I was pondering where to go on my birthday this year and finally decided to revisit Manila. Contacted my mate, Andrea, and she suggested some places to visit. In the end, we agreed to go to Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, two provinces on the north-west of the Luzon island. Ticket to Manila was bought in February while the ticket to Laoag was bought in May by Andrea. Andrea had informed that her friend, Din Din, would be joining and later on managed to persuade her sister, Abi to come along too. Andrea also arranged a driver to ferry us around and accommodation at Vigan in Ilocos Sur.
Friday, 6 July 2012 (yes, my birthday)
I left for the airport at 3 pm today. I had ample time before boarding so decided to check out the duty-free stores at KLIA. There was some renovation to the airport stores with new brands to be added soon. I ended up having to drag myself away from the bargains. My flight out was supposed to take off at 1730 but we had to await clearance from the Air Traffic Control. It was not a full flight and yet I was assigned seat at row 27 so the minute the door closed, I moved 5 rows to the front. We finally took off at 1745. I managed to finish one novel and feeling bored, started writing a new blog entry (see last post). We landed just before 9.30 pm and I noticed that the ground was wet. I rushed out and headed for the immigration. I remembered having to queue pretty long on my last trip here exactly two years ago and was keen to avoid that. Even if I couldn’t do anything about the queue, I could at least ensure I joined it early.
Well, I needn’t have worried. There was no queue at all, I was served quickly and my bag even emerged on the conveyor belt early. I headed out and walked to the metred taxi area. You can take a metred taxi or a fixed coupon taxi (at PHP450 I think). Andrea had advised me to take a fixed coupon taxi as sometimes the metred taxi will bring passengers on a joyride to squeeze out money from their poor victims. I had PHP360 left over from my previous trip - I had arranged to change money with Andrea – so I decided to take the risk and ride a metred taxi.
The cabbie wasn’t familiar with the hotel location so he drove slowly when we got to Arnaiz Street. We finally located it after asking a security guard. My fare came to PHP378 (I’m not sure how he counted that as a different number was shown on the meter but hey it was still less than PHP450 had I taken a coupon taxi) so I gave him all the pesos I had and RM10 thrown in too. Good thing he accepted it. Bad thing was I was literally peso-less.
I checked in and settled in for the night.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Andrea had informed she would come over at 0930 on Saturday but she texted to say she was running late. She and Abi arrived at 10 and we went to nearby Glorietta. I wanted to check out the book store (there was a good sale when I was last in Manila so I was hoping there’d be a similar sale this time around) but there was no sale at all. I was disappointed and went to window-shop instead while waiting for Andrea and Abi to have their breakfast.
We left after 11 and drove to the airport (Terminal 3). You see, Manila has three airports (terminals) all serving different destinations or airlines. Amazingly all three are in the city. And this of course contributes to the traffic jam. Terminal 3 serves Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines. Andrea had already checked in online for us so we went in. I was pleasantly surprised to find a prayer room there and I also saw a lot of Muslims at the airport.
We were the last to board the plane. The flight took a while to lift off and, having had a poor night’s sleep, I dozed off before long.
We landed at Laoag Airport (Andrea informed that it’s an international airport as it serves flights to Taiwan and southern China as there is a casino in Laoag) at 1335. We didn’t check in any bag so we made out of the terminal to find our driver. The driver drove promptly along and we boarded it. We drove first to Laoag city and the driver, having been informed we wanted to have lunch first, brought us to La Preciosa restaurant. I like the ambience of the resto but we waited too long for our food. We weren’t that famished but were keen to push off as we had a long drive ahead so we were a bit restless at having to wait.
We finally left after 3 pm (!) – we spent less time eating than it took to prepare (and we only ordered vegetarian dishes too) – and drove to Marcos’ birthplace in Sarrat. The former president is still referred to reverently in this region. We spent a short time there before driving off to Santa Monica church nearby, the biggest church in Ilocos Norte. We left after 20 minutes.
