It supposed to be 10 pax trip, but ended up only 8 managed to secure the ticket.

Last minute, one had to pull out due to work and thus only 7 people got onto the plane heading to Vientiane, Laos.

Don’t know why they sprayed so much of this asap thingy.

The flight took 2 hours and 50 minutes with occasion turbulence along the way. Once the turbulence was so strong that I felt that we were in roller coaster ride, lol!

Aaron, Satkuru and my head! LOL!

We couldn’t help but to order Deepavali special meal, tandoori naan set though we had lunch 2 hours earlier. It was delicious! Thumbs up!

Came with a packet of muruku too!

Laos is an hour earlier than us. So when we reached the airport, it was already 6.30pm. We quickly changed money at the money changer and gotten ourselves a van heading to the city centre.

The van is so much better than the van we gotten in Medan! It was so spacious and new. And clean too! Gosh, I begin to like Laos already. Haha!

The moment we got out of the airport vicinity, I could see tents after tents at the roadside and people would be dancing in it. I even counted the numbers of tents I seen along the road! I told the rest this, and we all agreed that Laotians are really good at enjoying themselves – by dancing in the tent with music blaring out loud.

Our van brought us to this hotel in front of Mekong river. As our van turned onto the road leading to the riverfront, there were a sea of human blocking the road. We were puzzled on the crowd and the loud music, all wondering what festivals that brought the locals out to the roads.

Our van driver explained that it was the day of the Dragon Boat Competition. It was held at Mekong river, which explains crowd. Apparently we were a day late, according to him. He said if we were there yesterday, we would have gotten a chance to witness the competition!

Ahhh! What a waste!

After few minutes of honking and jamming, we reached the hotel. It looks lavish and instinct told me it’ll be expensive. Emily and Vingie heard good review from a Singaporean guy about the hotel, therefore we decided to head there daringly. Satkuru went in to inquire on the room rate.

Then he came out, my gut was right, they charged USD60 per pax per night! Cheap for Singaporean, not cheap for us!

So we asked the van driver to bring us to Rue Pengkham. Before coming, I’ve listed out few potential hotels as well as the map of the hotels – just in case we might need it. It really came handly, having these extra information in hand.

The sky got dark pretty fast! Tho it was only 7ish but it seemed like 8 something or 9. There were massive jams all over the main road in Vientiane. Stomach started to growl and anxiety began to grow as we came in without any booking!

First time we went into a country without room confirmation. It’s not that we didn’t try to book, we did inquire around. But those that replied were expensive, and those that look cheaper, didn’t reply. Gahhh!

The Singaporean told that it takes the local 2 weeks to reply. So guys, if you want to head to Laos, especially Vientiane; book 2-3 months earlier.

When our van finally turned into Pengkham road, we were happy to see few hotels there. We told the van driver to stop us there, and paid him USD2 for the extra trip. I was later told that he wasn’t really happy with the USD2 when Satkuru passed him that; ‘maybe should give him USD3‘, he said.

Coincidentally, the van stopped in front of Family Hotel Laos, the hotel that we inquire 2 days before. Satkuru ran up to ask on the room rate and also the availability while we waited outside.

Now, why we inquire this hotel 2 days before the trip? Well, we were waiting for reply from Thawee Guesthouse and so happened I came across this hotel’s website on Agoda which stated they have 3 queen beds! Without hesitation, I asked Satkuru to email this hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel only replied on the day we flew.

Satkuru came out and told us the place is clean and the room is priced at USD38 per night; which all of us happily accepting this hotel. Comparing to the earlier hotel, this hotel is much cheaper!

Immediately we went up the stairs to the lobby, registered and checked into our rooms. Satkuru and Aaron in room 504, Emily and Colleen in room 603 while Vingie, Jessica and I in room 604.

The room looks clean, the bed looks so puffy and inviting, and the toilet – it is sparkling clean and spacious! Strong WiFi connection is available in the room and along the corridor. We washed up a little before leaving our rooms with only valuables in hand.

We were hungry. Like mad hungry. Satkuru stopped by the hotel reception to ask if there’s any ‘food’ available around the hotel area. He encouraged us to walk down the road as there are plenty restaurants and cafes there. He mentioned a popular cafe, “Khop Chai Deu” in the recommendation.

Which fits the information I gotten from Lonely Planet. Top 100 eatery in Laos!

So we walked along the road, passed by an Italian restaurant, a Scandinavian cafe and a bakery, and a fountain. Since the receptionist guy asked us to walk down the road, so we decided to cross this considerably main, busy road. Before crossing, I so happened to look to the right at this cafe with lanterns hanging all over and told Satkuru, see over there, such a beautiful cafe!

In front of the busy road, there were food stall on both sides of a smaller road and goodness, I couldn’t stand the aromatic smell coming from the stirring, charring and bbqing food. I so wanted to tapao something there, don’t know why I didn’t.

We crossed the road, but after walking straight for few minutes, we decided to make an U-turn and head to this beautiful cafe. It’s the famous restaurant, Khop Chai Deu!

