La Union Soul Surf 2013 feat. RAC, Classixx and Crazy/Beautiful Friends

Had an epic weekend with friends in La Union for Soul Surf 2013! I really wanted to go because of Classixx and RAC, and they were awesome (although I'm still really bummed Classixx didn't play "I'll Get You", like what's up with that?!), but really, the best part of the trip was spending a few days with great friends I’ve missed. Hilarious and random conversations on the road for 5+ hours each way, and of course, all the partying! Was it 7 hours straight? Everyone just kept at it for that long because you know, yolo. Haha.

Anyway, I’m cutting this post short because it’s late, I’m still not over the weekend that was, and I’m still trying to bring my blogging chops back from a month of not posting anything. I’ll be trying to churn out more posts over the long weekend, get my blogging groove back. For now I leave you with pictures.

Were you in La Union over the weekend? How was your experience? Hope you had a blast!

Thanks to Captain Morgan Philippines and Smirnoff Philippines for a great party!

 

Wise Words To Live By At The Circle Hostel La Union, Philippines

A few months back, I spent a great weekend at The Circle Hostel La Union and loved its cool, creative, laidback vibe. It's a great place to visit if you want to quickly escape from the city and to meet fellow travelers and new friends.

At The Circle Hostel, guests are free to paint and write on almost every surface available within the hostel. I took photos of the ones I liked, and you'll find them below (one of them I even wrote myself! Guess which one it is).

Do you ever feel compelled to leave a piece of yourself behind in the places you travel to? 

Dirty White Jazz: RAC and Classixx! (A La Union Soul Surf Playlist)

photo credit

I drive a white Honda Jazz that unfortunately I don't get to take to the car wash as often as I should. I do, however, love taking it on relaxed long drives, often on my own, with a lot of good music to keep me company - hence the title of this series of posts. I love music of all kinds, and love putting them together in playlists that help me build memories. Often I associate a song or a series of songs to a certain trip or a specific moment from that trip, kind of like a soundtrack to a movie. In these posts I will be sharing the music that I listen to during my travels, from all-time faves to newfound loves and one hit wonder flings. In some of these posts you'll find a download link to the entire mixtape for your own listening pleasure. I would also love to hear your music recommendations - I'm always on the hunt for new songs to listen to when I travel!  

I've consistently loaded my previous playlists with songs from RAC and Classixx, and this time around, because they're headlining La Union Soul Surf in October, I'm dedicating an entire playlist just for their music! It was difficult keeping this one to twenty some tracks because they have so many amazing songs, so I highly recommend you check out their SoundCloud pages (here for RAC and here for Classixx), because there's plenty more where this playlist came from. Enjoy!

Where to Eat in San Juan, La Union, Philippines

Planning a surf trip to San Juan, La Union? Getting stoked requires a lot of energy, and thankfully there are plenty of food places to check out in and around San Juan. The awesome guys at The Circle Hostel La Union invited a group of travel bloggers including myself to stay in their eco-friendly accommodations for a weekend and kindly took us to three great places to eat around the area. Check out Urbiztondo Grill House, Kahuna Resort, and Thunderbird Resort below!

A Weekend Well Spent at The Circle Hostel La Union

Summer was ending, it was the first weekend of June and I was starting to get busy with my new job when I found myself spending a weekend with strangers-turned-friends at The Circle Hostel in La Union for a much needed break from the city. I had been meaning to check out their first hostel in Zambales but hadn't found the time to do so, so I was more than thrilled to be part of the blogger event they organized for their new branch in La Union.

It was a swell weekend to say the least (pun intended, though there were actually no waves and we weren't able to surf when we were there). My corporate sellout self badly needed the break - the fresh air, the afternoon spent hanging out in the common area talking about random things while listening to Jason Mraz and eating green mangoes freshly plucked from a nearby tree, the random drinking games, the night spent by the beach lying down on the sand looking out for shooting stars, and the chance at meeting new and interesting people. I had been to La Union more than a couple of times prior, but it felt like a new place all over again mostly because of the people I got to hang out with that weekend. The coolest thing was realizing how small Manila is - at The Circle Hostel I spent time with people I had either met before (I was even in a meeting with one of the guys once! Hello Jake! How random is that?) or had random common friends with.  

There's just something about The Circle Hostel that makes it conducive to making new friends. I'm not usually the chatty-chatty type (really, I'm not!) with strangers but during our weekend  in La Union, apart from the bloggers I went with, we also met the guys from GoodLifeCrewPH, and all it took was a few questions about their GoPro gadgets (and they sure had a lot of them gadgets!) and an offer of green mango slices. Two of them, after leaving their jobs in Singapore, are setting out on a journey across the Philippines and documenting their trip with their GoPro cameras. How cool is that? Theirs was just one of the many inspiring stories I heard that weekend about stepping out of ordinary routines and stepping into extraordinary, exciting lives.   

