Ilocos Region Day 1 Part 1 - Manila-Vigan

Good Day Everyone!!!! Here's my first entry. I wanna share to you about my travel in the heritage village of the Philippines-VIGAN!
Photos are courtesy of them as I don't have any cameras with me that time

People with me:From top left to right

Alain Corros-Organizer

Richard Ang

Noel Alex Villota
Mau Bonggao

From down left to right

Raissa Ang

Julie Osia

Me

Reggie Pinlac
Kuya Bong-Driver

Date:May 30,2013-June3,2013

At first, This trip is full of both uncertainties and excitement for me as I'm going to travel with a group of people which most who I haven't met yet and at a place I only visited once, which by the way is more or less 400 kilometers from Manila. Si Richard at Alain lang kilala ko dyan ^_^

Our meet up place is at SM Trinoma at 8 pm as we are leaving by 9 pm. I met up first with Richard with his sister Raissa at SM San Lazaro for last minute shopping. Then the three of us went to trinoma to meet Reggie and had our dinner at jollibee....of course it's going to be a long travel so might as well keep my stomach full, before meeting the rest of the group at Starbucks. Alain is already at the coffee shop when we got there. Afterwards, we waited for Noel and Julie, who surprisingly came all the way from Quezon province (4 hour travel), to travel for another many hours all the way to Vigan...I wonder how tiring that can be? And then there's Mau ^_^

One good thing about travelling with new set of people is that marami kaming pinagkekwentuhan sa buong biyahe namin...should I say no dull moment?..though I'm the most silent type...."for sure maraming kokontra dyan hehe" todo kwentuhan kami sa buong travel except for julie kasi knockout siya sa pagod hanggang sa nakatulog na din kami. By the time we woke up, we're already in Vigan and it's almost dawn, about 4 in the morning. We parked at St. Augustine Church or popularly known as Bantay Church. We waited for sunrise to have a nice view of the bell tower

VIGAN

BANTAY CHURCH

St. Augustine Church or Bantay Church
Finally!! Vigan na! our first stop. This is our first encounter of  "Mag-donate muna kayo bago pumasok".....and my first embarassing moment with Julie hahahaha it's our little inside joke. I just gave her an instant pampagising stronger than your average double shot espresso (O.O)

One of the oldest church that I visited and is considered as one of the oldest church in Ilocandia. I lit up a candle and made a wish before going up to the bell tower. A mass was even held that early in the morning but unfortunately, it's in a different dialect that none of us can understand. Up the bell tower welcomes you with a great view. Medyo mababa lang yung ceiling sa bandang hagdanan dahil nauntog ako :(

But what captivated me the most is the simple yet breath taking scenery of the Chapel by the Ruins. You can find it the back of the church itself and is surrounded by a beautiful garden.

Chapel by the Ruins

VIGAN-PLAZA SALCEDO

Then our next stop is in Vigan plaza where we ate our breakfast. The name of the restaurant is Cordillera Inn. Medyo bitin lang yung food....or matakaw lang talaga ako hahaha

We walked around Vigan and guess who enjoyed the most...It's Noel. He loves the nostalgic charm of the place. I can't blame him. When you're there, it's like you traveled back in Spanish era. Everything is well-preserved. We didn't buy pasalubong that time since we'll pass by Vigan again on our way home, so less baggage. Besides, the lifespan for bagnet and longganisa is quite short

We also made a short visit at Crisologo Museum, which give me the creeps. (they know what I mean). Hidden Garden, where we ate empanada, and in Burnayan which is famous for Clay pottery

CRISOLOGO MUSEUM

I don't know if I'll regret putting the subject History in the list of my least favorite subject. :(

Here's one of the oldest museum we visited here at Vigan. The building is quite old that you can hear creaks when you walk at the wooden floor at the upper level. This is where we also encounter someone saying "Donation muna! Bago pumasok bayad muna ng donation"....I think they should have put entrance fee on the label rather than donation hahaha but any cost will do

I envy Noel during our trip inside the museum as he was enjoying the place; complete opposite of what I felt that trip. Ika nga, kanya-kanyang trip ^_^ But what caught my attention are the two pictures below. This is the only place where I saw a real vintage car and calesa, which they call caruaje...Cool isn't it!

HIDDEN GARDEN

Then shortly afterwards, we headed next to the hidden garden. The place is best for plant lovers as they sell plants of various shapes and sizes. We also had our snack here. They have one of the best empanadas, though oily siya ^_^. Mukhang masarap maglunch dyan though alanganin na dahil it's only 10 in the morning

 BURNAYAN

"Lonely river flows to the sea, to the sea, to the open arms of the sea-hi-hi-yeah

            Lonely river sigh wait for me, wait for me. I'll be coming home wait for me"

This is exactly the song that's running in my head while trying to shape up a pot....though I know it ended up not very well. Does Demi Moore or the film GHOST ring a bell? hahaha Sorry for people born in the year 2000 onwards

It's fun making one, but it takes a lot of practice to make it perfect.

BALUARTE by CHAVIT SINGSON

A mini-zoo in Vigan. One of my favorite parts of our itinerary is Baluarte as we can have close encounters with animals such as deer, which I mistakenly called bimby instead of bambi "lagot ako kay Kris haha", ostrich, cockatoo, blue parrot, butterfly, iguana, python, and ponies. I wish we can touch the tiger too...as long as it doesn't see us as food

AAANNNNDDD We're off to Paoay. Since we're hours before checking in at a hotel that time, we had our short talks and a little siesta. Zzzzzzzzzzz