Ilocos Trip Day 1

Yey, just got back from Ilocos and I had a a great time spending time away from home, from facebook-emails-client calls, from my desk...

Everything was super nice.

Highlights:

Day 00-01

We left via the pink Florida Bus in Earnshaw Sampaloc Terminal at 7.30pm. Fare is 550 from Manila to Vigan. We took the Laoag bound bus which took us to Bantay, Vigan. We reached a sleeping Vigan City at past 3am. We took a trike and asked to be brought to a 24 hour resto. We're starving but there are no open restos at that time. Trike charged us P100 for the trouble of bringing us from Bantay to the whole of Vigan City looking for a place to eat. We decided to drop off at an open eatery/beer garden/videoke beside Partas.

From there we decided to just walk towards Calle Crisologo. Good thing though Calle Crisologo is well lighted even in the evenings. So we had Calle Crisologo for ourselves.

We were too early. Everyone's sleeping.

We were able to have a mini breakfast at Talaki's Food Corner Co. It's supposed to be a 24-hour eatery but it started cooking by 5.30am. Barbecue is 15pesos each. Since we're starving, we had barbecue and rice. Then started touring Vigan in daylight.

(UPDATE: We were informed just recently that Talaki's Food Corner in Burgos St where we dined opens from 5am to 9pm. They are the earliest food corner to open in that area so if you are around Vigan early, check them out. Or check their 24 hours fine dining resto at Governor A. Reyes St. Cabasaan Vigan City. )

We visited Vigan Church and noted that McDonald's beside Vigan Church has a "belfry", similar to Vigan Church.

See what I mean?

After the tour, by 7am, we checked out the Cordillera Hotel in Calle Crisologo and had Bagnet and Dinengdeng.

The coffee brought me back to my senses. Now we are ready to proceed to Pagudpud via Laoag. But before that we checked Bantay Church (my favorite church in Vigan). We took the trike from Vigan's Heritage Village to Bantay Church, cost 15 pesos per person. A far cry from the 100 pesos charged to us earlier.

We climbed the belfry and enjoyed the sights.

And then off to Laoag we went to catch another bus going to Pagudpud.

Vigan to Laoag via the open air bus = 2 hours travel time. Fare is 70 pesos.

Laoag to Pagudpud = 3 hours travel time

From Pagudpud town hall, we took the trike going to Blue Lagoon where we intended to stay, initially with, Hannah's. But our trike driver with whom I've been contacting regarding our Pagudpud trike tour, Kuya Arnel Aguila (Contact number: 09265880666) recommended that we check Agua Seda (Contact Owner: Lety Garvida 09202431832). Agua Seda is right beside Hannah's and charges 1,800 per night per room. We were the only guests in the resort that time since we went there on a weekday and there was a typhoon in Visayas-Mindanao. Kuya Rogel (pronounced "ro-hel" also known as Jun) is the caretaker of the resort and was in charge of our meals. There is free wifi access in Agua Seda, just ask Kuya Rogel for the access pin.

Our room inside Agua Seda was clean and comfy. We dozed off from 4pm to the next day (that's how tired we were after a 12-hour travel) and prepared for the next day's tour.

(Confession: ON the trike going to Agua Seda from Pagudpud town proper, when I saw the sand on the beach, I asked myself if I was seeing a real beach and not some painting. I was awed, amazed, excited. But I never expressed it that much then. AMAZING! )

(up next, Ilocos trip day 2)