subic road trip pt. 2

13 june 2009

the road trip back to manila was just as adventurous as it was the previous day. the only difference is that it didn't rain on our way back.

42 kms. more to... somewhere

so sunny!

as we drove along sctex once more, i could not help but notice that everything is greener than last january was. just compare the following photos i took last january and on june 13.

1 january 2009 (also posted in one of my january entries). look at that hill on the right.


13 june 2009. as you can see, the rice fields have been already harvested. this is also approximately the same spot i took a picture of last january judging from the trees.

same hill taken from another spot. that particular hill is more lush than it was 6 months ago.


so. what happened to our humongous pizza-and-burger dinner the night before?

they became breakfast, of course.

we headed back to manila at around 8am and stopped by the first pit stop after leaving sctex. there we had our pizza nuked in the microwave as the remaining slices could not fit into the store's lone oven toaster (the attendant was nice enough to microwave the pizza for us btw). as for the burger, it still tasted great even when cold.

9 remaining pizza slices for breakfast

one of the two remaining hamburger slices

i guess it's obvious by now that i love to shoot photos while on the road (refer to my roxas/boracay and first subic trips). and why would i not want to take pictures? everywhere i look, there is an interesting sight to be seen. cruisin' down nlex this time, it was all about trees, baby!

the lush trees on each side of the expressway remind me of a particular highway i passed which leads to upstate new york, coming from the jersey side of george washington bridge (turnpike, is it called?). there are also lots of trees on either side, almost exactly like nlex.

here

and here. certainly any passenger (and driver, i dare say) would be relaxed and refreshed just by looking at the sceneries around. great job, whatever company you are that's responsible for the expressway's renovation and maintenance. mntc, that's the company, right? oh yeah. i also hope that in ten years' time the expressway would have finally reached baguio, and in another five years the ilocos and cagayan regions. woot! lol :D

want weird? take a look this one:

what is wrong with this truck? and is this even allowed? with sights such as this, i promise never to sleep again while on the road. lol!

and oh. there was even a huling hirit (last hurrah) as we left nlex. all of us got distracted by this certain billboard with a dazzling model. is it aiko melendez? pia arcangel? ohh, no. when we realized that it was hilda koronel on the billboard modeling for some boutique (or is it for a make-up company? i forget.), we completely missed the off-ramp leading to edsa and had to go straight on to a. bonifacio avenue and into traffic. talaga nga naman si hilda koronel, o! hehe! but really, she's simply stunning in that billboard.

i must say that this trip is rated a million A's. what with the spontaneity of the moment, the series of adventures and misadventures that followed, and the most important of all---the fun, fun company. there wasn't any dull moment at all; us ladies seemed to laugh in every situation we found ourselves in, even when we were already getting tired--especially when we were looking for a place to stay. conversation never lagged, and we got to know just a little bit more about each other's lives. oh-kay i'm getting all sappy here, but hey, it's true. :)

oh, yes. this adventure of ours certainly made our bond stronger.


on to ze next adventure!

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.