Road-trip

I'd been wanting to get in the car and take a road-trip.  In August, we decided to head north for a few days of exploration.

Pamarta Hotel, Morong, Bataan

The first day took us through Olongapo, home of what used to be the US's largest overseas naval base, and then south to Morong, Bataan.  We found a nice new hotel on the beach, the Pamarta, and stayed there for the night.  Being mid week and off season, we were the only guests, but at almost $100, it seemed a bit pricey.  We wandered the beach, and I made use of the pool.  Not a whole lot to do there, but it was very pretty.  Morong is also home to the only nuclear power plant built in the country, but it never opened after protests and seismic fears in the 80's.  Apparently, it's quite a popular tourist attraction.

The next day took us north through the province of Zambales.  Although we traveled the coastal route, we rarely saw the ocean unless we made detours to the coastline.  Not what I expected after living with highway 1 in California all those years.  But the view of the rice fields and towns along the way was beautiful.  There were also a couple of lahars visible from the Mt Pinatubo eruption back in 91.  Remember that one?  It was one of the planet's largest eruptions that century and affected the weather worldwide for a year.  A day trip to Mt Pinatubo is another of our planned trips.

Bolinao Beach

We ended up the day in Bolinao, Pangasinan staying at the Punta Riveria on the beach.  The area and beach are very pretty, and we happened to be there at low tide when a very wide section of the coast was exposed.  It helped make for an interesting afternoon of beach combing.

On the third day, we headed to the Hundred Islands national park in Pangasinan.  Its a spectacular area dotted with small islands (124 actually at low tide).  Many of the islands are mushroom shaped from eons of tidal erosion.  We hired a small boat and guide in Alaminos for about $30 for the day.  He takes you wherever you want to go, or in our case since we had no idea, will take you to recommended spots.  It's about a 20 - 30 minute trip out to the islands, and then you can island hop around.  Many of the islands have small white sand beaches were you can swim, snorkel, picnic, or just sightsee.  Its definitely an area I'd like to go back to.

Hundred Islands

Hundred Islands

Good thing we took the trip when we did.  A couple days after returning, the area was hit with two typhoons causing lots of damage, mostly from the torrential rains.  More on that later.

 For more road-trip photos, CLICK HERE.