One unplanned North tour of the Philippines.
A new discovery.
True Nature. True Creation.
To experience north would justify every positive word that I am talking about. I have few adventure of my own country, but this particular tour somehow filled-in [for the mean time] my urge to tour Philippines. For the mean time, I got pretty much satisfied with what I have seen and experience. Even up to this point, I can't still get over it. I miss it...
9... 10... 11... 12, those are the numbers that are most of us are guilty having it encircled on our April calendar of 2009. I sure you look forward to that date, but my initial plan for that is to have time to relax and more time to offer for sleeping. But that didn't happened, I didn't know, that there is a better way to relax.. and it is not to put my body to peace, but to fill those eyes with great scenery. My Holy Week getaway of 2009 is trully a hit!
We are heading north, excitement filled my system... coz we are not going to my usual north trip that offers coldness, lot'sa vegetables and great ukay-ukay buys (pertaining to Baguio), now its way way up... way way different, ILOCOS [Pagudpud] is our main destination. We are travelling by land, but I have no idea, that to experience Paradise would entail you to give those ass several cramps, as to my computation, 15 hours or more... that spells out ILOCOS. But no complains.. it was certainly worthit.
What makes this trip more fun, is that I am not expected to open my wallet and share some couple bills for the bills, its a Trip Treat, thats the best thing when travelling with family [thanx to Mr. & Mrs. Whitney]. A couple of hours was spent, it was tiring, not to mention that I slept late and have to wake up early to avoid the traffic w/c is a normal situation in Philippine road. Surprisingly, we did, but the long gap did not made our reach fast. Our first stop was in PANGASINAN, the very famous Manaoag. Since its Holy Week, we owe some prayers and a divine intervention vis-a-vis to our planned getaway... it made the travell longger, but the scenery, the delecacies there... no complain... certainly a plus to our trip.
I lost count about time, but I am serious, its eff'n long when we reached Laoag. We plan to have some early beach encounter, stop by a public beach to have some quick snack and some bone stretching. Everyhting is so fresh, the air, the view, the water.. I mean everything. As soon as I got out the car, I went rushing to the beach shore to feel its virginity. My eyes kept telling me about Treasures, even rocks there can be kept as a souveneir, its so amazing. After that, its getting late and dark. Uncle who does the driving is also tired [I feel for him, and I felt bad not knowing the skill to drive]. We could have reached Pagudpud that same day, if only there is a substitute driver. So we planned to search for a resort at that very moment, and we found GERTES RESORT. I guess to keep everything in balance, it is always required to experience a not so good one along the trip. Gertes resort is a 5 thumbs up rating.. on the negative aspect... Poor service, over priced poor cooked food and the place? just avarage, but to consider their pricing, its below average. Sad to say... but it was quite an experience.
Another day has come, and couple of hours will be spent for some travel again... but hey... another 3 hours is nothing compare to what we have gone through. Counting times, then I am beginning to see an attraction. Huge Electric Fans... ooppps Hell NO! I am just not used to it... never thought that we have it here, WINDMILLS is what I see. In the modest place like KANGKANG... behind the very smelly place name hides a very marvelous spot. Windmills along the beach. Darn Amazing, it is very huge, its very modern and its unusual. I love it.
Pagudpud is now in reach.. my eyes can spot now the blue ocean from afar. The air is very much different now... sun striking so wild, and I can wait to dip my bodies on to that water and sand. As we park down the car, I rush outside and digest every wonderful scene my eyes can capture. We are in SAUD to be exact, where the Beach hotel, party strip is located. We spoted ARINAYA resort since it is in the top most row to have our late lunch. This time, food is better in terms of taste and price... their watermelon is the most remarkable dish, the 50 bucks fruit quenched my entire body with its juice and right sweetness. I so darn love it!
The next story? I swim myself out... trying to maximize my time to be with Mr. Pacific Ocean, I can't help it, but the strange sun heat has no effect on me. I am so ready to tan, nothing can stop me at that very moment.
We went there with no reservations at all, all of us are Pagudpud novice. So first things first... hotel searching is our drama. Every hotel of the top most row are fully booked, a blessing in disguise I have to say, as we end up renting the Penthouse room of the Mediterenean Inspired Hotel resort on that same strip named TERRA RIKA.
I drown myself, got some henna tatoo, fiest to the great food the place offers, fiest my eye with the great scenery. Camera whoring, buko sipping, sun bathing, sand castle, souveneir shopping, watched Bikini Summit and Party hard that night. My happiness was well defined.
Sad to say, great things come to an end, that is the time that we have to leave pagudpud... I am just a step away from my goodbye... i felt the miss for the place. I fell in love with Pagudpud. That is how wonderful the place as well as the people living there.
Just when I thought that its over, I was wrong.. Good things got extended. We are heading to VIGAN.
Who says that time machine is an impossible invention? the disclaimer here is that you can only go backwards. Your machine is just your car and the formula is your long hour travel patience and a bit of effort & you can definitely go back to time. I've experienced it through VIGAN. I felt like I am now involved in the Philippine history.. the place is so significant to our country, you can feel it and visualize it. I am very happy that there is still a place like this that exists.
We did a lot of camera whoring, thanks to my brothers DSLR that managed to capture the exact beauty of the place. But ofcourse, I was able to load up my lomo with film on our Vigan stay [can't wait to develop it]. We did a lot of shopping there... Vigan shirts, jars, antiques, bags and their famous longganisa and chichacorn for pasalubong. 3 hour stay is not bad enough to tour Vigan.. if we only have more time, it could have been better. :)
Well thats the end of my trip... hitting 4 place in one trip is certainly a bang!
Need I say more? just check out my holy week getaway pics.
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