2026 Trip - Day 144: Another Day in San Juan and Finding Out About the Balkans

Today is my third day in the hostel. I want to leave here San Juan. I want to leave the Philippines.

I did not do anything interesting today. Not sure whether it is even worth writing today. I only went out to get some food during the day.

I went out for breakfast and found a shop selling empanadas. The cheapest one was 75 pesos with chicken meat. I tried bargaining with him, and he agreed to sell me one without any meat for 50 pesos. I was happy. Even though I only paid 45 pesos yesterday to another hawker about an hour's walk away.

50 Pesos vegetarian cheese Espanada

I also got myself some nice street hawker food, and I was very happy about it. It was cheap. Kikiam and fish balls. The kikiam was 2 pesos each, and the fish balls were 1 peso each. I got myself 5 kikiam and 5 fish balls for a total of only 15 pesos. Later, I went back for a second order and got exactly the same thing. It was delicious and cheap!

All for 15 Pesos

Delicious and cheap hawker food

38 Pesos my favorite chocolate drink for 7-eleven

I spent all day in the hostel figuring out which country to go to next.

I wrote down all the countries I've been to, and I did not want to go back to the same countries. I also wanted to avoid any country that's hot.

I have had enough of the heat. I have experienced so much summer, warm weather, and heat waves since the start of my travel.

My Hostel and my bed at the bottom

The only countries that are cold during the months of July until September are countries I cannot afford or places I've already been to, like New Zealand.

Finally, in the end, I chose the Balkans. I decided I might go via China and stay there for a month since I enjoyed China very much and my friend has an apartment. She recently found a job and is going to get an apartment of her own, and I am so excited for her. We had such a great time travelling around China last time, and I thought it would be great to see her again before heading to the Balkans, especially since China is between the Philippines and the Balkans.

We had a chat in the evening, and I am waiting for her to sign the contract on Saturday just to make sure she is really getting the apartment before I buy my ticket to go there.

In the evening, I had instant noodles and toast with peanut butter and butter.

Today spending:

Accomodation: 510 Pesos
Chocolate drink from 7 eleven: 38 Pesos
Espanada: 50 Pesos
Kikiam and fishball: 30 Pesos

Instant Noodle: 27 Pesos

Total: 655 Pesos

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2026 Trip - Day 143: Beach and Empanada

Today was another day in the The Philippines, and my 16th day in the country.

I woke up feeling incredibly tired. The bed was so comfortable, and I had the fan pointed directly at me, which made it even harder to get up. The dorm has six beds, but at the moment it's just me and one local staying here, so it's nice and quiet.

Eventually, I dragged myself out of bed because I was craving one of those chicken BBQ buns from 7 Eleven. While I was out, I also looked around for somewhere cheaper to stay. The place I'm in now feels a bit expensive, so I checked out Circle Hostel, but surprisingly it was even more expensive. That made absolutely no sense to pay so much for a bed.

In the end, I went back to my current hostel and tried negotiating the price. The local guy staying in my dorm encouraged me to ask because he had also managed to get a discount after staying there for several days. Luckily, it worked, and I got the rate down to 510 pesos for tonight. Yesterday I paid 571.81 pesos (about AUD 13.26), so it wasn't a huge saving, but I'll take every little win I can get.

My hostel in San Juan

Honestly, I didn't feel like going anywhere for most of the day. It was just too hot. I spent hours lying on the bed with my laptop, trying to figure out where I should go after the Philippines. One thing I'm sure about is that I'm ready to leave. I've had a good look around, but I don't really want to stay any longer.

Around 5:00 p.m., the other guest in my room came back from work. We decided to head to the beach at 5:30 to catch the sunset.

The beach was full of locals enjoying the evening. The waves were surprisingly strong, and there were quite a few dogs running around. Unfortunately, some owners didn't bother cleaning up after their pets, which completely put me off relaxing on the sand.

We chatted for a while. He's a barista supervisor and trainer who is here for work and will be leaving in a few days. He told me a bit about the local economy, the average salaries, and how expensive everyday life can be for many Filipinos. It was interesting to hear his perspective and gave me a better understanding of what life is like for people living here.

