photo by Bong Bajo for Lakbay Norte

When I told them we were going to La Union. The did not say a word. Chi just had that snicker while Chops was immediately nowhere to be found. A few minutes later, the two were all packed with their surfboards.

Surfing has been a mutually fun thing to do for us three, (and Barbie too if she was still with us, sigh!), and if you ask me where their favorite place is, I would say it’s in San Juan, La Union. Its not where you will find the nicest hotels (okay maybe you’d find one there), nor the best sand, not even the best waves! But there’s something to this place that makes it desirable – something different – maybe because its not too far out, its neither too near either. Maybe its the proximity, the food, the distance to Baguio, or maybe, just maybe, its where we all had our first hand of the best sport man could ever possibly make, and good memories turn into multiple ones.

A decade ago, you wouldn’t find surfing dudes and dudettes (and ok, pigs) wondering about the shores of San Juan. But because of a discovery from some foreign guy, this surf haven is now a summer capital (almost), except that Baguio would contest.

I love it because its quite near and transportation isn’t so difficult. Hop on and off a bus in an instant coz its just along the highway. Plus its surfing – one of the few tiresome activities me and the pigs enjoy. I tried driving to La Union once for 5 hours and surfed for two days – 16 hours of surfing fun, 80 percent of which were all muscle building paddling, the rest were either clean rides or wave disturbing wipeouts.

I found myself too exhausted afterwards I could barely drive back. While it was Chops turn to take the wheel, I found him snoring at the backseat, just like what pigs do best. Chi doesn’t have a driver’s license yet and he refuses to drive so he’s no big help really. So we took the bus the next time, and it was perfect. We can leave by 2am and sleep on the way. When we get there we surf the whole morning, take a 2 hour lunch break, then surf for 4 more hours. At the end of the day, we could either enjoy a good night’s sleep, (except I find myself babysitting two demanding pigs) or, we could take the 7 or 8pm bus, whichever comes first, and sleep on the way home. I have to remember to bring a bonnet, a blanket, and a scarf (times three) since late busses from that part of the country can double as a freezer. The crispy tan skin (like how you’d want your lechon) is evident of a great surfing vacation.

The best part about La Union is that the beginner surfers are here – always. That means it doesn’t hurt (ego wise) to wipeout face first from time to time. We all love to wipeout from time to time. For non-surfers, wiping out simply means to fall of your board graciously or ungraciously due to lack of balance while attempting to ride a wave.

photo by Bong Bajo for Lakbay Norte

Chi’s favorite part of a surfing trip to La Union is lunch at Midway grill. They serve really nice hamburgers. The restaurant resembles those old burger joints in the US. Its being affordable and delicious makes it extra special for him. Plus their patties are 100% beef and not pig, I mean, pork.

Chops on the other hand likes to surf in Bacnotan, as the waves there are more fluid and the rides longer. When waves in San Juan are too strong, everyone drives down to Bacnotan. The only downside to that its quite near the Holcim cement factory. So you get a little construction going on while youre surfing. Chops doesn’t mind. He loves the surf here and at lunch, there’s a nearby house (left side facing the beach) where you can ask if they can cook those nice juicy chicken parts (again not pig, uhh yeah pork) for you. That and some soda will replace all those calories youve burned from surfing. We usually have lunch here whenever we’re at Bacnotan. Its nothing fancy but the home cooked meal is great! While everyone else leaves, we stay here for both the view and the rustic experience. I prefer eating with my hands whenever I’m here.

Driving to La Union’s surfing place:
From Manila, drive NLEX and just follow the road going to Baguio, except, dont turn right headed to the summer capital. Instead, drive straight past San Fernando, La Union. Next Town is San Juan. The beach will be to your left and you will see signs saying Urbiztondo (thats the barangay where you can surf). If you reach San Juan town proper, turn back. Im assuming you have pigs with you fighting over directions as well. Theres a big sign that says SeBay (supposedly Sea Bay). You can go there and find my friend Badz, or you can go to Luke at San Juan Surf Camp, the ever popular, except Chi thinks he’s more gorgeous.

