Hey! Hi! Hello!

So I just got back from my vacation leave, which lasted for almost 2 weeks, with my family and relatives. I had the best time there, probably the first in years. The last time I visited Luzon, we were in Pangasinan for only 3-4 days. Now it had extended to 7 days pero bitin pa rin, sobra.

I will only be covering those times we were on a road trip.

Now, let me remind you that when I meant Ilocandia, I only meant only Region 1 and Baguio City

BAGUIO

So we went to Baguio immediately after we arrived at NAIA last July 5 at around 5:30pm (our flight was delayed for 30 minutes or so). The bus to the city revved to life at 7pm and we arrived there at already 2am. If you don’t know, the city is situated in the mountains so it was really cold. Now some of you might think it’s already warm for you, but according to our research that time, it was 17 degrees during those wee hours and yet it seemed so much colder than that. We proceeded to an apartment-style building that my cousin (who I just met because we have a lot of relatives scattered all around the north and south) had suggested and we slept for like only 3-4 hours. We visited another relative who lived 15 minutes away from where we stayed. They then accompanied us to different tourist spots in Baguio.

It’s not obvious that the farm is wide but it actually stretches beyond what the camera can capture. They sell different products like lengua de gato, strawberry and ube jam, purses, hats and souvenir t-shirts. They also have strawberry ice cream, which contains the real fruit in it and not the artificial flavor (and it’s a hundred times better).

The photo did not do justice to how breathtakingly amazing the actual view is (I’m so sorry).

 

They also sell many kinds of potted plants (there are soooo many succulents there), they also let you wear their native clothes (for Php25), and there is also a picture taking with horses (which were dressed; it has a price but that I don’t know) but my highlight was the St Bernard, who you can take pictures with (Php100 for unlimited photos). I remember that the dog was there in 2011 (my last visit) and boy, was it huge (I have never held a dog as big as him in my life) but he still looks well groomed.

Also went to The Mansion. We weren’t allowed to go nearer, as per protocol that everyone who had visited there already knows.

After roaming around, we proceeded to their infamous restaurant, Good Taste. It was so popular that they actually have two floors that could occupy over a hundred people (no exaggeration). The price of their food is a bit high on the first glance at the menu, but when the actual thing is served, it won’t seem like you could ever finish it. 10 out of 10.

We then were supposed to visit the PMA grounds but it was closed as they were practicing for a national event (idk what that was).

At around 3pm, we had already returned to the dorm, got our luggages, and started to travel to Pangasinan.

PANGASINAN

Okay, so I’m not actually going to post pictures here because 1. they’re personal events and 2. We didn’t really explore the tourists spots. We were supposed to go to Hundred Islands but relatives were busy and we haven’t got any day left on our trip schedule.

So this is were my family and I spent most of our vacation, more specifically in Tayug, although my paternal grandparents were originally from San Nicolas, which is a neighboring town. We’ve been in Region 1 from July 6 to July 13.

The reason we stayed here the longest was because most of our relatives we know live here. Also, my cousin just celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife. Yes, you read it right. Basically my grandfather was the youngest among their siblings, my cousin’s being the eldest, and their age gap was 17 years. I would rather not talk about what happened then because I would already be telling you my ancestral line.

Back to topic. Most of the time we’ve been there, we were just hanging around, my parents with the older ones, my sisters and I with the young ones. And this was at the start and end of being in Tayug because we went up farther North on the 10th.

ILOCOS NORTE

We travelled up North at exactly 12mn (I do not lie. Our transpo arrived a little before that time) and arrived at our first destination before 6am struck.

This is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines built by Agustinian friars, which took them over 200 years to finish. You could actually see the age of the church by looking at the design. We were actually planning to pray inside but it just opened and the caretakers were still cleaning the inside, while we had other destinations to go to.

It was also a site for the filming of of a few scenes of Bagani and the original Panday. We’ve had the best time at the sand dunes, even the old ones were having fun. We went sandboarding (as seen on the picture above) which was not the scary but it becomes frightening when you attempt to raise both hands while you slide down. The best part was we got to ride a 4×4 UTV while surfing on enormous hill of sand as we were standing on the back of the vehicle. Oh, the screams that came out from everyone… even me.

 

We spent a good hour there before turning back to town again and ate breakfast before going to our next location: the sinking tower. It reportedly has been sinking due to its heaviness and the fact that it was built of sand, and has been going down a centimeter a year. I approached the tower and there the entrance was, almost underground. It’s the bell tower to St. Williams Cathedral or Laoag Cathedral, which was the farthest I’ve seen between a church and its bell.

