Tag Archives: baler

Feb1

Philippines, Day 5

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Philippines, Day 5

January 21, 2012

Day 2 in Baler!

Sandy and PE were finally able to join us. We had breakfast at Bay’s Inn again, but this time we tried different dishes than the ones we tried the day before. Mitch and I split the french toast and pancakes between us. We were very happy with the french toasts, because they were delicious!

After breakfast, we went to Charlie Does (the surf shop) and waited. There were a lot of people so we had to wait an hour before our turn. Sandy went ahead, and since Metch can surf on her own, she also went ahead. We just sat on the sidelines taking pictures of them. When it was our turn to surf, Sandy also took pictures of us. I was able to stand up again, and I was able to ride the waves like 5-6 times! Yayyyy! Stoked!

We bought pizza and pasta and brought it with us to Dicasalarin, this private resort that only guests of Bahia de Baler are allowed to go to. There were picnic tables around the area so we decided to have a mini-picnic there. Then, we went to the beach side and relaxed – took pictures, talked, and just walked around. We were among the first few people there, so we had the island all to ourselves for a while. It was amazing!

Since we were tired after all that, we went back to our rooms and took naps. We had dinner at Aliya, which had terrible service. Tsk, tsk! After that, we went back to Bayler to hang out. We ordered the fairly new San Miguel Apple alcoholic malt beverage and the chocnut turon. Chilled. Then, we went back to our rooms. Sandy came over and we talked about random stuff for a couple of hours. Then, we went to bed. Tiff and I woke up a couple of hours later to go to the Baler bus station. We boarded the 4:30AM bus back to Manila. Bye bye Baler! I had such a great time!

Feb1

Philippines, Day 4

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Philippines, Day 4

January 20, 2012

Mom and Dad drove Tiff and I to the Genesis bus station. It was a good thing we left the house early because Mitch told us that the bus would leave at 1:30AM but turns out, it was leaving at 12:30AM!!! We were all stressing and panicking in the car. LOL. We got there at around 12AM, thank goodness. I think we were the last ones to arrive because the bus left at 12:13AM! The trip to Baler takes 5 hours and the Joy Bus costs only 650PHP one way. When we got to Bahia de Baler, we immediately went to our room and slept. Our day started 4 hours later.

We had breakfast at Bay’s Inn. Then, we went around town in hopes of buying Tegaderm (this plastic plaster thing that Tiff needed to cover her wound with so that she would be able to surf), but we weren’t able to find any, so Tiff wasn’t able to surf. Mitch and I hired an instructor to teach us how to surf. The waves were wild! I kept falling down but eventually, I was able to stand up! Wee. I really thought that I wouldn’t be able to stand, and that I would just keep on falling. After that, I had a couple more semi-stands and then the hour was up.

We ate at this rolling store (carinderia) for lunch. Since the museum was nearby, we decided to go there. I found out more about the Ilongots. Here is an excerpt from one of the panels:

The Ilongot traditionally inhabit where the Sierra Madre mountain range and Caraballo mountains meet. They are generally classified into three groups: the Italon, found in the headwaters of the Cagayan river; the Engongot at the northwest of the coast of Baler, and the Abaka in southwestern Nueva Vizcaya. The total national population of the Ilongot is 50, 017 (NSO 1990).

Information about the Siege of Baler can also be found there, so we read up more about it. After a while, Let called Metch up to tell her that someone was looking for us. Apparently, Dr. Nieva’s brother went to Bahia de Baler to look for us because he wanted to take us around. Yay!

We went to Ermita Hill, the fish port, their farm (where we rode on a cart being pulled by a carabao and ate fresh-from-the-tree coconuts), and balete tree. We were very lucky that Uncle Ben was there to tour us around. They were leaving early the next day so they could only spend an afternoon with us. We’re very thankful though!

For dinner, we ate sisig and liempo at.. I forgot the name of the place but it’s right across Bahia 2. The liempo didn’t taste like liempo – it was very bland and I don’t know how to describe it but we didn’t like it. The sisig on the other hand was very delicious! Yummy! Then, we went to Bayler for dessert. We were finally able to try the chocnut turon. Even if I’m not a big fan of chocnut, the dessert did not disappoint. We also ordered the chocolate fondue and that was a very big disappointment! Do not order that, should you ever eat  there. The chocolate tasted like cheap and old chocolate, and the bread sticks were also old – like their air (how do you call that?) had already been sucked out from them.

We played a round of Monopoly Deal (in Japanese, wtf!) and then Metch immediately went to sleep. She was too tired. We were also tired and sleepy but Mitch, Tiff, and I stayed up a bit more to talk. We eventually also fell asleep. LOL. Day 1 in Baler – done!