The Great Escape

"Hey child, things are looking down. That’s okay, you don’t need to win anyways. Don’t be afraid, just eat up all the gray and it will fade all away. Don’t let yourself fall down. Bad day, looking for the great escape." - The Great Escape - Patrick Watson

Destination: Baler, Aurora
Date: December 3-4, 2011

Road trip # 7 playlist:

• Rawness EP - Ponchos
• Summer Days - A Hipster Collective Mixtape
• Summer Nights - A Hipster Collective Mixtape
• Everything is Dancing - Fair Ohs

Traveling alone will always be in someone's bucket list. Sometimes we need this, a break from everything, a time for yourself. Last weekend, I took a trip to Baler by myself. My parents, of course, does not now that I went on my own. But I made sure that some of my friends knew where I was going. I know I was safe but deep down, I was nervous as hell. But sitting in the ocean alone, waiting for the wave to come and surfing that wave...made me feel that this trip is worth it.

Sunrise in Sabang Beach, Baler

If you think I go to Baler to surf...no. I go for this - Bay's Inn Chocolate shake! HAHA

Traveling alone could be boring but for me, I think it could be one's way to reconnect with themselves or what others might call "soul-searching". Even though I've crossed "travelling alone" out of my bucket list, I still to travel to an unfamiliar place alone...immerse myself in their culture, live their life for a day or so and just live, not caring about what others think, because this way we get to appreciate the simplicity of life sans technology, luxury and whatnot, which I believe we all need now.

Shuffle

"Once you get the feeling it wants you back for more, now it gets ethereal, feet ain't on the floor. One step back you're leaving it, jumping at the wall. Why won't you believe in it, 'till it's gone?"
- Shuffle, Bombay Bicycle Club


Destination: Baler, Aurora
Date: October 30, 2011 - November 2, 2011

Road trip # 6 playlist: 

• A Different Kind of Mix - Bombay Bicycle Club
• Boyfriend - We Are Trees
• Girlfriend - We Are Trees
• Nightlife - Phantogram 
• Four More Years - Teen Daze
• Dive - Tycho
• Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
• Mesita

It has always been a habit of mine to create a "road trip" playlist whenever I go on a trip. This way, it enables me to listen to new bands/songs and, you know, for nostalgic purposes as well. So it's like whenever I listen to a certain playlist, it brings me back to that particular trip. 

Well for this trip, I actually find it ironic that my current "road trip" playlist contains 156 songs. It is, by far, the longest playlist I have on my iPod. (Well, except for one playlist, which I call my GV or good vibes playlist, wherein I accidentally hit the "Add all songs" option. Now it has 2,506 songs or simply my entire iPod for that matter.) Incidentally, this trip, was also the longest bus ride I've ever taken. Not to mention, alone. 
 
Last week, my thesismate asked me if I wanted to come with him and his friends to Baler to surf. Long weekend. First week of work. Hell yeah of course. I need this! No question asked, I said yes at once. He told me to call Genesis Transport and to get the first trip on Sunday to Baler. He even told me, there were a few seats left so I had to book at once. Luckily, I got the 12MN October 31 trip to Baler. 


Saturday evening, around 11:00 P.M., my friend, his sister and I met up at the Genesis station in Cubao. We had to claim our bus tickets at the ticketing office but the girl couldn't find my name in their list. She checked the next day's trip and, voilà!, my name is there! My ticket was for later that day, October 31, when I was supposed to get the first trip for October 30. It would be a total waste of time if I took that bus trip. JoyBus, the Executive Coach of Genesis, normally takes 4-5 hours to get to Baler while, the ordinary Genesis buses take 8-10 hours since, there are stopovers. 

Of course, it was the long weekend, all of the bus stations are packed with people eager to come home to their respective provinces. All the JoyBus buses are fully-booked and yet many people are still taking that chance to become passengers, just like me. My friend and his sister had to leave already so I decided to get a number for the ordinary bus, which was on a first-come first-served basis. My number was for the 6th bus and the guard told me that it usually leaves around 6:30 A.M. and it was around 1:00 A.M. during that time, I still had 5 hours, so I decided to go home and take a nap.


I left the house around 5:00 A.M and arrived at the bus station 30 minutes after. As soon as I arrived, I showed the guard my number and he told me that the bus left already. Good thing, the last bus to Baler was still there! It's very different compared to JoyBus, where you travel in comfort in their La-Z-Boy-like chairs, Wi-Fi on-board, comfort room, good morning kit...it's like flying first class and more importantly, no stopovers.


Since this trip will take eight-ten hours, I made sure that I got two seats so that I could lie down and sleep during the course of the trip. I have so many questions with regard to the trip and while waiting for the bus to fill, I was observing, eavesdropping and secretly trying my best to identify who among the passengers take this trip regularly.

It was my first time to go to Baler and likewise, traveling alone. When the conductor of the bus started asking for our payments, this woman who was seated across me, transferred to the vacant seat beside me together with her two children. She asked if it was fine with me if she sat beside me for awhile while her children sat on her lap since it would be too expensive for her if she paid for the three of them. Of course, I said yes knowing that they will go back to their old seats as soon as the conductor is done collecting our payments. We left Cubao around 6:30 A.M. and minutes have passed, hours for that matter, and we remained compact in a two-seater. The four of us sat still a two-seater chair for ten hours. Wow.

