Philippine Travel Notes

All I could murmur was “OMG Why?”! This was just the town of Cabugao (Ilocos Sur), still about 50 kilometers to Laoag (Ilocos Norte). Something like 6 or so more towns. So why slow down from this point all the way to Laoag? Then I looked again hehe, the “to Laoag” is a bit smaller font than the “slow down”. Meaning? “Slow Down because you are entering the busy town center of Cabugao, Period, Carriage Return, Next Line, this way to Laoag”! Makataros?! Oh well, the "funtastic" signs of our times!

Its just a single letter for a difference anyway, so who cares hahaha! Hey Marlyn, are you blue? Then you'll probably be good to grill! Whaaahehehe! Took that pic this afternoon at an eatery called 'Cafe Boujeador' just near the intersection of the main highway and the road that leads up to the 'Cape Bojeador Lighthouse' in Bayog, Burgos, Ilocos Norte! Note: there is no typo in any word above. I reviewed them all hehe! Proof? See below: Cafe - or café. you know what it is Cape - a promontory (into water); headland; etc., (e.g., Cape Of Good Hope) Bojeador - the place; pronounced "boh-ya-dor" Boujeador - the restaurant's name. bakit bawal ba? ha?! so don't make angal na!!!

Ah our English! Many things trivial to us Filipinos can sometimes be interesting if not perplexing to our visiting friends. Take this case: I was proudly accompanying a Japmerican friend around the Ilocos. Yep, “Jap” – for Japanese and “merican” for American, that’s what he is since he is/was a true-blue “japon” but now lives in Hawaii – and mind you, about to finish his thesis for a doctoral degree in Asian Studies! Yes, he speaks a few Tagalog and Visayan words (kaya mahirap murahin hehe). During the bus ride from Vigan to Laoag, I caught him staring at the ceiling more than necessary, instead of looking out the window for the nice countryside views. He was smiling but sometimes would squint his eyes or crease his forehead as if trying to see something clearly or trying to understand something. So I looked in the same direction. Hesumalosep! This was what he was ogling at: He had questions, so I happily answered hehe: BodyBuilder – the guys who make the body of a bus not the gym hunk...

Goodbye Laoag and goodbye Ilocos! As if it’ll be long till I come back hehe. Some folks were actually against my taking the long bus trip again, this time to return home. But I needed to do this for the experience. Plus, taking an airline flight is actually more inconvenient for me – Quezon City is very far from the airport that it takes even longer than the flight itself to/from the airport to my abode. And the cheaper fare airline flies at such an unholy time. So Maria De Leon was it! Why did I have to go back to Laoag for this trip when I was already in Vigan earlier in the afternoon? Ah, I already explained that on first paragraph of the previous story! Besides, I really wanted to get more of this Maria De Leon thingy. From Vigan, it would have been Partas, which requires a separate story, therefore a separate roundtrip! I merrily did the leisurely walk again, this time from Hotel Tiffany towards the capitol, then the city hall and behind it, which is the Maria De Leon Bus Terminus...

Alright, the trip going back from Vigan to Laoag was uneventful. Beautiful sunset amidst the countryside as we passed along those many towns in between. This was my last day in Ilocandia and departure back for Manila was set for the night. You may be wondering why I still had to go back to Laoag which is farther north, when I was already in Vigan that should have been a bit nearer to Manila. The reason, I made Laoag as my base, where I left my things in the hotel as I roamed. Why did I do so? I knew my roam of the Ilocandia involved a lot of combination rides like jeeps, trikes and buses. The backpack, small as it may be, would have been a bit cumbersome in many situations ESPECIALLY that this region seems to have the smallest and lowest of tricycles. When the driver stands on the ground, his trike’s roof is just by his chest, so imagine where you would be hehe! I was back at Hotel Tiffany by early evening, taking my grand time to repack everything prior to dinner and eventual departur...

Enough of Calle Crisologo. It is the main tourist strip yes, but elsewhere in this village are other noteworthy places that I saw. While not anymore on cobbled streets, some houses not located on Calle Crisologo have also been preserved to maintain their olden look. And some of these houses are equally big, some even bigger than those at Mena Crisologo Street. Just the same, they look mesmerizingly attractive in their olden glory, even if obviously battered by time and the elements. Take the case of that Chinese School. You would not think that is where the children of the affluent Tsinoys go to everyday to learn their lessons, right? But it is! They just preserved the way the façade looks since those times. The school looks a bit more “era” (okay, eerie too if you want) because right across is another olden house that received a bit of sprucing with some dominantly orange color because it is now the “My Vigan House” hotel hehe. Hey, even the Syquia Museum is a block away from Calle Cr...

