Surfin' La Union

La Union is a province in the North of the Philippines. A few years ago, the northern location was dubbed as the "Surfing Capital of the Philippines". My parents and their parents had grew up in La Union, San Fernando to be exact. My family and I frequent the place but we have never tried surfing. We prefer sleeping and resting during the holidays.

Surfing, finally

I'm not sure how we came to a conclusion of going to La Union. I just remembered Cath, KC, CJ and I was mobile chatting about going to this place. Then, we planned to do it on the last weekend of May and we'll be staying in our residence there. I was even joking that they could stay at Hacienda Lopez (which in reality is Lopez Compound with houses where my family, my aunts and cousins live).

On Friday Night, we packed our bags and rode a bus to San Fernando. Fare was around P450 to 500. The bus ride took around 6-7 hours. We weren't sure why since all of us slept until a hint of the sun came up. After resting a bit and having our breakfast, we made our way to San Juan which was 10 minute drive from San Fernando.

Before riding the waves

We entered the beach using the Surf School entrance so we decided to use the Billabong Surf School to help us learn surfing. The first thing that the instructors taught us was about the different parts of the board, the different ways of standing on your board and safety tips. Then, each of us had an assigned instructor to try how we'll stand on the board. I prefer jumping up (Thanks to burpees which I almost always do in Body Weight Classes in 360 Fitness).

Then, we were pulled and paddled out to the sea to try actual surfing. My first few tries, I kept losing balance and jumping up too late. But I eventually got it. I was even able to stand up until the shore. CJ, KC and Cath was able to do it too. Not all of us got great surfing photos since the instructor taking pictures had a favoritism towards CJ so he got all the great surfing photos.

#SG #Surfing

Surfing was a great experience and I'll be willing to do it again. It may not be as great as those who are world renowned surfers but they started somewhere right?

Rediscovering my home town

After Surfing, we went to Ma-cho Temple (a taoist temple) and the Filipino Chinese Pagoda (overlooking the city). We also dined at the highly recommended Halo Halo de Iloko. In this restaurant, we were able to try their fiesta halo halo that costs P99. As KC would say, "Better than Razon's". Try it out whenever you are in La Union.

#SG in LaUnion

Photo Credits: Cath and KC