Nov.28
After office, my bhebe(Kent) and I headed straight to the bus terminal in Manila and we were late because I had a sudden meeting that evening. Initially,
we planned to take rcj bus, but unfortunately, the last trip to pagudpod had already left. So, having no choice we went to Florida bus terminal and luckily, they still have 10:45pm trip to Laoag, kinuha na namin ung last trip ng Florida to Laoag to make sure na makakaalis kami..hehe.. The bus was okay but compared to the bus we took for Bolinao (5 star bus) it was very nice. On the bus we were riding (to Laoag), there was this kids behind us that kept on crying and another commotion behind us.. at first, nahirapan kami makatulog, but dahil na rin sa layo ng byahe nakatulog din kami ni Kent.
Day 1
We arrived in Laoag around 9am, grabe as in morning na talaga siya, L
aoag pa lang siya!
. Then we took a trike to go to the terminal of minibus bound to Pagudpod.
After 30 mins of waiting to full the minibus, finally we took off. Our “supposedly” tour guide, kuya Lenzer (who had a tour sked also today), told us that our new guide (Kuya Ferdinand) he referred, was going to meet us on the way to the lighthouse. So, nagpababa kami sa driver n
g minibus sa malapit sa lighthouse para i-meet si Kuya Ferdinand. He was nice but a little bit shy, but we had no problem with him.
So, the first site we went to see was the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos. The lighthouse was old but the view around the area was really breathtaking. It was said that this is the highest li
ghthouse in the Philippines, next to it is Cape Bolinao Lighthouse ( nakita ko na din un! hehe). After the lighthouse, we proceed to Kapurpurawan Rock Formation... It is the best site in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. You 
will be amazed of the rock formation! Ang ganda niya... as if you are in another country. But before we reached the rock forma
tion, we had to trekked a little bit.
Muntik na nga hindi kayanin ng trike namin papapsok e, dahil sa sobrang putik sa gulong, then after that we have to walk maybe around 15minutes before you see the rock formation. And it was so windy, para kami nasa Batanes, it was really a different experienced! After taking “a lot of photos” (imagine 2 lang kami ha?!?), we heade
d straight to Bangui Windmill. We saw the 15 huge windmills! And sa sobrang hangin that time, feeling namin na sandstorm kami.hehehe Then next place we went, was to our homestay in Pagudpod, it was around 3pm. We paid Kuya Ferdinand P600, kasama na dun ung tip. Then asked him to pick us up tomorrow morning to the terminal back to Laoag.... After at least an hour resting, we dressed up for the beach. Sobrang ok yung accomodation namin, kasi mura na (P800 per night) then a minute walk lang to Saud beach! For me, Saud beach was beautiful, the sand was so fine and clean, but it was wavy and because Christmas is near, kahit hapon pa lang, malamig na din yung hangin... But it was a perfect location for sunset view... We ate dinner at Emohruo beach restobar (end part of the beach, group of restaurants). The food was good, especially the chicken buffalo salad and we ordered a few beers for us,(Our ordered food costs P500, not bad). And walked back on the starry night sky beach back to our place to have a goodnight sleep.