After the tower was the Burgos Lighthouse, which I haven’t taken a picture of because I was already tired at this point that it didn’t occur to me to take a picture of it. The above picture was the view at the foot of the lighthouse. We didn’t get to enter the building itself because I didn’t have loose money to pay for the entrance and my parents had just started going up when my sisters and I were already halfway down and couldn’t go back up again because the stairs were steep and high. Oh, well.

And also late realization that we were at the northern edge of the country which was a pretty cool thought.

The day-long trip is not over, people. We also went to a beach on the hunt for the windmills when we learned that we had actually stumbled across Kapurpurawan where the large rock formation is found. I haven’t done justice to taking a whole photo of the rock but it’s actually really beautiful. You can reach it via horseback riding if you like to reach it in a short time, or by foot if you like some adrenaline. We didn’t get to reach the formation because it was already getting hotter at during that time so back to the vans we went.

I have nothing else to say about the Bangui Windmills other than that they’re really enormous every time I look up the nearest one, I get sick and immediately look away, literally. They were a beauty, though, all lined up along the shore, not to mention they are responsible for providing energy to every home in the North.

One location that I haven’t taken a picture of was the Patapat Bridge in Pagudpud, which is one of the longest bridges in the country. It was due to a stupid, late realization what it actually was until we passed by the signed that revealed its name as we were leaving the place.

That was the last site we visited before retiring to a resort we passed through as we supposedly travelled to Vigan. It was Hannah’s Beach Resort. It was actually the mini-park and zipline that drew us there. Unfortunately, it already became too dark and we had to leave early the next morning.

So before we completely left Ilocos Norte, we visited another tourist location of an popular/infamous president: the Malacañang of the North. It was the old house of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, who is still a topic of discussion nowadays due to divided opinions about him. This house-turned-museum displayed different features, such as their bedrooms, pool, study and open foyer, with pictures of both Marcos’ political and personal life. (Writer’s note: I will not be giving anymore comments as I know that there will be haters lurking around the corner, ready to type in retaliation.)

ILOCOS SUR

We didn’t get to see many animals at the Baluarte Zoo (some are probably hidden) but we got to pet tigers! It was a bit terrifying at first but I immediately relaxed because he was so chill. His female was caged (because they said that she was aggressive) and was playing like a cat so she looked really adorable (I know that wild animals shouldn’t be caged but I couldn’t help thinking while I watched her that she was literally a large cat acting like her self, only that she was in a cage that shouldn’t be there). Other than them, we saw a couple of pythons, deer, kangaroos, and a lone lion by the entrance. It also offers picture-taking with parrots/cockatoos and said python and it has a souvenir shop that sell a variety of things such as bags and hats. Overall a good place to visit

Last, but not the least, the vintage aesthetic that you need for your blog and pictures: Vigan City. It’s one of the only places here in the Philippines with preserved buildings that dates back to the Spanish Era. Although some of them were converted into little shops (antiques, paintings, souvenirs) and even bigger, up-to-date ones (National Bookstore, Watson, etc.), there are still others that were maintained such the houses in Calle Crisologo (the cobblestone alleyways are perfect for taking pictures) and the Bantay Church (although we didn’t get to climbed to the bell tower because it was guarded). We also visited the Elpidio Quirino museum (containing some of the late president’s things from his time, including his collection of barong, walking cane, and shoes, some of his papers, and mindblowingly a collection of paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries) which also once became a prison. We didn’t get to see the Burgos museum (because my sister became impatient and she thought that the others were already waiting for us) but hopefully when we go back, we’ll get to visit it.

La Union

This was the only municipality that we didn’t get to visit except when we dined in Max’s on the way back to Pangasinan from Ilocos Sur and when we accompanied my cousin with his papers. I’ve heard a bit about their tourist locations there so, also hopefully when I get back, I’ll also be able to see those.

---

And there you have it, the Ilocandia takeover. I recommend you guys to visit these tourist spots because I assure you you’ll never regret spending your time in these places.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this post, and I’m looking forward to sharing with you again about my trips in the future.

See you!

-claude

PS. I wrote the introduction 2 weeks ago as soon as I got home but the editing took me this long due to other things that I needed to attend to. That’s why it read “I just got back from my vacation leave”.