Cool Hangout Place at Sitio Liwliwa, Zambales

Summer is not yet over! I never thought such a place like Sitio Liwliwa exists! The not so overrated place is just waiting to be discovered by surfer and skim-boarder enthusiast. Where I can tell that simple is really beautiful....

To share the experience, the place is just 3-4 hours drive from Ortigas (including our many stop overs! Lol) ... It's my second time to drive this far, and didn't noticed it since I was so excited to see the place! We were 11 and had 2 cars to get there. So for those who wanted to bring their own car, see instructions below:

How to Get There:

From Manila, take the EDSA toward Balintawak then NLEX. Continue on to the last exit. (Since we're not familiar with theMexico Exit we took the longer open route). Than after NLEX, take the exit toward SCTEX.  Keep left at the fork and merge into the SCTEX. Just keep on and head towards the Subic Bay Free Port. From there, continue on and follow the National Highway and take the Olongapo-Bugallon Rd.
From there, continue to the National Highway. You're in the right path if you were able to pass thru San Marcelino and San Narciso. You can see the San Felipe boundary arc.

San Felipe Zambales Arc

Keep your eyes open for the Bobulon Elementary School at your left. The road to Liwliwa is just beside the school. We hardly noticed the entrance to the place. You can always of course ask locals around to get you to the area. 


Accommodation:

We don't have any reservation that time. So we end up finding a place to stay at the same moment we arrived. We found a very cheap yet comfortable and cool place. For 11 persons, we had this whole "kubo" on our own for only Php1,100. Not bad right?

Budget:

Since we're all on a tight budget but wouldn't want to limit our happiness by not spending, unexpectedly we still had that so much fun without spending too much!

Accomodation: Php 1,100 / 11 = Php 100
Transpo (Gas): Php 3,000 / 11  = Php 272
Food              : Php 2,000 / 11  = Php 181
Toll  (NLEX)  : Php 218 x 2 / 11 = Php 39
Toll  (SCTEX): Php 300+ x 2 / 11 = Php 60 (approximately)

TOTAL                                    = Php 652

The most important thing in every trip to always remember is THE FUN!

You can do a lot of things in the place aside from swimming of course :) It has a wide area of open sands. The place is for surfing and skimboarding. There's also a skatebowl available at one of the resorts there offering it for free if you check in with them and Php 50.00 for every skaters who wants to play. You can just bring your own skateboard.

We were there for skimboarding so we didn't rent  boards for surfing. But I noticed that they offer Surfing lessons 1 hour inclusive of board and instructor.

Enjoying the Sunset at Liwliwa Shore

And from the above image, you can notice that the sunset was spectacular! No words can explain how beautiful the sunset is that time and sharing it with your friends and your one true love completed it all (Well sorry for bragging about the love thing hahaha).

So for those who were looking for a cheap yet cool getaway, I would definitely recommend this place!

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Surfing and Skimboarding Philippines

Have you ever tried something beyond your comfort zone? Going out on a vacation without doing any extreme and unusual outdoor activity is a bit boring for me! So I usually pick places where I can try something new. An example is surfing and skim-boarding , the 2 water sports that are gradually becoming popular in the Philippines this past years.

Way back few years ago, I tried both surfing and skimboarding but eventually stucked in just surfing as I cannot appreciate and learn skimboarding -  not sure if either because I had bad teachers (knowing they don't even know how to skim well) or I'm just scared to fall down and get injured. Though I'm not a good swimmer too and so I cannot go-pro in surfing hahaha! Stucked in being a beginner at everything huh?!

Well , you can do both and I can say they are both extremely fun to try! It depends on your mood. If waves are bad or too big for beginners in surfing, then there's always a choice to play on shallow waters without waves - there's skimboarding.



The Equipments:

Skimboard is much cheaper than surfboards. It is also much easier to carry around because their sizes are smaller compared to surfboards. You can choose either a wooden or foamie board. (I tried both and I kinda liked the foamie board more!) . And for surfboards, I'm used to using long boards and fun boards as of now (I'm still struggling in catching waves on my own...) .

In the Philippines, only few stores supplies both these equipments. One of my favorite is the Aloha BoardSports located at random malls and R.O.X in BGC, Taguig. Some other board-sports supplier stores includes Mad Kahuna Surf Shop in Cubao Expo  and J & S Surf Shop in Makati.