Taking the Bus:
I’m not sure about other bus lines, but I prefer taking the Partas bus that goes to Vigan. Buy a ticket for San Juan and tell the conductor to drop you off at SeaBay. Its pretty famous so you don’t have to worry that they wouldn’t know. People will start getting of from the time the bus reaches Rosario and Bauang, La Union. By the time it reaches San Fernando (Sometimes the bus will stop here), remind the driver to drop you off at SeaBay just to be sure they don’t forget. Word of warning: Dont wear shorts on the bus, you are crazy to think you will survive the cold.

photo by Bong Bajo for Lakbay Norte

Board Rental and Surfing Rates:
You can rent a surfboard for 200Php and lessons will cost around that much too. So prepare about 350 to 400 pesos per hour with lessons. I took some 4-6 hours of lessons in a span of two visits before I could do stuff on my own. Chi was able to stand up the board on his first hour, while Chops was able to stand on his head at the same time (what a showoff)!

If you already know how to surf, board rental is 200 per hour and 800 ride all you want. If you break the board, you pay for damages unless you availed of lessons. Dont worry, a board can be as cheap as 5000 for a used one to 20,000 up for a nice new one, so don’t dare break it.

Just ask anyone with a surfboard and they’d help you out.

Anyway, its surf season, and I’m back travel blogging, so thats something cool right? I better sleep before I wake the two pigs up. It’d be a riot when that happens.

Read Chi and Chops’ adventures each week / month / whatever together with entries of those other cool Travel Bloggers of Pinoy Travel Bloggers (and pigs.. uh, not pertaining to anyone in particular, no offense) at the Pinoy Travel Bloggers Carnival. Today’s topic is about the Best Place the piggies have been in the Philippines.

You read it right. Barbi is no more. She has left this worldly dimension and crossed over to the other side, where pigs can rejoice and forever be happy, where pigs are no longer be treated as pigs.

What happened you may ask? It all started one fine morning. I saw Barbi and Chops boarding a bus full of people. I followed and everyone was staring, not at me but at the pigs. I knew from then on that something was off. I learned later that these guys played musical instruments. They were at the top of the foodchain in terms of hitting the high notes of the violins, cellos, woodwinds, and even xylophones and cymbals. We were aboard a bus filled with members of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. I will have episode stories about them but for now, we grieve the death of a friend.

We toured Tagum City, a first class municipality in Davao where I was invited to judge several music video contests for the Musikahan Festival held every February of each year. The pigs were both excited as they took the window seat. I’m mostly an aisle person and only take windows for photos so it was ok for the pigs to take over. I think they were more excited about this than I was.

PPO with Madam Alma Uy, first lady of Tagum City

By noon we arrived at this residence. Its probably big enough to be classified as a mansion. Tables were all set and I got seated pretty comfortably as the pigs raced to the pool. I didn’t know they liked water. And so I was confident that the two pigs were a-ok and so I simply waited for lunch to be announced.

What happened next was unexplainable. I could not really draw what happened. All I know was that the turn of events was mind boggling.

The host called for lunch and the Philharmonic guys started to queue. That was a mistake though letting everyone go first. You should see how fast the food was vanishing, and even the oldies, ahem, not so young players would fill up their plate like there was no tomorrow. I now know that as an artist we are all equal. I do understand where they are coming from and thus will never make these kinds of assumptions about other artists next time.

And so I reached the buffet table, took a few servings of this and that, and finally reached the very end, where I saw something that was truly devastating…

Barbi in her final resting state. We will miss you

The next photo may not be suitable for all audiences. I suggest to either get a barf bag or not see this at all. Not recommended for childeren under 16 and those with heart ailments

Barbi, or what's left of her

Yes, Barbi was devoured like an animal! an Animal mind you! sigh*

I cannot blame them. She was responsible for herself. I learned later that she sneaked out of the room we were in and joined the advanced party. They had enough food but the chef saw Barbi and thought she would be a great addition. She was. Goodbye Barbi. You will be missed.

So who was the other pig with Chops if that wasn’t Barbi? Apparently, Chops and Barbi had another sib. They’re actually triplets, someone probably sneaked the other pig in while I wasn’t looking. Chops and Barbi were taking care of her without my knowledge or concent. Those pigs! I wonder how they take care of pigs their age?! Anyway. So Barbi’s gone and the new pig is out there in the pool with Chops. I’ll call her Chi. Short for Chicharon. I’ll make sure they both behave otherwise they’ll both end up like Barbi and get eaten by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. No wonder they play wonderful music.

PS. To the PPO, I love you guys! I hope to have fun moments with you again. I cannot forgive what you did to Barbi though.

Some people may wonder. What’s with the name? Why Buhay Baboy travels? Whats with all the fuzz and the hype about pigs and how they live their life? Is there any good explaination to this? To answer all the questions, I will be telling you the story on how this blog came to existence together with everything else you need to know.

