surfing | Bigger, Bolder, Blither

I have been to La Union once and have tried surfing in San Juan, which I thought was really fun because the waves were bigger than the ones I experienced in Baler, Aurora. And like many people, I see La Union as just a place for surfing and nothing more than that.

But one recent trip proved me wrong! I had a planned vacation leave for holy week and being meticulous when it comes to traveling, I listed all possible places that I could go to considering various factors such as expenses, location and variety of activities. And while planning days were running out, I was also removing destinations on my list one by one and after thorough research, I ended up scheduling my trip to La Union. And based on the information I gathered, this was the game plan:
Go to San Juan and enjoy the beach (To surf or not to surf? That is the question)
Go to San Fernando and check out the different historical sites such as Ma-Cho Temple, Chinese Pagoda and Christ the Redeemer
Eat and eat at different famous restaurants in San Fernando and San Juan
Well that sounded just right for me.

So the adventure began!

March 21 – We left Cubao through Dominion bus at around 6 am. It was a long trip as there was some heavy traffic in some parts of La Union (hello election!) and ended up reaching San Juan at around 12:30 pm. We got down at San Juan Surf School and find the nearest restaurant to have lunch! Then we found “SURF SHACK” which was one of the more famous ones in San Juan according to my research!

We ordered buffalo wing and rice and I liked, especially the dip although it was a bit pricey for my taste.

The next agenda was to find a hostel and although The Circle Hostel was on top of my list, I realized that it wasn’t on the beach side (TYSM Google Maps) so the next one I had was Flotsam and Jetsam, however, we realized that we wanted a more comfy and private space so we had to look around (near Orbiztondo beach) but either the prices had risen up or they were just making up prices depending on the guests. LOL. At the end of the day, we settled for a nice private room near the beach which was 1200php for two people with TV and AC. Yey!

Then it was time for the real thing. The original plan was to just chill on the beach and watch the sunset. I have tried surfing at San Juan before so I decided not to do it this time.

Check out some of our photos below:

March 22 – Sorry. Everything I was thinking of was food and the plan was to eat breakfast and drink coffee at El Union. So we had a meal at Sebay.

But when we went to El Union, man, it was Tuesday. And they are closed on Tuesdays. How lucky!

By the way, we also checked Flotsam and Jetsam to have breakfast but unfortunately they wouldn’t open until 8 am.

To make it short, we didn’t stay long in San Juan. We swam a little and had at lunch at Choka, which by the way is budget-friendly and is very accessible because it is along the highway. Check them out guys!

Next up was San Fernando, which by the way is a city so I expected people and crowds.

We rode a jeepney to reach the place and then looked for our hotel of choice. Research told me that Hotel Almira would be a good pick so with the help of my map, we made it there (with a lot of sweat though).
We got the 1700php room, which had a tv, AC and wifi (which didn’t work at the 4th floor 👎).

After a little rest, we agreed on visiting some notable sites in the city. And we shouldn’t miss the sunset by the way.

There were four on our list: Filipino-Chinese Friendship Pagoda, Halo-halo de Iloko, Christ the Redeemer Statue and Ma-Cho Temple. And I just said it in order.

So we first made our way to the Pagoda, which according to some blogs gives a good view of San Fernando Bay. It was an uphill slope and it was kinda hard to reach but it was worth the long walk.

What I didn’t like about it though was that there were many vandals everywhere. Not cool.

After that, we went to Halo-Halo de Iloko well aside from it was on our plan, it was also scorching hot! We ordered the Fiesta Halo-Halo and Pancit Palabok.

I fell in love with the first scoop! It had a lot in it and the taste was definitely worth the price!

It was almost sunset so we had to hurry to Christ the Redeemer Statue. We rode a tricycle (20php) and luckily we made it with the sunset. The statue was on top of a hill so we had to walk up again.

Indeed, timing is everything!

After spending some time there, we realized we could not make it to Ma-Cho Temple anymore so we had to move our visit to the next day.

March 23 – Last day in La Union. Time went by so fast! So after breakfast in the hotel, we did some charging and packing. And then we went to Ma-Cho Temple through another tricycle (20php). We ascended an uphill road to reach the temple.

Upon arriving, I only expected to take some photos but I realized that there was something worth doing there. We went inside the temple as encouraged by a Chinese man inside and we saw some instructions on the table.