Gateway to Ilocos
Manila to Ilocos Norte
Traveling from Manila to Ilocos Norte via Baguio all the way to Vigan up to Bangui Ilocos Norte is indeed a very tiring experience. It took us three days and two nights to complete the whole travel.
The team prepares to roll out, and the first stop is Baguio, we departed from Manila around 5:00 in the morning. Since most of the team does not have their breakfast we decided to stop over the shell Balagtas gas station along North Express Way. We always stop by to this station when we travel north since the place was big which does not give us a problem looking for a parking space, plus there's a lot of fast food to choose from to recharge our tummy.
After having our breakfast we proceed to our journey, we estimated to reach Baguio before noontime. Good thing NLEX has improved becoming the fastest way to travel north plus with the existence of the newly built SCTEXT we are confident to reach our destination on time.
Before noontime, we already reach the entrance all the way to Kenon road but we decided not to use Kenon because it is dangerous to pass that road especially that the rain was heavy on that day, so we decided to take the road going into Marcos Highway all the way up to Baguio. When heavy rain is pouring it is safer to travel along Marcos Highway rather than that of Kenon.
Indeed, by noontime we reach Baguio. We only have our vehicle re-fueled and decided to have our lunch along the way while going to Vigan. This time our way is via Naguilan access road.
View of sunset going to Vigan
By night time we reach Vigan, this time we need to look for a place to stay. This is the second time that we went to Vigan which is why we already know where to stay, and the best place for us to stay is in Vigan Plaza Hotel. It is located just beside the St. Paul Cathedral near the heritage village. We are lucky that time because they have lower rate promo, but even without the promo rate the price is still reasonable, we end up our first day treating ourselves with some nice pizza from fast food nearby.
Vigan Plaza Hotel
Vigan Plaza Hotel is located just beside the St. Paul's Cathedral, near the heritage village.
Vigan Plaza Hotel Lobby
We start the second day of our journey with a nice breakfast on Vigan Plaza Hotel and taste the ever famous Longanisang Vigan, we do not have any problem looking for a place to eat our breakfast since Baguio Plaza Hotel serves breakfast for free included in the hotel package.
Breakfast at Vigan Plaza Hotel
After breakfast, we had a short walk along Calle Crisologo where the heritage village is located, during our night of stay we hadn’t much time to roam around and see the heritage village, the look of the house was similar to that of the Spanish era. Now we have a chance to see the village in the day time and buy some souvenirs at Vigan specialty shop located along Calle Crisologo.
Vigan Heritage House
After a short shopping for a souvenir, we packed our things and proceed to our next destination, the Bangui windmill. We estimated that we will be arriving at Bangui by noontime if the scheduled typhoon will not pass our way.
Our travel was smooth then and before noontime, we reach Laog Ilocos Sur. We were on schedule as we arrived Bangui by noontime, just enough to have our lunch on Kangkang restaurant just beside the high standing windmill that looks like a giant fan which serves to cool down the mountains of Ilocos region.
Bangui Ilocos Windmill
As we have our lunch on the Bangui windmill cafe we are planning to proceed to Pagudpud but the store attendant warned us that a bridge on the way to Pagudpud is under repair and we might get stranded since it is in the news that a typhoon is coming soon.
Bangui Ilocos Windmill Cafe
Afraid of getting stranded we decided not to proceed as plan but rather go back to Vigan and spent a night there before going back to Manila. But before going back to Vigan, one of my team suggested visiting the Marcos Museum in Batac since it is along the way going back to Vigan, we agree to pay a visit to the former president, the most brilliant president the Philippines has ever had.
We arrived at Marcos place in Batac at around 4:00 in the afternoon but there is not enough time to enter the museum because it was open only up to 4:00 in the afternoon, however we are lucky enough to enter the place where the former president body is laid to rest, that is the first time we saw the former president in close range, such a solemn place he rested in.
When you look at the body you will be amazed at how his look was preserved. Outside the place is a giant tarpaulin where all the accomplishments of the former president were written, and one of the accomplishments that amazed us is the result of his Bar exams of which is extraordinary.
From Batac we proceeded to Vigan to spend the night, we arrived at Vigan by night time, again we choose Vigan Plaza Hotel as the place to stay for the night. Now it’s time to look for a place to have our dinner since we are not yet familiar with the place we ask some locals where to find a restaurant where we can eat and taste Vigan native food, and from there we end up on a nice quiet place of Los Mojitos De Vigan.
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| Los Majitos de Vigan Menu |
Day 3 of our journey we are scheduled to go back to Manila, so early in the morning after having a good breakfast at Vigan Plaza Hotel, we packed our things and headed back to Manila. But along the way, as we arrived at San Fernando LA union earlier than expected we decided to pass at Baguio and have our lunch there. So we again proceed to Baguio via Naguilan access road, when we reach Baguio it was raining heavily so we decided to go on camp John Hay and have lunch there on Dencio’s.
After the lunch it is time to travel back to Manila, supposed to be we will go down Baguio via Kenon road but because the rain was heavy it is dangerous to travel on Kenon with that kind of conditions, so we end up using Marcos Highway going down to Manila.
We reached Manila at around 10 pm, it was a very tiring and long journey but the experience we gain and the beauty of the Northern part of the Philippines that we saw was worth the travel.
Next time we will return to those places and travel to the place we failed to reach which is Pagudpud Ilocos Norte.
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