DAY ONE: CAGAYAN, HERE WE COME!
The original plan was to take off at exactly 12:00 am of february 29, but because we were both so tired, we overslept and woke up at around 6:00 in the morning. hurriedly, we packed our things, dressed up and broooooooooooooooom!!!! off we went to our very first destination, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.
We had our first stop somewhere in nueva ecija to eat our breakfast. then we journeyed through the mountainous roads of nueva vizcaya and ate our lunch at mang inasal SAANO. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon when we REACHED isabela, ofcourse, we took the opportunity to taste their famous delicacy, we enjoyed their sumptuous "pansit cabagan" for only 20php, very cheap for it's remarkably delicious taste.
It was around 7:00pm when we arrived at tuguegarao city. we had a hard time looking for ivory hotel, where we planned to stay for the night. It might be because we got confused with our cellphone's gps or it's just that the place didn't have enough road signs. we luckily found the place by asking directions from the locals. The hotel was quite intimidating, at first, we were hesitating because we had limited budget, thanks to the blogs that i've read before our trip, we only paid 650php for an overnight stay.
We had our dinner at the hotel's restaurant, explores the place and took some pictures before we called it a day.
GASOLINE CONSUMPTION AND EXPENSES ( FEB. 29, 2012, MALOLOS BULACAN TO TUGUEGARAO CITY CAGAYAN)
CALTEX PLARIDEL BULACAN - 2.6 LITERS PHP 150.00
CALTEX TALAVERA - 2.686 LITERS PHP 150.00
STA. FE NUEVA VIZCAYA - 2.85 LITERS PHP 175.00
POBLACION NUEVA VIZCAYA - 2.70 LITERS PHP 150.00
ILAGAN ISABELA - 2.64 LITERS PHP 143.00
TUGUEGARAO - .928 LITERS PHP 50.00
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TOTAL: 14.404 LITERS PHP 818.00
FOOD:
BREAKFAST, NUEVA ECIJA - PHP 115.00
LUNCH, MANG INASAL SAANO NUEVA VIZCAYA - PHP 200.00
PANSIT CABAGAN AND PEPSI, ISABELA - PHP 60.00
GATORADE, CHOCOLATE, AND BIOGESIC - PHP 70.00
DINNER, IVORY HOTEL - PHP 350.00
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TOTAL: PHP 795.00
ACCOMMODATION:
IVORY HOTEL AND SUITES - PHP 650.00
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR DAY one: PHP 2263.00
DAY TWO: EMBRACING MOTHER NATURE'S WONDERS
Tired of yesterday's long journey, we enjoyed the coziness of our hotel room and stayed in bed until 8:00 in the morning. while preparing our things, jun noticed something peculiar, a number of dead and bloody "gamu-gamo" (moths) were stuck on his helmet. we believe we encountered these poor creatures while driving our way to Tuguegarao City.
We left the hotel at around 9:00am and drove to our next destination, the Callao Caves of Cagayan.
We never had any difficulty finding the place. the roads were noticeably smooth and the luscious green surroundings were truly enticing. we paid 20php each for our entrance fee and you won't be allowed to enter the caves without a tour guide so you won't have a choice, but we realized having a tour guide was really necessary because if you're not familiar with the caves, your safety would be compromised.
You would have to climb up 184 stairs before you could reach the first chamber of these famous caves, very exhausting but fun.
The best time to visit the caves is at noon time so as to see the sky light's dramatic effect on the chapel, which can be found inside the caves' first chamber. unfortunately, we weren't able to follow our original itenerary, we were there at around 10:00am and it was still dark inside the caves.
Manong knows his stuff and keeps on telling us trivias and helpful information as he enthusiastically guided us through the seven chambers of the caves. The soil was wet and slippery, some of the tracks were steep and narrow so we had to hold on to nearby rocks. caving was a first time experience for both of us and we found it very enjoyable. i was particularly amazed with the interesting rock formations; the singapore's merlion, the skelleton, the lion, angel's wings, and my favorite, something that they call the kayak, but for me it was more like a broomstick....harry potter's firebolt! situated above the rocks of the seventh chamber. Too bad I wasn't able to take a picture of it.
It was believed that evil spirits dwell inside caves, we have heard a lot about these things before but it didn't stop us from exploring the wonders of callao caves. biblically speaking, evils do really exist so before entering, take time to pray and ask for the Lord's guidance and protection.
Manong served as our photographer while we were inside the caves. He was very friendly and fun to be with. The tour guides won't ask for any particular charge for their service, any amount you could afford to give them would be gladly appreciated.
