ILOCOS trip.

I participated in our office’s three-day stress management seminar in Ilocos last May 21-24, 2009.

At first I was kinda hesitant for a few reasons. One, the seminar if from Friday to Sunday and since it will be in Ilocos with 12 hours travel time, we have to leave Manila on Thursday morning. I will not be seeing my kids for four days. Worst, I will be spending my weekend away from them. Second, my Saturday is usually spent by cleaning the house and doing the grocery and since I will be out of town nga, I have to squeeze them into the following week. Third, it is my father’s seventh death anniversary on the 22nd and I will be missing it too. Fourth, I know how beautiful Ilocos is and I want to visit it sana with my family.

Four reasons but I also wanted to participate in the seminar and I know that I also deserve a break from all the things around me, I need to unwind and relax. And this will be a perfect time.
We left Manila at 10am of Thursday. Learning that it will be a 12-hour travel, we tried to enjoy the travel, the traffic, the sceneries, the places with too many stop overs. And as for me, I am well rested, I manage to sleep during the travel, I just need some stretching, haha!

We arrived at Laoag, Ilocos Norte at past midnight. Okay, the program says, seminar starts at 9am of Friday, so I can still have a five hour sleep then. I woke up at 6am, had our yummy breakfast, longganisang vigan, fried egg and fried rice. After that, I took a bath na and get ready for the seminar.

The seminar started on time.

My thinking- I traveled 12 hours to get here, I will not be spending my weekends with my family, my weekend schedule is ruined, I will not be able to visit my father on his 7th death anniversary, I might as well participate in the seminar and enjoy Ilocos.

We stayed in an ancestral house in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. The upper portion of the house remained native with wooden walls and floor. They had some renovation in the old garage where two other rooms, the kitchen and the living room are located, yung nga lang, modern style na, hindi na-preserved yung pagiging native.

The seminar was informative naman, though the whole lecture was compressed to one day seminar. I learned new things naman.

~The famous bagnet~

The food was great! As in I need two sticks of Marlboro after meals because I am so full-talking about gluttony huh?

The whole day of Saturday was spent by visiting the famous places of Ilocos Norte. Very tiring but we all enjoyed the food, the places, the company and the picture takings!

The Windmills at Bangui

Bangui Windmills are located in Bangui, Ilocos Norte.

It is also known as the NorthWind Bangui Bay Project, a project by the NorthWind Development Corporation as a practice renewable energy sources and to help reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

The project is the first “Wind Farm” in the Philippines consisting of wind turbines on-shore facing the South China Sea and considered to be the biggest in Southeast Asia. The project sells electricity to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) and provides 40% of the power requirements of Ilocos Norte via Transco Laoag.

Blue Lagoon Beach Resort, Pagudpod

After seeing the Windmills, we headed to Pagudpod for the white sand beaches.

We stayed at Blue Lagoon Beach Resort till noon. We had lobster and fish for lunch. Beat that!

We dropped by another white beach in Pagudpod for some picture takings, the Saud Beach.

Saud Beach is a 2-kilometer arc of pure sand bordered by the blue of the South China Sea. It is an uncluttered beach devoid of all commercialism and crowds that usually spoil the appeal of a quiet beach destination. It is a haven for swimmers, snorkelling enthusiasts and wind surfers, and it is fast becoming another surfers’ paradise in the Philippines.

Roughly an hour away by land travel from Laoag International Airport, this picturesque beach is renowned for its crystal clear waters, fine white-cream sand and underwater sceneries of multi-colored corals and iridescent fish. Saud Beach is definitely one of Philippine tourism’s best-kept secrets.

Cape Bojeador Light House

They call it Faro Cabo Cape Bojeador, as it set majestically on a hill overlooking the South China Sea, located approximately 35 kilometres north of the City of Laoag, the lighthouse is the most accessible of all lighthouses in the north of the Island of Luzon. It was built in 1892 and is still functioning to date, serving ships passing by the northern part of South China Sea. This is one of the famouse historical landmark in the province of Ilocos Norte. It is the highest lighthouse in the Philippines above sea level on top of a hill named Vigia de Nagparitan (estimated a total height of around 160 meters high; tower height = 17 meters approximate) and is located in the town of Burgos.
The Lighthouse is the most western of the lights on the northern coast of the island, and in the approach of vessels from the China coast on the northwest. It lights the bend that marks the northwestern corner of the Island of Luzon, separating it from the South China Sea and the Babuyanes Channel. Similarly, it also assists ships heading towards the ports of Salomangue in Ilocos Sur which is 87 kilometres south from the lighthouse, and Curmimao, which is 60 kilometres away in Ilocos Norte. The Light flash once in every minute.

Completed on the 30th of March, 1892, the design and construction of the Lighthouse of Cape Bojeador was initially undertaken by the Engineer Magin Pers y Pers but was subsequently reconfigured and finished by the Engineer Guillermo Brockman. Built of locally made brick, the tower is octagonally-shaped and has an inner dimension of two meters and an exterior dimension of three and half meters.

Marcos Mausoleum & Museum

The Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte showcases memorabilia of the late Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos and a large stately and gloomy tomb housing his embalmed remains which are contained in a vacuum-sealed glass coffin. Within the property of the Marcos family is a cluster of three houses and the hallowed grounds of the mausoleum.

