A few months back Jimbo and I made a pact that we’ll go to La Union together. I’ve never been there and I promised that I wouldn’t go to elyu without him. Last month, while Jimbo and I were having dinner with my family, Pau and Phil mentioned Baguio. I’ve been to Baguio thrice and I don’t think i’ll ever get tired of it so I asked Jimbo if he wanted to go to Baguio too. We originally planned to go to La Union and Baguio with Phil & Pau, but due to conflict of schedules, we weren’t able to go together. Luckily, my best friend, Aryne, and her guy, Mikki was game so I was extra excited!
We made our way to the bus station around 3 AM, only to find out that the next bus leaves at 4:30 AM. Our trip was a long one, but it didn’t feel like it since I was just sleeping the entire time. We arrived in San Juan around 2 PM and checked in at our hotel.
We were booked in Flotsam and Jetsam Hostel for 3 days and 2 nights. The front desk who welcomed us was one of the Roco twins, I thought it was Dominic a.k.a. Gibson of one of my favorite indie films, Ang Nawawala. I was so tempted to ask “WHERE’S ENID?” Heh.
I kid you not, I was wow-ing the entire time I was wandering around the hostel for the first time. I definitely wouldn’t mind spending weeks here! It has such a lovely vibe, I lost count of how many times I was telling Jimbo how nice the place is. However, to be quite frank, I wasn’t blown away by the beach. Jimbo, on the other hand, kept telling me how Flotsam has changed. We were just both mindlessly exchanging thoughts about how the place looked, but it only took a few minutes before we appreciated everything else.
After settling in, we walked around town to take photos and find good food spots. I usually just navigate through spot.ph or booky to look for recommended restaurants and whenever I find something I like, I ask Jimbo if he’s game and of course, he always is. As long as its food.
We had late lunch at Surf Shack. I got some kind of taco rolls. I forgot what it’s called but I remember it tasted real good! Jimbo and I wanted dessert so we got a chocolate cake from Moonleaf. It was disappointing. Hahaha. We went back to Flotsam and just lounged around to take photos and exchange stories.
That night, we had dinner at Flotsam. Their Holy Crab Wendelle is to die for. ACK. Obviously it’s not that hard to fall in love with Flotsam & Jetsam. The vibe is inspiring, and the food is glorious.
Later that night we also had a follow up dinner at Tagpuan. Place is really cheap and serves sulit food so you should definitely drop by if youre heading to San Juan! The following night Jimbo and I had our midnight snack here.
We ended the night drinking and having fun at Flotsam. The common place turns into a bar at night. It’s as if the whole town crashes the hostel to dance, drink and have fun.
For our second day, we went around town looking for food. We got shakes and coffee (I rarely drink coffee so that’s for jimbo), had a quick bite at Olas Banditos, played foosball, devoured some gooood good pizza at Flotsam, and just spent some quality time together taking photos and watching the sunset.
Made a quick run to Makai Bowls to try the talked about acai bowls during our last day before we headed to Baguio. Definitely had a good time in elyu and already planning my return.
xx, Andy
PS.
Haven’t been able to post process photos from my camera so all photos here are taken using an Oppo A57. Impressive quality.
It was back in April, just weeks after finishing college, when my good friend, Tracy, and I decided to celebrate and have some one on one girl time at the beach. She suggested to stay in Board Culture at Liwliwa, Zambales. The moment we arrived in Liwliwa, I instantly fell in love. It’s a quaint little beach town that makes you feel isolated yet at home. Pine trees everywhere, beautifully crafted nipa huts, and a loooong stretch of sand. What I loved most about it is its accessibility. It’s just 4-5 hours from Manila and the bus ticket doesn’t even cost more than 300 pesos. I left Liwliwa knowing that I’d find my way back to its soft sand and stunning sunset.
A few months after, Shillary, one of my closest friends from high school kept bugging me to plan a beach trip. We’ve always wanted to go to the beach together along with our other friends but it just never happens. However, the universe decided to give us a chance. I created a group chat with my high school girlfriends and miraculously, we were all available for the long weekend. When I was in Liwliwa for the first time, I saw a resort that was still under renovation. I knew it was going to be lovely so I looked up the place and booked for two nights.
Dundundun, the long weekend came. We all gathered in QC and was disheartened to find out that there was a storm. (which led to Nicole having to back out since her parents won’t allow her anymore) We stayed up ‘til 4AM trying to create a backup plan but we all ended up sleeping. The morning after, we decided we’d let the storm pass and just go to Liwliwa Sunday morning (since it was already flooding in Zambales.) So we got up, decided to go to trendsetter’s bazaar and pick up a few stuff. Moments after arriving home, Shillary & Aryne asked if we wanted to go to Black Market. Everybody said yes and in just 2 hours, we all were done taking a bath and putting on makeup. LOL. Three hours later we were all drunk and having waaaaay too much fun. (we even have embarrassing photos but let’s not talk about that) It was as if we didn’t have a bus to catch at 5AM. Jimbo also followed in BM and my friends dragged him to join us in Liwa. We were back home around 4AM and whaddaya know, Shillary even almost burned the house because she was trying to reheat some twister fries.
5AM and holysmokes, finally, we were off to Liwliwa!!!
The beach was not much of a sight to see because of the damage that the storm has done. I was actually looking forward to surfing but our local friends said that it wasn’t safe due to the debris in the water. We didn’t even get to swim in the beach cause of the dirt!! Good thing the place we stayed at had an amazing pool.
We were all in awe of our room! I’m a sucker for minimalist designs and our room was all white. The place was also surrounded by a lot of plants, which I also really love. We only paid 5,500 for our room, which if you ask me, is already super worth the money. The people of Surface was really accommodating, they even gave us free merienda! Hehe cute! Definitely going back here.
Shillary and I’s little hubadera moment
I was really glad that despite the odds and all the misfortune that we faced, we were able to push through with our plans. I had a really great time with my friends and I’m glad we finally got to go the beach together!!
