sctex sights

The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) is a 94-kilometer four-lane expressway north of Manila, in the Philippines. Its southern terminus is at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales, it passes through the interchange with the North Luzon Expressway near the Clark Special Economic Zone in Angeles City, and its northern terminus is at the Central Techno Park in Tarlac City, Tarlac.

Construction on the expressway began in April 2005, and opened to the public three years after. To date, it is the Philippines' longest toll expressway. (from wikipedia.org)

driving along sctex is such a breeze. no tricycles, speeding buses or lumbering trucks impede the progress of other vehicles, and definitely no bayans (something like city centers) to pass where traffic is denser. travel time to subic from manila is cut by about 30 minutes, depending on the speed of the car. as for the other exit ramps to the towns where sctex passes through, most are still under construction from the time we passed there.

for someone born and bred in the city like yours truly, sights such as in the pics below is a refreshing change of scenery. green fields and hills abound left and right; it seems like there's no end to them.

here are some shots that i took from the van.

rice fields. it's almost harvest time!

these particular hills can also be seen along olongapo-gapan road.

take a closer look

so many hills there are, that those who worked to construct this highway had to cut across some hills. reminds me of the freeways in california, only these are much greener.

more lush greenery

seemingly endless stretch of asphalt lined with green.

subic sights from the sights of ms. lamon

i am more in love with the beach than the mountains (or hills, whatever's applicable). in subic, one can experience both worlds, may it be doing the jungle survival tour or scuba diving or what-have-you. when i was in subic, tho, i did neither. but i enjoyed the sights there a lot, more specifically the roads (again!) plus some. i dunno but there's something about mountain-y/hilly roads such as these that i find appealing. must be the fields of green surrounding the gray asphalt. no, seriously, i love nature. =)

all of the photos are taken from the car at different points in time.

taken along tipo road after entering sbma. this view somehow reminds me of that toyota commercial way back in 1996. the song there was i love you always forever by donna lewis.

the hills are aliiiiive with the sound of music...

guess who owns this villa? ;-) you can find this plush avian housing by the sbma entrance along tipo road.

argonaut highway. we were on our way to ocean adventure here, which is a good 20-minute drive from the main hub of sbma.

green...


and more green. as you can see, it is denser in this part of the highway. seems like there's no end in sight but we did get to ocean adventure.



another sight that you'll see while driving along the highways inside sbma are the wild monkeys such as these. too bad for me most of them started moving away before i even got to turn on the camera. well, better late than none at all. =)

people are advised not to feed the wild monkeys as the monkeys might become dependent on humans. but of course, some people still don't heed that and give the monkeys scraps of food.

one lost monkey