Subic with the Talattads

So this rare occasion happened last May (I know, I know) when D's kuya's family went home to the Philippines for their long overdue vacation. You see Kuya is living in the UK now. The last time he went home was on our wedding nearly five years ago. It was only he who went home that time. The couple last went home together on 2011 for Ate Lani's wedding. Their kiddo was a Philippines first timer being only three years old.

Enough of the introduction k? So on one of the weekends of their month-long vacay, we went to Subic. We stayed in iCove resort.

I have mixed reviews for this resort. The facilities are just fine. It's a little bit small but clean. I have no pictures of our room since I wasn't that impressed. Maybe because it has no windows?

This is the gate going to the beach -

The barrier is here. Above that sign is their swimming pool. Nothing fancy.

And this is the beach. This will make my review awful. You see the beach in this part of Subic is not properly maintained being public and all. A residential area is just around this beach and according to some people I know their sewage system goes directly to the beach. My God! No wonder the beach smells terrible. Because of that we chose not to dip in the beach during our first day. We decided to swim there early the next morning. We thought that maybe since it's morning the beach will be cleaner. Boy are we wrong! We were enjoying our swim when D noticed something floating. It was human feces! Yes you read that right! We hurriedly went off the beach after and scrub ourselves to death. I will never swim in that part of Subic ever again. Guys, it is the beach on the stretch of Whiterock, Subic Grand Seas, etc. If you have the chance, maybe choose a beach near the SBMA area. I heard it is cleaner there.

Anyway, the food in the resort is good for its price.

We spent most of our times by the pool since the beach is not an option anymore. Look at our kids enjoying. Here's the very brave Max who can swim by himself -

Alfonso is a little bit scared but can swim if Mommy is there -

And here's us, just floating around - 

After checking out the next day, we went straight to Subic Zoofari. We were transported by this open vehicle -

I wasn't able to take that much picture because of the rain. Let me try to tell the story. There's this bird area.

And the dark snake area -

We went on and off this vehicle.

We just passed around the Deer Area.

 And went down to see the Lions and the Liger (lion + tiger) -

Then the cave -

 And more goofing around -

D, being the egg lover that he is, got excited with this

Somewhere in the stroll -

And you can see native black pigs like this one everywhere -

I teased D because he was finally able to see camels up close even though he lived in the Middle East for two years. Such a loser!

Then there's the Crocodile farm. I was not scared at first because they are just like toys because they are not moving but when they move OMG scared the hell out of me.

Oh there's also a pavillion where the local aetas danced. I wished I catch that on video. But here's the highlight, the tigers! NOTE: This was supposed to be a video but I can't make it work. Hehe

So that's it! We hope to do this reunion yearly or at least every two years. It was nice seeing the Talattad family bonding together. They have been deprived of this for years. Their dad being an OFW and their kuya living abroad. We are looking forward to next time when two more kids will join the squad. Oohh such joy!

Anticipating,

Yosh