Alright… I was full, had some bit of a siesta watching ‘longaniza distribution’ at Café Leona’s and ready to roam again! The famed Calle Crisologo was first on my mind of course, but where I was sitting was itself already part of the heritage village! So, who is Leona by the way? Well, don’t start looking for her to ask about her menu hehe. The restaurant’s name is not because she is owner and or chef. She died a little over a dozen years even BEFORE Rizal was shot at Bagumbayan! Yes, she was Leona Florentino, a poet and playwright of distinction in her time. The restaurant was named in her honor. It does not say in the historical marker but I take it that she lived in this house. Oh, on the same building (its too big for me to call just a house, another person is immortalized via another historical marker. He is Isabelo Delos Reyes, “tagapagtatag ng kilusang paggawa sa Piliinas”. I am not so sure but I think that means he was the founder of organized labor in the country. Unionism to ...

Hungry! Yes the mind was brimming full with the experiences of the ‘just arrived’ trip from Laoag but the tummy dear was starting to create a revolution! So I walked the plaza towards Calle Crisologo. I still remember from my last tour we ate at a good restaurant in some old era house near the entrance to that street and just fronting the plaza where our tour bus parked. I knew it was a woman’s name for a restaurant. Definitely not Greenwich (to my right as I walked) and definitely not Max’s also on the right (though it is by the entrance to Calle Crisologo)). Then in front of me I saw the aged signboard that said Café Leona. I looked back, just to see if the plaza was really behind me. Yes, this was it! Café Leona! While the waiter laid their book of a menu on the table I told him “Vigan Longanisa, plain rice and coke regular”! Hah, am sure he got it that I was really really hungry hehe. He attempted to ask if I wanted the “longsilog” but he was not even finished yet, I answered “no” ...

How long did you say it takes? Two hours? One and a half? One hour? Well, my trip took just a little over 3 hours. Yes, three hours and a few more minutes. But am not complaining. I enjoyed this “eventful” trip, if for the experience! 9:30AM, I was already at the bus terminal for ride that goes Laoag to Vigan. These are non-airconditioned buses that the ‘normal’ riding public take. So-so, if you can call them that. Some are mini-buses, some are the real size buses but way far from your De Luxe classes that ply the route to Manila. Those premier buses are options when going to Vigan, of course. But for this trip, I wanted to take the rides that the common lakay, manong, manang, ading, baket, balasang, kabsat, kasinsin, ubing, etc etc would usually take. And there I was at a claustrophobic bus sation where everyone was perspiring while the bus waited for more passengers. And when the engine was started, all inhalations were of course emissions from the tambutso! I had to ask my seatmate ...

Ehem! There is supposed to be nothing to blog about my second nite in Laoag City. This was supposed to be a private dinner with friends who were staying at Fort Ilocandia but were driving around the Vigan and Paoay area for the day. They tried to retrace my roam yesterday. They were happily out and about. Even went to places that I did not anymore go to, like the Malacanang of the north and so on. But alas, they had what I did not have – the convenience of their own car, which turned out to be the bummer for the day! Hmm, that affected me incidentally. Why? I ended up alone (again) at dinner. Hmp! I should have stayed overnight at Pagudpud! Argh! Anyway, as if am not used to this hehe, I caught myself at the agreed venue, La Preciosa, on a reserved table for 4 but I was all solo! Good that my friends who reserved the table did not pre-order the food, otherwise I could have been out for a night of gluttony (again) hehe. Where were my supposed dinner companions? Out and lost on a desola...

“Diyos ko, hello sir, bakit mag-isa ka at bakit ka naka-tricycle, my goooosh”! So said Mean (pronounced Meh-Anne), wife of Steve, owners of Polaris Beach Resort. I happily and wickedly said “shaddap, give me your coldest SanMigLight, pleeeease”! Alirightie, I arrived at Saud Beach in Pagudpud, straight from the Bangui wind farm, riding on the backseat of the driver whose tricycle cab did not have any load because it felt too tiny cramped for me, myself and I! And I automatically went for one of the hammocks – my favorite place in all of Polaris Resort. This would have been my 4th time in the resort and I feel very much at home being in it. Not to mention that it’s the best value for money I have ever tried on Pagudpud. Shh, any of the crews and the owners do not even know me as Pinoy Traveler so let’s let it be hehe! I just like the place and I like them. Ah, my love affair with this resort is a long story in itself – and that would incriminate their immediate neighbor hehe. So, let me...

When it was time to move, the kind owner of Yzza’s Eatery left her cashiering table and went out to the roadside to personally pick a trike who could take me to the windmills and back. Hmm, that was sweet of her. The trike ride from the highway to the beach (yes, those windmills are on the beach) was rather bumpy. The road we took was just a narrow pathway which driver says was a shortcut. And it is not easy for a passenger of an Ilocos trike to be in such a situation. Its too cramped inside that your head touches the roof so that at every movement of the tricycle you risk bumping your head on either the roof or the metal posts of the cab. Ah, I transferred to ‘back of the driver’. Splendid with a views! So we arrived at the beach, click click click and that’s it, time to go. Really?! Nah, I stayed for more. Although it would have been nice to talk to someone in the know about those gigantic ‘electric fans’, but there was no one around. Workers and their engineers were out somewhere st...