Hello Hivers! This is me again, Jonahlyn. I’m back once again to share with you my travel escapade in one of the most serene and cozy places I have traveled to. Welcome to the town of Baler!
The town of Baler is located in the province of Aurora which is situated on the eastern side of Luzon Island. It is renowned for its beaches which are famous for its surfing culture. It also features the Sierra Madre Mountains with beautiful hidden waterfalls in its vicinity. This town boasts a wonderful & relaxing vibe perfect for a peaceful getaway near Manila.
It was way back 2019 when I went to visit Baler, Aurora and it is memorable to me because it is my first out of town trip. It was a 2 day DIY travel with my friends and I really find it satisfying because I had maximized my time to visit each tourist spots. For this blog, I will share with you the places we’ve been to during the first day of our travel.
We rode a bus from Cubao going to Baler and it took several hours of land travel before we reach our destination. It was dawn when we arrived and we first took our breakfast and since it is a DIY travel, we rented a tricycle to serve as our service vehicle in strolling around Baler.
The driver of the tricycle we rented also served as the tour guide in our adventure, and he helped us to have a wonderful day in exploring the beauty of Baler.
The first stop in our Baler escapade is Diguisit beach located east of the town center of Baler, the first thing that we noticed here is that the place is not crowded, and we really enjoyed our time here because of the serene ambiance it gave us. We took some photos of the beach and the Aniao Islet which is also located here.
The next stop is the Diguisit falls which is just a few minutes away from the beach. The falls is a bit miniature in size compared to other falls. We spend time there relaxing as we can hear the sound of the water splashing to the mountain slopes.
Afterwards, we then went to Ermita Hill, a man-made park that can give you an awesome view of the Baler Bay. The strolling within the park was really relaxing and peaceful. You can hear the sound of wind blowing on the trees and cicadas buzzing as you enjoy the view of the landscape.
Then after a short ride again, we went to the Baler Hanging Bridge. We are made to cross the bridge to experience the strong breeze across the river. Although it was a small bridge, I was really frightened during the traverse as I was afraid of heights and also, I am afraid of what will happen if I fell down in that bridge. I’m a bit proud of myself for conquering my fear here. We took some photos after, look at me as if I was not afraid here. Hahaha 🤣
After crossing the Hanging Bridge, we then took a long ride and went to Ditumabo Mother Falls. We strolled for about 30 minutes to reach the waterfalls, what we observed here is that there were more tourist here than the other places in Baler; I can say that it was really beautiful to see in person. My camera here is not good so it may look a little blurred.
We stayed there a bit longer because we took a dip there and do some pictorials for our travel memories. The ambiance is so relaxing we couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of nature as we bathed on its cold waters and listen to the sound of nature.
A few moments after, we visited the Millennium Tree which is a balete tree that is said to be one of the oldest trees in Asia. It was a huge tree with many vines and thick foliage which attests to its old age. Since it is a balete tree, I usually associated it with mystical creatures like kapre, tikbalang and white lady. It was a bit creepy when I saw the tree; I tried to enter inside as it has an opening, but I felt unusual and scared when I looked up, maybe because of the mystical vibes I perceived in it.
Last but not the least is the Baler Museum which is the home of different arts, crafts and history of the Baler, Aurora, what I really liked about visiting museums is that I always feel that I’m traveling back to its origin and will know how the place started, its history and how it looks like years ago. I was also impressed about the artists on how they created their paintings and sculptures before where technology is very limited.
After a whole day of traveling, we then proceed to our lodging house where we took our rest.
It was really an awesome experience all in one day; I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. If you also been to Baler, Aurora, I would also like to hear from you your memorable experiences here. That’s it for this blog. Thank you for your support and see you again soon!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Do you feel the heebie jeebies sa Balete tree? I do have a thing for trees where I feel that they are somehow "guarded" by mystical creatures. Not all of them, pero there are those that really leave the goosebumps!
It seems ang dami mong adventures in this trip. Beautiful pictures too! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thank you @janwrites , yes I really felt the goosebumps too. It was actually the first time I felt scared of a tree during day time 😂