Bolinao, Pangasinan
26 April 2010
My cousin Dang may be born and raised in Bolinao, but she didn't really traveled much and it may seemed funny that this will be her first time in Patar Beach, but it is true. When she asked me that we should just go to Patar Beach, my eyes lit up because I haven't been there, so from Rock Garden Resort, we took the tricycle to Patar Beach.
It was a very long ride, to the point that my cousin and I were starting to fear the driver might be taking us to a different place, but turned out the public beach was the last place from the heart of the town.
Our Cottage. We ended up choosing this cottage. There weren't much people that time, and the owner didn't come to us instantly, so at first we thought the cottage was for free. We didn't bring a lot of foods, but cousin Dang did pack some lunch and we bought a bottle of Coke before coming here.
We didn't bring any extra clothes because we didn't plan to take a dip in the water as it was so hot. Well, one thing to know about my maternal family, they don't like to get dark! When I was a kid and I would stay with them for summer vacations, we would go to the beach wearing long sleeved shirts and jogging pants because they didn't want to get dark and they didn't want me to get dark either. As sad as it was, cousin and I just stayed in the cottage chit-chatting.
Beach. Around 2PM, I felt staying in the cottage wasn't a fun thing to do, so I walked around to take some pictures. As I have said, quite a few people this time, so the beach was a bit bare. The building on the far side was the Treasures of Bolinao resort, somewhere I want to visit the next time I go here.
Abandoned Hut. Maybe for the lifeguard? I don't know... but it was at a top of a hill.
Afternoon Dip. I did get to see some people enjoying the waters, and I really hoped I could take a dip as well.
Jumpy Jacks. There was this part of the beach with shallow water (maybe a river), and there was this bamboo bridge connecting the sea shore and the residential area. This part was a bit in the shade, so the kids enjoyed playing in the water by jumping off the bridge.
By 3PM, cousin asked for us to go back because she still wanted me to see one place before buying some goods for her little store. The cottage owner approached us and was asking us to pay p500 for using the cottage, but my cousin was so good in haggling, we ended up paying just p100, because we didn't really make a mess - we did eat there, but we left it clean.
The place was pretty, yes, but I just don't like it that it was freaking hot that day, that I wasn't able to roam as much as I wanted to. Maybe next time.
When we went to find a tricycle going back to the heart of the town, we were faced with a problem: there were no tricycles! People told us we should've hired a tricycle and asked the driver to wait for us because it was quite impossible to find one going back. One big lesson for us there. Well, it was our first time, so we really didn't know!
It's been more than an hour since we started waiting, and one group helped us. They hired three tricycles going there... and they decided to occupy just two (we felt guilty seeing them trying to fit themselves), so we can have the other tricycle. We couldn't stop thanking them... they were our angels that day.
By the way, tricycle fare from Bolinao Town Plaza to Patar Beach is p150 (same fare going back). Taking the lessons learned from this trip, I highly suggest you talk to a driver and ask for his services and just pay him extra for having to wait for you. Of course, part of hiring a tricycle driver is asking him to take you to different tourist spots in this side of the town.
*** Jenn ***
