My First Real Surf Ride
You remember your first wave? For me it was in Baler.
Baler. It is believed to be the birthplace of surfing in the country.
A 5-hour drive to the North east side of the Pacific. Check out Genesis Bus Liners in Cubao, Quezon City for their bus schedules.
The best time to go there is during September to January as the locals said so. It’s Amihan season winds blowing from the Pacific bringing in 3-5foot waves great for beginners. It also has a long coastline so crowding in the line up won’t be a problem.
We went there with a couple of friends. We stayed a Ibu Quirejiro’s place a local artist/surfer.
As the waves were friendly that day we where off to the sea early in the morning.
They started to give us surf lessons on the beach then we’re off to the line up.
Kris, Ibu’s brother saw me having trouble catching my wave he ask me to just stay ready and he will give me a push as a set started rolling in. With him yelling “Uhmm, Ready set,set!” meaning there are a bunch of big waves coming. He gave me a push then I was off to stand. Bummed it three times but on the fourth try I finally caught one. The feeling of skating in the water was awesome.
Like silence..serenity.stillness.peace.
This is what most of the surfers describe it a personal experience. Amid all the chaos,the bright shirts and neon shorts,sponsors,the big time surfers this is what they are all after. It’s being at peace. The ability to be in tune with the power of the wave. It’s not about bragging rights it’s about stillness of the soul while your surfing.
I want more, I will surf more, as time and money permits.
More surf trips/videos coming soon.:)
K-PASSED. Skating with stray dogs and overtaking Hi-landers
- Downhill riding open road riding in KPASS, Pililia,Rizal (Left to Right) Jay Razon,Gyte Baldonado, Master Joel Jbels Belcina, Omeng the Author “aka K-Pass Virgin”, Coi de Guzman another virgin, A-Rise Cruz, the local manager skater, Yuri, Jelo Zetha
K-Passed!
Got to ride down Kilusan Pass a steep downhill road thru the mountain passages of Pililia, Rizal, it was truly awesome experience! Stoked!
“Virgins” as we are to this amazing winding road, with butterflies in the stomach we successfully bombed the hill and escaped it with no scratch. Thanks to our amazing Master Energyte Baldonado teaching us where to foot break and where to speed up and where to slow down.
One awesome road you surely have to ride down but certainly not for the newbies with the weak heart. A lot of cars, trucks and vans all speeding up the hill even overtaking your lane. What to do in this situation? Stay calm, stay in your lane and be ready to footbrake or slide if need be.
One of my favorite part of the road is the long straight then going to a medium hairpin into a another sweeping right if you do this right and stay on the fastest line you’ll surely speed up course to another straight.
After this part it’s all sweeping right turns to left at some turns you really need to sit on your board and layback to make your turn and won’t go to the other lane.
Road situations change in a blink of an eye, one second your speeding having the time of your life, wind blowing your face and long hair then on one corner comes 2 stray dogs chasing you trying to bite off a chunk of your leg. Jeeps beeps blow off their horns so you have to slow down a little and let them pass.
All in all safety was always the main concern, no major bails,no torned shirts, no ego bruised and we live to ride again! boom!gyud!:)
Knack for the Old School
How I miss to ride my brother’s old school rides! Old school Vespa and Volks Bug. Got so stoked riding at Commonwealth Avenue. Scotter and Buggy stoke!🙂
Ha Long Bay Vietnam
If you happen to go on a South East Asian backpacking adventure, don’t forget to put Ha Long Bay on your itinerary.
Rock formations are just like what we have here in Coron and El Nido Islands. It is a great testament to continental drift theory. The Philippines islands were once part of the mainland China then broke off thousands of years ago.
We went there for a Holy week back pack trip; bus hopping from Saigon then went from town to town visiting some of the ancient sites of Vietnam.
Ha Long Bay was definitely the highlight of the trip.
You can drink and meet people on the junk. They serve lunch and you can have beer on top of it to chill and to watch the beautiful rock formations.
You can meet people from all over. I met some from France and even local travelers. Here’s one: Dat Nguyen who is an IT specialist from Saigon. He said we were brave to have travelled by bus when they, the locals would rather take the plane.
Ha Long Bay is about an hour by bus to Hanoi which is the seat of power of this socialist country.
Live for Stoke!
Sunrise on top of Mt. Pulag,Benguet, Philippines. Renewed hope, another day to live, another day to do what you love the most! Got to live for stoke!
No pretensions! Live your passion! Love what you do! Do what you love!
And everything will follow. Got to live and learn.
The passion to do all the things I love started when I left my beloved company for 7 years. I got bored of waiting in line to get a promotion, working in front of a computer for hours and end got me fed and I was feeling all the neck pains and back pains or maybe it is just a lame excuse for me to resign I just don’t know.
Just let go and live for stoke!
iliveforstoke 