Ilocos Tour Part 1: Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

I have never ridden so many buses in a span of 3 days. I love long road trips, the view relaxes me despite the growing pain in my butt and legs. To those who were able to read my teaser blog, yes it was a long bus trip to Ilocos - land of the bagnet, longganisa, the Marcoses, Crisologos and Singsons.

We left Manila for Pagudpud, Thursday, 11PM. We took a bus (Partas in Cubao) up to Laoag, Ilocos Norte. We arrived in Laoag a little past 7.45AM, then we had to take a trike to get to the station of the mini-buses that go to Pagudpud. We finally got to Pagudpud at around 10.30AM. We were all happy our trip took less than 12 hours!

After enduring an almost-12 hour trip, 2 bus rides, and 2 trike rides, we were more than happy to plop down on the bed in Polaris Beach House in Barangay Saud. Owner, Ate Mhe-Ann still remembers me (I've been here THRICE and feel very much at home here, plus there's FREE WIFI NOW! :D) and had been of great help during our trip.

This was our room, the room we also slept in when we were in Pagudpud in 2008. It's a small room with one queen-sized bed and one single bed. But what I love about this room is the balcony, great place to hang out in and look out in to the ocean.



After a brief rest, we all went down to have late brunch. The food in Polaris is good for sharing, they're used to having huge families staying here.

I suggested we order Sinigang na Baboy. I remember the first time we went to Pagudpud, we were 3rd year college students in DLSU, we had the sinigang every single meal!

It's been almost 5 years, their sinigang still tastes the same. Still yummy and generous with the servings.

We also had Adobong Manok.

I liked this dish, it's not exactly our helper's adobo (she makes great adobo by the way), but it'll do. The chicken was tender, and when you mix the sauce with rice it was a big WOW! :)

Our trip was short, so we decided to go on the tour right away. We just waited for the rains to stop (yes, it was raining and it was COLD) before asking our tricycle driver to pick us up. Funny cos after lunch we all lounged around and FELL ASLEEP. We asked our trike driver to pick us up at 1PM, but we woke up at 1.30PM! It was a good thing he really waited for us! :)

We couldn't do the North Tour because it was raining. So we had to make do with the South Tour which covers the towns of Burgos and Bangui.

So first stop, is the famous Bangui Windmills. Seen in postcards and even in the Magic Sing, the windmills have become an iconic landmark in Ilocos Norte.


Completed in June of 2008 and spearheaded by then Gov. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the 20 wind turbines powers the electricity for the towns of Burgos, Bangui, and Pagudpud.

The winds are so strong it made really cool ripples in the sand. Check this out! It's like the Sahara Desert out there!

After fighting to not get blown away, we then trudged on our little trike to go to the Bangui Viewdeck. Nothing really great here except that you get to have a bird's eye view of the town of Bangui.


There are also vendors here who sell wooden replicas of the wind turbines. They're actually really cute, and I couldn't resist buying one of them for P60. And they actually work!

From the viewdeck, we chugged on further south to the town of Burgos to get to the famed Cape Bojeador Lighthouse.

Built in 1890, the lighthouse has served as a guide for boats since 1892. Despite it looking like it's about to collapse, the lighthouse is actually beautiful! Plus it provides a great view of the town of Burgos and the South China Sea.



After the Lighthouse, it was time to go back to Pagudpud. But we just had to make a short stop at this beach. It was low tide, and the coral formations were jutting out of the water. It was stunning.


And just like in Baler, we used a trike to go around. Unfortunately, comfort wasn't part of this trip hahaha! Here's Milds and Kim cramped in that tiny space of a trike!

We got back to Pagudpud after a short sight seeing trip care of Kuya Mark our trike driver. Thanks to him, we got our group pictures!


We got back to Polaris in time for the sunset. Good thing the rains stopped, and we had one beautiful bright orange sunset. We just hung out at Saud beach, savoring the fact that we were the only ones there. Too bad it was too damn cold to swim!


The next day, we once again woke up to gloomy, rainy morning. We packed our bags and went down for breakfast, all set to get on a bus that'll take us to Laoag, then to Vigan.

We made a promise to return to Pagudpud when the sun is actually high up in the sky. Kim and Milds still have to see the Northern part of Pagudpud which we had to miss out on due to bad weather. There's still so much to see!

Tips for your trip to Pagudpud via bus:
1. Take a bus from Manila. We took Partas in their Cubao station. The trip costs P701.
2. When you get to Laoag, take a trike and tell the drivers to take you to the mini-bus station that goes to Pagudpud. The short trike ride costs P70. DO NOT TAKE THE DRIVER'S OFFER TO TAKE YOU ALL THE WAY TO PAGUDPUD! THEY'LL CHARGE YOU P1500 AND THAT'S REALLY WAY TOO MUCH!
3. Take the mini-bus that goes to Pagudpud, it costs P60. When you reach Pagudpud get down in front of the municipal hall and hire a trike to take you to your resort. Our driver asked for P40 for the ride from the municipal hall to Polaris.
4. For the tour, they already have an organized thing going on. Both the North and South tours costs P600 each.