At the entrance of Khop Chai Deu, we were ushered in by the lovely waitress. She led us inside, but we told her that we would prefer to sit outside, so we got ourselves a table for 8. Insufficient menus were passed to us. ==”

Sat and I decided to share, so we ordered their Laos set, which comes with sticky rice, papaya salad, sour and spicy fish soup, minced chicken with fresh herbs, Lao dessert and LaoLao. We added a bamboo sticky rice, just in case the sticky rice that they provided weren’t enough. While ordering, I actually asked Satkuru if we should tell the waiter to reduce the spiciness level of the food, but he felt the food shouldn’t be spicy.

Bamboo sticky rice that looks like a banana. Similar to lemang, but not that lemak.

And we were so wrong – in ordering the extra sticky rice and in the spiciness level! The papaya salad is delicious but totally burnt my tongue! As we ordered tower beer to share among 7 of us, the beer didn’t help to lower down the ‘hot’ sensation in our mouth! As for the bamboo sticky rice, it came 10 minutes before the set came and feeling hungry we ate that up first. But when the whole set in, we couldn’t finish up the sticky rice that was stored in a cute small bamboo weaved basket. However, I walloped up the whole basket to counter the spiciness of the papaya salad. Luckily it worked!

Even the minced chicken is spicy. T___________T I gladly munched on the greens to cool off the ‘hot’ sensation in my mouth.

As for the soup, it was sour and less spicy. However the fish meat contains lots bones! I hate fish that has lots small bones. The bones make eating less enjoyable because needs to pull them out before putting into the mouth. Gargh!

Ohya, Satkuru ordered their famous Luang Prabang sausage too.

… but I didn’t know that he did order that until this dish was placed on the table.

Immediately after we finished our meal, Satkuru asked for the Lao dessert. Thankfully the dessert is cold and sweet! I could only manage to take in few mouthfuls as Satkuru telan the whole bowl. LOL! Yes, like me he can’t take spicy food too. Haha!

After a filing meal, we talked, laughed, and enjoyed the beers. I busy observing people.

Like how I observed an angmoh initially sat alone at the bar with a beer tower while we were eating and after finishing our meal, there was a Lao chabo (girl) sitting beside him. Unfortunately for her, the angmoh totally ignored her. I saw her sitting alone, drinking Pepsi and looking around in boredom. While I was busy digging into the sweet Lao dessert, I saw the angmoh suddenly walked towards other angmohs who were seated at table in front of us and joined them, bringing over his beer tower, lol!

Halfway talking, Satkuru suddenly called the waiter and asked for the last item to be served. I puzzled and asked what’s the last item? He said, LaoLao, but no idea what’s that.

The waiter came back with a glass of yellowish liquid. We looked at it, and asked the waiter, what’s that? He said, LaoLao. Lao Whisky!

All of us went Ooo in unison. One by one took a sniff of the liquid, not daring to take a sip. When it finally reached to Vingie’s hand, she took a sip and advised us not to take it in whole as it’s very strong.

Me being the curious cat, wondered how strong it is. So I took the glass, and took a sip. When the liquid entered my mouth, it felt cold; but as it descended down my esophagus, I can feel the liquid ‘burned’ its way through. It was strong, but surprisingly good!

But I don’t dare to take another sip. One sip is enough.

The glass then traveled around the table, all took a sip just to taste it. Satkuru accidentally took a big gulp, hence he felt heavier burning sensation in his stomach. Teehee!

After the LaoLao experience, we paid the bill and left the place for a little exploration. However when we walked out of Khop Chai Deu, most shops were already closed and we had no choice but to walk back to our hotel. Along the way, we stopped by a 7-11 alike convenience store, M-point Mart – which turned out to be our favourite shopping place for the next 2 days, lol!

We bought few essential items like water bottles, yogurts, and snacks. Then we continued our journey back.

That night, we played Monopoly deal for almost 2 hours. Emily and Colleen supposed to come over and we waited for them, kept messaging them but there’s no reply. Little did we know that they fell asleep almost immediately after their heads touched the pillows. They must be really, really tired to fall asleep that fast!

That morning we woke up early, as we need to catch the 7 o’clock bus to Clark. However one room didn’t get the revised departure time; they went down half an hour earlier and Sat and I felt so guilty upon hearing that. That moment, I made up my mind to personally tell everyone on important stuff like ‘gather time’ rather than relying on the others to pass the message.

We did quick check-out and then left GoHotels.Ph via taxi for Philtranco bus terminal at SM Megamall. Unfortunately the taxi could only fit 7 people, so Sat, Aaron and Steven volunteered to brace through the human-packed MRT. The taxi driver dropped us down at the entrance of SM Megamall, vaguely telling us to get to the back of the building. We have no idea where, so we stopped and asked one of the policemen on duty. He asked us to walk further down, take the pedestrian bridge and then turn left.

We did all but taking the pedestrian bridge. All of us were too lazy to do so, haha!

