Deliciously Me

I had a wonderful night sleep. When I woke up, I was fully recharged and eager to do some exploration! Somehow I managed to bring forward last night’s good mood to the next day. Haha! When I woke up, I found out that Hannah has already showered and started working on her netbook. So, I quickly showered before Jess woke up.

After Jess had showered and ready, we went out for breakfast. We were the earliest (like usual, haha!) and we sat at the café for al fresco style of breakfasting. We can opt to have breakfast in the room, but it won’t be that fun. Haha!

Seeing us sitting at the café, the hotel workers took our food one by one. And my, they looked so delicious. I ordered pork tocino, and my my my.. I loveeeeee it!  It’s highly recommended by Hannah, so I tried it. Tocino is a sweet pork dish that’s traditionally served for breakfast ONLY in Philippines. So, double yay! for ordering the correct food!

And I discovered that I didn’t take picture of my breakfast! These two are others’ breakfast, not mine! My goodness! *gasp in horror!*

The girls from the other room came out after knowing that we were at the café. But the guys were nowhere to be found. Initially we thought of waiting for the guys to have breakfast together, but seeing the food right in front of us, we couldn’t hold back anymore and begin digging in. Sorry guys!

Yum yum yum. We enjoyed our Ilocano breakfast so much! Totally delicious! Wish I could find them in Malaysia now. Haih!

Done with breakfast, we went back to the room to get our gear before going out. Sat had earlier pre-booked a van from the owner of Balay da Blas via email since we figured out it’s the best way to go about the town and to get to our next destination. Though the price doesn’t include gas and food for the driver, still it’s a good deal paying 2,500 pesos (RM182.59) for up to 10 hours of service. Moreover the price is within our budget after dividing among 11, so why not?

All of us board the van and started our journey to the land of the sand, La Paz Sand Dune. Like usual, Sat sat in front next to the driver; May, Ailing, Hannah and Jess all squeezed on the 1^st row behind the driver; I was seated between David and Emily on the 2^nd row while Steven, Daniel and Aaron sat at the back row. The seating arrangement remained for the entire day. Don’t ask me why it was so. Haha!

Once in the van, David suddenly asked if there’s a cigarette plug in the van as he wanted charge his iPhone in case it konked. The van driver, (let’s called him V since Sat can only remember his name start with V) told us that he has a plug for Apple product and can even play our own songs. Suddenly Sat asked those with iPods if they are willing to share their playlist. I wanted to – but my playlist is sooooo messy! A mix of pop, rock, broadway, jazz, mandarin, malay, Indian, Imei Ooi – ahh! I was paiseh to share.

Hannah offered her ipod. The moment the ipod was plugged in and the music came out from the speaker, we started singing. Everyone was in a jolly good singing mood, singing their lungs out while the V drove us out of Laoag town towards the West.

Coincidentally all of us are good singers! Nobody lari key! Muahaha!

Approximately 30 minutes later, we saw the land of sand. My, more than thousand dunes of sand! We could easily fool everyone by taking a picture of us there and said that we were at the Gobi Desert. Unable to stand anyone, we asked V if we should stop at the side to take some pictures and he said ok. So he stopped his car a little bit further up and all of us got down and headed to the nearest dune.

However it wasn’t easy to get up to the dune. It was steep and ‘fragile’. I was analyzing which trail is easier to take and when I finally decided one, someone just went up and destroyed my trail. Grrr! Sand mah, how can the trail be fixed?

It was a lovely morning. Perfect day for photo shooting as the sky was BLUE! When I got to the top, I couldn’t stop WOW-ing. Quickly took few pictures of the area because inhaling all the in good chi’. Then we took group photos there.

Then we got back to the van where V drove us into the Barangay (Village) La Paz to get closer to the beach. We were excited as the view there is said to be nicer.

To our dismay, the route to the beach was blocked!!!

V then drove inwards, probably to search for another way to the beach but got stuck somewhere in the barangay as the road got smaller and smaller!

