And then, we got a new car that we needed to break-in. My tito suggested Pagudpud. Oh well that's actually our plan but it will be nicer now because we will be with family. Since my tita wanted as many relatives to join, she offered to pay for the food. All we have to pay are accommodations, gas and toll. Yey for me! My 2 other cousins agreed too. Yey!
So with an Innova, a Wigo and a Mirage, off we went to the North. Imagine 19 people inside those 3 cars? Argh. Anyhoo, we left Taytay at 12mn. I was anticipating that we'll reach Vigan by 10am but we were there around 7am already. Thank you so much NLEX, SCTEX and TPLEX!
Unfortunately, Vigan is closed to traffic that Friday morning. The policemen said it's because of the festival. So we had to change our plan. Instead of going to Vigan and Baluarte first, we went straight to Laoag. I had to resist my Empanada cravings for a little longer! We just stopped by an Inasal place along the way for breakfast.
After, I think, another two hours, we reached Paoay church. Still as picturesque as ever. Here's a little snap of us!
Now, with fambam!
Our next stop was the Malacanang of the North. Apparently, this was where the Marcos family stayed when they were in Ilocos during their time as the country's leaders. They still have a lot of their things inside. The place was repossessed by the government and made as a museum now. Entrance fee is 20php per head, 10php for kids and senior. I just took a picture from outside. I didn't do it inside since I felt so relaxed. The house was so airy because of the numerous open windows. My lolo was so captivated with the place because he's a fan of Marcos. I'm not that much of a fan so ok that's that. Haha
Here's D posing in Marcos' office.
Our next plan was to have lunch by the windmills. We did this before and we had the best lunch with the big fans and the beach facing us. We passed by the Burgos Windmills first. These are the newer windmills. But we chose to go to the Bangui windmills because these are the ones by the beach. Burgos will be just like the windmills we have in Rizal. Unfortunately, there were no structures anymore around Bangui windmills. Only a few stalls selling souvenirs are left. They told us that a typhoon destroyed the other structures. We just had a quick photo session there.
Le familia didn't want to stop to the arches of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. So weird! I remembered stopping at every sign to have a picture during my first time. Haha! But, but they asked to stop my Pagudpud arc. So here you go -
After another two hours and a hefty lunch, we went straight to Hannah's Beach Resort. We chose this resort because of the pool and other amenities. There's actually a lot of cheaper alternatives but we have a lot of children and senior citizens with us so we chose the one where we think we will be comfortable. And Hannah's seems to be one of the best.
Here's the hollywood-style signage of Hannah's. So you see this from afar. This was taken from the Solar Heated pool.
This was 180 degrees. There's another pool below and a playground somewhere. The main resort has 3 pools. There's another two pools on the newer phase of the resort.
So I left D in the Solar Heated pool and I went down. This is what the pool looks like from below. A big palayok! I'm not sure why they call that Solar Heater pool. I'm expecting warm water but it was actually still very cold. D said by the name of it the sun is supposed to be heating the pool but since the sun rarely come out when we were there it was cold all throughout.
We stayed at the Infinity Pool most of the times. Here's D doing his thing -
And us being cheesy!
And my cousin being senti-
By the afternoon, we went to try the beach. Oh golly was it cold. The waves were really rough. I struggled because the waves were dumping me to the stones! Yep, there's a lot of big stones. You guys have to bring aqua shoes.
But it's ok. That's just in some parts. You know where the waves end. In the farther side of the beach the sand is nicer already. It's also good where there's no water. Look at my fambam enjoying the sand -
They said Pagudpud is the Boracay of the North. Hmm well it may be close. Definitely a lot better than our usual Batangas beach. The sand up North is not as fine as in Visayas but the color is creamier that Batangas. So fair enough.
Oh by the way, let me talk about our rooms. We got 2 Family Suite for all of us. There's 3 queen beds each and 1 sofa bed. This is good for 7, max 8. They added another single bed for the extra person. Rate is 8,250php per night plus 700php for extra person. Pricey eh? That didn't include any breakfast and you cannot bring food inside (although we smuggled a little snacks for the kids hehe).
The price of food in their resto was around 250-300 per head. We ate there on our first dinner but we chose to eat outside on our next meals. There's a lot of cheaper restos around the place.
The next day, we just stayed in the resort the whole day. Pool, beach, souvenir shopping and henna tattoos.
We initially planned to leave the resort around lunch time on Sunday. But since we will still go to Vigan (remember we weren't able to do so on our first day), we checked-out early in the morning. The sun was just up when we reached Patapat Viaduct. That's a little farther than Blue Lagoon.
After four hours, we reached Vigan. Some photo-ops, a lot more shopping and of course Empanadas (which I forgot to take a picture because I was so excited). Nothing really beats Vigan Empanadas.
My family in Calle Crisologo - CHECK!
And us again!
After that, another 8 hours of travel going back home. Argh!
Til our next travel,
Yosh