We drove on and when I woke up, we had reached the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac. We managed to get the guard to open the door for us. The mausoleum is where the glass-entombed, preserved corpse of the deposed president Ferdinand Edralin Marcos is laid to rest. The room was dark with some piped music and full-blowing air-condition. There was a strong scent of flowers (I remember wondering how much it’d cost to buy fresh flowers every day!). Photography is not allowed (but you can Google for the picture).
We left soon after and drove on to Malacañang of the North aka the White House of the North at Paoay. This used to be the official residence of the former President Marcos and family when they were in Ilocos. There was a grand staircase leading to the President’s bedroom, Imelda’s bedroom (I was surprised to note that they didn’t share a room especially considering the size of Marcos’ bed), their daughters’ shared room, dining area and the various bathrooms and dressing rooms. The palace overlooks Paoay Lake and the President’s room has a good view of the lake. We spent 20 minutes there.
The Paoay sand dunes are nearby so we headed there. I wasn’t too keen on riding a 4x4 vehicle (PHP2,500 for an hour or PHP1,800 for half an hour). It was getting late so we decided to push on.
We continued our journey to Church of San Agustin aka Paoay Church. The church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the best examples of ‘Earthquake Baroque’ architecture. I think this means the church was primarily designed for earthquake protection. Indeed, the coral stone bell tower stands at some distance from the church for earthquake protection. Philippine bell towers were constructed at a distance from the main church structure to avoid its falling on the church during earthquakes. There was a wedding ceremony in the church so we only peeked in.
We then went to Herencia Café, famous for its pinakbet pizza. In fact, we ordered two pizzas: one mushroom with cheese and one pinakbet pizza and they were sooo good. So, so good, they were literally gone in 60 seconds. Actually, I think they were gone before 60 seconds were up. Yes, they were that good.
We left twenty minutes to 7 pm and drove on to Vigan in Ilocos Sur. Robert the driver had told us it’d take us 1.5 hours to get there and it took exactly that even taking into account the bad roads particularly at two stretches. We checked in at Villa Angela. This was where Tom Cruise, William Dafoe and some others spent the night while filming Born on the Fourth of July in the vicinity in 1989. I chose the single bed without thinking; otherwise who knows I might have slept on the same bed Tom did. Heh. He’s still eligible now that he’s single again.
We went out after 15 minutes and walked to the nearby Mestizo District, the city’s old town. It contains the largest concentration of ancestral homes and other colonial-era architecture. As it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines and well-known for its cobblestone streets, a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture, Vigan is unsurprisingly designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I love the buildings but am never good at taking pictures at night.
After 35 minutes, the others decided to look for dinner. Still feeling full, I decided to go back alone to the guesthouse. Not to worry, it’s a safe old town and our guesthouse was only five minutes’ leisurely walk away. I stayed up watching the Wimbledon women’s single final.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
I woke up after 4 am today to perform prayers and went back to sleep. Sleep didn’t come easy after that though and I had to be up again at 0715. We had breakfast at 8 and then drove to Syquia Mansion, which is the house of former President Elpidio Quirino (the sixth President of the Republic). It was closed though so we drove on to the market. The market was a covered building with at least two storeys (I had in mind an open air market). We didn’t stay long though. Robert agreed to bring us back to Mestizo District and I was very happy as I prefer taking pictures during the day. We stayed there for about 45 minutes, including souvenir shopping.
We then made our way to the bell tower of the Saint Augustine Parish Church aka Bantay Church in nearby Bantay. The Bell Tower is atop a small hill and overlooks the stunning view of the mountains of the nearby province and the South China Sea in the far distant. During World Wars I and II, the belfry was used as a watchtower for invading enemy forces. Our ‘guide’ had great fun with our cameras, pointing us spots to pose. We spent half an hour there.
We continued on our journey and an hour later, reached Juan Luna Shrine in Badoc, Ilocos Norte. The shrine is a reconstruction of the two-storey house in which the patriot and foremost Filipino painter was born (the original house burned down in 1861). Luna was the son of Joaquin Luna and Laureana Vovicio and was instrumental in placing Philippine art and culture on the world map. Indeed, I was impressed with his paintings which have deep meaning and depict the hatred and fight against the Spanish rule. We stayed just short of an hour before moving on.
