Dinadiawan and Baler, Aurora - January 15-18, 2015 - Part 1 (Super Late Post)

Hello there! It's been so long since I last wrote a post here. I have been caught up with a lot of different things such as out of town trips, change of work and a series of basketball games. I have been longing to write posts here since there has been many things I wanted to share, but I wasn't able to find time to do so. Right now, the urge to write is just too strong I couldn't resist. So I'm grabbing my to-write-list, my notes and I felt like having this as my first entry for 2016.

January 14, 2015. Yeah, the year is right. It has been a year and a month to be more precise. It was a Wednesday and there was declared a holiday starting the next day up until the 19th which is a Monday, because of the Paypal Visit. That is a total of 5 day long weekend. So Judy, my girlfriend and I decided to go out of town. It was unconventional of her to give a go, given that she is so religious and active in church. But we were on the same page thinking that we should grab the opportunity. So this would be our very first out of town trip with Getzy. This would also be my first long drive ever.

We've planned on this trip for quite some time already, so we are really prepared. We reserved a place to stay in Dinadiawan. We choose Dinadiawan, thinking that Baler would be swamped by tourists due to the long holiday and also for our love of exploring places we've never heard of. Given also the promise of Boracay sand of the North in some of the advertisements we've read. Why not eh? We stacked Getzy compartment with food. We have sandwiches, chips, canned goods, candies, different drinks, etc. We decided to leave at around 10 in the evening. Because we have read from a blog that it is best to reach Aurora during the sunrise. I tried to nap from around 6 pm up until 10 pm but due to the excitement, I barely did. However, I still felt well enough to drive. After all, it was all planned up and there is no turning back.

A selfie just before we leave

First, we gas up at Shell in Mindanao Avenue near St. James. There I also recorded my current odometer reading to keep track of the distance and be fuel consumption of Getzy. I also had last minute checks on Getzy. I learned from my brother-in-law this acronym: BLOW BAG which stands for Batteries, Lights, Oil, Water, Brakes, Air, Gas. Keep in mind to check on these before going on a trip, better do it also from time to time.

So that's it, we went on our trip. It would be my first ever long drive and my first time to drive in NLEX. Although before this, I had a number of trips in SLEX, since my girlfriend lives in Parañaque and we also had a couple of visits in Cavite. Anywho, thanks to Waze for leading our way towards our destination. I don't know if we will be able to reach our destination if it we don't have Waze. According to Waze and the blogs that we read beforehand, there are two possible routes to reach Baler and Dinadiawan, one is through, Pantabangan which is the longer but route and another is through Bongabon shorter but with unpaved roads and full of curves. We choose Pantabangan as our route going there.

Unfortunately, while we were somewhere in the middle of NLEX, Waze asked us to exit the highway and reenter at the next entrance due to traffic building up ahead us. But we were hard headed and pursued traversing NLEX only to find out that there is really a heavy traffic due to an accident. The traffic took us more than an hour, if I remember it right. Lesson learned the hard way. But it was a blessing in disguise as we grab the opportunity to stuff our tummies. After NLEX, SCTEx had been a breeze.

Toll Fees Alert (Rates as of the said date of travel)
Mindanao Avenue to NLEX - 45 php
Mindanao Avenue Toll Plaza to SCTEx  Exit - 173 php
SCTEx to Tarlac Exit - 104 php

After SCTEx, I then filled up Getzy. Based from my odometer reading, we traveled 180 km and consumed 12.91 liters of gas, which sums up to about 13.947 km/l. Not bad I think, considering the heavy traffic we had in NLEX. We continued driving through Tarlac going to Pantabangan and it was near sunrise already, the road was not that bad, although there were some unpaved roads.

We arrive in the Baler area at around 7 am. At first we thought of passing by Baler for a while, but we were too tired to do so, as we drove in the past 9 or so hours already. So we went on directly to the resort, we rented in Dinadiawan. One funny moment, suddenly Waze, informed us that we have arrived at our destination. But there was nothing in that place where we were. There was no houses, not even a visible view of the beach area. There were just forest on both sides. We also couldn't find any people around. A typical setting of "The Hills Have Eyes" or "Wrong Turn". Ahaha... Good thing that the road was really nice, so we just decided to continue driving. After a few minutes we found a few people and we ask where our resort is. They were so amazed of Getzy, that they seem not to focus on our question so they just told us that it is a few minutes away. It seems that they have not seen one in their entire life, so we just continued driving. After a while, we then saw a view of the sea and then later on a little town with a few people, so we again asked where the resort is. Again, they said it was a few minutes away, and again they were so amazed of Getzy. I don't know if they are just happy people, but they keep on smiling while looking at Getzy and seeming to like to touch the car. Well, after a "few more minutes" of driving (around 2 hours of drive from the first person we asked), we then saw about 3 or four resorts which are a few blocks from each other. Finally, we then arrived at the resort that we reserved. If I remember it right, it was past 9 am already.

A glimpse of goodness

I wouldn't name the resort, so as not to be unfair to the owner, because we did not pursue with our reservation. The place was really nice. It was spacious, the sand was powdery white and I wouldn't argue that you couldn't compare it to that of Boracay's. However, the beach doesn't seem to be swim-able as the waves were so strong. The care taker informed us that during that season the wind is strong so the waves were strong. But what made us think twice on the place is that, there were no other tourist aside from us, unlike the ones that we see along the way. Which has a few guests. We asked, if there would be other tourist arriving and they told us the in the next day there would be. We were really hesitant about the place and Judy really didn't want to be alone. So Judy and I told the caretakers that we will just visit the market, which is a little more further, to buy some stuff, but at the back of our heads, we are thinking of finding a better place to stay.

To be continued...