I was having dinner one dark and cold night while multitasking by chatting with friends, doing posts in FB and checking my dusty Multiply account when I heard the house bell ring. Ok, I didn’t hear the bell ring since we don’t have one. It was more the banging sound of the gates. When I got out, I was delighted with that I saw. A basket with two pigs wrapped in swaddling clothes. The voices in my head were shouting.. Wow, Porkchop!

I quickly picked up the basket, looked left and right, and hurried inside the house making sure whoever left the basket didn’t return to reclaim his pigs.

Upon getting inside. I found a note written on a piece of tissue, and I thought to myself – “Whoever left this has serious issues”. The note said: WARNING: Do Not Eat. Not Edible.

My hopes and dreams shattered. I lost direction. What will I do? Should I return them or should I keep those babies until they’re old enough to sell the meat house where no ones knows they’re not edible?

I came to a decision to go back out with the basket and leave the pigs outside in the cold. My heart was melting seeing the poor pigs outside and not being able to have them for breakfast because they were not edible

I went back inside the house feeling miserable. I peeked through the window and watched whether that crazy person who left the note would take the pigs back.

When I woke up the next morning. The pigs were gone.

(asdjap  oadopajdj awojaoja foajj soaodjw jofjowjt)

(Ok ok, that wasnt the real story. Alright this is difficult. People may think I have a soft heart.)

Sorry about the garbled stuff. Chops (short for Porkchop) here wants to tell me the real ending. He complains a lot so you would have to forgive him. I haven’t taught them how to write English but they already understand some of it.

So the swine I left outside were

(eoioeiroei oioekkgkg oink oink)

(What?)

(sjskjdksdd wowowkkgh sskks oink osodkk)

(Alright, alright, I stand corrected)

Apparently, they don’t like being called “swine”. Its a pig thing I guess. Now they think I’m racist.

Back to the story. I went out feeling pitiful for the pigs and so took them in. Since I couldn’t eat them, I decided to take them as slaves assistants. I figured I didn’t have to pay them since I’ll be allowing them to travel with me wherever I go and they stay at my house anyway. Plus, I could use some help with all the stuff I bring whenever I travel, and they could blog for me whenever I’m too lazy to do so.

We signed contracts; me with my signature and them with their paws, hoofs, or whatever you call them. We put up this blog because they prodded me to do so. Apparently they like writing and having some sort of outlet. They know quite a few pigs who have blogs so when I finally said yes, they were ecstatic. I keep my regular photography blog called Travel Learn Shoot! at http://karlodl.blogspot.com. So this one is for the piggies.

They thought of www.buhaybaboytravels.com without my knowledge. They called up a friend of mine and forced him to get the domain name. My poor friend. It was probably Barbi (short for Barbecue) who thought of the idea. She gets away with everything. She probably used her charms again. Good thing the pigs are on my side.

Buhay Baboy Travels is intended to be an awesome blog. Filled with insights from two of the best traveling pigs in the world. The content here will range from travel stories to travel reviews, amenities check to just about anything travel.

There you go folks. We hope to see you here often.

(Adjasdl skskeld dldldld gkjgkjgjkg eoojldsked)

Ummm ok. Before ending this post, Chops wants to greet Nina of www.justwandering.org and Barbi wants to thank Melo of www.outoftownblog.com for all the love and inspiration. (What else?) Oh, and hello to all Lakbay Norte travel people. My pigs miss you guys.

Go Carting in Benguet (Photos courtesy of Estan Cabigas)

For some, it may mean being back in a desk full of paper work. For others, especially those like me with nomadic tendencies and no schedule for the next day, it means a few more hours of sleep that sometimes gets out of hand causing your head to hurt because of overslumber.

Whether you are leaving on vacation, for work, or both, traveling will have its trade-offs. (1) It requires you to think – something you’ve already been doing in front of your desk. (2) It requires you to eat – something you’re cutting down on because of misproportions of your figure due to stress related activites (3) It requires you to move around – something that most people would rather not do either because of sheer timidity or overfatigue due to work pressure, and (4), it requires you to enjoy – something you couldnt experience when you realize your savings are going down the drain.

Sand Boarding in La Paz, Ilocos Norte

Traveling has benefits too. (1) You get to see that life doesn’t have to be so complicated (2) You get to realize that no matter where you go or what you do, respect is of utmost importance. (3). You get to understand that people are different and relationships are important, and (4) You get to see those nice places, eat those yummy delightful dishes and desserts, learn those cool languages, sleep in those comfy hotel beds, and let everyone know that you’ve been there and they haven’t.