We stopped at a small roadside stall selling garlic, shallot and the local vinegar. Abi explained that each province has its own vinegar, produced from the main crop. (Andrea and Abi also later explained during dinner that night that the Ilocos regions are reliant on agriculture but the soil is not as fertile as the soil elsewhere. Hence, the residents are very careful with money. As most of them are farmers or descendants of farmers and as the region is more exposed to the bright sun, they are mainly dark-skinned. The regions also receive fewer foreign tourists compared to other regions). Andrea and Din Din bought some garlic to bring home.
We drove on, passed Laoag and headed north for Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos. We climbed the lighthouse spiral staircase half-way before turning back (we were not allowed to climb further). We stayed about fifteen minutes before resuming our journey.
Our penultimate pit-stop was the Bangui Wind Farm. There are 20 units of wind turbines there. This is one of the most northern-most tips of the Philippines. We stayed for another 20 minutes before getting back on the vehicle for the drive back to Laoag.
Our last stop was the sinking bell tower of Laoag (as it was built on a sandy foundation). It was the briefest of stops and we were off again for the airport.
We checked in and waited for our plane to arrive from Manila. I went to perform prayers at the nursing room while waiting. It rained while we were in the terminal and stopped just before we boarded so we stayed nice and dry.
We landed at Terminal 3, Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 1930. Andrea drove Din Din back to her house and then the three of us went to have dinner at Little Tokyo. Then Andrea drove me back to my hotel.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Well, all good things come to an end and that includes this journey. I woke just before 5, showered, performed prayers and had breakfast. I went down at 6 and Andrea and Abi had just arrived too. Only 6 am and there were already a lot of people on the streets all busy heading elsewhere. We drove to Terminal 1 and reached the airport in 20 minutes. I bade them farewell and went inside to check in.
The flight took off on time and we landed to a wet Klang Valley at 1115. I was back in the office at a couple of minutes to 2. Boo!
Hmm, now where shall I head to on my next birthday? It will be just the last Syaaban weekend then too.
Friday, 6 July 2012 (yes, my birthday)
I left for the airport at 3 pm today. I had ample time before boarding so decided to check out the duty-free stores at KLIA. There was some renovation to the airport stores with new brands to be added soon. I ended up having to drag myself away from the bargains. My flight out was supposed to take off at 1730 but we had to await clearance from the Air Traffic Control. It was not a full flight and yet I was assigned seat at row 27 so the minute the door closed, I moved 5 rows to the front. We finally took off at 1745. I managed to finish one novel and feeling bored, started writing a new blog entry (see last post). We landed just before 9.30 pm and I noticed that the ground was wet. I rushed out and headed for the immigration. I remembered having to queue pretty long on my last trip here exactly two years ago and was keen to avoid that. Even if I couldn’t do anything about the queue, I could at least ensure I joined it early.
Well, I needn’t have worried. There was no queue at all, I was served quickly and my bag even emerged on the conveyor belt early. I headed out and walked to the metred taxi area. You can take a metred taxi or a fixed coupon taxi (at PHP450 I think). Andrea had advised me to take a fixed coupon taxi as sometimes the metred taxi will bring passengers on a joyride to squeeze out money from their poor victims. I had PHP360 left over from my previous trip - I had arranged to change money with Andrea – so I decided to take the risk and ride a metred taxi.
The cabbie wasn’t familiar with the hotel location so he drove slowly when we got to Arnaiz Street. We finally located it after asking a security guard. My fare came to PHP378 (I’m not sure how he counted that as a different number was shown on the meter but hey it was still less than PHP450 had I taken a coupon taxi) so I gave him all the pesos I had and RM10 thrown in too. Good thing he accepted it. Bad thing was I was literally peso-less.
