Day 2. Laoag to Vigan Tour

Just right after we visited Marcos Mausoleum and Juan Luna's place, we headed straight to Vigan which was about one to two hours of drive. I fell asleep almost the entire travel time to Vigan due to a sleepless night on the bus the other night. 

We dropped by to so many ancient houses and other places to visit here in Vigan. I'll make it short for you. 

Lunch at Grandpa's Inn - We suppose to be staying here instead on Balay da Blas in Laoag but during those time, grandpa's Inn was fully booked so since we got option either to stay overnight to Vigan or Laoag, we opted to stay in Laoag. So then just to experience the homey feeling of grandpa's inn, we had our first lunch in Vigan.

my sister and her kids

*pictures taken by my brother-in-law

Syquia Mansion - after lunch, we decided to continue our journey and stopped here. It was said to be where one of a renowned person of our history grew up (forgot who he was. Lol). The place was so huge. Of course some of the furniture were old enough to prove that it has witnessed a lot over centuries. There was this one tour guide/care taker of the house who told us a story about a vase and a huge mirror which was a karat gold. The vase was said to be given by a prince or a king of China. 

Crisologo Museum - here's another museum we dropped by. Nothing much I have seen except on a kalesa that you get into for picture taking (though it's about to break. Lol!), then the old concept of restroom where there were only holes then what you can see under was a pig pen. So basically, this is where your poops go, Lol!

Hidden Garden - This Hidden Garden was close to a pottery where we didn't bother going as we didn't think it was different with other pottery around. I have not been to any but I know how it looks like, I guess. Lol. Basically, Hidden Garden offers a place where it has a lot of plants being carved. My mom, as always was amazed on how they grew plants. It's definitely all over the place. It took us 15 to 30 minutes to roam around then off we go to our next stop.

Baluarte ni Chavit - We got here almost around 3 or 4 pm the same day. It was mainly a zoo where animals of different kind were free on a ranch-sort-of-place. We attended a free animal show. I guess kids enjoyed it a lot. There were some part though that was smelly but it was fine. There's also a butterfly sanctuary which I liked as I have not seen so many butterflies closer enough (acting as a kid here. Lol!).

Heritage Village - Since this place is much more appealing on sunset to night atmosphere, this was the last placed we dropped by. We took some photos and bought shirts and souvenirs as there were so many shops around. I almost feel like wearing a "saya" since the ambiance is so much like Spanish colony. Lol!

Unfortunately, we skipped Bantay Bell Tower as it was the first stop we had when we arrived in Vigan. It was scorching hot so we headed to granpa's inn right away (for lunch) hoping to get back just before the sunset but we failed. The tower can't be seen as there was no lights on top. 

It was another 2 hours to go back to our hotel. We had our dinner at Robinson's Mall. It was indeed a very tiring day but was all worth it.

I have so many stories that piled up as I have not been blogging anything for the last 3 months. Yay! Too long! :)

Xoxo,

Jen

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