Day 2
The next morning, Kent woke up early (as usual!) to take photos at the beach, while I, was still sleeping soundly at our room. He just woke me up around 7:30am, so we could take a swim before heading back to Laoag. Aroud 9:30am, we were ready to go, we paid Aling Liza for our accomodtion (courtesy of Kuya Lenzer). We arrived at Laoag around 11:30am, and rented a trike there for our tour. But first, we ate at Jollibee nearby the terminal because we were hungry having no breakfast at all. After eating, we proceed to Malacanang of the North in Paoay, Ilocos Norte. It is the White House of the Marcos Family in Northern Luzon. This two-storey building sits on a five-hectare property and was designed for entertaining large crowds. It has grand living rooms on both floors, and seven spacious bedrooms including the two master bedrooms of the First Couple - Ferdinand and Imelda.It also has an expansive terrace, and beautiful garden with the view a magnificient view of the Paoay Lake. After taking photos of all the memorabilia inside, we went to Paoay church. St. Augustine Church, or more popularly called Paoay Church, in Ilocos Norte is one of the the oldest churches in the Philippines and is among the major attractions of the province. A three-storey coral stone bell tower stands a few meters away from the church. The bell tower served as a look-out point for Philippine "Katipuneros" during the Philippine revolution against the Spaniards, and again by the Filipino "guerillas" during the Japanese occupation in World War II. And then there was this guy on the church, who was really nice, voluntarily asking to take photos of me and Kent, I'm sure with him because he was wearing an i.d. and he nows the angle to shoot. I think he's one of the caretaker/guide but we forgot to ask his name :( ... and then we were also able to go and visit the Marcos Mansion & Museum of the Late Ferdinand Marcos in Batac. He is now one of my favorite Presidents, after seeing how great leader he was compared to the others.Ü Unfortunately, Kent wasn't able to take a pic or a video of his dead body, Waxed and preserved in a glass case as cold as a fridge's temperature. This trip was so educational! By the way, our driver/tour guide was Kuya Bert, he was nice and talking about the place, we paid him P600 for the tour. I think it's enough eventhough we only went to 3 sites, pero imagine magkakalayo yung mga sites na yun. We just thinked of it as help na din for him. Then he dropped us off where we can ride a bus bound to Vigan. The trip was so long, akala namin malapit lang ung distance.... it took us 2 hour ride before we reached Vigan City!!!
It was past 5pm when we reached Vigan, and we went straight to Grandpa's Inn to check-in our things first before going around the town. We paid P980 for a night with breakfast, it has it's own bathroom and combined 2 single beds, really old fashion room but it has a t.v too..hehehe. Then, we visit Bantay Bell Tower, Ilocos Sur just outside Vigan city and right across from it was the St. Augustine Parish Church and there was a solo grotto of Mama Mary outside the church. And then there was this group of young boys Kent took a picture with me, of course. :) It was already dark when we got back to the city, and we passed by the Vigan Cathedral (also known as St. Paul's Metropolitan Cathedral). There was an on-going mass, but we can't go in because Kent and I was wearing a shorts. We just decided to have dinner instead. So, we went to the plaza where there are a lot of carinderias cooking native food. We ordered sinanglaw, adobo and pansit lukban, it was my first time to eat all those except for the adobo. It was good, especially the pansit where you have to put vinegar on it. After dinner, we walked around Calle Crisologo and took photos (again) and bought a few pasalubongs. Before heading back to the inn, we ordered a bottle each at Cafe Leona.. and then rest for the night.
Day 3
We woke up around 6:30am, because we planned to go to Baluarte for our last day. After breakfast, we rented a trike to go to Baluarte but we were so early that the driver suggested first to go to “Hidden Garden”. Nothing special to see there and no entrance fee, just a donation will be fine. Then after 30 minutes, we went straight to Baluarte. I was really amazed at the place... it was a huge property of Gov. Chavit Singson.. and there was a lot of animals just roaming around.. i love animals so much! Sayang nga lang, Gov. Singson wasn't there, wala tuloy ako pic kasama siya and a tiger..hehehe after Baluarte, we asked our driver just to dropped us off to Burnayan pottery and then we paid him P200 with the tip. There, we saw how pot made of clay was being made. It was very traditional. Then after buying pasalubongs, we headed back to the inn to pack up and prepare back home to Manila. We rode the Florida bus (P540) around 1:30pm and reached Manila around 11:30pm, we took so long because there was a long parade near Pangasinan. But on the way home, we saw the moon with 2 stars above it.. it was form like a smiling face... and the moon and those stars were shining brightly... it was something you won't see every night. It made our trip more memorable and we went home smiling :)