After that, we wandered over to the night market. It was much smaller than I expected, with only five or six street food stalls, but it was enough. I spotted a stall selling empanadas. I always thought of empanada as a Spanish snack, but they have their own Filipino version here too.

Filipino Empanada

Deep fried empanada

Just a few stalls but enough

I ordered one for 45 pesos, and it was absolutely delicious. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a second one to take back to the hostel for later.

We walked back after dinner, and I spent the rest of the evening lying on my bed, laptop open, still trying to figure out where my next destination should be.

Today spending:

Accomodation: 510 Pesos
Chicken Bun from 7 eleven: 52 Pesos
Espanada: 45 x 2= 90 Pesos
Soft Drink: 45 Pesos

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2026 Trip - Day 142: Off to San Juan, La Union

In the morning while I was lying on my bed, and I knew I couldn't stay in Manila another day. I was sick of this place. I wanted to leave, and I was completely tired of it. I'd been here for two weeks now, and honestly, I think coming here was one of the worst decisions I've made. I don't enjoy the food that much since it's mostly full of meat, and the city is way too crowded, packed, and kind of dirty.

I decided to leave Manila. After about an hour of research, I chose San Juan, La Union, Philippines. Honestly, anywhere was fine as long as it got me away from this city. San Juan is about a five to six hour bus ride away, and it was already almost 9 a.m.

I decided to take a Grab to the Partas Bus Terminal in Pasay because I had no idea what time the buses were leaving, and I didn't want to risk missing an early one just in case. It honestly killed me to spend that much money when I could have saved a lot by taking the jeepney and the MRT. But the thought of dragging my backpack onto a crowded jeepney was enough to make me give up on that idea. The Grab cost 137 pesos. It probably would've cost me less than 30 pesos if I'd taken the jeepney and MRT instead. This was killing me.

Once I got there at around 11:20 a.m., I was pissed. The bus wasn't leaving until 1 p.m., and the ticket from Manila to San Juan cost 708 pesos. I wanted to die. My wallet was crying.

Since I had time to kill, I walked to the nearest 7 Eleven to buy my favorite BBQ chicken bun. It normally costs 39 pesos, but it was sold out. The only one left was the premium version for 52 pesos, so I had no choice but to buy it. I felt like I was spending way more money than I should today because of poor planning.

I bought the damn expensive bun and a chocolate drink for 42 pesos, then sat inside 7 Eleven trying to enjoy the air conditioning before heading back to the bus terminal. I managed to stay there until around noon before making my way back to bus terminal.

Partas Bus Terminal in Pasay

I was seated in Row 2 on the bus next to a local man. He was incredibly kind and lent me his hotspot because I needed internet to book my accommodation. We chatted for a bit, and he told me he'd been living and working in Taiwan for almost 15 years, including throughout COVID. He said he really enjoyed living there.

Bus Ticket Manila to San Juan

I managed to get a little sleep on the bus, but some moron decided to play videos on their phone at maximum volume.

When we finally arrived, I was the second last person to get dropped off. The local guy sitting next to me had already gotten off earlier, but he had a scooter. After he was dropped off, he actually rode over to where I was getting off just to make sure I could find my hostel.

We walked about five minutes uphill to the hostel, but it took us almost an hour to finally check in because no one was there except one guest. By then it was already nighttime, and the local guy from the bus went to the street to talk to the neigbour to contact the hostel owner for me.

Later a local guy in my dorm cooked dinner and offered to share his meal with me. It was chicken with potatoes and rice.

Finally, after such a long and exhausting day, I was able to settle in.

Free meal from another guest in dorm

Today spending:

Bus Manila to San Juan: 708 Pesos
Accommodation: 570 Pesos (13.26Aud)
Premium Chicken Bun from 7 eleven: 52 Pesos
Chocolate drink: 36 Pesos
Macha cake: 60 Pesos
Chicken Rice: 90 Pesos
Instant noodle: 27 Pesos

Total: 1,543 pesos (approximately A$35.89)

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