Juan Luna's Museum

We got into one of our renowned painter - Juan Luna's birthplace. Kuya Vincent said that this is were Juan Luna was born and raised. The house is being restored by the local government to become one of their tourist spots around Laoag. 

The place was so clean and very well taken care of. Kuya said were not allowed to touch some of the furniture which is fine, I mean, looking at it is all fine. I am personally amazed on everything that I saw. Given that I was born in the city, it was not often that I get to see things from the past. I usually able to see and read about them only in books. Visiting them is very worth it as you can get to know some of the things that were not published anywhere. 

*some of the photos were taken by my brother-in-law

That's it for the meantime!

See you soon..

xoxo,

Jen

Marcos Mauseoleum

Our first stop for our tour at Laoag was Marcos Museum and Mausoleum. We arrived there with our rented van about 9-ish am. It was not that hot though. There were a lot of people taking pictures and curiously wanting to visit Ferdinand Marcos' resting place. Pictures were not allowed inside so please expect very limited photos of the place. We didn't bother going to Museum as Kuya Vincent said that we can see almost the same things in Malacañang of the North. There was an entrance fee of P50.00 or less than that. 

I was so nervous to go inside's Marcos' mausoleum as there were classic musics playing around.It was so cold inside though the door was wide opened. When I set eyes on his remains, I got scared.. Haha! No, I don't really know the feeling I got into. It was mixed feeling that I can't describe. I don't know if I am scared, amazed or what. haha! All I can say is his body is covered with wax and he is inside a glass coffin with a lot of flowers beside him. You can only get to see him for seconds as you were walking along the exit. Visit this link for more details of Marcos Museum and Mausoleum (taken from wiki).

We spent less than 15 minutes as we still have a lot of things to see in Laoag plus we have to travel to Vigan for our day tour. 

All for now folks!

More is coming your way..

xoxo

Jen

Arrival at Laoag - Balay Da Blas

It was a very long journey going to Laoag. We left Manila around 10pm and we arrived in Laoag at around 8am. I am so tired sitting, almost got a stiff neck and had the feeling of sleeping but not sleeping at all.. Haha! Silly but yes, it was indeed very very tiring. 

We headed to the nearest tricycle point and asked them to bring us to Balay da Blas. It was 5 minutes away from the bus terminal which was so convenient as my butt doesn't want to sit any longer. haha! We suppose to have a rented van to bring us to our hotel but Kuya Vincent got a little late. He arrived at the hotel couple of minutes after we did. 

We changed clothes, took a little refresher then ate our first meal in Laoag - breakfast at Balay da Blas. I ordered the never ending tocino, my favorite breakfast and an iced tea. The hotel was under renovation. They had an extension of the hotel from the original antique house to the modern styled interiors. We stayed on the extension-ed part though so I don't have photos to show of the real Balay (house in english).

We left our luggage and meet up with Kuya Vincent to bring us to some of the must-see-places in Laoag. 

We got a family room and all I can say was.. WOW! The room was huge that it can accommodate up to 10 people I guess. It has four queen sized bed and a sofa along with two bathrooms. It was really good for barkadas and family. What I loved about it was the half second floor (don't know what it is called haha!) for the 2 queen sized bed where mom, I and my niece, lalai slept. 

We didn't get to see the room though until after we end our first day tour in Vigan which I will be blogging about later on. 

Chao!

Jen

Hustle vs. Happiness

Ola! I soooo missed blogging! haha! I really feel guilty for not being able to post an entry for the whole month of December and halfway of January. I am in the point of thinking about my future and is a little bit confuse of the things I really want in life. 

So you would know, I am a college undergraduate. I am hoping to get back to school as we all know that here, in the Philippines, employers look for someone who has a Bachelor's Degree. As what I have learned from the news earlier, a lot of people are on a job mismatch, that means, they were assigned to a job that is not really what they have graduated for or not even their skills. Having that said, this is where unemployment takes place. Even we have a lot of job openings everywhere, it is either they are looking for someone who got into college, seminars, training or work experiences. 

Aside from going back to school, I have a lot in mind that I really want to do but I just don't know how to start. Pfff!.. Sometimes, I get tired of it as I want to achieve those all at the same time. 

Whew! enough of dramas.. What I will share to you today are some of the pictures we took on our way to Laoag. Oh! Did I forget to mention that we had this tour last week of November 2012? yeah! A super late post. Hehe! 

The itinerary that my sister made is to get a sleeper bus going to Laoag where we booked our hotel for one day stay. It was GV Florida Bus that has a sleeper bus going to Ilocos Norte. My sister and I went to their terminal at Sampaloc, Manila hoping to get a reserved ticket for our trip. It is really important for her to get it right as we have kids along with us. 

When we got there, we were told that they no longer book tickets. It is on a first come, first serve basis even she was told over the phone that they make reservations. We went back home and decided to go back the very day our trip. She called the terminal, again, she was told that she can book tickets. I went there alone but for the second time, they said they don't. Instead, we chose Partas Bus as it was closer to home and will give us an assurance that we will not miss a chance to get a De Luxe Bus at 10pm. We have to leave around 10pm as we have our tour first day of the next morning. It was a hustle for me as I became the runner but it was all worth it when we were able to get a ticket. Anyway, it was a long weekend during that time so it might really hard to get tickets. 

x with my nephews and niece gelo, thirdy and lalai

x my niece, lalai

x gelo and my elder sister

x sis, thirdy and gelo. I was talking to lalai teaching her how to achieve a fish tail braid :)

x thirdy.. and nanay as the background :)

Do we look like stressed looking for a ride? Not at all. Happy and excited.. 

That's all for now folks,

Jen