Road Trip

Location: Crystal Beach Resort, San Narciso, Zambales
Travel Time/Duration: 3 to 4 hours
Means of Transportation: Aircon bus and tricycle

An achievement I can proudly slash off my list is having accomplished this “road trip” of mine… ALONE. Yep! Since the first weeks of December I have been wanting to go to the beach, feel the waters trickle my skin and smell the sea breeze. Events has been interrupting my plans until last Wednesday, Dec. 27 I was able to contact the resort and made reservations.

To cut the introduction a little short… Panch, a friend of mine who’s also a beach-lover and the one who dragged me to Boracay a few years back, was suppose to be with me. She does need some break too. But unfortunately her heartless boss seemed to be eating her time (and mind!)… but all is well, I guess she’ll be free from his metal hands by mid-January. And Panch promised to come with me when some force of nature pulls me back to Zambales!

WHY O WHY?
So, how do we go about my adventure? To start off, at first I wanted at least one friend to accompany me but since it was a sudden decision all seemed to be occupied for the holidays. Either a family reunion, party or other personal responsibilities. I was scared of course. But to hell it goes, I DO wanted to go to the beach before the year ends! Rebellious it may sound but I just NEED to get out of “it”… whatever that “it” is… Most of my friends who knew that I’d be traveling alone have such reactions/suggestions:

1.) “Are you out of your mind?” – Perhaps, but once in a while it’s nice to do stuff you’ve never done before, right?
2.) “Cancel or postpone it!” – I just can’t. I made a reservation and it suppose to have a 50% down payment, but since it was that “quick” the owner said that I pay full when I get there. My name will be at stake if I don’t show my face there and besides, for sure I’d be coming back there… alone or with friends.
3.) “What’s your problem?” – Some knew that I am not the type that have spontaneous decisions… I mean, some see me as “the person with plans”… I guess, at time people change. I wanted to be by myself perhaps.
4.) “Take care…” – After a few explanations and reminders from them, it’s all that they could say. Specially once they knew that I told my family I am with my old friends and colleagues from my previous job.

Ok, I HAD to lie. To my family and to anyone in connection or relation to them… my reasons:

1.) So they’d just allow me to go, without worries.
2.) No more questions… period.

I was in Manila that Wednesday when I made my reservation. Let my father knew I am leaving for the beach around 11pm when I got home a “little” late with a few new good friends ;)

My bags

I packed the next morning, Thursday, Dec. 28 and this was the first time that packed on the day itself. Never done that too. Every time I travel, I plan ahead, have a checklist and pack at least a day before leaving and NOT on the day itself. Well, what should I be worried about? It’s just an overnight. Ok, don’t react why I have such huge backpack if it’s just an overnight thing. I packed stuff good for 3 days. Why?... well, just in case…

LOCATION AND LOGISTICS
Crystal Beach is in San Narciso, Zambales. It is a known beach specially by those who surf. Yup! It’s a surf haven. One can reach it in 3 hours time IF and ONLY IF you have a car but in my case, I reached it for almost 4-5 hours. Why? Geographically speaking, Zambales is in the northside of the Philippines. Same side as that if Bulacan where I came from. But unfortunately, I had to go down to Manila first to get on the bus heading straight to Iba, Zambales. There was no straight bus from Bulacan going to Zambales. I reach Victory Liner, Caloocan Terminal (the bus station) almost half past 10. Commuting by bus has been my life, and going to Manila the same way took my more than an hour that time! Perhaps, God is giving me time to back out? Nah! Despite the waiting of the bus to be filled up and the traffic it went to get to Manila… my decision is still firm––I am going to Zambales! I hopped on the bus bound to Iba, Zambales by 11am.

ON TRAVELLING
I won’t be enumerating what you should be bringing when traveling. What I am doing now might be a bore of a read to you so let’s not go to details. But just to warn you how “unprepared” I am, that huge backpack of mine has no camera, nor a pair of swimsuit. Yep! You got it! I am heading to a beach and no swimsuit? Again, this trip is not planned… a random decision. But it ended well (shoot! Did I just said that… darn it!)

