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| Pic with the gang |
Ever since Vigan became one of the 7th
wonders of the world, I've been wanting to go there. I honestly dont
know where it is or how to get there. Luckily, some of my co-workers
also wanted to go to Vigan so they organized the trip and invited
others to join. There are 16 of us who confirmed to join the longest
road trip to Vigan.
April 30,2015
I brought my back packand change of
clothes with me at the office. I still worked in the morning but at
noon, I went out to eat lunch, then bought my fave mcdonald double
cheese burger for my dinner later. When I arrived back at UP, I
changed my clothes and went out to take a taxi at 2:30 pm. It was
difficult to get a ride. After 30 minutes, I finally got lucky. The
ride going to the airport was slow because of the heavy traffic. I
guess everyone is going out on vacation on a long weekend.
I finally arived at Mactan airport
then started the waiting game. Yup the flight was delayed for 40
minutes. My co-officemates were having fun taking pics. At 7:00 pm,
we boarded the plane. I ate my burger during the plane ride. The
moment we landed, I informed them that we will meet at the CR. It
took about 20 minutes for them to finish at CR Then out we go,
looking for the van to take us on a long road trip to Vigan. I'm
guessing it was past 9:00 pm when we boarded the van. There was
traffic on the road, but it was expected and tolerable.AT the first
stop, we tried to get some food. The fastfood that we entered only
had lugaw and chicken so I ordered one.
When we arrived to board the van, there
was a delay. The driver, Jun, informed us that 2 vans will be
following us since the driver are newbies. They had to transfer some
passengers so we had a long wait.
May 1
The road trip to Vigan took so many
hours. I slept a bit. We saw some road accidents along the way. We
had some stops but unfortunately, there was no time to eat breakfast
and lunch. We have to make do with our baon. Our driver said that
lunch will be at hidden garden. We stopped by at Jolibee but Jun
didnt want out to get out. He was heading towards Hiddent garden when
he realized the convoy wasnt with us so he stopped and waited. That
was the last draw for me since we were tired and hungry and its not
fair for us to wait for them so we told Jun that we dont want to wait
anymore. Actually, Jun got lost while trying find the restaurant.
When we got there, which was after 12 noon, we had to wait in line
since the restaurant was full. 14 Hours to get to Hidden garden
grabehhh and still we couldnt eat. Fortunately, some of the
customers gave up and went out so we got another number and was able
to get a seat in 15 minutes. All of us were so hungery. I was so
excited to eat Bagnet. Btw, I wasnt impressed with the bagnet, it
was dripping with fat.
After we ate, we had a picture taking
session at the garden then we are off for the Vigan tour which
includes Heritage Village and Baluarte. There was so little time so
we went to Laoag to check in JCF transient homes. The driver also
didnt know where to find our accomodation so we got lost AGAIN.
We had 2 rooms, good for 8 people. It
has a sala, TV, electric fan, dining table, rice cooker, stove,
refrigerator, plates, spoon/fork, glass etc. There's also a
convenience store next to the pension house. Our home sweet home. I
was given a set of keys, made of of 4 keys including 1 for the gate.
We went to the next room to eat dinner. It was a fun night for
everyone. Somebody borrowed the key from me since they cannot lock
the door without the key.
May 2 Laoag Tour
I woke up at 4 am to take a bath. I
realized that the key was not on the table where I saw the night
before. The driver will pick us up at 6 am so we had to hurry. I woke
up the people who are still asleep and changed clothes. We had a new
driver, Rey who is also the owner of the van. We informed Rey of our
experience with Jun and he told us that things will be different from
now on. First Stop Breakfast with coffee and vigan's longonisa. Then
we went to churces, museums, sinking bell, windmills, rock
formation . In the afternoon, the place with the miraculous water
and Pagudpud beach. I had fun swimming by myself . I thought this was
the highlight of the trip. In the evening, we had free dinner eating
traditional ilocano food. Then we stopped by some stalls to buy
onions, garlic and salt.
When we got back at the pension house,
I told them to find the key. Halughugin lahat ng plastic and bag.
Good news! The key was in Flor's backpack. Watta way to end the day.
I tried to sleep but I couldnt so I watched Your face sounds
familiar and made some chika 'till 11 pm
May 3 Paoay Sand Dunes, Sand Boarding
then back to Vigan
I woke up 4:30 am and took a shower. We
were planning to go to church at 5 am. So we took a tricycle ride
going to church but unfortunately the mass has already started and it
was in Ilocano so di kami maka relate. Oh well, I guess we tried. We
were walking going back to the pension house so we took some pics.
Then jogged about 300 meters so we wont be late. Rey will pick us up
at 6 a.m. When we arrived, everyone is still asleep, ohhh bummer.
I thought Pagudpud was the best part
of the trip but I was wrong. It was the Paoay sand dunes. Initially I
didnt want to go since 1 trip costs P2,500. But since it took us 14
hours to get to Ilocos, might as week go full blast tourist mode.
GMA7 local news crew were there to interview us. I'm not really sure
they aired our interview.So there we go, It was like riding the
roller coaster with all the screams and thrills. We had stopovers and
took some pictures with the Panday statue and Nora Aunor himala
statue. We did the traditional jump shots and did some sandboarding.
It was such a hot day. After Paoay, we ate breakfast then went back
to the pension house. We were given only 20 minutes to pack our bags
and freshen up. We will be going to Vigan to shop for souvenirs and
take some pictures so It was going to be a full day for us . I
decided just to change my clothes and not to take a shower anymore.
So we are off to Vigan to visit places
we missed and that includes Marcos highway, Malacanang of the North,
Batac etc Rey is a much better driver, having stopovers at gasoline
stations so we can use the CR. We also made stops at some sights to
take some pics. He also has the van continuously checked. He also
knows the shortcuts and how to avoid traffic. It was a smooth ride
going back to Manila.
May 4 Going back to Cebu
We arrived at NAIA 3 at 2 pm. We had a
problem with our baggage so we had to purchase 30 kilos more for our
pasalubong. We finished the check in at 4 pm. I had to change clothes
and tried to eat breakfast. It was the fastest breakfast I ever had
since our flight was already boarding when I just started eating.
Sayang ang naiwan kong tapa.
Overall, the trip was a fun roller
coaster ride, with its ups and downs. I really enjoyed it, no
regrets, even the getting lost part. It just adds more story to
tell,better than the picture taking story. What I love the most,
going to church, swimming and sand dunes. I'm not really a fan of
taking pictures of the view, so those 3 things just made up my
summer. I officially declare that 2015 is my best summer ever.
