La Union
While Siargao might be the surfing capital of the Philippines, La Union is also known as the longboard capital of the North. Fab knew a couple of people who had explored these dreamy shores, and luckily knew that Clark Airport was much closer to San Fernando than Manila. Our flight from Coron - Clark worked out much cheaper, and after hopping on a coach and changing once at Urdaneta, we found ourselves in Surf Town, La Union.
Day 1
We checked into our AirBnB (we stayed here, around a 20 minute walk to the main town) and wandered down the beach at sunset towards civilisation. Beforehand, when searching for accommodation, we found that staying in this area would be super expensive - we were lucky to find this small studio!
We ordered some guacamole, nachos and 2 cocktails at FatWave surf camp, which were spicy and gingery and delicious! We then moved onto the craft beer bar, Curious Creatures, where we ordered Surftown & Liberation which cost 440php for 12oz.
We followed this up with 2 fish burritos at Olas Banditos (which also has a branch in Siargao, near Cloud 9, which we never tried!)
Day 2
An early morning rise led us to coffee at the famous El Union, where we ordered a flat white and American
We hired surfboards at the main point on San Fernando beach, but the current was so strong and the waves were messy. I thought it might just be me, but Fab actually snapped his longboard! After bargaining with the owner, he only ended up paying 3000php.
After calming down from the ordeal (Fab laughed, I cried - classic) we lay on the beach to top up our final days of tan, then headed to Seabuds to try out their acclaimed smoothie bowls.
We also refuelled with a dirty horchata at El Union, which is an amazing Mexican-style rice milk with spices and a shot of espresso, brewed through a nitro system on tap which results in an incredibly silky concoction. We couldn’t get enough! We then headed to Papa bear for the peanut satay noodles, ordered 2 extra eggs and split between us, for 320php. Of course we stopped off via Coco Shack on the way home for a tiramisu bubble tea, extra boba and no sugar. Mmm!
Day 3
An early morning, we made coffee and got downloads ready for the long journey back to Manila the next day. We walked to El Union for 2 Americans, and got talking to the guy who owns it. He gave us some surf advice: less wind at 2pm at the point! We then did some work…
…Topped up our tan some more, then headed upstairs to Makai Bowls. Their bowl was more substantial than at Seabuds, with chia pudding included as a topping, but we preferred our previous bowls.
Later, we headed to Salad Stoke for a peanut butter and banana smoothie, and ordered the thai peanut coleslaw bowl.
We discovered later that not much is open on a Sunday in La Union! So ended up at the only place that would take us at 8pm - but had the most amazing tuna sisig & green Thai tuna curry.
Day 4
We were planning on heading back to Seabuds ahead of our long bus journey to Manila, but even though we asked their opening times, when we turned up at 7am they were closed. We had thought that the resort they occupy, San Juan Resort, would be too expensive for our backpacking budget. We were surprised to find that it actually worked out cheaper than smoothie bowls! We had an amazing omelette and coconut porridge to fill us up.
Bus down to Manila
Manila: Food market
Manila
After a 7 hour bus journey (we were lucky, turning up at San Fernando bus station to find the next bus was first class for only 990php for both of us!) we checked into Citizen Hotel in Makati - based on the fact they have a bath tub - and went on the hunt for amazing local food.
The next day, before our flight, we walked to Benefacio Global City, after Google seemed to suggest that most things worth doing, seeing and eating were in this area. We had the most amazing coffee at %Arabica - Fab’s soy flat white was honestly incredible, and set us up for the sad journey to the airport.
