30th Birthday in Vigan

My sister and I just got back from vacation 2 days ago and I'm writing about it just now because I got really tired. Imagine a 10 hour bus ride from Vigan, Ilocos Sur to Manila plus I'm also kinda busy editing and organizing lots of pictures from our 3 day tour of the historic and beautiful city of Vigan. I promise to write as much as a can remember from that memorable trip.

Day 1 

We left Partas Bus terminal in Cubao past 12 midnight hoping to arrive early in Vigan but we got stuck for over an hour in Sison, Pangasinan during the first stopover due to engine problem so the supposedly less than 10 hour trip didn't happen. We arrived in Vigan past 10AM. From Partas Bus terminal we rode a tricycle to get to Grandpa's Inn where we booked a room but the check in time is not until 2PM. We're so tired from perhaps the longest bus ride of our lives. Since we have nowhere else to go we left our bags in the care of the receptionist and had our first breakfast in Vigan at the onsite restaurant called Kusina Felicitas located in the lobby. We had pasta and coffee chillers to cool us down. I honestly didn't like my spaghetti pomodoro because it's a little too salty for me but I did enjoy my Irish cream chilled coffee. After breakfast we decided to take a walk along Calle Crisologo which is just few blocks away from Grandpa's Inn. Oh boy! I know it's summertime but the summer heat in Vigan is even

worse than Mandaluyong. I started taking pictures using my new DSLR camera when a cuchero named JR approached us and offered a tour of Vigan's famous tourist spots for Php150/hour. We didn't say yes right way and thought of the offer first but I told my sister that from what I researched and read on other blogs that the price offered to us is the standard Department of Tourism-accredited rate, others double up the price so to cut the chase we go for it. 

First stop is the century old Vigan Cathedral then to the Arzobispado (Archbishop House) just beside the cathedral. We thought we're able to get inside Arzobispado unfortunately it's closed when we went there but according to some lady we talked to that the museum keeper is out and will be back after lunch we're advised to try back but we didn't bother anymore. Another church we dropped by is the St. Augustine Church. Just fronting the church sits the Belfry on the Hill. According to JR that some scenes from the movie "Panday" was filmed there. We also visited ancestral houses converted into museums that house artifacts and real old furnitures like the 

Crisologo Museum (the ancestral house of the Crisologo clan). The late Floro Crisologo, father of Bingbong Crisologo
and probably the most famous in the Crisologo clan who was assasinated inside the Vigan Cathedral and up to date the killer was never caught), Father Burgos Museum (the birthplace of Father Burgos where he grew up) and the Syquia Mansion (a.k.a. Quirino Mansion, owned by the family of the late president Quirino's wife). The calesa ride tour took 3 and a half hours but it was all worth it we're able to accomplish pretty much half of our itinerary for the coming days thanks to our cuchero JR and of course our horse

named RN (or somehing like that). We asked for our cuchero's cellphone number so we can just call or text him our itinerary for the following day so we don't have to look for a different cuchero plus we like JR, he's courteous and doesn't talk much unless we ask him questions. He was able to give us useful information on places we visited. 

We head back to Grandpa's Inn past 3PM and by then our room is ready. The staff already brought our bags inside room 7, we settled

in immediately. The room assigned to us is not very spacious but good enough for 2 people. The ceiling fan wasn't very airy at all but it's okay since we're not going to stay in the room for the most part of our vacation. There's a huge screened window so we pretty much have a view of people coming in and out of the Inn. We are so darn tired we rested for hours. I checked out the bathroom and noticed that even the water coming out of the shower is warm. I also noticed that the water is not clear and smells like deep well but regardless, I had a good bath. At night, we slept with dim lights on and didn't have a good sleep really because the room temperature is steaming hot. I didn't actually expect that the weather in Vigan is going to be hotter than hot. That's a wrap for our first day.