I checked in and settled in for the night.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Andrea had informed she would come over at 0930 on Saturday but she texted to say she was running late. She and Abi arrived at 10 and we went to nearby Glorietta. I wanted to check out the book store (there was a good sale when I was last in Manila so I was hoping there’d be a similar sale this time around) but there was no sale at all. I was disappointed and went to window-shop instead while waiting for Andrea and Abi to have their breakfast.
We left after 11 and drove to the airport (Terminal 3). You see, Manila has three airports (terminals) all serving different destinations or airlines. Amazingly all three are in the city. And this of course contributes to the traffic jam. Terminal 3 serves Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines. Andrea had already checked in online for us so we went in. I was pleasantly surprised to find a prayer room there and I also saw a lot of Muslims at the airport.
We were the last to board the plane. The flight took a while to lift off and, having had a poor night’s sleep, I dozed off before long.
We landed at Laoag Airport (Andrea informed that it’s an international airport as it serves flights to Taiwan and southern China as there is a casino in Laoag) at 1335. We didn’t check in any bag so we made out of the terminal to find our driver. The driver drove promptly along and we boarded it. We drove first to Laoag city and the driver, having been informed we wanted to have lunch first, brought us to La Preciosa restaurant. I like the ambience of the resto but we waited too long for our food. We weren’t that famished but were keen to push off as we had a long drive ahead so we were a bit restless at having to wait.
We finally left after 3 pm (!) – we spent less time eating than it took to prepare (and we only ordered vegetarian dishes too) – and drove to Marcos’ birthplace in Sarrat. The former president is still referred to reverently in this region. We spent a short time there before driving off to Santa Monica church nearby, the biggest church in Ilocos Norte. We left after 20 minutes.
We drove on and when I woke up, we had reached the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac. We managed to get the guard to open the door for us. The mausoleum is where the glass-entombed, preserved corpse of the deposed president Ferdinand Edralin Marcos is laid to rest. The room was dark with some piped music and full-blowing air-condition. There was a strong scent of flowers (I remember wondering how much it’d cost to buy fresh flowers every day!). Photography is not allowed (but you can Google for the picture).
We left soon after and drove on to Malacañang of the North aka the White House of the North at Paoay. This used to be the official residence of the former President Marcos and family when they were in Ilocos. There was a grand staircase leading to the President’s bedroom, Imelda’s bedroom (I was surprised to note that they didn’t share a room especially considering the size of Marcos’ bed), their daughters’ shared room, dining area and the various bathrooms and dressing rooms. The palace overlooks Paoay Lake and the President’s room has a good view of the lake. We spent 20 minutes there.
The Paoay sand dunes are nearby so we headed there. I wasn’t too keen on riding a 4x4 vehicle (PHP2,500 for an hour or PHP1,800 for half an hour). It was getting late so we decided to push on.
We continued our journey to Church of San Agustin aka Paoay Church. The church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the best examples of ‘Earthquake Baroque’ architecture. I think this means the church was primarily designed for earthquake protection. Indeed, the coral stone bell tower stands at some distance from the church for earthquake protection. Philippine bell towers were constructed at a distance from the main church structure to avoid its falling on the church during earthquakes. There was a wedding ceremony in the church so we only peeked in.
We then went to Herencia Café, famous for its pinakbet pizza. In fact, we ordered two pizzas: one mushroom with cheese and one pinakbet pizza and they were sooo good. So, so good, they were literally gone in 60 seconds. Actually, I think they were gone before 60 seconds were up. Yes, they were that good.
We left twenty minutes to 7 pm and drove on to Vigan in Ilocos Sur. Robert the driver had told us it’d take us 1.5 hours to get there and it took exactly that even taking into account the bad roads particularly at two stretches. We checked in at Villa Angela. This was where Tom Cruise, William Dafoe and some others spent the night while filming Born on the Fourth of July in the vicinity in 1989. I chose the single bed without thinking; otherwise who knows I might have slept on the same bed Tom did. Heh. He’s still eligible now that he’s single again.
