Exploration was the theme of our second day as we visit the sights of San Juan as well as the nearby city of San Fernando, the provincial capital. And I woke up early that day to visit a unique oddity…
First on my agenda for the day was a structure called Mebuyan’s Vessel. I honestly have never seen or even heard of it, but I noticed it as I was looking at Google Maps for nearby attractions. I was planning for my beach run and my direction would depend on where there might be more interesting spots. When I found it, I decided to see it first thing in the morning.
I have never seen anything like it. It looked like something from another planet. According to Emerging Islands, it is “an homage to the Bagobo goddess of the underworld” made by artist Leeroy New. I can only get to the first pod where the stairs lead and uncertain if it opens for visitors to get through. Nonetheless, it was a sight to visit.
After that quick glimpse, we had our breakfast at Kabsat which was practically beside Mebuyan’s Vessel. There were quite a lot of guests already early in the morning.
Afterwards, we dropped by another one of Elyu’s popular coffee shops, El Union Coffee. It’s crazy that there was already a long line to order so early in the morning. We just had some of their specialty drinks before we headed out to the city of San Fernando.
We went to San Fernando primarily to visit the San Fernando Cathedral (Cathedral of Saint William the Hermit).
After saying our prayers and gratitude, we head out to explore the city. There was a cute space being setup nearby that got our attention because of the way they used umbrellas as décor and shade.
We then went to the Pagoda Temple atop a nearby hill to have a different view of La Union.
We went back into the city in time for lunch and we decided to try Halo Halo de iLoko. They have a variety of dishes and some of our favorites are pictured below.
We took a jeepney to San Fernando and back to San Juan. From San Juan, you can catch these jeepneys on the main road, while from San Fernando, you have to go to their transport terminal to catch a ride back. Do not commute to San Fernando if you’re in a hurry as waiting times for rides going back to San Juan can take a while.
Upon returning to San Juan, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. Coz why not?
It was at dinnertime when we discovered what I could say was my favorite food place in Elyu—Surf Rice! I saw them the night before and got curious as I saw their food—there were just too many customers at the time that’s why we decided to eat elsewhere. That night, it wasn’t crowded and so we got to try their meals. Unfortunately, their seafood rice (which I was looking forward to) was sold out from the day before, but I still loved what I had.
Before calling it a day, we had one last stop: Flotsam & Jetsam. It is arguably one of the most popular night spots in San Juan so we dropped by and took a look.
As we already had dinner when we visited, we just settled for some drinks and pizza. It’s not a bad place to hang out with friends and the atmosphere is quite laidback, but lines can get really long to enter during peak days. We merely got in because it was a lean day.
We walked by the beach towards Kabsat as we went out, and then took the main road on our way back to our room (the beach was too dark).
It was definitely a good day of exploration.
Elyu Chronicles
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