Day 2

We had our first complimentary breakfast at the dining room of Kusina Felicitas because they don't offer room service anymore unlike what I read from travellers who stayed there. JR the cuchero, called me on my cellphone while waiting for our breakfast to be served so he waited roughly 20-30 minutes outside Grandpa's Inn. Our 2nd day tour of Vigan went on for almost 6 hours. JR waited for us while we heard mass at the Vigan Cathedral since it's a Sunday but we didn't understand

anything because the mass was in Ilocano. We prayed in silence and left after a few minutes. We strolled along Plaza Salcedo then checked out some tiangge (flea market) across the street where my sister bought comfy shorts so she doesn't have to wear jogging pants at night. We visited Burgos Plaza afterwards and bought 4 empanadas to go for Php30 each. I took a picture of Father Burgos' statue in the plaza and the empanadan logo. We also dropped by the Pagburnayan Jar Factory but didn't buy any for souvenir since it'll be difficult to bring it home because we're just backpackers. Next stop is Christy's Handloom weaving, there's really nothing much we just took a peek of the weaving area but there's no one to show us a demo of the weaving process so we didn't stay long and head to the much awaited part of the tour, Chavit Singson's

Baluarte which is a 70 hectare mini zoo. It was a huge open field where some animals can roam freely. We were greeted by 2 tigers in a cage, colorful birds like parrots, etc. These birds are quite entertaining we had their pictures taken. We also saw some deer, an ostrich, a camel sitting and resting on the field and a reindeer rummaging a trash bin for some reason. We also saw endangered wild cats in a cage and snakes in aquariums. We scoured the park for I think over an hour under the scorching heat of the summer sun it's no surprise we had a good tan after. We didn't get hungry but got so thirsty we consumed 2 mineral medium sized water bottles each. Our last stop for the day is the Hidden Garden in an isolated barangay of Vigan where they sell plants for a cheaper price. It's a beautiful garden, I'm not into plants but I find the experience refreshing. So that ends our tour for the day. We head back to Grandpa's Inn, rested and had a sumptous dinner of garlic rice, chicken inasal and bagnet at where else but Kusina Felicitas, our place to be. We called it a day. Since there's nothing left for us to do we just stayed in the room and watched cable. I thought I can somehow get a good night sleep but was awakened by the sound of the rain during the wee hours of the morning then followed by a blackout that lasted for a few minutes. The heat in the room is just getting into my nerves I told myself that I need to convince my sister to check out tomorrow noon. I just can't take the discomfort anymore. 

Day 3

It's our 30th birthday, we woke up early and talked about checking out at noon since we've accomplished pretty much everything. Walking along the streets of Vigan I noticed that it's a very small town. Everything is just walking distance that's why there are no taxis. We went out to look for a place where we can have breakfast like a local coffee shop or a restaurant perhaps. My sister prefer not to eat at any fast food chain like McDo or Chowking for a more local experience. I asked her if we can try eating at the empanadan area within Plaza Burgos where I read about native dishes but she said no so We kept walking. We saw a coffee shop called Cafe Leona but the shop isn't open until we came across another coffee shop along Heritage Village called "A Perfect Cup." I ordered a large cafe latte and clubhouse sandwich whilst my sister had ham sandwich and a large cup of cappucino. That's a good breakfast for our last day in Vigan. 

We took pictures of the beautiful Calle Crisologo (Heritage Village) after we had breakfast then went souvenir shopping. I bought myself a key chain whilst my sister got herself a fridge magnet. We also bought shirts, bagnet and a straw mat shoulder bag for our mom. There are lots of nice souvenirs to choose from but are quite expensive. We rode a tricycle back to Grandpa's Inn. 

We checked out from Grandpa's Inn at 12 noon From there we rode a trike to get to Partas Bus Terminal. We had nothing but foodie and movie marathon while on the bus. During the stopover we bought a box of this "Royal Bibingka" from this minimart/restaurant and I fell in love with it because it tastes so darn good if only I can have all of it for myself but a box costs Php60 and we spent pretty much everything while in Vigan. We arrived very late in Manila. Seriously, that was the longest bus ride of my life. 

