Saturday, October 11, 2014

Ilocos Adventure 2014


Hello Guys !

So I have finally decided to create my own blog about the places that I have visited. My first post will be about my Ilocos Trip with my friends. We settled for a tour trip after many days of customizing and setting up our own "gala". Since we cannot accomplish this personalized gala, My friend suggested to just buy a tour package. The tour guide is a complete stranger to us, well like they all used to be to every first time customer :p.

We bought a tour package from Ken-U-Tour worth 3000+. The tour is inclusive of the transportation, entrance fees, accommodation and tour guide of course. It was pretty cheap and a friend from Europe commented that it was insanely cheap. What kind of tour will that be ! :) Well, we have just experienced a nice and smooth trip. You know, when you purchased a service or a product that is way cheaper than the usual and cheaper from what you are expecting, it is becoming more and more worth it or what we call "sulit".

Below is the picture of the passengers of the van that we were in. The weather is so nice and rain has gone away. Indeed a perfect summer trip ! Kuya Ken (the tour guide) is the guy in black sando with a wrist watch. My friends the other 2 guys in black near me (the cute girl in black shirt and maong short :p kidding) and one of my best friends, girl in that gown :p

(Photo c/o Kuya Ken)

We started the travel during the Friday night. This is the time when the most tours like Ken-U-Tours is hitting the road to go to their destination. The meeting place was on a parking lot of a mall in Quezon City. After few hours of waiting for other passengers, we started our exciting trip. It was my first Ilocos Adventure and I am very excited to visit the 2 famous Spanish-invaded provinces up north, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. I am not sure if I was able to sleep in the van, well maybe just a nap. The travel going there was fast and peaceful. We stopped on a bridge to watch the sunrise but it was too early so we just proceed to the next stop, breakfast ! I am not quite sure of what I ordered but it was a nice breakfast with friends. After breakfast, we proceed to the place in the picture below.

Bantay Bell Tower

After the Bantay Bell Tower exploration, we went to Baluarte, a place owned by Mr. Chavit Singson. What I like about this place is the free entrance and the different kind of animals inside. I have seen the tigers but in cage, some ostrich, camel and many more.


After Baluarte, we visited Paoay Church, Marcos Mausoleum, MalacaƱang of the North, Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, Sand Dunes and Bangui Windmills.

Paoay Church
(photo c/o Ji)

Lake view in the vicinity of the MalacaƱang of the North


Sand Dunes ! Very exciting and heart exploding experience and everyone visiting Ilocos should try!!!

After the Sand Dunes experience, We head to our place to stay for the night. It was a 'small house-like apartment for renting' for visitors like us. It is located in the Saud area. After putting our things and making our selves home, our tour guide came back to pick us up for dinner. 

We ate in a local restaurant within Saud. The food was ok and again, I can't remember what I ate.:p After dinner and few drinks, we enjoyed the peaceful night and had a good sleep in our place.

We all have to be early the next morning. All my friends are ready and having a very nice aura. Kuya Ken, is very much ready as well. He came early to pick us up for breakfast. 

We ate breakfast in the same restaurant that we've been the night before. After the simple but delicious breakfast, we now head to the main part of the trip ! :)


The path going to the Kabigan Falls

Kabigan Falls

After the mini hiking experience in Kabigan falls, we went to Bantay Abot Cave and then Blue Lagoon where we experienced the nice beach and the zip line. 

You can experience the zip line by inquiring at Hannah's Resort. They will make sure you have all the safety gears needed and a service car going up to the hill.

We spend the rest of the afternoon at the Blue Lagoon. We made sure we experienced the fierce waves, clean air and good ambiance away from the noisy city. 

We asked Kuya Ken to just drop us off in the market as we planned to cook our own dinner. One of my friends is a great cook and everyone is ready to taste his special Sisig. In the market, we bought some things that we will use for the night. Playing cards, clean water and some chips are the only things that I can remember. (I promise that I will blog my next right after trip so I won't forget every single detail :p). So there, after buying things that we need, we rode the tricycle going back to our place. My friend made us dinner and we really enjoyed the food. We had "some" drinks and stayed late so the result is... BAM !!!! we were late for the next day.

So yeah, we were having little hangover and we have to be quick to prepare for the day. There, we are finally on the last day of the trip and then soon, we will be going back to Manila, back to the real world. I think I had a nap in the van and same for my friends. We are leaving Ilocos but before that, we are visiting The Kapurpurawan Rock Formation and then the famous Vigan for the Calle Crisologo exploration. I do advise all of you to please bring your sun glasses and put sun block especially if going on a hot sunny day. When we went there, I think the sun was angry and wanted us to be burnt, lol just kidding :)

So there guys, We all have to go back to reality and go home. It was a nice experience especially if with friends. I'm so sorry for the pictures that I can't post. I promise to put a blog-special pictures of my next trip.


ps. here is the facebook page of our tour guide: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ken-U-tour/271194792920486

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