Subic Bay Living

I’m very happy to see two new, modern shopping malls opening in Olongapo City. First, the new SM City Shopping Mall on Magsaysay Drive, just outside the walking entrance to SBMA/SBFZ is now open. It’s a five story building with some great stores, including an Ace Hardware (my man-lust for tools is going crazy), a [...]

Subic Bay is located in Zambales Province on the Island of Luzon in the Northern Philippine Islands. Zambales is a beautiful province with a long history of acceptance and accommodation of foreigners and tourists. Zambales Province has miles and miles of beautiful beaches, majestic mountains and hills, plains that seem to go on forever, and [...]

I’m taking a short trip to Thailand in a few weeks, and need to get an exit clearance stamp from the local Philippine Bureau of Immigration office. If you’ve extended your visa (beyond the initial 21 days on arrival freebie) you need an exit clearance before you leave, or you’ll get hassled at the airport, [...]

One of the things I dread when traveling is finding myself in a run down, poorly managed hotel. I research every little detail of my trips beforehand, and it’s a drag when the hotel doesn’t match the description on the travel site. Many times you’ll find that a hotel has odd rules; no outside food [...]

There are many options for people wanting to stay in Subic, either as a resident or visitor. The decision can be broken down into the following points: Do you want to live within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ), or out in town? Are you single, or do you have a family? Do you want [...]

Wow – this storm dropped a LOT of water on the Subic Bay area. Just this afternoon, Santa Monica, a housing subdivision just past Barrio Barretto on the National Highway was evacuated with over 4 feet of water in some areas. Officials were also concerned about the Matain Bridge, just before Santa Monica. The river [...]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/14/philippines.travel.warning/index.html The US State Department has updated a travel warning due to possible terrorist-related activity. From the official warning: “The warning, which is an update from November, specifies the island of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago as particularly dangerous and at great risk of harboring terrorist activity. Manila might also be included, the statement said.” [...]

I went back and looked at some photos I took of Baloy in the past, and then compared them to the pictures I took yesterday and today. The differences are remarkable. In these photos, look for the differences in the waterline and the huge reduction in the amount of usable beach that remains. The sand [...]