Vigan Here I come

Gadh! I'm sooo excited I can't wait to go on leave. My sister and I have been planning our trip to Vigan, Ilocos Sur for weeks thank God everything is just falling into place. My team's rest day is supposed to change by 1st week of may as forecasted during the time I filed my vacation leave but for some un-Godly reason, it changed sooner than expected so from off-off-VL-VL it became off-off-work-VL-VL. Of course I got worried because my VL is so important to me that I couldn't let anything get in the way but with divine intervention my boss was able to file it manually and had it approved after a week yay! What a sigh of relief but it got better when they opened more VL slots last week so to cut it short I requested for one more day and was granted the same day, awesome right?  My sister had the same problem with her VLs when one of her VLs that falls on a Monday was denied so not to spoil our travel plans she decided that she will not to go to work on that day. Oh well, she's never been absent so I know that's not gonna be easy for her but it just somehow worked out because last week she was informed that her denied VL was an Australian holiday so they don't have work on that day which means that she can have a guilt-free vacation. 

Okay, so I got my birthday present two days ago though it wasn't what I originally wanted but it was all worth it still. My sister got herself a Polaroid (that's the brand name) digital camera last week since I'm not much into digi cam's I asked my friend if she know of somebody who sell DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras and she referred me to this multiply site http://kimstore.mutliply.com/ where I came across affordable DSLR cameras and saw one that fits my budget, a Canon D3000 which costs less than 25K.

I hurriedly sent an email to inquire but they're on cash basis only and I don't have cash handy yet so I tried looking somewhere else like on ebuystore.ph it had me sign up for a Paypal account which I did but the completion process will take a month I won't be able to make any online purchase yet but I need the cam badly at least a week before our trip. I guess this trip is really meant to happen because I managed to get myself a DSLR S200 EXR kit instead, the specs is just as good as other camera brandeds. My sister had a really difficult time looking for a battery charger for her digicam but we found one yesterday too. We're so ready.

We went to Partas Bus terminal yesterday to see if we can get a reservation ticket for our Vigan trip this coming Friday unfortunately, we couldn't because they don't have reservations compared to other bus companies like Victory Liner which means that we have to buy tickets on the day of our trip maybe because they don't get sold out anyway. 

Few more days to go so Vigan, here I come.

:D

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I'm up early I was awakened by the sound of "salubong" (traditional Easter welcome), fireworks and drum and lire band that passed our street. I went out to see the event from the terrace I had a slight view of the procession. "Salubong" is an Easter Sunday pre-dawn ritual that reenacts the risen Christ's meeting with his mother. It is performed in the churchyard under a specially prepared arch where the veiled image of the Virgin Mary has been placed. A child dressed as an angel is lowered by ropes from a high platform to lift the mourning veil of the grieving mother. The church bells are rung, and there is a procession of the images of christ and his mother that ends up inside the church. The participants in the procession are segregated by gender. The men and boys follow the image of jesus christ, while women and girls follow the image of mary. The procession ends with the two groups meeting in the church, where mass is said. The last Salubong i've seen was back when I was a kid so I couldn't tell if anything changed through the years. I mean it's a tradition but Filipinos like to modernized eveeything so who knows?

Climate change is getting worse, after Typhoon Ondoy now comes El Nino. Summer is sooo getting into my nerves! I'm not used to sleeping without blankets but the heat is unbearable especially during my time to sleep in the afternoon. It's such a pain having to force myself to sleep everyday so I started taking "Sleepasil" few days ago to aid me to sleep but it's not a sleeping pill so it's not intended to make you sleep for as long as you want I still can't get the deep sleep that I want. My workmate attended a "sleep clinic" at work I got free sleeping pill samples so she tried it and told me that she got a real good sleep she almost got late for work she won't wake up not until her roomate come knocking at her door trying to wake her up. I'm not insomniac but lately I've been having difficulty sleeping. Sure I want a good sleep but I want to be able to wake up in case of emergency. All drugs have good and bad side effects so they have to be taken in moderation especially without a doctor's prescription because these drugs pass through our system we have to be careful of what we take. A slight relief may have long term side effects.