Laidback Liwliwa

We only have three days to spend. Our trip needed to start on the Saturday evening, we had the whole Sunday for ourselves, but needed to go back to Cavite by Monday afternoon. Our destination is Sitio Liw-liwa in San Felipe, Zambales. Lokalhipie heard a lot of stories and hearsay regarding this notorious surfing spot near Manila, so for that trip that was our destination.

We did bring our own private transportation to bring us from Cavite to Zamables. We met at my friend's place at around 8:00 PM Saturday night, we load our  bags into an SUV type vehicle. We'll drive all night until we reach San Felipe with stop over whenever we want just to waste time so we could be at Liwliwa by 6:00AM.

[caption id="attachment_617" align="aligncenter" width="675"] The Circle Hostel[/caption]

It was our first time to travel to Zambales by private vehicle so no one really knows how to get there. Guided by GPS of my dying smartphone we took NLEX and entered SCTEX until we reached Subic Bay Free Port. Before we reached San Felipe my phone already died so we had no idea where to find the place except that it's near the Bobulon Elementary School. We were also ahead of our schedule, we were already at 7-11 San Felipe by 3:30 AM charging my phone, buying supplies and having a short drink. By 4:00AM we noticed the Circle Hostel sign in the corner besides the school so we entered and searched for the place. By 4:15 we already found ourselves in front of Circle Hostel, but the hostel's gate was closed. We were hesitant to enter as we knew that most travelers in the hostel are just starting to establish their sleep. We checked Kilabot Sir Ping just in front of Circle Hostel and Kuya Bot the owner gladly welcomes us.

How to get to Liwliwa? Read details here.

Kilabot Sir Ping's offers hut accommodation for traveler who wanted to have a great weekend at Liwliwa. He offered us their hut good for 8 person for Php1200 but since there are only five of us , he gave us a discounted price of Php800. The hut was simple but has a very spacious bed and common area where a videoke machine stands. No personal bathroom, but the hut is very near the communal bathroom and kitchen which are very clean.

 

In this part of Zambales, time moves very slow. We didn't dare to open the videoke machine but rather get our guitars and sing together and enjoy the the timid music we create. We just bum and relax for hours on the hammock that hangs on a tree and just let the time pass by. We also spent our morning to check out the waves of Liwliwa. Unfortunately the waves were not good for surfing as we got there on an off-season, but still we could do some skimboarding. We returned just before lunch and ate at the food joint in front of Kilabot Sir Ping's, it's Mommy Phoebies Restaurant which offer hefty home cooked meals good for less than Php100 per pax.

We took a short nap after a satisfying meal, after an hour we woke up and decided to visit the public market. While some are shopping for provisions some of us were freestyling with our skateboards in the park just in front of the public market.

[caption id="attachment_631" align="aligncenter" width="675"] Kubo in Kilabot Sir Ping's[/caption]

By afternoon we visited the Skate bowl that was built within Jaromanoy's shop and saw Sir Roderick "Manoy" Bazaar hanigng on the bowl. Then we proceed to the shore to do skimboarding once again, just before sun set other skimboarders and visitors were already catching the beautiful waves of Liw-liwa perfect for skimboaridng. We again spotted Manoy showing us why he win the recent Philadelpia Skim Competion in USA. We also made friends with othes visitor who wanted to learn skimboarding. So we played until the sun set and the night engulfs the afternoon.

We head back to our hut and prepared our food for the night. We bought packs of beers and enjoyed the night sharing stories, drinking with new people we just met.

By morning we woke up late due to an almost all nighter drinking session. And since we need to get back to Cavite by lunch time we decided to skip breakfast and will only get a quick brunch at Olongopo. As part of our annual tradition we headed on Wimpy's and ate our hefty breakfast. After our breakfast we drove back to Subic Bay Free Port into SCTEX and reached Cavite by 2:00PM.

One fun hasty weekend in the Liw-liwa where time moves really slow in this side of the planet.

Here's a short video of our trip that weekend.