2008 Nov: Ilocos, Philippines: Day 2: Photoholic

2008 Nov: Ilocos, Philippines: Day 2: Photoholic

Next day, our wake-up call is 6am. We took our breakfast and by 7am, we already boarded the bus for a trek going to Kabigan Falls. We thought it would be just an easy trek, but we passed by around 4 small streams and 3 more deep streams with strong waves. Good thing we have helpful guides to keep us safe on crossing the strong water waves.

After, we passed by some rock formation again and go straight to Maira-ira Blue Lagoon.

We again stayed for a short photo-op on Patapat Viaduct and Agua Grande.

We were not allowed to swim on the beaches we visited due to big and strong waves. Thus, we go back to Saud Beach (Polaris Beach House) to enjoy the sand and clear water.

By 3pm, we’re ready to depart Pagudpod and go ahead to Vigan. It was another long bus ride with a few stops.

Finally, we reached Villa Angela for our dinner. We took our dinner outside the old house. But walking along the secret passage and checking out the antic pieces - you’ll surely feel being part of scary scenes on movies.

We started the Vigan Walking Tour on the Vigan Plaza where all pink lights are hanged on trees.

Few more steps and finally we reached Calle Crisologo. Here we stayed for more than 2 hours to do some shopping and a lot of night shots!


On our way to Manila, we drop by Marsha’s Delicacies to buy some pasalubong. By around 6.30am, we again the experienced the traffic and bustling sound of the Metro!

I acknowledged our kuyas, titos and titas who were there to prepare our food, drove us to our destinations safely and take care of us during the whole trip. Happy to meet all the participants and joiners on this tour, to listen to your stories and to laugh with all of you. Thanks to my sis, and friends janel and gelo for joining me on this trip. Big thanks to Jaja, Mef, Tupe and Leai for making this weekend a very special one.

Travel Guide: Travel Factor

2008 Nov: Ilocos, Philippines: Day 1: Photoholic

2008 Nov: Ilocos, Philippines: Day 1: Photoholic

What’s the story behind the getting famous adventure of Photoholic Ilocos by Travel Fractor?

8pm Friday, the meeting place is at Mc Donald’s Quezon Ave. MRT Station. Leia came in and they started the registration. After the id laces have been distributed, we waited for a while and we started boarding the bus (Orange Luxury Bus: TWE 383).

First stop over was the one on/before Tarlac area. After doing a washroom break and few stretching, we went to our bus seats and continue our sleep and night ride. It was still dark and early (5:20am) when we arrived at the San Agustin Bell Church.

Another had another washroom break to freshen-up ourselves. We immediately grab the opportunity to take some photos on the Bell Tower.

Then we took our breakfast. Thanks for giving us the chance of tasting the famous and delicious Vigan Lumpia Tart like.

After then, we drove to Paoay Church, we stayed there for almost an hour.

We have seen a small shop that sells Basi and Duhat - Ilocos Wines.

We passed the Marcos Place and Sand Dunes. Unfortunately there was no sand, grasses already grew on the area, so we’re not able to see the exact desert scenes of Panday. The area has already its border gates and we were not able to get into the sand area. Per Leai, this will soon be a residential area as well.

We had our Lunch and prepare our selves for the next set of places to be visited in the afternoon.

To reach Cape Bojedor Lighthouse we took tricycles. The road is steep and narrow that is why we need to transfer to a tricycle.

We were lucky that we are able to reach the top of the Lighthouse and see the lamp. It was scary at first because the stairs are so old, when we were able to reach the top. When we were there, it is a little dangerous because the wind is so strong, also one glass wall was already broken because of the strong wind. We were able to see the border of the Philippines or Ilocos outline and of course the South China Sea horizon.

We made our own adventure! We though that from the Lighthouse we will also take a tricycle going to Capurpurawan Rock - so it was very a long scary ride on the national highway, another long and bumpy journey on the rocky soil, and still a long walk and short jumps across the dead corals before we reached the summit. It was totally windy on top and big waves were still able to reach the other side of the rock formation.

We then move to Bangui Windmills. This place has been used for the WOW Philippines advertisement by the Department of Tourism. For those who will visit the area, even baseball caps are not good to use, try using big handkerchiefs to manage your hair. This is also the place I lost my eyeglasses due to my addiction on jump shots. Too bad, I was not able to recover my glasses.
We are already on the road going to Polaris Beach House (in Saud Beach) when the sun set. We reached the resort by 6pm, get a quick rest, freshen ourselves and join the group again for small gathering with self introduction and have our dinner.

After dinner, we got to talk with our fellow travelers and got to chit chat on things in and around photography, life and traveling.

Travel Guide: Travel Factor