Best Posts in Thread: Hello, new guy here

The biggest problems with Olongapo/Subic is the pollution and traffic. If you visit Subic and then Dumaguete you would think Dumaguete is being ran (including the vehicles) on clean/renewable energy. Just one of the jeepneys in Olongapo (and there are a whole lot of them) will throw out more smoke just turning the d*mn thing on than a Dumaguete trike will here in an entire year. We complain about the driving in Dumaguete quite a bit but you will be lucky to go a day in Olongapo without personally seeing a mangled body on the street from an accident and the traffic there is an absolute nightmare. Dumaguete traffic feels like you're on the autobahn compared to that nonsense.

Murder and drugs also seems to be much more of a problem up there (and it has been 5 years since I lived there, I'm sure it has only gotten worse). These two crimes aren't always connected either. I knew a guy that was murdered for nothing more than firing a worthless employee and I've heard of many more being murdered for much less. When I lived in Olongapo (and visited after moving down here) I always feel that I need to be looking over my shoulder for some little prick wanting to pop a shot in me just for a couple hundred pesos. I have never felt like I needed to look over my shoulder in Dumaguete. You will feel much safer in Dumaguete.....despite what some people say and think about the "drug problem" and crime in Dumaguete. Walk down any street in Olongapo and you can feel the bad intentions of some of the locals. Nasty little pricks just giving you the "look".....the one where you can tell they think you have something they want and you can literally feel their envy.

Story about my last trip to Olongapo: I rode my motorcycle up there from Dumaguete and was staying at a hotel on the main street in Olongapo. There was a very old, and obviously disabled/mentally handicapped, man working as a parking boy (basically just some homeless guy that was hanging around the entrance of the hotel). He never once moved or touched my bike but for the first 3 days I gave him 5 pesos every time I came out of the hotel and got on my bike. The 4th day I just didn't have any change in my pockets (only had P500 bills or larger in my wallet), I tried explaining "no change, I will pay later, wait awhile, sir" to the old man and when I thought he understood that I would pay him later I started to get on my bike. Apparently he didn't actually understand me and as soon as I started to walk to my bike he got very close and in my face and started screaming at the top of his lungs, "PAY ME!!!!! PAY ME!!!!! PAY ME!!!! PAY ME!!!!!". I was really afraid the old (obviously crazy) old man was going to have a complete mental breakdown pull a knife on me and try to stab me over 5 pesos. At this point everyone had stopped what they were doing and had came over to see what was going to happen next (not to actually help, of course). He didn't just scream it the 4 times, it went on constant for what seemed like 30 seconds to a minute while I tried to calm him down and reassure him I was going to pay him when I got back. Didn't help one bit. I then noticed the staff and guard of the hotel were outside just sitting there watching all this happen along with the huge crowd that had gathered and that's when I started to get furious. I finally decided to say "screw the old man" and went back inside the hotel (without turning my back on the crazy old turd) and told the guard to not let him in and to explain to him that I will pay him later (even after he completely went off his rocker and made a scene). Once the guard explained that to him and calmed him down I had a "conversation" with the staff and guard of the hotel inside the hotel and "explained" that if that sh*t happens again and they don't do anything about it I'm going to pack my sh*t up and go stay at a different hotel and not pay my f'n bill to top it off and their manager could take it out of their salaries. Luckily for everyone it didn't happen again and the old man went a block down to go pull his crazy act on someone else.

Just one of many little stories of crazy crap that has happened to me in Olongapo. Most of my bad experiences came from these crazy homeless pricks that are everywhere in Olongapo. Sure, Dumaguete has homeless people but they are nowhere near as rude, persistent, crazy and annoying as those in Olongapo. (One time a homeless kid was begging for money, again, didn't have any change, but I did have an extra burger with me. I gave the kid the Jollibee burger I had and the little sh*t head threw it back at me and demanded cash. Another time I gave a homeless woman outside of, what is now, the SM mall my last peso coin, she looked at it, then threw it on the ground and angrily explained she only accepts P5 or P10 coins and put her hand out again in my face. ) Luzon homeless people are freaking nuts....and everywhere!