Baler – known for its waves and as one of the 3 top surfing sites in Luzon (coming from a non-surfer) – was our destination for last weekend’s quick road trip. Hannah came to visit us from Cebu and it has been a while since she’s visited Manila. She wanted to go on a road trip, and it was the perfect time to kick-off summer, especially in this heat – I just had to be on the beach! We were initially planning to go to La Union, but the resorts were all fully booked (this was kind of planned very last minute). So, we ended up in Baler. Good bye West Philippine Sea, hello Pacific Ocean!

A long drive

We left Manila at around 5 am already, after picking up Hannah from the airport, with barely 2-3 hours of sleep. Good thing I was not an assigned driver for today because we used Mhealler’s car instead of mine. I used to love long drives, but I realized I now prefer being a passenger and just chilling at the back seat. It was also Mhealler’s first time to drive outside the city, which was a perfect opportunity for him to practice (and an excuse for me not to drive).

Up until we stopped over for breakfast at one of the gas stations in NLEX, the drive was uneventful and was pretty chill. When we left the parking though, we had an unfortunate encounter with the parking ledge and let’s just say the car experienced a minor injury which had everyone worried. Fortunately, that was the only mishap for the entire trip. We passed by several accidents along the expressway (nothing new for NLEX and its over speeding drivers), so when you go on road trips, please prioritize safety over getting to your destinations as fast as you can!

24/7

So, we were looking for a place to eat lunch and wanted to try out a local restaurant along the road. We spotted a sign for a restaurant called 24/7 which offered unlimited lechon, bulalo, goto, clean toilets – and we were excited! When we got there, there was no unlimited lechon available yet so we ended up ordering just the bulalo and some pancit/vegetables on the side. Food was OK, but the biggest issue we had with the place was the swarm of flies! Like, seriously – we couldn’t eat properly because flies were attacking our food and it all just felt so disgusting and stressful.

So yes, we didn’t get the unlimited lechon – we got unlimited flies instead.

Picturesque drive

Aside from that horrible experience, the rest of the drive was pleasant to the eyes. This was landscape that I didn’t know Luzon offered. Seeing the Sierra Madre mountain ranges from afar reminded me of New Zealand. The green rice fields along with the blue skies and white clouds make for picture-perfect backdrops.

After a total of 9 hours travel time (including stops), we finally arrived in Baler! Thanks to Hannah and Mhealler for driving us safely! Road trips are a lot of fun especially if you’re with friends you can make jokes and laugh with. You also need good music to listen and sing to in order to fight the sleepiness away. I used to hate long drives, but because of this Baler road trip, I realized it’s actually fun – especially if you’re going to new places because you really discover new things, new sights along the way that make you realize the world is so big and there’s so many more things to explore!

The Cube, Baler

For this weekend, we stayed at The Cube, Baler, which I found at Agoda. What convinced me to book this place was the big pool in the photos, and how unique the rooms looked. I initially booked a room for three (before my brother decided to join the trip), so when we got there, we had to switch to a room that could accommodate four people and I just paid for the price difference. Buffet breakfast for four included, we spent around PHP7,000 for our accommodation.

I prefer swimming in the pool over the sea (because allergies) so the pool really was a big factor in my decision to book this place.

Aliya Surf Resort

After checking in at the Cube and resting up for a bit, it was time to see the beach! The Cube is not exactly beach front so we headed to the nearby Aliya Surf Resort to spend the rest of the afternoon with a couple of drinks, some food, and a view of the sea!

Even if you’re not checked in at Aliya Surf Resort, you can stay at their restaurant which is right in front of the beach. Sitting here that afternoon, it really made me feel all sorts of feeling – summer is here and life is good!

I’ve already decided to take a break from Keto this weekend so I indulged myself to all the good-tasting carbs I could get. We had too much fun eating, drinking and talking that we didn’t get to go to the beach as of this time. We were satisfied with just looking at it until it got dark and everything turned into an amazing bluish hue.

My brother, however, went down to the beach and took some photos so I’m posting them here!

At around 7PM, it was time to look for a place to eat dinner – something unique to Baler that will be memorable since we’re only here for a night.

Kusina Luntian

After walking around searching for restaurants to eat in (with Google’s help), we finally decided on Kusina Luntian. This restaurant is unique in the sense that everything is self-service, they don’t provide utensils or straws so you have to eat with your hands, and food is served on banana leaves and not on actual plates. The experience itself is already unique. The food was also quite good, although to be honest, we were still a bit full from the snacks and drinks at Aliya Surf.

Baler is famous for this weed-like leaf/fern called Paco, which they serve as a salad or a side dish. This went well with the salty dried squid as it was a bit sweet. I also ordered a coconut to go with the meal. Then the lights went off from a power outage, so they gave us candles so we could see what we were eating. I guess that takes the whole eating like the way old Filipinos do to the next level. This brought me back to summers of my childhood where we’d stay at my grandmother’s house, no electricity because it’s on top of the mountains, and we’d eat just like this – with our hands, and a candle!

And then, sleep.

So, because we were all too full – we wanted to return to the resort to empty our stomachs (you know what I mean). I wanted to head out and continue drinking until we got drunk, but that didn’t happen. When we got to our room, and after taking turns at the toilet, we all fell asleep one by one.

It has been a long day after all – from waking up at 3AM (and even longer for Hannah who came all the way from Cebu), to driving for 9 hours – we were tired. No regrets, though. We had no specific itinerary, and we really just wanted to chill without any major expectations. I’m glad that we got to sleep early because the next day was packed, including another 9-hour travel time back to Manila.

Ending this post here for now, I will continue Day 2 in the next one!