We felt the urge to eat after the tiresome caving and hiking. We actually planned to have our breakfast there because we thought it was the best opportunity to taste their famous Pansit Batil Patong, Unfortunately, later that same day, the wives of our congressmen were scheduled to visit so the vendors were prohibited to do their usual business. We just bought some cupcakes and sodas and ate under a shade while savoring the view of Pinacanauan River.
After eating, we then geared up and off we went to our next destination. We thought this journey won't be complete without visiting one of the northernmost province of the country, Aparri.
On our way, we found a small carinderia wherein we starvingly ate our plates of "pansit batil patong", tasty and distinctively delicious!
We reached aparri at around 12:00 noon. there are beautiful white sand beaches in aparri but it was not part of our itenerary. we went there just for the pride of saying that "we'd been there!", and to make our visit more worthwhile, we looked for a motortrade branch and claimed our free motorcycle tune up.
We spent nearly two hours in aparri and we actually considered spending the night there but after analyzing and considering our schedule and budget, we went ahead and followed our original schedule. we started our venture to the paradise of the north, pagudpud ilocos norte.
This bridge leads the way to the province of ilocos. we stopped for a few camera clicks then continued our trip.
Last year, we also planned to do a north loop but we ended up having an ilocos tour. jun felt bad that we were not able to reach the patapat viaduct. last year, it's the bad weather that hindered us, this time, we were faced with a different challenge, it was getting late and we might not be able to reach the famous bridge before sunset. it was a very frustating taught so we did an almost non-stop drive passing the mountainous roads of allacapan, abulug, pamplona, claveria (it was almost 6:00 o'clock) ,sta.praxedes ( there we can already see it! ), jun drove at almost 100kph on straight roads and slowed down just a bit on curves, and yes! we did it! we got the chance to enjoy the view and took some pictures before the sun finally sets.
We then went straight to the blue lagoon beach in pagudpud, looked for a homestay, haggled and got a very good deal. we got a room to stay overnight for just 300 pesos. the place was a few kilometers away from the beach and establishments so we brought our motorcycle then went to one of the "palutuans" to eat our dinner. we walked along the shore for a few minutes then went back to our homestay to finally rest.
GASOLINE CONSUMPTION AND EXPENSES ( march 1, 2012, tuguegarao city cagayan to pagudpud ilocos norte)
total penablanca - 2.814 liters 150php
petron aparri - 3.280 liters 186.00php
petron libertad abulud - 1.5 liters 95.00php
sta. praxedes - 2.32 liters 150php
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TOTAL: 9.914 liters PHP 581.00
FOOD:
BREAKFAST, callao caves - 48.00php
LUNCH, pansit batil patong and pepsi - 128.00php
PANSIT CABAGAN AND PEPSI, ISABELA - PHP 60.00
snacks - 30php
dinner - 300.00php
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TOTAL: PHP 566.00
ACCOMMODATION:
homestay - 300php
other expenses:
callao caves entrance fee - 40.00php
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR DAY two: PHP 1487.00php
DAY THREE: ILOCOS REVISITED
It was 5:30 in the morning, jun hurriedly changed clothes and woke me up, he wanted us to see and capture the picturesque beauty of the so-called "paradise of the north" during sunrise. we went outside and we were wowed by what we saw, the sun, slowly rising up on the colorful horizon, it was an incredible sight.
The place where we stayed was a few kilometers away from the beach, so this day became more eventful for us, we decided not to bring our motorcycle so we could go hiking before dipping into the cool waters of the beach.
We explored the "Bantay Abot Cave", we weren't able to visit this place the last time we went here and this cave was a unique and a must-see place so make this a part of your itenerary when you visit pagudpud.
We walked and walked and walked and we started to feel the heat of the sun. it was tiring, both of us were already perspiring but we enjoyed every moment of it.
The green surroundings, the view of the majestic blue ocean from afar, it was an unforgettable experience for both of us.
We had reached the blue lagoon at around 7:30am and decided to have our breakfast first. After eating, we bought some souvenirs and then, there we were again, two children playing on the powdery white sand and cool waters of the blue lagoon beach.
it was our second time but this was the kind of place you would surely can't get enough of.
We walked our way back to the homestay, took a bath, packed our things then started exploring ilocos even further.
We had an expensive lunch at kangkang windmill cafe. I was quite surprised when I saw their menu, and here's the reason why...
Excited to taste their food, we ordered sisig and buko shake.
To be very honest, i didn't like the taste of the sisig. It has the "supermarket meat" taste if you know what i mean. Jun didn't notice it, maybe my taste buds were just too sensitive, but to be fair, their "buko shake" was the best and it really made my day.