We went out after 15 minutes and walked to the nearby Mestizo District, the city’s old town. It contains the largest concentration of ancestral homes and other colonial-era architecture. As it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines and well-known for its cobblestone streets, a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture, Vigan is unsurprisingly designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I love the buildings but am never good at taking pictures at night.
After 35 minutes, the others decided to look for dinner. Still feeling full, I decided to go back alone to the guesthouse. Not to worry, it’s a safe old town and our guesthouse was only five minutes’ leisurely walk away. I stayed up watching the Wimbledon women’s single final.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
I woke up after 4 am today to perform prayers and went back to sleep. Sleep didn’t come easy after that though and I had to be up again at 0715. We had breakfast at 8 and then drove to Syquia Mansion, which is the house of former President Elpidio Quirino (the sixth President of the Republic). It was closed though so we drove on to the market. The market was a covered building with at least two storeys (I had in mind an open air market). We didn’t stay long though. Robert agreed to bring us back to Mestizo District and I was very happy as I prefer taking pictures during the day. We stayed there for about 45 minutes, including souvenir shopping.
We then made our way to the bell tower of the Saint Augustine Parish Church aka Bantay Church in nearby Bantay. The Bell Tower is atop a small hill and overlooks the stunning view of the mountains of the nearby province and the South China Sea in the far distant. During World Wars I and II, the belfry was used as a watchtower for invading enemy forces. Our ‘guide’ had great fun with our cameras, pointing us spots to pose. We spent half an hour there.
We continued on our journey and an hour later, reached Juan Luna Shrine in Badoc, Ilocos Norte. The shrine is a reconstruction of the two-storey house in which the patriot and foremost Filipino painter was born (the original house burned down in 1861). Luna was the son of Joaquin Luna and Laureana Vovicio and was instrumental in placing Philippine art and culture on the world map. Indeed, I was impressed with his paintings which have deep meaning and depict the hatred and fight against the Spanish rule. We stayed just short of an hour before moving on.
We stopped at a small roadside stall selling garlic, shallot and the local vinegar. Abi explained that each province has its own vinegar, produced from the main crop. (Andrea and Abi also later explained during dinner that night that the Ilocos regions are reliant on agriculture but the soil is not as fertile as the soil elsewhere. Hence, the residents are very careful with money. As most of them are farmers or descendants of farmers and as the region is more exposed to the bright sun, they are mainly dark-skinned. The regions also receive fewer foreign tourists compared to other regions). Andrea and Din Din bought some garlic to bring home.
We drove on, passed Laoag and headed north for Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos. We climbed the lighthouse spiral staircase half-way before turning back (we were not allowed to climb further). We stayed about fifteen minutes before resuming our journey.
Our penultimate pit-stop was the Bangui Wind Farm. There are 20 units of wind turbines there. This is one of the most northern-most tips of the Philippines. We stayed for another 20 minutes before getting back on the vehicle for the drive back to Laoag.
Our last stop was the sinking bell tower of Laoag (as it was built on a sandy foundation). It was the briefest of stops and we were off again for the airport.
We checked in and waited for our plane to arrive from Manila. I went to perform prayers at the nursing room while waiting. It rained while we were in the terminal and stopped just before we boarded so we stayed nice and dry.
We landed at Terminal 3, Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 1930. Andrea drove Din Din back to her house and then the three of us went to have dinner at Little Tokyo. Then Andrea drove me back to my hotel.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Well, all good things come to an end and that includes this journey. I woke just before 5, showered, performed prayers and had breakfast. I went down at 6 and Andrea and Abi had just arrived too. Only 6 am and there were already a lot of people on the streets all busy heading elsewhere. We drove to Terminal 1 and reached the airport in 20 minutes. I bade them farewell and went inside to check in.
The flight took off on time and we landed to a wet Klang Valley at 1115. I was back in the office at a couple of minutes to 2. Boo!
Hmm, now where shall I head to on my next birthday? It will be just the last Syaaban weekend then too.
