Before setting off for the Philippines, I had decided that I was going to get my open water scuba certification at Puerto Galera and that I would try surfing at Baler. I often make plans like this before vacationing in the Philippines, but my plans often fall through. Many times, I find myself quickly disenchanted by the areas I visit in the Philippines. The really great places in the Philippines are often packed with tourists or way overrated. Other places may offer one or two really great things, but the other aspects simply annoy. Baguio's not bad if you can get over the poor air quality. Sagada's beautiful, but they try to charge you to just walk around. Puerto Galera doesn't seem to offer much beyond good diving. Montalban is a rare climbing spot, but is almost too dirty to enjoy. Boracay is simply wonderful if you're the type who likes a crowded "party" atmosphere on gorgeous white sand beaches. etc, etc, etc.... As was the usual, my vacation was half over and I'd given up my plans to visit Baler. But, while sitting at a restaurant on what used to be Clark Air Force Base, I happened to see an airline magazine with an article on Baler. The pictures looked nice as they always do. But, while magazine pictures are often misleading, I took it as a sign and decided to go anyway.
Since coming to live in Japan, I've come to believe that life is best enjoyed when you rise early as opposed to stay up late. We left Rose's village at 0400 and, at about 0530, we were given this wonderful view of the morning mist rising from the Cordilleras. This drive was rather fantastic. It was slow and bumpy and the locals all seemed pleasantly surprised to see a white person taking the rough ride over the mountains. The temperature was cool, the air was fresh, and the landscapes were green. I didn't see the dusty clutter common throughout central Luzon.
When we reached Baler, we headed for Barangay Sabang. We found there a nice scene of the bay with empty beach for as far as we could see.
Baler is what I would call "pleasantly developed". There are only a few beach-side hotels/restaurants and the rest of the town seems undisturbed by tourism and surprisingly clean for a town in the Philippines. I saw no McDonalds, no mall, not even a chain grocery store. If you wanted anything, you had to visit the local market. But, while lacking these amenities spreading across the rest of the Philippines like crab grass, there were still a few comfortable establishments where you could enjoy decent western food along the water's edge. An additional plus is that I only saw two street vendors during the entire trip. One was a peanut vendor and the other was a lady selling fresh fish. They were friendly and unaggressive. The peanuts were just in time for the San Miguel beer we were enjoying. I found the the locals to be great as well. While I think Philipinos are among the friendliest on earth, it is often difficult to tell whether they are sincere or not. The Baler locals seemed very laid back and friendly. Many would say that its like that everywhere in the Philippines, but I felt something different with Baler.
Anyone whose seen Apocalypse Now likely remembers the famous helicoptor assault scene with Robert Duvall's character. In this scene, Colonel Kilmore (Duvall) shows Lance how the waves break both left and right around the river delta. He tells Lance to go surf while he holds the beach.
This is "Charlie's Point" where the scene in the movie was filmed. While it doesn't quite look the same 30 years later and with the movie set gone, you can see the waves breaking as Kilmore described.
I'd always wanted to try surfing, so I checked out one of the few surfshops along the beach. While I thought it a bit pricey, I paid 300 pisos (US$6) for board rental and surfing instructor for an hour.
While the waves were very small today, I gave it a shot.
My brother-in-law, Alpie, gave it a shot as well.
As with most hobbies, surfing is harder than it looks.
With about 30 minutes of practice (and a timely camera capture), I was able to walk away with this shot of me actually surfing.
Me and my instructor, Chris. Overall, I give Baler very high marks and plan to return. I anticipate even more fun with better surf conditions.
They put us up in these sweet accomodations during our short layover at Manas, Air Base, Kyrgystan.
My last beer of the year (and for the next 6 months) was a Baltika #9. At Manas, you're only allowed two beers per 20 hour period. I asked the bartender what the best local beer was. He recommended the Batika #5. I tried it and it wasn't a bad beer. But, for my second, I decided on the Baltika #9. The "#" of the Baltika beer tells you the strength of the beer with the #9 having the highest alcohol content, and stoutness. Having tried a couple, I definitely recommend the #9. When you can only have two, its definitely the best beer.
For our trip from Manas to Kandahar, we had two C-130 legs...First Class, of course. The flight, while not the most comfortable, was quite incredible. We flew right over the Hindu Kush mountains. I took a little bit of video footage out the window, but wasn't able to upload to the blog because of my crappy internet connection over here. There's really no way to describe the size and vastness of a Himalayan mountain range. It was simply awesome.
Sweet digs.
One of my favorites is this concoction. Its raw salmon laid on top of a block of rice with wasabi sauce in between. Sliced onion and some sort of salad dressing is put on top.
