Explore Ilocos in 31 hours

I was surfing the net and accidentally opened the tiger airways website. They have a "piso fare" promo for Manila-Laoag trip. Without thinking, I booked for a flight bound to Laoag.

Ilocos map

The first time I visited Laoag, it was a work-related visit so I was not able to freely see the place.  And now here I am again, wanting to visit laoag and the rest of Ilocos without thinking that I only have 31 hours to explore it. I want to visit also pagudpud and vigan. But how can I do that??? My flight schedule is Saturday 1:00 pm and the expected arrival to Laoag is 2:10 pm. Sunday evening, I should already be in a bus bound to Manila. Well, this is the what I did.

I wanted to go solo but I'm not yet ready for that so I invited a friend to go with me. It's my first time to fly with Seaair and also my first time in NAIA Terminal 4. we arrived early at the terminal. It was a Saturday before the monday election so I was not surprise that there are many passengers. We sat beside a group of foreign passengers and they talk nonstop which really annoys me. I told my friend , " ang iingay naman ng mga ito". So when they were called for boarding, i smiled and thanked god. But another group came, they are all filipino. Their  voices are louder, laughing and talking nonstop. Nabingi yata ako sa kaingayan nila. We just decided to move to another seat  while waiting for our flight. It was delayed for 15 minutes.

Inside NAIA Terminal 4

We arrived at Laoag International Airport around 2:20 pm. Good thing, there's a shuttle bus from laoag airport to city proper for free. We registered and asked for a Map of Region one. It was almost 3:00 in the afternoon when we reached the city. We had our lunch in a small eatery near the sinking bell tower, which is a tourist spot in Laoag. Because of the limited time, we skipped touring paoay-batac area.

 We had a walking tour around laoag and then proceeded to bus terminal bound to Pagudpud. We made reservation to Arlyns homestay for a fan room which cost php500. We were lucky to have the front seat behind the driver. While waiting for the bus to leave, my friend bought empanada. I love this food. It has egg,   longganisa and papaya, as what the tindera told us.

yummy empanada.. love it

It was a two hour bus ride to Pagudpud. We were dropped off in Pagudpud market and hired a tricycle to Arlyns homestay. The room is in the second floor and has two beds. But there is one BIG PROBLEM, we have to ask them first to open the water supply everytime we go to CR. WHAATT....

homestay

Ms. Arlyn is ok but there's another lady in that homestay who accused us that we left the faucet open.She said in a loud voice " wag nyong iwan na bukas ang gripo, bumaha sa CR". That's a common CR in the first place and we are not the only guest in that homestay. It's the tone of her voice that irritates me, she could have said it in a polite manner. GGRRR... enough of that.

Through the help of Ms. Arlyn, we had the pagudpud north tour and bangui windwill for php1,000.00. We We started the tour early. The driver fetched us before 7 am. Because of the limited time, we just visited our chosen tourist spots.... Patapat viaduct, the blue lagoon, kabigan falls, and bagui windwill. When we reached burgos, we were transferred to another tricycle for kapurpurawan rock formation and the burgos lighthouse for a fixed fee of php300.

Burgos Lighthouse

Blue lagoon

Patapat viaduct

Kabigan falls

Kapurpurawan rock formation

We finished the tour race around 3 in the afternoon and waited for a bus bound to Manila. It took us half an hour waiting. It was already 4:00 pm when we board a bus bound to Manila. We ask the driver to drop us in Bantay to have a look at Vigan's famous calle crisologo at night.

calle crisologo at night

The time is just right when we arrived in Vigan, it's already 7:30 in the evening.The place was awesome. After 2 hours of roaming around and buying some souvenirs, we hired a tricycle which brought us to Partas bus terminal. There are many passengers and the person in charge in ticketing gave us number 178 and told us that only 2 buses will arrive from laoag and we are not sure of the seat, we're just a chance passenger. We really wanted to go home, we chartered another tricycle and told the driver to drop us in Bantay. The chance of riding a bus is greater than waiting for Partas bus. Lucky, he suggested Viron Transit. we were able to get the front seats again. Fare is php. 493

After 8 hours travel time, we reached Cubao.

             

Calaguas

I've read a lot of good reviews about Calaguas and I've seen a lot of pictures of it which really caught my interest. It was already a week before holy week when I called Mang Boy who is highly recommended by most blogs that I've read, for the boat rental. Rate is 1,500 for 2 person.

It was wednesday night (holy week), around 11 in the evening when I and a friend left Lipa and drove all the way to Paracale, Camarines Norte.  Past 7 am, Thursday,  we reached the town proper of Paracale. Please take note that Suncell has no signal in Paracale so I was very thankful that I brought a Smart sim. I was able to contact Mang Boy. He was very accommodating. He lend us his styro box and some utensils for free. The only problem that we encountered is that we waited for I think 3 hours for another group to arrive because we'll be riding a boat with another group. (kaya pala mura)

Mang Boy

 It was almost 11 in the morning when we started sailing to Calaguas. Imagine the 2 hour boat ride in the middle of the day,  so when we arrived at calaguas,  we already have a burnt skin. (how I wish i brought a sunblock).

Then we finally reached the beach and I felt very happy. Just like a kid excited to swim and play and enjoy the water and sand.  I can't describe its beauty. I've been to Boracay and El nido and I can't compare it to those beaches. This place has its own beauty.

I took some pictures and these shots are all unedited.

We placed our tent somewhere in the middle of the beach which I think is a good spot because it is near the water supply "poso" and a small store. We had a wonderful spot here, however there's a group with a very noisy generator just in front of our tent. I was thankful that they did not run it during the night, we all have a very sound sleep.

The fine sand and clear water of calaguas

Sunset in calaguas is also very spectacular. Night came and the full moon became the star of the night. I so love everything here. Since there's no electricity, I was able to appreciate more the beauty of night sky, the stars, the big full moon This beach is really worth visiting.

Our original plan is to stay for only one night, but because we find it "bitin", we extended for another day. We could have stayed until sunday, its just that we don't have enough clothes (and money for buying food... hehehe).

I'll definitely go back to Calaguas. As of the time of this writing, Calaguas is number 1 beach in my list.