Philippine Travel Notes

This was one time I wished my flight would be delayed heheh! Well sorry me, it was departing not just on time, but even ahead of its published schedule (I suspected)! How'd I know that? Oh just guessing! At 0932H there it was about to dock at the gate. So I surmised, the airline's manager at Taoyuan would want to dispatch that plane at 1032H because the usual 'parking fee' that they pay is only for an hour! I wasn't sad anyway. I just wished I could stay longer to explore all the boarding gate themes of Taipei Taoyuan International Airport . But I know I'll be coming back many times soon, so I look forward to it. Look, at 10:09AM, the forward section of the aircraft belly was done loading. Nagkukwentuhan na sila! I was seated 1F, I could see the loading operations at the forward underside of the plane. Through the years of frequent traveling I learned that most of the time, when a plane's belly is not going to be full, many of our checked-in luggage a...

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!

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” ...