Here are the numbers for our resort, bus, and trike driver:
1. Partas -> 727-8278
2. Ate Mhe-Ann (owner of Polaris Beach House) -> (0919)3078803
3. Kuya Mark (trike driver) -> (0929)5962524

Teaser: The Land of the Marcoses, Singsons, and Bagnet

Oh yes! Super excited! In a couple of hours my officemates-friends - Kim and Milds - are about to embark on a road trip. My photos are a dead giveaway, but still feel free to guess hahaha!

I love beach trips. I have a love affair with the sea! If I list my past blog entries here it'd take up SPACE hahaha. But the most recent was in the beautiful valley of Baler in the province of Aurora (read here and here).

This is actually my 3rd time to visit this province, yet I still look at it like I've never been there. There's still so much to see in this place! :) And I'm going with a new set of friends, so it's a whole new perspective to this trip! :)

So anyway here are photos of my last visit to this province. This was 2008 and I was with my college barkada - Steph and Par.






Also thinking of my FIRST GIVEAWAY. A souvenir perhaps? Who knows! Stay tuned for that!!:)

We Traveled 4 Hours For This!

Last Saturday was a busy Saturday for me. It was a flurry of reunions, not that I'm complaining! I spent the whole morning with former officemates catching up on our lives after our stint in the publishing world. Then, it was time to embark on a roadtrip with my BFFs.

Left my car at the Mall of Asia, and BFF Trency passed by for me. We heard traffic along SLEX was hell-on-earth, so we decided to go through Cavite. But first we had to pass by Miya (whom we met at Coastal Mall) and Gladys (whom we picked up at Sucat). Traffic was horrible even inside BF in Parañaque so it was a ROADTRIP in the making.

At first we were supposed to go to Marcia Adams' famed restaurant, but when we found out about the cover charge (which we had NO IDEA of), we decided to switch to a cheaper food haunt.

Off we went to RSM Restaurant to eat BULALO (beef and bone marrow in vegetable soup). Perfect for the winter weather feel in Tagaytay.

The restaurant was very cozy and very spacious. It had native Filipino decorations with heavy wooden tables in the dining area. I'm guessing it could accommodate 30-50 families all at once.


We were famished after that 4 hour drive in freagen traffic. So we couldn't wait to order. Of course, you all know we had bulalo.


It was served in this huge and tall metal pot with a wick at the bottom, supposedly to keep the broth hot to prevent the fat from the meat from hardening. It was served piping hot complete with smoke effect. It smelled so good! The meat was tender, you didn't even need the knife to help you cut it up in small pieces. It was my first time to try it, and I was completely sold!

We also ordered Bangus Kare-Kare

This was a bit disappointing. I love kare-kare, and for me what's really important in this dish is the peanut sauce. Unfortunately, the sauce had a watery consistency and did not really taste peanut-y. They had few bangus pieces, and those pieces we had were tiny. The vegetables, especially the Baguio beans were tough. I've recently had two kare-kare dishes over the holidays (read this and this), both of which were really, really GOOD! So I was really heartbroken with this one.

Lastly, we had Liempo.

Again, very sinful! But being with meat-eater friends, you just gotta go with the flow. I liked this one, but Gladys and Trency weren't really convinced. They said it was kinda sweet, probably from their marinade sauce.

All-in-all, the food was good except for the kare-kare. But what really DESTROYED this restaurant is their AWFUL SERVICE. The restaurant was massive, and we noticed they only had a few servers. We had a BITCH OF A TIME getting their attention, and when you finally get them to your table they look woeful. I remember telling the three, "Parang hindi sila masaya!" (It's like they're not happy.)

And since there were only a few servers, tables with used plates, glasses, utensils, and even the soda cans and beer bottles were left on the table for quite some time.



Good thing I was with the BFFs or else I would've thrown a fit. It was quite an experience since it was my first time in this restaurant. I just feel bad that you have to give them really bad feedback, and express it online. But this is just a heads-up in case you all want to eat here. The food's ok, it's just that you have to be a bit creative to get their attention. :)

But hey! The girlfriends and I were happy! We seldom get to be complete in a road trip and we finally had one early this year! We have to repeat! Love you girls!! :))



RSM Lutong Bahay Restaurant
Maharlika East, Tagaytay City, Cavite
Tel. No. (046) 860-2297
Mobile No. 0917-2761863 and 0917-9661358
Directions: Go past the rotonda going towards the direction of Batangas City. It's along the rows of restaurants after The Boutique Hotel. It's very near Starbucks and Leslie's.