REPORT ONE: Been to Subic, Olongapo and the Barrio. A couple of times. The first time, we flew from Manila into Subic International Airport. The saddest International airport I've ever seen, we may have been the only flight that day. Arrived late at night, stayed at the Suzuki, a nice little hotel in Barrio Barreto. Right on the water and fairly civilized. Even had hot water. Went out to a couple of places, but the selection looked marginal at best. Took the Swagman into Angeles and had much more fun there. The second time, the real fun was getting there. We rode a motorcycle from Angeles out the back way. By the side gate, through the lahar fields, through a couple of fairly deep stream crossings and endless rice paddies and small villages. As we had no map, the only way we could navigate was by keeping the mountain peak at our two o'clock. This is the peak you go over just before you enter Olongapo. Turned out to be a pretty good adventure, especially as we didn't really know where we were and ended up getting there just after dark. Running low on gas in a foreign country, no map, no firm idea of our location, then just stumbling into Olongapo. Went to some places in the Barrio. Mangos for dinner and the Rambler for drinks. Again, not much to report, AC knocks the socks off it nowadays although some of my friends in the Navy tell me the area used to be crazy wild. Sort of a mix of Santos Street and Sister Theresa's home for (soon to be) unwed mothers.

REPORT TWO: I've been in Barrio Barretto and Subic City a couple times -- but that's been a few years ago. The scene there was pretty laid back, but after a few days you've seen about all there is to see. In Subic I spent most of my time in the Foxhole and the Tahiti Club. Although the Tahiti Club had tons of dancers I definitely had a lot more fun in the Foxhole. There was one girl in there who would run around completely bottomless while acting like a deranged Jap schoolgirl. I laughed so hard I almost pissed my pants! Back in Barrio Barretto I hung out at Mango's mostly -- but again, there's not a whole lot of bars in the area and pretty soon it just seems like time to move on.

REPORT THREE: I highly recommend Blue Rock Resort on Baloy Beach (north end of Barrio Barretto) as a place to stay. This is the place formerly known as Sheaven's.

There is another place called Sheaven's I on the left just before you get to Blue Rock, so don't get confused. The two places used to be affiliated, but that's no longer the case. Sheaven's I is a decent place, with nice rooms (P1,000). But it has no beach, except for a narrow strip of sand that exists only during low tide. Also, all the rooms seem to face the beach (good), but between the rooms and the beach you have a sprawling indoor/outdoor restaurant with its attendant noise well into the evening (bad). Food is quite good there, however.

Blue Rock has a great beach, and nice rooms as well. Rooms Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta are beach front and go for P1,000. Only downside is that they are "cold water" rooms--no hot water in the showers. Rooms Echo, TS-3 and TS-4 are nicer & larger rooms that include hot water showers. The rate for these is P1,500. Rooms TS-1 & TS-2 are nice rooms with hot water, but they are on the 2nd story up a spiral staircase. They face the beach, but all you get is a nice view--not the convenience of sprinting/crawling out your door and into Subic Bay. These two rooms go for P1,500 each. There are also a gaggle of other rooms available, but the above are the only ones facing the beach. Not sure about the rates for these other rooms, as none of our group has been interested in anything but beach front. Beach front rooms Alpha thru Delta have plastic tables & chairs out front on the "private" side of the sea wall so you can relax in the shade of the trees that line this area. Rooms TS-3 & TS-4 are located on a terrace that is enclosed by wrought-iron grillwork, affording these two rooms a very nice private area for relaxation and socializing. 

None of the Blue Rock rooms has a ref--a deficiency that needs correcting, in my view. We bring ice chests when we go there. This works, but gets to be a real pain in the ass after a few days (continuously hunting down ice, having to dig through the thing to get what you want, etc.). On the other hand, nice cold beer is available at the hotel restaurant/bar 24/7. A bottle of SMB will set you back all of P25. So for the casual weekend visitor, probably the lack of a ref is not all that big a deal. We just like to go down there for several days & do our own cooking. The resort has a BBQ grill available, and the Olongapo public market has great seafood & other goodies in good supply. Not that the Blue Rock restaurant is a bad place to eat--the standard breakfast fare, burgers, etc. are probably on a par with what you'll get at Rick's Cafe or Jerry's Cafe, and there is a decent Thai menu as well. We cook because we enjoy the hell out of it--it's just a great social thing to do.