R.O.X Philippines (photo from ROX's official facebook page)

The challenge:

Skimboarding and surfing both requires a lot of skills in terms of timing and balance. You have to be sure you can run and ride on a board you're ready to trip off and get fall.

For skimboarding, wait until the last waive come into sucking back to the sea from the shore then throw your board and get into upon running. Lucky if you were able to ride and go until you'll stop and fall off .

For surfing, you have to paddle your way to the place where the wave is not crushing. Turn the board facing the shore and paddle as fast as the wave at its crest and of course stand up fast when you can feel that it's already pushing you.

Both has it's own kind of challenge but definitely the gives you the adrenaline rush and the fun!

The danger: 

Skimboarding is associated with common falls the can lead to serious injuries if bad enough. 

Surfing is dangerous if you're not good in swimming upon getting wiped out by waves. For me, I'm scared to paddle far to get waves. Fearing I might drown any moment because of panic.

Here are my top nearby places in the Manila to try these sports:

1. Sabang Beach, Baler Aurora

2. Urbiztondo Beach, San Juan La Union

3. Liwliwa, San Felipe Zambales

4. The Park, Real Quezon

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Baler via Bongabon : Scary Route

Here I go again... wandering around wherever my feet and money will take me :) !

But anyway, my main purpose for visiting Baler is for my new BF's cousin's wake. Yeah, it was sad that I am going to visit there not for a getaway, but because a person whom I don't even had a chance to meet who also loves traveling and exploring and enjoying had his life cut short by a genetic disorder...

This is my 3rd time to visit Baler, one of the places in the Philippines I love most!!!
We left Manila at around 2:30AM riding an SUV-Adventure. We took the usual root NLEX - SCTEX - Pan-Phil Highway ! Since almost all of us are very sleepy during the trip, we got a little lost with the usual route from Cabanatuan to Baler. We weren't able to take the Pantabangan Route and took the Bongabon route instead.

What a surprise! The nueva-ecija road via Bongabon is not as we were all expecting (a shortcut they say). Upon entering the route, we decided that there's no turning back! We already took a long road only to get stuck in a mountain drive range and rough roads that looks impassable.  It was a very scary route like that in the movies Wrong Turn and other creepy gruesome movies where people suddenly get lost and someone appears in front of them, torture and kills them (this is just to exaggerate the eery feeling I had that time).

On top of it, it was also a bit rainy that time. Glad we're riding on an SUV . Along the way, we saw one Kia Pride struggling on the road (I hope they survived the road and got out safely).  This is the longest 3 hours of my life on the road! I can feel that almost everyone of us were thinking of the worst possibilities that might happen. At first, I took some photos to kill my boredom and lessen my fear but as we go along, I'm no longer in the mood of taking pics.

Slippery Mountain Side Road

Bongabon Route

This is the first time that I appreciate looking into kilometer markers to make sure we're having progress on the road. Hahaha, thinking that we might have been played by "engkantos" and got totally lost in circles!

River Cross at Nueva Ecija-Aurora Road

After the long winding road, it was a relief when we finally reached San Luis, Aurora... we can already see a little civilization. Thank God!

I advise that the local government of Nueva Ecija should warn people passing in this route as it looks not so safe and especially when it's raining. I advise that small cars shouldn't try or anyone trying to get to Baler normally shouldn't take this route!

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The Joy of Creating Travel Itinerary

The joy of creating my own travel itinerary started when I first joined a barkada trip to Caramoan last 2008 when my co-worker planned and took care of everything . I enjoyed the trip so much that I decided to try it on my own.

Are you fond of traveling around Philippines or in Asia, and you're on a tight budget but wanted to maximize your time on a place ? Why not create your own travel itinerary? I know, some people might think it would be a big hassle to research and plot schedules on your own, and some people think it would be more fun to have a spontaneous travel without any plan at all. First of all,it's practical for people traveling with a tight budget not to pre-plan their trip. More likely they would end up wasting most of their time and money. The second thing, if you have a travel agency arranged the itinerary for you, as per my experience, you can't really maximize your time on the places you want to be-- this is referring to a joint travel group. Lastly, you would be very proud of yourself once you it became a successful trip!

Well, it's not that hard planning your itinerary. You just have to allot a little of your time and effort for research. It has a advantages, and it can be a source of fun learning too, so I would suggest start it now.

So where would you start? Just turn on your computer with an internet connection, get your pen and papers. And voila! You're good to go!