And so whenever you feel like going on a trip and leaving your day job wishing you were out there somewhere, remember that “Traveling is Stressful”! If you’re ok with that, then ill probably see you somewhere, whenever.

Photo Courtesy of Estan Cabigas and Melo Villareal

Manor Hotel Baguio Dap-ayan Fireplace. Photo by Izah Morales

Even if writing rejects my very purpose of existence, I’ll write anyway. Oh, include typing to a certain extent. I get mental blocks sometimes when I’m in front of the computer. Perhaps they should hurry with improving those voice recognition software so that you don’t really need your hands to type anything anymore. This also means I don’t have to face this bright LCD that makes my eyes irritated when I’ve been staring for hours. Yes, I’m ranting.

Is The Sleepy Traveler an appropriate name for a blog like this? The blog existed around 5 years ago, before the Philippine Blog Awards ever came to play. It was nominated once for Best Photo Blog but never got the chance to get into the light. Perhaps I was too was caught up with other more important things. Like traveling, blogging can be a stressful thing too. Now that its back from hybernation, the blog is back to disturb the world.

And so The Sleepy Traveler exists, not as a photoblog, but as an advocacy that will either influence, tickle, or even tick your senses. The Sleepy Traveler is a travel blog of a boring, uneventful, unadventurous, and somewhat stressful, life of a travel blogger.

Anyhow, I’d like to thank everyone who will (1) put up with this blog (2) will still consider me as a friend even after reading all or any of the posts here (3) understand that the very purpose of this blog is to make people love what they do and appreciate what they have by seeing how miserable other people’s work can get – like mine, and (4) realize that any sarcasm you see here is really just for the fun, nothing personal, just plain fun. So please take no offense

So anyway, back to my boring, uneventful, unadventurous, and somewhat stressful life.

What’s up with me, you may ask? Nothing much. I have had the longest week in 2 years now. Not that I count. I don’t like math. But I guess if you’re part of a media tour for 7 full days, you have got to be prepared specially if it’s all expenses paid.

Its hard since you really don’t have a choice but to follow the set itinerary. If you don’t, you either get left behind, or worse, you get banned from joining any of these media trips in the future.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate being on this trip, its just that I am on a diet and that made it really difficult. I’m planning to lose 30lbs in 12 weeks and am currently on my third week. Two things were on the way. First is the fact that we brought home at least 12 bags of goodies and its mostly filled with food. Second is that I had to restrain myself with all the food choices during the trip. I had to make sure I’d eat only what’s enough – thus the difficulty.

Let me give you an example:

We were in Baguio last Thursday evening for the fourth leg of our tour by NPVB (For the record, NPVB did a great job with this tour even with the tight schedule). We arrived quite late which was before 8pm since we came from surfing in La Union. We were even too exhausted enough that it took an estimated 15-minutes delay just to get everyone board the bus. Now, Baguio’s weather was cold but wasn’t freezing cold (unlike our bus which I appreciate at times). Apparently, we were having dinner at the Manor Hotel. It was an outdoor dinner prepared for us by Chef Billy King courtesy of the Baguio CVB and LGU. I am thankful because I was famished, but I didn’t expect to be presented with a variety of Japanese, Korean, and Continental dishes all in one sitting.. or make that two since I had two rounds of servings but just enough to keep me full.

Alright, here comes the sad part. I’m done and all and I remember something – dessert. I forgot that there was dessert. In fact, there were a number of desserts laid quietly down the dessert table each of them calling my name from afar as if begging me to approach and partake. I could not resist, it was a table full of strawberries and fruits! What do I do? Will I break my diet? Should I just take one and leave the rest? It was a choice between chocolate cake with strawberry slices, strawberry fondue, creme brulee (which I hardly remember if it was in this dinner or was it the next day), an assortment of fruits, and some strawberry flambe with whipped and ice cream on it. I was stressed just looking at them and not knowing what to pick. Why does life have to be so hard?

Eventually I got one of each. I felt really guilty afterward because I enjoyed every single one of them. With my stomach full and the air starting to give me chills, I went round the fireplace where a few of us started to gather. I noticed there weren’t any fire extinguishers around. Hmmm. I guess it’s ok since it didn’t seem as though any of us will catch fire trying to do jump shots over the flames.

Before the night was over, I approached Chef Billy King and told him this.. “You made me break my diet”. True Story.

So that’s really just a glimpse of the 7-day North Luzon trip that we had. I’ll tell you more about it when I feel like it.