Helped Out a Friend

From Aug 20 to 22, 2025, there has been a fine change of scenery for this Earth inhabitant, as I helped out a friend bring his car to the province.

On Aug 20, he picked me up at home and we drove to the car dealer, where he bought a second car. Then we parted ways and I brought the older car home while he brought the newer one to his place.

That's the car dashboard where I put on my personal playlist, heh heh.

The next day, I promptly proceeded to our meetup point early. I left home at 3:30 am and arrived at the designated gas station/rest area at around 4:30 am. I made it a point to be verrry early because it was a long weekend, and long weekends are usually accompanied by hordes of vacationers going to the provinces. I really hate traffic, and I really love night driving, so I decided to head on even before morning.

Listening to some music before dawn and while it is raining outside.

This is the station after sunrise.

RFID stickers and reloading are being accommodated for the expressway.

My friend arrived at around 9:30 am and we promptly left the station to proceed with the convoy towards the province. But first, we went to another gas station down the expressway to eat at an Army Navy Club restaurant. Our brunches were tapsilog (beef strips, fried rice, and egg) and longsilog (pork sausages, fried rice, and egg).

After eating and relaxing a bit, we continued our journey. Out destination was San Fabian, Pangasinan, and while most of the trip was in two expressways with hardly any interesting view, we finally arrived at the town of Binalonan and soon after that, Manaoag.

Below are pictures of the the Manaoag Church entrance and the town.

Managed to snap a picture of Barangay Calaocan arch.

Below are some pictures of San Fabian.

This is the municipal hall.

Below, we hiked a bit and surveyed some land areas, the town, and the beach.

We also went to other sites in the town, but unfortunately no pics were taken.

When night time came, we went to the spa to have some massage, but before that, we had a dinner of pork sinigang, which is meat in sour soup.

Come morning, we had a VERY hearty breakfast.

Fried rice.

Young swordfish fried to a nice crisp.

Local pork sausages.

Chocolate rice porridge which we call champorado.

Fried eggs.

And coffee.

After that, we went back to town to buy some sticky rice snacks called tupig and milkfish, both deboned and marinated as well as fresh. Then we headed back to the country's capital region, using my friend's newly bought car.

This is the toll gate of the north expressway on the way back.

After arriving home, my friend proceeded southwards towards the province where his girlfriend was, where he stayed the weekend. As for me, I promptly met another friend and we had lunch at Popeyes.

We also looked at some books at a fancy bookstore.

Since I treated her to lunch, she treated me to some fancy bread and iced tea.

She also treated me to an early dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

At my next post, I will feature the cats of San Fabian. For now, this is one of my efforts to stay alive and thriving. So happy to be alive!

#aliveandthriving

#bbh