It would be a great advantage to have your own credit card for booking to avoid the hassle of depositing on banks.

1. First , plan the date of your trip. Usually, for a domestic trip at-least allot 3-4 days.
2. If you're not in a hurry, wait for promo fares that would fall on your planned date trip. Usually 3-5 months before the date.
3. When done booking your flight/bus ride, start researching on the place to visit on your picked location. Google search and map is a very useful tool. You have to know their locations and the details like is there an entrance fee to get there? Is the place always open to public? and other related information.
4. After-which, if you now know the locations, group the places that are close to each other.
5. When done grouping the places, you can now look for a cheap hotel that is near your listed destinations. You can book directly at their website or through trusted booking site-   www.agoda.com, www.asiarooms.com . When researching for a place to stay, it's also a must to read on the reviews of other travelers who stayed at that hotel.
    You can visit www.tripadvisor.com if you're looking for a reliable review site.

   Things to consider in booking a hotel:

   a. worth the price to pay
   b. nearby your destinations
   c. nearby restaurants, convenient stores and shopping areas
   d. ameniteis and facilites included according to your own personal needs
   e. a lot of good reviews on the internet
   f.  a free airport hotel transfer would be a good addition

6. Once you're settled on the hotel, research on how to get to your destination from your booked hotel. Either thru a public transport like train, jeepneys (philippines), cab, ferry boat and other means of transpo. You may find that some destinations are not reachable through public transportation. Another option is to directly contact the hotel that you'll be stayin' to help you with private van or car rental. Pretty much all of them provides that service.

7. When you found all the information mentioned, you can now plot your travel itinerary from the time, to places, where to ride through the expenses you need.

Here's an example Itinerary guide I made for my solo trip in Hongkong. You can create one and will serve as your template for every trip you wish to arrange on your own. :)

Notes for traveling on your own without the help of a travel coordinator:

1. Always bring extra money. It makes you more comfortable even if you get lost or something unexpected happen. Good to have something to pull out on your pocket.
2. Get the hotel's front desk number. They know more about the place and they will surely good to assist you.
3. Avoid talking to strangers if not necessary. Follow your instinct on people whether they  look someone you can trust or not.
4. Always take care of your important belongings. For international, you may opt to bring your passport with you or leave it on your hotel (inside the safety box) but be sure to have a photocopy with you when you go out.
5. Of course, don't forget to smile and enjoy the rest of your trip! If you're worried you're trip might end up a mis-adventure, you can first try arranging your own trip with a partner or involve them in planning. And if you have a plan A, be sure to have plan B-Z in case there's something wrong with your initial plan. :)

~Life is too short to stay at home! Go out and explore the world! ~

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Mt. Pulag, Birthday Climb

Tried climbing few mountains already, but this is the first time I dare myself to try a major climb! And I picked graciously with friends Mt. Pulag, the highest summit of Luzon :) and it's my birthday! I have  booked a flight to Ilocos but decided to celebrate it in a more adventurous way instead!

Huh! I don't know if it's the perfect time of the year to climb the grassy land of the said mountain , but definitely it was a perfect sunny day!

But beware! Sunny doesn't mean it's hot! Anyone who dares to climb the mountain should keep in mind that unpredictable events in weather might happen. It maybe sunny at first, but there's a large possibility that it would rain too. 

So what to prepare? Here's the list of what I brought, wore and did during the whole trip :)

To bring:

• A 35L Extreme Sandugo Backpack  (ideal for ladies)
• 2 Liters water (at least but if you can carry more, good for you :) )
• Trail Foods (jelly ace, cookies, energy bar , chocolates)
• Raincoat (should be light weight)
• Head Lamps 
• Waterproof bag for my gadgets
• Extra clothes 

To wear:

• Rubber shoes with a good grip (since I don't have a budget for a good trekking shoes yet)
• Light stretchable pants (but preferably a good trekking pants is better , mine was not the preferred type as the leaves of dwarf bamboos sticks in my pants whenever I sit down)
• Light comfortable shirt
• Windbreaker jacket
• Arm warmer 
• Cap and a bonnet
• gloves (both to protect you from plants and the cold temperature)
• Sunglasses (protection from the sun)

During the trek, what amazed me is the cold temperature both in the mossy forest and the grassy land. I was able to enjoy the view even if I'm walking for more than 6 hours already. 

Mt. Pulag, Ambangeg Trail

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