After an uneventful flight, we met Armel, a Manila taxi driver, recommended by Maria in Taipei who used to live in Manila, and we headed north up to Angeles where we checked into the Clarkton Hotel which was nice, had a good pool and caberet room complete with Pokies type dancers who unlike Pokies were all real females (Pokies was a 80's drag place in St Kilda, Melbourne). We hired 125cc motorbikes and headed out to the old US airbase of Clark where we finally found the aircraft museum and also checked out the terminal where Bob and Chris will be arriving on May 9. We toured round the base, marvelling at the many abandoned buildings and facilities left by the US airforce when their lease expired in the 90's. On the way back we had some fun and games, we came across a police checkpoint and were pulled over for a licence check! Big mistake, Ken and Rabbit did not have theirs, and their bikes were going to be impounded! Ken actually showed the cop with the M16 his scuba licence...the cop was not impressed. Rabbit talked them into letting me take him back to the hotel to collect his licence so he was OK but Ken was in the shit, in a big way. After they called for reinforcements, a big bad looking motorbike cop came screaming up on his 250 Honda cop bike, siren and lights on, it was madness. He then proceeded to book Ken for no licence, but did not impound his bike, only took the number plate so Ken would have to go to the city hall police station to pay the fine and collect the plate. This was to stop him from skipping the country, anyway the fine was only peso 600, about A$12, good one Ken.
That night we toured the sketchy Fields Avenue, lined with bars, restobars and go go bars. That place was really going off, lots of single white guys, no single or otherwise white girls, thousands of local girls, hmmmm. We had a meal and walked back to the Clarkton, quite a walk but nice enough. We were lucky enough to see a caberet show when we got back, all very innocent with colourful costumes and well rehearsed dance routines. Because we were meeting Jimmy Boyd early next morning we were in bed by 1 am.
Jimmy Boyd, what can I say, he is a dead set legend!! Ex US airforce pilot, vietnam vet and who knows where else, saw action, flew fighter jets and ulimately settled down in Angeles City with his wife after he left the airforce. He now runs an air charter business using a 1949 Navair 4 seater polished aluminium aircraft. It is a beauty. Anyway, Jimmy turned up at our hotel right on the dot of 07:30 to take us to his hanger, in a classic American massive black Cadillac convertable. What a way to go. It was early morning, a perfect tropical morning, warm, sunny and windless, just the best day for a 3 hour flight up to Baguio and the rice terraces, returning along the coast and over Mt Pinitubo which erupted in 1991 causing massive damage and loss. It was awesome (I know, an over used word but it was), in fact the whole flight with Jimmy was awesome. He kept us entertained with interesting stories of his life and around the Philippines. He took us back to the Clarkton where we met Armel for the drive back to Manila, stopping at the US Military cemetary on the way before dropping us at our hotel, the Citadel Inn and another massage for Rabbit.
That last night was a blast, Ken and Rabbit were in fine form and after a big night at Handlebars, a motorcycle themed restobar in Makati we visited another couple of bars before heading to bed as Ken and Rabbit were flying out early the next morning. I missed them leaving to say goodbye, I was in the 7-11 getting some water and they left in a taxi.
So it was a sensational trip, we travelled most days, and it was a bit tiring but we had an absolute ball, will have to go back and dive Coron again though.