Anyways… just bring what you think will make you survive out of your house. Decide on what you think will at least satisfy you if not totally happy at all. In my case, I got the window seat of the bus. I don’t like getting the aisle, even on planes. I like to see the view and of course, where I am heading.

So, for that day, I passed by the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) TWICE. And saw that the northern part of the Philippine is still an agricultural area. I am from Bulacan, but the area I live with already have McDonald’s, flyovers and just 10-minutes away from SM. I saw:

Ricefields...

...ricefields

... and more ricefields

Well, some have a cow or two


All 4 and 2-legged farm/field animals you can think of –– and what could they be doing? Eating, sleeping, mad-bathing and even shitting. Hahaha! But one thing was odd about it is that, on the 2-legged creatures, I’ve seen some king fishers and a few herons but no chickens! Where have all the chickens (and roosters) have gone?!!!? Hello? Calling KFC?!

After a couple of bus stops, I reached San Narciso by 3:30PM. Since I just eat a light breakfast and had some junkies for snack, I am starving. Good thing there’s a famous pizza place near the town’s plaza. It’s called Dude’s Pizza. It’s a small pizza joint but their pizzas are great! One wall has a mural of a man surfing and on the other sides are photos of celebrities who’s been in the place, and signed the wall. I was able to talk to Vanessa, the wife of the owner and told me that his husband and the owner of Crystal Beach are brothers! Some cool family business I guess ü She also told me that, Dodo (I think he’s one of the in charge people residing the beach) and a few more people are about to release a pawikan they rescued some time ago. After eating a solo pepperoni and a glass of Ice Tea for my late lunch and early dinner treat, I hopped on a tricycle and headed for Crystal Beach.

THE BEACH
Now that I’ve reached my destination, I can now admit that I was a little scared of this trip. Hahaha! Who wouldn’t if you’re first time to do it and alone on a place you bearly know anyone? At least I am on a place where we both speak the same language (Hi, Brian and King!) My fear was a little bit relieved when I hear the waves crashing and felt the breeze. And all anxiety was forgotten when I saw these:

The beach, the sunset... I was glad I'm there...


And there I was… Crystal Beach! Too bad , I just missed releasing of the pawikan by a couple of minutes.

And will all my talking above, let my photos do the further talking ;) Even though I didn’t have my handy-dandy Canon G5 with me then, I’m glad I’ve upgraded my old phone to Sony Ericsson’s K610i!

My Tower... I mean, the room I'll be staying–The Attic

The view from the entrance of the attic

My room which could accommodate 3 persons... and I have it all by myself!

What I can see sitting on the bed

That's the veranda from the beachfront

The beachfront... and THIS is my fave shot Ü

The shore... the sand... not white though, but it's fine.

The waves...

... and it greeted me

Fishing boats

More shore and waves...

... and the footprints I left behind

I wasn’t able to take a dip since I don’t have a swimsuit with me but by merely being there, hearing the waves crash and felt the breeze, I am satisfied… VERY satisfied. I sounded recharged as one of my dear friends texted me. I guess so. Water calms me down.

Foot spa?

I took a short walk along the shore. Saw a couple of guys trying to catch some waves to surf. The weather was great. Even though a little cloudy… still I’m glad I was there and not someplace else. The next morning, I woke up a little late than planned. I wanted to watch the daybreak but all I got was these:

Daybreak by the beach (from the veranda)

But the sunrise is on the other side...

... which is not that bad

... b'coz I got some good shots ;)

I was able to observe a few more people are coming in and are surfing – both men and women! The resort have surfing instructors and surfboards you can rent. Hmmm… for experience, I will definitely be staying longer in my next visit and take that surfing lesson!

I just stayed overnight and had to leave by 9:30am the next day to catch the 10am bus ride back to Manila. The adventure was short but it was very helpful for me. I would definitely be back sooner next year. Either with some friends or alone again. I’ve done it once, why can’t I do it again ;)

Photo collage of a satisfied and happy, Nemcy!