My last day in HP sucks, got all moody and got escalated for a certain application. I was planning to lay low in the afternoon to enjoy the food I prepared and mingle with people I've invited (DBAs, Ops, Former Colleagues, etc.) but didn’t go exactly how I wanted. It’s a good thing I have wonderful teammates who brought me cake and a bunch of notes which pretty much balances the equation. I guess the lesson here is not to volunteer work if you have enough CDOs. :P Anyway life goes on.
It's a gloomy Friday my plans for a certain someone got canceled and here I am trying to add another post. I hope someone invites me to kill time this afternoon.
I guess I’ll talk about my Ilocos trip with my travel buddies last August 15-18, 2010.
Our flight to Laoag (capital of Ilocos Norte) was a bit scary. It was night around 6:30 PM, the plane bound to Laoag is an ATR type, meaning twin turbo propeller plane (not an airbus!) so we were flying on thunderclouds right through. You know the weather here at night right? Thunder along with light rain. I suppose it’s not built to fly above them. It was turbulent and I think lightning hit the plane because we heard a thump sound. The pilot flashed the seatbelt sign on the whole flight too. It was one of the longest hour I’ve experienced thank God we arrived safely. Well because of this experience, I decided to search what an aircraft is made of in case of lightning strikes. The answer is aluminum! Good conductor of electricity so mostly just flows through the plane although there are cases in which the power of the plane gets interrupted or knocked out, if this is the case, an emergency back up is in place. Anyway most flights are cancelled if there are storms and there are also static wicks on the wings edges to keep the plane safe. As they say, the safest way to travel is by means of air.
We booked at Java Hotel although we were starting to regret it the moment we saw Fort Ilocandia , still the place is very comfortable and at the same time affordable. We went first to Vigan then Pagudpod and last stop was Laoag off course for easier access to the airport on our way home.
1. Kalesa Tour – you need to ride the Kalesa (300 per hour charge!) as some parts in Vigan can only be reached through this one horse power ride! They blocked some streets to maintain and preserve the old look of the city. As they say Vigan is the living museum. We passed by the Bell Tower , St. Augustine’s church, Juan Luna’s Museum, some place where pots were made (We tried making pots too but we ended up with pot-eks!) and a very old designed street (Sorry I forgot but this was beautifully made very classic look, just view the pictures in my facebook!).
2. La Preciosa – is a known restaurant here in Vigan. We tried Ilocano’s best dishes such as Bagnet, Pakbet, Poqui-poqui (it's eggplant dunno how it’s cooked), Bulalo etc.
3. Baluarte – owned by Chavit Singson is a park and a mini zoo free of public entrance. Well we didn’t exactly walk around here because it was too sunny and we all forgot sunblock. Yessirree sunblock is definitely on my list in my next destination. Instead we just took photos with the cutee parrot on our shoulders and rode a huge camel haha…
4. Hidden Garden – let me just point out that this place is not a garden more of a plant store. :P Did I mention our rented van rocks? It has a cooler inside, surround sound with flat screen tv and electic outlets incase your camera or phone ran out of battery. Awesome right?
Pagudpod Tour
1. Cape Bojeador Lighthouse – they say it’s the tallest lighthouse in south east asia. I noticed it’s also solar paneled. We passed by a bunch of cows here too. (Bull, cow and calf!)
2. Bangui Windmills – huge windmills. The city is powered by these huge things at an estimate of 40%! I hope they put more of these so the whole Philippines can be wind powered or atleast a certain percentage. Cost efficient! We should abuse the power of ocean breeze especially we are an archipelago. I wonder how much money these costs?
3. Blue Lagoon – before here, we actually went to the beach too and had yummy seafood. Too bad it’s not lobster season. It was too hot and you know how unprotected we are from the rays. Sunrays. So we pretty much stayed in the hut. Then we went to this blue lagoon. I wonder why it’s called a lagoon because what I saw is still the ocean. A lagoon is supposed to be shallow and has barriers but I definitely didn’t see the whole lagoon thing. I thought it was a resort at first yet… no idea how blue lagoon got its name.
4. Patapat Viaduct – well just a cool looking roadway.
5. Kabigan Falls – dear Lord we trekked 3km here but it was worth it. I asked myself how my friends are still able to swim upon arriving. The water is icy cold and I was bushed from hiking. Yet I plunged… in a span of a minute. I hate cold water. It was my first time seeing a waterfall.
1. Sinking Bell Tower – yes it’s sinking. The entrance is halfway seen.
2. Marcos Museum – a tribute to Pres. Marcos. The Marcos family tree is here and also his achievements. Well I can’t talk about it much not interested in history.
3. Ilocos Museum – not much to see… just what you normally sees in museums.
4. Paoay Church – hey we made 3 wishes here. There’s also some kind of ruins we toured wherein during the Spanish era, it was a prison. They even have a place where people get their heads cut off. It’s haunted. I was looking at our photos to check maybe a spirit was dragged on our shots but alas. Haha..
5. Saint Williams Cathedral – again with the churches.
6. President Marcos – yes we saw former President Marcos… dead! It’s preserved.
7. Malacanang of the North – it is obvious that the Ilocos region is Marcos’ favorite. Huge place. It’s like a Spanish mansion.
8. Fort Ilocandia – the only 5 star hotel in the northern region. We kind of regret not booking here when we saw its facilities. We also attempted to gamble in the casino but we were wearing flip flops too bad.
9. Sand Dunes – the only desert look a like in the Philippines . I heard Fernando Poe Jr. did most of his filming here.
10. Agora – we went here to buy Bagoong, Bagnet and Longganisa the region’s delicacy.
I will be going to Samar on November with my family. My mom’s friend just built a resort in Catarman and we were invited to stay for free. I’ll be exploring the Samar region next. As for my travel buddies, our next destination is either Puerto Prinsesa or Camarines Sur’s CWC early next year. I can’t wait.