My Baler Experience Day 1

Baler is one of those places that I thought I could only see in pictures. Because of its distance, hardship in transportation and as one of the gateway of typhoons, I never really consider going there.

But thanks to some friends who invited us to experience this journey.

From Manilla, we had our first stop over at Angeles, Pampanga to meet a couple who will join us for this trip. We had a midnight snack at McDonalds, Angeles and left at around 230AM. Most are awake until we reached Pantabangan Nueva Ecija, since all of us are first timers everyone is alive and awake, but I was asleep the entire trip despite of the zigzags and rough roads, I remain asleep..lol and only woke up when we reached Maria Aurora and was able to see the beautiful sunrise, but we did not stop to take a photo of it since the road is very narrow and there is no way we can park even for few minutes.

And finally, we reached Baler and we decided to take a photo of our first group hug!

Me, Jovy, Lenny, Manny, Lily & Kurtz

Isla Virginia

It's a cold morning and everyone is tired and sleepy so we decided to check in right away at Isla Virginia located at Sabang, Baler Aurora.

Isla Virginia is among the 3 resorts that is secluded from the other beach resorts in Sabang, it is located near the Governor's House. Overall it was a good hotel resort despite the not so good road. But it is one of the best spots in Baler, so serene, not so crowded (esp. we went during the Aurora Day so they hotels are all fully booked) and it seems like that you are in a private island. Plus the staff are all very warm and very accommodating, esp. Jinky who manages the resort.

The famous chain of carenderia

After breakfast, everyone decided to rest, and have agreed to leave at around 12nn to have lunch outside the resort. We tried the "Carenderia" lined up at the street of Poblacion. Surprisingly for P45 pesos, their food is deliciously and properly proportioned. We tried the Suman and Palitaw in which the province is also known for.




On to our journey, our first stop was Ermita Hill. In there, you would see the coastline of Baler & The Cross.

Group hug at Ermita Hills

Next stop is the Baler Fishport, less that 15 minutes away from Ermita Hill. There was a Taiwanese fishing vessel that was impounded at the time that we arrived there.

The next stop was the Lukso Lukso Islets, in Brgy. Zibali. We were mesmerized by the rock formations. It started to drizzle when we are setting up but good thing that it was just a quick one we continued taking photos of the islets. Few people were there, again ,we felt like that we have bought the island...lol.

Photo by : Lily

It was such a beautiful resort but I know the best is yet to come! After spending like an hour in Lukso Lukso Islets, we went to Digisit, and along the road, we made our stop since there is an ongoing wedding. We were able to take a photo of that big rock.

Photo by : Lily

Digisit was our last major stop and we all decided to go back to the city to go to the Market and find a good restaurant where we can eat. But before going to the market we made one last stop at an old bridge in Sabang. The locals said that the bridge was destroyed by a typhoon and it was not restored anymore. So the only means of transportation is a Bangka ride if you need to go to the other side for P3.00.

At around 6pm ,we went to the market, bought some fruits and some food for midnight snacks, then we proceeded again to the "Carenderia" where we had our lunch.

Photo by : Lily

At 7:00pm, we were back to the hotel and agreed to grab a beer for some bonding time, but since everyone is tired no one stepped out of their rooms, and eventually, all of us went to bed as soon as we enter the room.
It was indeed a tiring whole day but it was worth it. Everyone is excited to see the break of dawn the next day .. and see what lies ahead.