That was a very hot afternoon but we still pursued our goal, that was to visit those places we weren't able to see last year. After the bangui windmills, we went to the Kapurpurawan Rock Formation, then to the Sand Dunes of Paoay which became a memorable, funny and embarrassing experience for us.
Upon arriving, we took some pictures and decided to leave because we couldn't take the too much heat of the sun, then one of the drivers of the 4x4 cars advised us to go to the other side to enjoy the view more so we did as we were told.
We had difficulty driving through the coarse sand so i decided to just walk while jun continued and went further with our mc.
He even boasted "liz! look! catch me on cam!" then went broom! broooooooooom! brooooooooooooooooom! he wanted me to capture a picture of him on our skydrive with the sand being thrown out into the air, and guess what happened....that act buried our mc's wheels quite deep into the sand.
I was laughing so hard and i had no choice but to push the motorcycle while jun tried to drive it out of the sand. after 15 minutes we finally did it.
We felt like all the energy was drained out of us, it was so hot and we were so thirsty. we just took a shot of the malacanang of the north from a view deck then we headed to batac ilocos norte. we stopped for a drink near the famous paoay church that was being renovated at that moment.
On our way to batac, a traffic enforcer stopped us because we had committed a minor traffic violation, it was because it was too late when jun noticed the stop light. when he handed his driver's license to the officer, he was surprised when he saw that we're from bulacan and was even amazed when he learned that we were touring using our motorcycle. he was very kind and handed back jun's license and just advised him to be careful next time.
It was around 4:00 in the afternoon when we arrived at marcos museum. together with other tourists, we entered the mausoleum and we we're able to see the controversial body of the late president ferdinand marcos. It was dark and cold with a weird music playing on the background. cameras were not allowed inside so we were unable to take pictures.
We then proceeded to the museum, took some pictures, learned a bit of history then started our journey home.
We promised ourselves to come back to this eatery somewhere along the ilocos highway because they serve delicious seafoods. we were so lucky because the place also offers a very good view of the sunset and we arrived just in time to witness it's beauty.
Jun wanted to continue our journey home but i requested him to look for a hotel because i was really tired. we found this seaside park resort in tagudin ilocos sur, the room was clean and cozy and the price was reasonable so we agreed to stay there for the night.
GASOLINE CONSUMPTION AND EXPENSES ( march 2, 2012, Pagudpud ilocos norte to tagudin ilocos sur)
shell burgos - 2.47 liters 150php
shell sta. maria - 2.7 - 2.7 liters 150.00php
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TOTAL: 5.17 liters PHP 300.00
FOOD:
BREAKFAST, pagudpud - 100.00php
LUNCH, kangkang cafe - 420.00php
dinner, ilocos sur- PHP 150.00php
snacks and beer - 200.00php
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TOTAL: PHP 870.00
ACCOMMODATION:
seaside park resort - 500php
other expenses:
marcos museum entrance fee - 100.00php
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR DAY three: PHP 1770.00php
Day Four:Thanks! For All the Wonderful Things!
IT WAS SO NICE TO STAY IN BED FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS MORE BUT WE CAN'T, WE WANTED TO GET HOME as early as possible so that we could spend time with our son and have a good rest before we go back to work. we spent a few minutes going around the sea side park resort then left at around 9:00am.
We stopped somewhere in san fernando la union to eat breakfast. along the way, we had passed a lot of vendors of dried fish, shallots, garlic, and other goods for pasalubong. our search for a cheaper dried pusit lead us to the Shrine of our Lady of Manaoag in pangasinan, which became a very good opportunity for us to thank the lord for all the wonderful things we had experienced and ofcourse, for keeping us safe all throughout our journey.
We bought some "puto calasiao" in Manaoag and stopped in Villasis Pangasinan to buy some shallots, garlic, and other goods for pasalubong.
We stopped at Kong's eatery and we ordered "kalderetang kambing" and a bowl of "bulalo", that was the best lunch we had on our whole trip.
We had our buko juice ritual in san simon apalit pampanga and touched down home base at around 4:30 in the afternoon.
GASOLINE CONSUMPTION AND EXPENSES ( march 3, 2012,tagudin ilocos sur to malolos bulacan)
shell san fernando la union - 2.6 liters 150php
petron rosales - 3.13 liters 171.00php
shell apalit - 1.048 liters 60.php
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TOTAL: 6.778 liters PHP 381.00
FOOD:
BREAKFAST - 125.00php
LUNCH - 175.00php
buko juice - 20.00php
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TOTAL: PHP 320.00
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR DAY three: PHP 701.00php
total gasoline consumption: 36.266 liters 2,080.00php
total expenses: 6,221.00php