If you're looking for a quick weekend getaway and can't find any friends to take with you, book a bed in The Circle Hostel Zambales or La Union - you would've set out on your own but you'll definitely come back with at least a few friends!

Dirty White Jazz: Summer is a State of Mind

I drive a white Honda Jazz that unfortunately I don't get to take to the car wash as often as I should. I do, however, love taking it on relaxed long drives, often on my own, with a lot of good music to keep me company - hence the title of this series of posts. I love music of all kinds, and love putting them together in playlists that help me build memories. Often I associate a song or a series of songs to a certain trip or a specific moment from that trip, kind of like a soundtrack to my own personal movie. In these posts I will be sharing the music that I listen to during my travels, from all-time faves to newfound loves and one hit wonder flings. In a lot of these posts you'll find a download link to the entire mixtape for your own listening pleasure. I would also love to hear your music recommendations - I'm always on the hunt for new songs to play when I travel!  


The summer is nearly over and I'll bid it goodbye with two weekend beach trips. I'm excited! I suspect the next few months will be crazy busy, so some summer quiet before the storm would be much appreciated. And what's a summer beach trip without the right music? Thought I'd share the songs that have kept me company throughout summer this year (I didn't have time to make a mixtape, I'm sorry!). What were your songs from the summer?

San Juan Bloggers' Weekend at The Circle Hostel!

 

It's only the middle of the week but already I'm looking forward to the weekend, because I’ll be spending it at The Circle Hostel La Union with a group of amazing travel bloggers. I’m so excited! I’ll be posting about it soon, watch out for it! Anybody else hoping to catch some waves/sun/sand/good vibes in LU this weekend? See you there! :)

Snapshots: On The Road Back to Manila from Surfing

 

It's been rainy all day, so this photo seems appropriate. I'm so tempted to put emo song lyrics in it and post it on Tumblr. It's that kind of picture. 

Snapshots: The Little Red Tricycle, San Juan, La Union

I'm gonna miss spending weekends in San Juan, La Union - the surf season is over, and waves will be hard to come by in La Union in the coming months, so we won't be back there for a while. We will check out Baler later in the month, though. Wish us luck!

Snapshots: Good Vibes Photo, La Union, Philippines

This is probably one of the worst Mondays of the year, solely based on the fact that it's wedged between the weekend and a holiday - tomorrow is Labor Day in the Philippines, so there is no work for us corporate slaves! It can't seem to come soon enough though, and today is going to be a long, long trudge at the office. 

Seeing as today is such a difficult day for office drones like me, I thought I'd share a photo that will inspire some good vibes - this was taken in La Union from the FLOW SurfYogaSamba weekend I attended last November, when good times and good vibes were had by all. It was the weekend getaway that got me into surfing - and now I'm hooked. I had just come from La Union over the weekend, so you can imagine that today is especially brutal for me. Looking at this picture makes me feel a little better though - I am loving that orange glow. 

 A few more hours until the holiday! And a few more days until Laos for me. I can't wait!

Snapshots: En Route to La Union

On account of the sort-of long weekend, the bus station was overflowing with people who had been waiting for six hours and had yet to get a ticket for their destination. So we decided to take Mark's car to La Union! We're here now, chilling for now, but hoping to catch some waves in the afternoon. Here's to a happy weekend!

Snapshots: Early Morning in San Juan, La Union, Philippines

After an overnight bus ride, this is our reward.

While some might find six-hour bus rides tedious and exhausting, I quite like them. There's a certain kind of serenity to be found when being in transit, in that place between one's place of departure and destination. Also, nice shoelaces, Steph!

Snapshots: Life's a Beach in San Juan, La Union, Philippines

I still can't get over our awesome weekend spent in San Juan, La Union. There were hardly any waves on the first day but we were able to surf on Sunday, which was so much fun and made the overnight bus ride from Manila worth it! When we weren't surfing or frolicking in the water, we were playing Monopoly Deal and Cluedo, eating (a lot!), and just hanging out at the resort. On Saturday night we stayed out late by the beach, laid out on the sand and spent the night looking up at the sky waiting for shooting stars, engrossed in conversation. There couldn't have been a better way to spend a weekend away from the city after a long week at work.

Snapshots: La Union, Philippines

Five days to the first long weekend of the year! Have you made any plans yet? Why don't you give surfing a try in La Union? It's only a few hours away from Manila, perfect for a long weekend roadtrip with friends.

I'm writing up a guide to this year's long weekends, with trip suggestions and loads of pictures, wait for it in the coming days!