls in Angeles City near Holy Angel Church. This complex was the primary selling point for U.S. items black-marketed from Clark BXs' and commissary. The name of the family is Nepomuceno thus Nepo. They were one of the richer families in Angeles and the patriarch was the mayor of AC during the late '70s or early '80s. The similar complex in Dau was just called the Dau market and grew tremendously during the last few years of the bases, but was never called anything but the Dau market in those days. - Cuya

Editor's Note: Francisco Nepomuceno was governor of Pampanga from 1960 to 1971. Juanita Nepomuceno was governor of Pampanga from 1976 to 1980. 

By: Tourist Bob
February 18, 2001