I completely understood where she was coming, but the position of my body was starting to get uncomfortable. Plus, I really wanted to doze off. Hence, I took this chance to ask her about the details of this bus ride and since I started the conversation, I felt like I had to keep it going. Would it be impolite if I just simply wore my earphones and forget that there is a family, literally, seated beside me and since all the snacks I brought with me were candies, gummy bears and whatnot, I knew that I had to share it to her kids. Maybe it is also a mere social responsibility for an individual to do such things to a person who you've spent some time with even just for a while. But seeing how their faces lit, the huge smiles on their faces when I gave it to them...I knew it was not an obligation. I just did what is right.

I got to know the woman on a deeper level. She told me the story of her life and I really felt touched because we've only known for a few hours and there she was, sharing her personal life. It was enriching and saddening at the same time because her story was really inspiring that at a certain point, I felt that I was about to cry. It was saddening because her situation is one of those I only get to see on documentary shows. There are things that only hit you when you, yourself, have experienced it.

There were three stopovers and in those stopovers, I would always spend it with them and in that moment, I am a part of their family. It was very moving and sweet that before they went down of the bus, the mother reminded me again and told me not to forget where to go down. It is when I realized that most of the time, it is the people that you encounter that makes your trip worthwhile, interesting and memorable. Though the profound effect these tiny moments of happiness can have on all of us are often lost in the shuffle of life and its myriad injustices, you deserve to look at them and see them for the victories of compassion and simplicity that they are.

After ten long hours (3:00 P.M), I was finally in Baler. I went down at the Aurora Wet Market and took  a tricycle to Sabang Beach. Incidentally, that weekend also happened to be the Surf & Music Festival, which explains the thick crowd! Also, the free beerssssss!

The only pictures I have from this trip are these pictures of me, Ache, Gene and Biggel with actor/surfer/singer Jericho Rosales.

After 10 years...

It took me more than 3 hours before I was able to come up with the name of my blog. It took me a lot of time searching for famous surf lines and slogans. I wanted a title that could give the reader an idea of what my blog is about. Yes, obviously surfing is a big part of this, it's the main reason why I made a blog at the first place. My first blog was back in 2002, it was also about surfing. I got hooked with surfing after watching my favorite film: Blue Crush. But of course it was nothing since I was just a kid, I would just search pictures of girls from Roxy and Billabong and post it on my blog. Now that I surf for real! I told myself that I will take this blog seriously and I will start blogging all my surfing trip. Nevertheless, I also want to include my other travels and as well as my thoughts about life and my relationship with God.

Surfing allows me to be one with nature, it enables me to appreciate life and its beauty. After surpassing all those heavy waves, I paddle out, lie or sit on my board and wait until I catch the next wave. The next seconds or minutes I spend on that board waiting for the next swell is the second best feeling next to riding a wave. It is in those moments that I realize how precious and amazing life and the world is. It's just me and the ocean. The sound of the waves behind me crashing gives me a different of high and relief. Well, high because the sound of nature generally relaxes us. Relief. Relief from...I actually don't know? That I'm far from the waves? Or that I got out and I'm alive. Or maybe just the fact that waves are still coming it means that there is still a chance for me to have a long ride. Well, I have yet to find out. As I look out into the abyssal zone, I see a vast blue sea full of endless possibilities. I was frightened at first, wild thoughts kept running through my head, "What could be swimming under or around me right now? How deep is this? What if a tsunami suddenly appears?" and simply the thought that someone or something might pull my leg down give me mini heart attacks. But as what surfers would say, you have to be brave and determined to catch a wave because as soon as you get one, it's all gonna be worth it. 

They say that surfing is just like life. "It heaves up unexpected waves, tosses us about, and drags us under at times. Equally, life also gives us the sweetest moments akin to catching the right wave, serving as a reward for our efforts, calculated risks and for following our awe." (Tomson, 2011.) I never knew surfing could make me appreciate life more. After all, as a 12 year-old kid I just wanted to surf because it was a unique sport. Plus, a girl that surfs? A major plus! I look life now with depth and meaning. I noticed the effect it gave me that is why I made a commitment to surf at least once a month, even though that means taking a day off my payslip. I don't care, a bad day surfing is always better than a good day working. 

The world that we live in is marvelous, which I believe is an understatement. I don't want to waste my entire life working my ass of in the office. How can we appreciate life and God's gifts if we are not able to enjoy and see it. I want to see the world. I want to travel. Meet new people. Get to know new things. Surf and be good at it. Surf every point around the world. Immerse in a different culture. Live in the moment. Just like the vast blue ocean, the world is full of endless possibilities and I just have to paddle out catching that next wave. And if I miss one, I know that there will always be another wave. Just like surfing, there are no shortcuts, I will paddle around the impact zone: I will work hard, save and travel the world!

Here I am again, after one decade. Back in the scene, blogging about surfing and life, in general, hopefully with depth and meaning. Haha! No April fooling right here. From now on, I will blog religiously. Welcome to my blog and enjoy! CARPE DIEM! SURF'S UP! _m/