Philippine Travel Notes

The Municipal Hall Out of the church, I roamed the vicinity, instinctively propelling myself towards the municipal hall. Hmm, nice one. I mean I approached the building from the back but its good to know that their kind of plaza or activity center is actually behind the municipal hall. Literally! The small plaza and stage are right at the back while the basketball court is beyond which becomes right at the back of the church. Unique I must say, since most everywhere in this country, the plaza, sometimes parks or gardens and the sports centers are usually hemmed in front of the church and the municipal or city hall. In Paoay, you can say that both edifices are facing away from each other. Unique really, and there’s an advantage. The mayor and all its employees are forced to make every side of their municipal hall clean and presentable. Yep, you can ask me how many such munisipyos in this country have their sides or backs serving as dumping areas of this and that. Not in Paoay! So I

So, let’s do the church? No am not repeating what you already know or what you may already see via a google search on descriptions, architectural styles and dates about this church. What you are about to uncover are my thoughts, things that came to my mind while visiting this church again! First, I thought this must have been one of the most photographed edifices in the Ilocos. Just a hunch, but when I txtd a web-savvy friend, he confirmed that, with an added bonus that Vigan’s church comes second! Wow. And look at what visitors would do for a good shot of this mesmerizing structure! I didn’t/don’t know him/them and sorry folks If I had to use this pic. I just find it too interesting! And yes, whoever you were/are, I salivated at the gadgets you carry. Then again, I think I don’t envy the part that you had to lug those cumbersome things hehe! Curious as to how good a view/shot would it have been that the handsome dude had to click in that prone position… when they moved forward, I did

The jeep ride from Batac was as short as something like just 10 minutes. But what did I expect since that is just about 4 kilometers away. Probably the nice plains and the views of Mariano Marcos State University main campus consumed me that on arrival at Paoay, I thought I did not want it to happen yet hehe! Probably too I was having so much fun making faces with the son of the driver sitting on his mother’s lap between me and the driver! Ah, everytime I would aim the camera at the kid his face would become serious but curious! And we were all laughing because even his parents couldn’t make the cute little kid smile at my cam. Maybe he was afraid the camera would spurt something out to his face whehehehehe! But there I was and the driver asked if I wanted to get off near the church. I said yes, and he said it was better to get off where we were (he stopped) as he was heading left towards the municipal hall and market. So, okay, I jumped out from my front seat! Said buh-bye to the kid

Another 20 minutes or so of the bus zooming from San Nicolas, I found myself standing in front of the Ricarte National Shrine in Batac. The what? Yes, you read correctly. There is such a thing. Not that the shrine was in my list since as said in the previous entry, I just wrote ‘whatever’ across the name Batac. Meaning, there is no other place I have to see, other than those I already know. But where I got off, I saw this national shrine, so I went to see the place. It has a big building with library and museum, there is even a veterans’ office and there is such a big big park/garden. At the back of the building near a wall is a big big admirable carved mural. I am not sure if it is made of wood or cement due to the color used. But I would think it is cement because it sits out in the open and under the elements. In any case, it is such a wonderful depiction of the Ilocano life and I wonder why it was erected there just back of the building and near the perimeter wall. Oh yes, this is

After lunch back in Laoag, I thought it was time to move on so I could maximize the roaming. Next on my list was the town of Batac. Been there time and again, but there was no conscious effort for me to ogle at everything I saw as I was busier bantering with friends or family. This time, being alone, I wouldn’t have any choice but get to know more about the place. Imagine my notes on ‘what to see’ for Batac. It said ‘whatever’ hehe, and that’s it! Now here is even another place ‘unlisted’ on my itinerary. Took a bus from Laoag and in about 4 minutes, we were already in front of 365 Plaza (mall) in the town of San Nicolas. Well that’s only about 3kms from Laoag City center, so the conductor told me. Why did I not have any interest in the town of San Nicolas, anyway? Well, blame the world wide web hehe! I did not see anything worth visiting in this town that is actually a suburb of Laoag. Fact is, there are some establishments in this town that identify themselves as a ‘Laoag Branch’ of

Done with the educational visit of the Museo Ilocos Norte, next hop on my itinerary was to visit Sarrat. Wanted to once-again see how this sleepy little town was, after many years from my previous visit where I was amused to hear that all its Barangays are named after saints. Ultimate purpose was to perchance take more recent pictures of that dilapidating little replica of the Malacanang palace from which Irene Marcos departed on a kalesa to wed Greggy Araneta at the town’s enormous church. Yes, I have known long before that this place was the birthplace of the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos and I intended to snap a photo or two of their ancestral house. Plus the church, and probably more. I was in for some surprises! Going to Sarrat Asked the very helpful counter lady at the Museo Ilocos Norte on how I can get a jeep ride to Sarrat. Her advice was ‘if I really did not want to just hire a tricycle all the way to Sarrat (7km of good roads), then I should ask to be whisked to th