The Museum is the first structure seen from the main street and is the one which follows the lines of a colonial wood-and-brick house, with solid ground floor walls and an upper storey of wood decorated with floral motifs. The Mausoleum is a cube of adobe blocks and is stepped towards the top of the structure. The dark interior is divided into an entry foyer in which are exhibited old English standards and a bust of the former president.

Two decades after Marcos was chased from power, he still draws the faithful and the curious from this farming town. Displayed in an adobe mausoleum, his lavishly waxed corpse lies in a family tribute, bedecked in military medals and surrounded by faux flowers while Gregorian chants echo softly. Scores of school children visit nearly everyday, filing past souvenir peddlers for a look of the deposed dictator whom residents of Ilocos Norte province fondly call "Apo," or the Old man.

Malacañang of the North

This imposing two-storey structure was built as the official residence of the President Marcos in Ilocos Norte during the

Marcos era. It overlooks the legendary Paoay Lake and was designed to resemble a 19th Century "bahay na bato." It is complete with bedrooms, dining area, kitchen, an office, a spacious ballroom on the second floor, and even had an Olympic-size swimming pool. Malacanang Palace of the North has since been converted into a museum and it is open to visitors.

We saw Mr. Bingbong Crisologo on our visit here and we had some picture takings with him. Vicente Singson-Crisologo , better known as Bingbong, is a Filipino politician

. He is the incumbent congressman of the 1st congressional district of Quezon City having served in the13th congress of the Philippines and was reelected and serve for the 14th congress.

Bingbong is the son of the late Floro Crisologo who was the representative of the Province of Ilocos Sur from 1961 until his assasination and death in 1972. He is a maternal cousin of Luis "Chavit" Singson who is the encumbent governor of Ilocos Sur.

Paoay Church

This church is considered as one of the most striking edifices in the country with its huge buttresses flanking the sides and rear facade. Completed in 1710, inauguration ceremonies were held on February 28, 1896, just three years before the expulsion of Spanish rule in the country.

The style of the church has been dubbed as “Earthquake Baroque.” The church was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1927, reconstructed a few years after, and was later included in UNESCO'S World Heritage List.

Fort Ilocandia Resort Hotel

This resort is the only first class property of its kind in the province of Ilocos Norte. The hotel is sprawled over 77 hectares of land at the middle of sand dunes, prime forests, and two kilometers of fine sandy beach facing the South China Sea. The main building houses the lobby, a number of restaurants, shopping arcade, discotheque, and a glass-topped atrium where you can relax as you sip your favorite drinks, tea or coffee. The hotel hosts a branch of the Casino Filipino at the second floor.

Hotel facilities include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, seven function rooms, video arcade, tennis court, badminton court and a gym. Hotel guests may also indulge in various recreational activities such as wind sailing, archery, shooting, horseback riding, wind gliding/wind surfing, canoeing, open sea fishing, snorkel diving, scuba diving, and rafting, among others. The resort also has a world-class 18-hole golf course designed by PGA Champion Gary Player.

Pottery Making

Agriculture is the main livelihood of the people. Garlic is the principal cash crop. Fishing and manufacturing are other industries. Cottage industries include weaving, pottery, blacksmithing and furniture-making.

Whew! That was really a very tiring Saturday.

We went back to the ancestral house and had a superb dinner. We never had the chance to visit the famous empanada and the dinuguan, pakbet and puki-puki pizzas because we are all exhausted.

After dinner, we decided to visit the public market because we learned that goods are cheaper during late hours. We bought some garlic, onions, salt ang vinegar.

At exactly 6am of Sunday, we all left and thank wholeheartedly the family who accommodated us.

And for me, I am way excited to go home.

On our way home, we visited Vigan and shopped for some souvenirs and pasalubong!

Viva Vigan

Vigan is located in the northeastern part of Luzon. It was founded as a trading town in 1572 by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo. It is now the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia, including the historical checkerboard street plan.

Baluarte

New attraction around the Vigan area in Ilocos Sur is Chavit Singson’s Baluarte. If Ilocos Norte is Marcos territory, Vigan is where the Singson’s rule.

The Baluarte is a 20 hectare land with a mini zoo, shooting range, and a chapel. It is also known as Chavit’s Fortress.

Access to the mini zoo, where Singson’s numerous pet tigers and other animals are found are free for the public, as he considers this as a gift to the people. Can you see me following the tiger??? scary huh!

There’s also the butterfly garden. A walking tour inside would be worth a while. See how they breed and grow their butterflies from cocoons.

Heritage Houses

You usually see this street in movies.

Vigan, with its centuries-old edifices, is a breathing reminder of what was once a royal city.Today, Vigan retains much of the patina of 18th century Castillan architecture as seen in some 150 stone houses which stand in the town's Mestizo District, notably Mena Crisologo Street. Many of these ancestral homes are still in good condition and some have been turned into cozy inns, museums, and souvenir shops.

O well, that completes my four-day unstressful trip to Ilocos.

And if you asked me if I enjoy the trip?

I SURELY DID.