People might think it is a bad luck being stuck and blocked from getting out but I see it as a blessing for able to see the lifestyle of the local. Thanks to the first blockage, I get to see the village grand church, the village school with beautiful mural on the wall of the yellow fence, the unpainted houses, wooden houses, tyres and metal stuff on the roof of some houses and of course, the people there.

We even waved to some of the kids there and some waved back. So cuteee!

Having no other way out, we had no choice but to go back to the road we first came in. It’s such a waste for not able to spend more time at the sand dune but don’t know why we didn’t bother to ask V for another stop at the famous La Paz sand dune.

As the van headed back to Laoag town, the singing got lesser as some of the members felt asleep. We passed by this big, lavish looking church and I quickly asked if we could stop awhile to take picture of the church. V stopped his van and all of us got down to take few shoots of the church from far.

It is the Iglesia ni Cristo, which means Church of Christ in Tagalog.

Satisfied with the shots, we got back to the van and V took us directly to the heart of Laoag to the popular St William’s Cathedral.

Looking opulent and resplendent, the 2 storey cream colour façade which is symmetrical about the vertical axis and strengthened with 4 pairs of roman columns made me went Woah! for the second time.

Of course, the first Woah! went to the Paoay Church. Haha!

We went in the church to check out the place. The nave is not as broad as Paoay’s but I totally love their chandeliers. Sophisticated! We walked straight to toward altar but stopped somewhere at the transept area. Again, I didn’t go up to the bema for closer shot of the statues in niches as I was contented with my shoots from where I stood.

Quickly took few pictures before walking out of the church from the door on the left. May and I walked towards Hannah, David, Steven and Daniel who appeared to be waiting for someone. We thought that they were waiting for us, but we were wrong.

They were waiting for Jess who was lighting up candles in the small chapel at the side.

While waiting, I realised there’s a McDonalds outlet in front of the cathedral and an academy of Holy Spirit on the left of the church. Thought of tagging Sat to MCD for an ice-cream but realizing it was still early, I didn’t do so.

After Jess lighted her candles, we walked towards the cathedral bell tower. St William’s Cathedral is popular for its sinking belfry as it rumoured to sink an inch every year because of its weight and the sandy foundation.

The bell tower used to be the tallest bell tower in the province at 45 metres high, but now it has sank so deep that the entrance is already buried halfway. According to Hannah, the entrance used to be high up that a man riding a horse could easily go through.

Four of us – Jess, Emily, May and I purposely crossed the busy road to get a closer look at the bell tower. Looking at the entrance, it seems possible to enter and we wanted try entering, but since the door was locked, oh well.

Something I don’t understand is – why the belltower is in the middle of the town! Hmm..

We got back to the van where V brought us back to Balay da Blas to rest before leaving Laoag.

Now that we’ve came back – I realised I should have put in the Museum of Laoag as optional. I didn’t know and realise that we actually have so much time left. Haih!!!

When we got back, the owner of Balay da Blas, Mr Sammy Blas was actually sitting at the café reading newspaper. We didn’t meet him when we got there yesterday as we were told that he was at Saramsam. The hotel staff politely introduced his boss to us. Sat had small chat with him while the some of us went around snapping pictures before going to the room.

Back in the room, HBO was playing Get Smart and I got my eye glued on the TV as I never watched it yet. So, I was like half packing, half watching.

Halfway watching, Sat knocked the room, asking for me. I was like wtfish! I didn’t want to go out; I want to watch the movie!

But eventually I went out.

And that’s when he told me that he lost an envelope. Which contains pesos which he has put aside for emergency usage.

I freaked out. I searched his entire bags, I interrogated him on where was the last time he seen the envelope (Chewah! Buat FBI style) – and he said he took out that envelope at the hotel in Vigan for payment.

I smacked my forehead. At that moment, I wanted to drag him to do police report or do something about it to retrieve the money. But he wasn’t keen as he said the amount wasn’t much and he didn’t want to disrupt the flow and everyone’s mood.

Since he didn’t want to, so I cheered him up by saying, Nevermind baby. I shall be your sugar mummy for this trip! He laughed.

Then I went back to my room to retrieve my backpack as it was time to go. Before leaving, we took group photos with Mr Sammy and the very accommodating hotel staffs.

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