Destination: Pagudpud

I know I've said that I was beached out. No more white sand beaches for me. Well, how about one more? I figured I'm here in the North already so I might as well check out Pagudpud, the Boracay of the North.

After a Jollibee breakfast, Lil and I walked over to the minibus station. A minibus is a smaller bus (duh!) with no airconditioning. This was not a problem at all as the two-hour ride was breezy (Php70).

"Ading, ading, dito na!," the conductor told us when the bus stopped in front of the Pagudpud City Hall. Not knowing where to go, we went inside the City Hall to ask for details. Since we were not staying in a resort, we were to go to the Municipal Beach Park, which we found out charges Php20/person. The attendant there said, "It's for maintenance." He issued official receipts so I quit giving him a hard time.

Just like when I first got a glimpse of the Boracay waters, Pagudpud took my breath away, too. Picture-perfect! Absolutely beautiful! God is great!

It was 11AM when we got there. I dragged Lilian towards the northern tip of the place (Curious George never stops!). The difference between Pagudpud and Boracay? Boracay still has the best sands: white, powdery, and you never sink while walking on them. In Pagudpud, walking to where you want to go on the beach was harder because you sink with every step you make.

When we got to the tip, we found out that there was nothing there, but a rocky beach front and fishermen's houses. By this time, it was noon and we decided to stay at a hut and bum around instead of walking back under the hot sun.

We eventually headed back at 1PM, by cutting our walk in bits and pieces whenever we found some sort of shade. If we tried to do the walk straight through, we would've ended up with a heatstroke for sure.

We had lunch at the only restaurant there at Bamboo Bistro (the one on top of the hill) where side dishes cost Php100 (good for two people). We ordered the grilled pork, but found it all to be 75% fat. Boo!

The minibuses stop coming after 1PM to where we were dropped off so we had to get to the main highway first to catch a minibus that would bring us back to Laoag. The tricycle driver asked for Php60. The final price became Php40 after I hemmed and hawed. >=D

We ended up sitting at the waiting shed alongside tricycle drivers who were waiting for passengers. We missed the first minibus because we were chatting away, asking them how to pronounce "Bangui" since we planned on stopping there before heading towards Laoag.

The ride on a minibus to Bangui Viewdeck is P10. Bangui Sea Wind Project is the only one of its kind in S.E. Asia. Ten white windmills (at least that's how many we saw from the viewdeck) by the sea generate power...make that only nine because one of them wasn't moving at all when we were there.

Again, Lil and I found ourselves by the side of the road. Although, it took us longer to catch another minibus--a whole half hour. Instead of sitting next to eachother, we each took a window seat. We would've stopped to check out the Burgos Lighthouse, but it was perched on a hill and it was probably only accessible if you had a car. Instead, we just rode the bus the rest of the way.

What I noticed with the Ilocos countryside (versus others that I've seen) is that it's clean: the rivers had no trash, the roads were paved, and the houses were made of cement (not shacks). People looked like they live a comfortable lifestyle. Now I understand when Pen says she prefers to live in the probinsya. Ilocos would be a nice probinsya to live in.

Back in the city center of Laoag, we walked past the Ilocos Norte Museum after hours so we didn't get to see what was inside. Further along, we looked at the Ilocos Norte Capitol (Bong-Bong, you there?), the Laoag City Hall, and the Tobacco monument thingie where I posed like I was smoking a cigar.

Having seen the Sinking Bell Tower from afar, we kept wondering if that was THE Sinking Bell Tower we've read about. It didn't look like it was sinking nor did it look like it's leaning to the north. Walking up to it, we did find out that it was indeed the one. The entry door was lower than the street.

Since we were dehydrated from the day's beach trip, we headed over to Max's Restaurant for my bottomless sago't gulaman. I now have a new record: 4 glasses. Mwahahaha. I felt like an oompa loompa afterwards, though. HaHa!