Management and staff at Blue Rock: Simply outstanding. Managers Leon and Mickey have always treated us right and are quick to respond to whatever concerns you may have. The staff are super friendly and accommodating--all of them: restaurant staff, reception office, maintenance, and housekeeping.

Other restaurants we've tried include:

A Mexican place on the beach side of the road near the center of BB--can't remember the name, but it was quite good. (Far as I recall, it's the only Mexican place on the main road thru BB.)

Mango's--well, we never actually got to try this place. When we walked in, the first thing that greeted us was a cat sitting on one of the tables. We reversed course.

Subic Garden--never made it to the food here, either. Ordered some gin-tonics and some shakes to sip on whilst we perused the menu. Gin-tonics were glasses of flat tonic with no apparent gin, and the shakes were watery & odd-tasting. We abandoned ship before ordering any food.

VFW--basic, tasty & well-prepared grub. Recommended. 

Re the bars: There are two main bar areas, neither of which measures up to what's available in AC, at least for those of us who are "accompanied." All of the group I hang with are "accompanied," so that tends to limit our activities when "deployed" to Subic. That said, here're some of my observations on the Subic bar scene:

The big difference between Barrio Barretto and Subic City used to be that BB was GRO bars only and SC had go-go bars. But as of the end of Jan 01, (so I am informed) Mayor Kate Gordon has rescinded the ban on dancing in the BB bars. It's too soon to tell the extent to which this will "energize" the BB bar scene. Up until now, it's kind of been like the expat bars on Perimeter Rd. in Angeles--good places to drink, meet GROs & mingle with local expats. The only two bars I've frequented in BB are the Lion's Den and Rock Lobster. Lion's Den is a mirror of the quintessential Perimeter Rd expat bar. Apart from the physical layout, you'd think you were in Garfield's or Top End. The place is owned and managed by Emma, formerly the cashier at Silver Fox (when Neville & Lota ran the place) and more recently the cashier at Dusk 'til Dawn. Her sister Myla, recently a waitress at Dusk 'til Dawn, works there also. Rock Lobster (the bar portion of Mango's) is a little more active--something like La Bamba without the dancers. The GROs are not shy to chat you up, but there's no pressure for ladies drinks. There's a small, low stage, but no dancers on it (that may have changed, depending on how fast they've reacted to the Mayor's new order). 

The other good thing about the BB bars is that they are near where you'll be staying. The SC bars are about 7 km north of Baloy Beach. It's about a P50 10-min trike ride along an often very dark road. Haven't heard of any probs with this from others, but it just looks like something I'd rather not do. Smitty and I have driven up there twice in our own cars, thus avoiding the "dark road in a trike" bogey man, but even then all is not roses. When you pull up in front of one of the bars there, you're immediately surrounded by 4 or 5 Filipino thugs who announce that one of them will "guard your car." This sort of extortion totally turns me off, and effectively keeps me from patronizing any of the Subic City bars. But before I stopped going there because of such thuggery, I did note that Muff Divers seemed to be the "hot bar" on the strip.

Feel free to email me with comments or questions any of you may have, and I'll try to respond as best I can. I'm a total newbie to the current Subic scene--first post-Pinatubo trip there was in Dec 00--but I've been there 2 or 3 times since then & am beginning to feel more comfortable sharing my experiences with others. If you plan on driving there (rental car, private driver, etc.), email me for current routing info. We made the trip back in 1.5 hrs Monday (5 Feb) by taking the Florida Blanca-Poroc route. Going on National Highway via Gua Gua was taking anywhere from 2-3.5 hrs, depending on the level of traffic insanity. Jungle Jim

REPORT FOUR:  I went back to Subic for the first time last December 2002. They have a special monument to the Phil Senators who voted the base out at the base of the new flag pole. I felt like spitting on it but thought better, I didn't want to spend the night in a Fil Navy Brig! I also went to the old Officer's Beach and All Hands Beach. They have all gone to hell. All junky, the heads are all broke, etc. They charge 100 pesos a person to enter and use the beaches. It's not worth the 100 pesos!  Not at all like it used to be. Years ago, I had lots of good times in the beach houses and at the beach on Grand Island. Alan

REPORT FIVE: Blue Rock Resort, Baloy Beach, Barretto, nice place for a few days, rooms are average, food is very good. Next time I will stay at the Arizona Hotel, Barrio Barretto. I went to check it out while I was there. It looks to be the place to stay. Kiwi Steve

Subic links: 

http://www.arizonasubic.com

http://www.bluerocksubic.com

http://www.subicbaypi.com

http://www.mangossubic.com