Pasyal at Pahinga

How does drive to a beach and get to a camp there? I didn't know how until we experienced it for the first time in Liw-liwa beach in Zambales over the People Power long weekend.  It was fortunate that my husband met Sir Robert, himself a Jeep owner who runs Zamba Kuta , a resort in Liw-liwa beach. All the resorts in the area were already fully booked so our only option was to camp on the beach and Sir Robert was kind enough to make all the necessary arrangements for us. The drive to Liw-liwa beach felt like finding a secret location.  It involved an hour's drive past Subic, through the towns of Castillejos, San Marcelino, and San Narciso, and right before the San Felipe arch, just after crossing a bridge that spans the Sto. Tomas river, we had to take a hairpin turn to access a narrow road that looks more like a dike.  There are no lamp posts, or fences, or shoulders, or any of the usual features of a regular road, just a straight path with nothing and noone, just the vas...

When my husband joined Jeepers (fellow Jeep owners) for a ride to Zambales last weekend, he found out about the possibility of overlanding in Liw-liwa beach -  a gorgeous stretch of sand that is wide and long - a great location for beach camping.    There are many resorts in Liw-liwa, and many of them offer camping accommodations (tents), but a bit away from the crowd, we had the opportunity to set-up our Jeep for a chance to sleep between sand and stars and wake up to a gorgeous view of the West Philippine Sea. We arranged for the relevant fees (entrance fee, environmental fee, pitching fee/pax) and rented an ATV from a local resort (see a related post where I provide info and pics on Zamba Kuta Resort ).  We were able to access the resort's bathroom and they arranged a Korean BBQ for one of our dinner's, but for the rest of our meals we cooked our own food.  The resorts in the area were all fully booked this long weekend, so we didn't have a choice but to slee...