Road trip to the north!

May 2013 (last weekend)

I won't go into the details of how much hassle the agency caused us. But I would like to give my honest opinion on SMB(Sarap Mag Byahe) travel agency -- they still lacked experience in organizing group tours. If the tourist spots were not worth it, I would say, their name 'SMB' is very inappropriate.

Night before Day 1:

Our plan: Get to the meeting place early so we get the most comfortable seats.

Outcome: Unfortunately, we had a biased driver. He picked up his "acquaintances" before going to the meeting place.

My opinion: Very unprofessional. It also casts a gray area on whether the van fee is really divided by the number of passengers OR by the number of passengers not related to the driver.

My suggestion: The agency should purchase a mini bus for conducting group tours to give equal space to all passengers. Vans are only good for max 8 persons(for comfort) not 13. Convoys are a waste of time--most especially during tours like ours---without prepared meals.

Day 1:

View from Quirino Bridge

Adventure zone

Quirino Bridge

Old Bridge

New Bridge

Honestly, I didn't know why we ever bothered stopping there for more than 10 minutes. It's not like they gave an educational talk on the bridge. Don't get me wrong, the view was great. I think it would've been better if the first van arrived there and took pictures for 5 minutes, then left to give way to the next van. You couldn't get a decent picture of the bridge when a large group of people spread around and take pictures.

Marsha's Delicacy

We arrived at Marsha's at 7:30am. I ordered a Vigan longganisa meal (PHP 120) for breakfast. This is inclusive of rice, sunny side up, atchara and a choice of iced tea or coffee. The meal had 3 cutie little pieces of longganisa(just like the size of your thumb). Their version of Vigan longganisa had a balanced taste--unlike others that have the vinegar dominate the flavor of the longganisa. My sister ordered a Corned beef meal. At 130PHP, this meal is affordable considering that the corned beef brand used is Palm corned beef. We left the place at approximately 8:40am. 

You'd say that 8:40 is still early right? But the original time indicated in the itinerary was--we should already be at the Baluarte ni Chavit(zoo) by 8am.

First stop: Bell Tower and Vigan Church

The location of these two is approximately 10-15 minutes away from Marsha's Delicacy. There's a registration table and a donation box before you proceed to the Bell Tower. You may want to take your picture all the way up where the bells are --but watch your step!

Second stop: Syquia Mansion

If you're not interested in the story behind the mansion, then you could just go ahead and take pictures of the whole place. But listening to the caretaker would give a whole lot of meaning to the furnitures, paintings and other objects in the house.

Third stop: Baluarte ni Chavit

Contraption for extracting sugarcane juice

There are a limited number of animals here. One thing worth doing--which we didn't know at that time--was to fall in line and have your picture taken with a tiger. You could also have a taste of the freshly--I'm not sure if this is the proper term--"pressed" sugarcane to cool you down from the summer heat. You could also take a ride on a mini cart pulled by a pony.

The drivers suggested that we go to Badoc Museum on our last day. I'm so tired and sleepy that I forgot to oppose because our last day would be Monday-and museums are closed on Mondays! >.<

This was where we ate our lunch. The food was good though. But honestly, by this time, you would just like to sleep and wait for the next destination.

Fourth stop: Marcos Mausoleum


Taking pictures was forbidden to pay respect to the late President. You only need to spend less than 5 minutes in this place.

Fifth stop: Paoay Church

Paoay Church garden

I'm always at a loss for words when it comes to old churches. The Paoay Church's facade is picture-perfect. To my surprise, the church stretched out longer than I thought.

Sixth stop: Malacanang of the North (near Paoay lake)

Outside Malacanang of the North

We weren't able to enter this house. A group of foreigners who were, I guess, doing some sort of documentary about the place had requested the cooperation of the local government to close it to public for the day.








Seventh stop: Paoay Sand Dunes

View from Paoay Sand Dunes

Paoay Sand Dunes

At 2500php/hour for 5pax, you could ride a 4x4 truck and go sandboarding. But for us who were feeling icky since we've been on the road for the whole day, we decided to skip the sandboarding, thus reducing the fee  to 1500php/30minutes on a 4x4. I was expecting the 4x4 that closely resembles an owner type jeep. But our ride was more of a 4x4 pick up truck. Later on, we found out that the one driving was the founder of the whole activity and he was the one who taught the other drivers how to go about the dunes.


Last stop: Laoag City

Rainbow

Doing all these activities will leave you exhausted and feeling sticky from the heat. A warm bath will guarantee a good night's sleep. But this was not our last stop. Since my grandma is living near Laoag, even if it's late, we decided to drop by and give her a visit. All in all, it was an activity-filled day.