PKP: Aurora RoadTrip – Mobile Edition

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Ok, so you have four idiots who want a roadtrip, a Hyundai Getz (digs?), and two JPEG images of Nueva Ecija and Aurora maps as your guide. What do you get? A stressful but really enjoyable venture into the unknown.

The PKP team decided to go to Aurora province in Eastern Philippines for their first trip of the year. No one really knew how to get there, no reservations were made for the accommodation, and no one has a slight idea on what to expect on the trip. The only thing we knew is that we wanted to go to Aurora with Lily (the Getz).

After meeting somewhere in Quezon City, we started our adventure by going to the North Luzon Expressway and the SCTEX. We left the expressway at La Paz, Tarlac and then proceeded eastward towards Nueva Ecija. At lunchtime we arrived at Cabanatuan City and ate at one of the restaurants along the National Road. Frankly the meals they offered were not delicious.

Moving on, we were deliberating whether we will go to the Pantabangan Dam or not in northern Nueva Ecija, but in the end we decided not to go in order to save time and to ensure that we arrive at Aurora before nighttime. Since we are not going to the dam, we headed towards Palayan (the capital) to take the Bongabon route towards Aurora.

But as we drove our way through Nueva Ecija, we noticed that we are headed towards the town of Talavera! The path we are taking is opposite the path towards Palayan. But since Cabanatuan is already far behind, we decided to push through and proceed to the northern route towards Aurora, via Pantabangan town.

We stopped somewhere in Pantabangan, ate some local isaw, and then continued our journey. The dam area is visible but we decided not to go there because we may not have much time.

After hours of driving and after passing through a one way road above a dam, we finally reached Aurora province. It is already getting dark and the cool breeze is starting to chill us so after some picture taking, we continued on towards Baler, where we will spend the night.

The roads in Aurora near the border to the other provinces are really rough. They are not made of cement/asphalt but it looked like someone just dumped small rocks and clay and then they called it a road. Lily, the faithful and still reliable Getz had a hard time navigating through rough terrain and uphill slopes. Really, we should have brought a 4x4 vehicle. It will make things much easier.

At 7 pm, we are still driving in the rough road. The road passes through the Sierra Madre mountain range so it is full of zig-zag turns. At around 7:30 pm we finally arrived at the town of Maria Aurora, where we asked for directions on how to get to Baler. Luckily, from Maria Aurora, the road is already paved so the drive went smoothly.

After arriving at Baler, we refueled and then asked for directions on where we can spend the night. They pointed us to Bay's Inn resort, located just in front of the beach. Perfect. It was already dark so we just ate our dinner at the resort, drank 3 liters of Red Horse and then went to sleep. I was surprised that the food there is quite cheap compared to other resorts I have been to.

The next morning, the view of the beach is really tempting. There are many surfers who enjoyed the waves. That was the first time I saw the Pacific Ocean from a beachfront.

After eating our breakfast, we decided to try surfing. No one really knew how to do it, but the surfers looked like they were really enjoying themselves so why not give it a try? We rented two surfboards for 200 Php/hour each. Cheaper compared to the surf boards in Zambales. And the waves here are really nice too. Sweet.

Normally, you would want to hire an instructor if you still do not know how to surf. But we decided to do it the PKP way by doing it ourselves. In short, nag urag-uragunan lang.

The waves are really violent, and I mostly found myself being tossed under the water. I had a hard time positioning the board because the waves keep on coming and coming. If a wave crashed on you and you are still recovering another will surely come and hit you again. Luckily the water is quite shallow else I would have drowned then. A tiring but definitely fun experience.

At around lunchtime we checked out of the resort, and headed back home. Since we do not want to experience the rough road to Pantabangan, we headed towards the Bongabon route instead, hoping that the roads there are better.

We were wrong. For me, it was worse than the Pantabangan route. Not only is the road rough, but it is also very narrow, and the side that we are driving is the side where the cliff is! One wrong move and we will plunge in the forests below. Cool. The town of Bongabon is 77 kilometers away, not that far, but that is if you are not driving at 20kph.

After some rough experience in the road, we were greeted by a broken bridge! WTF, a dead end?

We asked a local who is passing by and he said that we can use the makeshift wooden bridge to cross the stream. Nice. We got out of the vehicle to make it lighter or else we risk breaking the wooden bridge.

I was wondering what the hell happened to this bridge. It looked like it was bombed or something. Which reminded me, there are numerous reports of the New People's Army operating at Aurora province.

The wooden bridge looked tough anyway, and Lily made it to the other side safe and sound.

If the bridge collapsed and we wrecked the car, I have no idea how we are going to go back home in Manila. This place is very remote and there are only a few trucks going through this road. My guess is the trucks are not passing through the wooden bridge but they cross the stream directly.

After we made it to the other side, we moved on. But since the road is really f***ed up, our navigator had to sometimes guide the car or else we risk being stuck in the mud or falling in the cliff.

It was already dark and we are still driving in the mountain pass. There were no electric posts guiding our way, but only the sound of insects and the rustling of leaves at night. There were a few houses then and there, and I was amazed at how they were living their lives in this remote area without electricity. We passed by a DENR checkpoint, they pointed their flashlight at us and let us pass. Maybe they were there to report any illegal logging activities happening in Aurora.

After about 5 hours of navigating the rough mountain pass, we finally arrived at Bongabon. From there, the road is paved again so going back to Cabanatuan did not pose much of a problem. Our navigator instructed our driver on how to drive in a provincial highway at night. Cool.

9 pm. We finally arrived at Cabanatuan City and had our dinner.

Throughout the trip Lily was really reliable even though there were several accidents, like hitting the bottom of the car at a parking lot, hitting it again in the rough road, driving while the hand brake is still on, and others. We were lucky we were not involved in a major accident while driving, especially since we are only using a small car.

It was already midnight when we arrived at Manila and got back home. My entire body is aching the next day and I had a fever after that, but all in all, the trip is really rewarding.

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end - Ernest Hemingway