I sincerely thought that the bus terminal is a building – little did I know that it’s actually a bus stop. It’s the same place where we got down when we arrived in Manila 5 days ago. Seeing few people waiting there with luggage further confirmed our doubt on the right place to wait. I was afraid that Sat, Aaron and Steven didn’t know the way so I asked Emily to message the guys on our whereabouts.  As we were looking for the accurate landmarks to tell them, they were seen walking towards the bus stop.

We waited for a while before the bus finally came. I noticed some were lining up but some were sitting there. Those lined up were carrying a white paper, which we didn’t have. I panicked a little, then I remembered about the online reservation. I thought to myself, maybe these people got their tickets online or earlier. I told Sat that, and Sat began to count the number of people queuing.

I went to the front to look at the placard displayed at the bus’s front window. It shows 6.45am. I was glad and worried at the same time. I KNOW if we couldn’t get this bus, we could get a 7am bus, but we need to be at airport 2 hours earlier, so we might not be able to make it in time.  So I told Sat, no matter what we have to get it.

Then he told me a good news.

“I counted d. Still have places for us!” and he smiled.

After those with tickets got in, it was our turn. We threw our backpacks at the bus luggage compartment and went up. The lady bus conductor came to us to collect money for our ride. It costs 300 Pesos.

The bus started moving and our 2 hours of sleep started. I totally konked and only woke up when we’ve reached Clark airport.

The security of Clark airport is super tight. We have to do through manual body scan by the officers and they would ask you on the stuffs in the backpack when they spotted anything unusual in the thermal scanner. After going through the very tight security, we noticed that there’s no restaurant/stall around there area except for the Departure Hall. There weren’t much people there and the counter wasn’t even opened thought it was time for checking in! So basically we were stuck!

Feeling hungry, tired and sleepy, we waited patiently (not that we have much choice) and observed how the officers work. And based on my observation, I’ve noticed something different. I noticed that the lady officer ran through her hands sideways when she was checking the aunties but for the ladies, she stretched her hand to the front and slid her hand straight down!

Ah, I felt so violated! T_T

About nearly 20 minutes, the AirAsia ground crew finally appeared and we quickly lined up for checking in. Then we have to write something (I think it’s the declaration paper, can’t really remember what was it already) and finally entered the Departure Hall.

HOWEVER, before entering, there’s another scan and this time we were required to remove our shoes too!

Ahhh!

I couldn’t understand why is this airport extremely tight in security. Sat told me maybe they beef up because of the terrorists thingy, but I was thinking otherwise. I went vacationing with my family members to Europe not long after the 911 incident, true enough the airport security was tight, but it wasn’t as ‘extreme’ as this!

Whatever it is, I glad that I went through this without a glitch. We were starving and the aromatic smell coming from the food stalls were unbearable.

Just when Sat and I entered the Departure Hall, few of the guys who had went in, told us which one is more expensive and which is not. Haha! They’re our price scouter! So we just followed their recommendation and I got myself a hotdog while Sat who was still in the Filipino mode, ordered their local delicacy.

Then I went around with the thought of window shopping, but ended up getting few last minute gifts. I thought I could bring home different amount of bank notes currency as collection, BUT because of my itchy hand, collection no more! Lol!

As we waited for our flight back to Malaysia, Sat armed with his iPhone started interviewing us around on our overall feeling for this trip. It’s a good way to kill time, since our flight got delayed. -.-” So everyone was having laughing at other people’s video.

Yeah, I laughed so hard that when it was my turn to talk, I tongue-tied and mind went blank. Hate watching my own video. Potongstim to the max!

Finally it was the time to board. I can still remember that it was a very sunny day. And the queue was so long because people would take their own sweet time putting their luggage on the compartment above. -.-”

The moment I got in, I quickly looked for my seat and hoped that nobody was sitting there as some people wouldn’t just sit on the allocated seats stated on the tickets. I was seated between Ailing and Aaron. Sat supposed to sit beside me, but seeing that Ailing were to sit beside a large size man, he quickly occupied her seat. Lucky Emily and May got whole row to themselves!

Then it was time for the take-off. The plane went from the tarmac to the runway, the speed went faster and faster then next thing we know, we were up in the air! Lol!

Though I just had my breakfast few hours ago, but when the cabin crew started pushing cart along the aisle, my stomach began to feel hungry and I quickly looked at the menu, and decided to go for Spaghetti Bolognaise.

After a filing meal, I continued watching Nine, the movie that I watched halfway at the Laoag Airport. By the time I finished the movie, the announcement of landing was made and I was thinking, Wow, such a good timing! Haha!

Believe it or not, for this trip I spent under RM1000! *beam with pride*

Yeah, I kid you NOT! Sat and I calculated our expenses over and over again, and because I jotted down every single expense I made throughout the trip, I calculated it to about RM600-RM630 only (I don’t have the figure now as I blog). Our international and 2 domestic flight tickets costs us to nearly RM300, and the only hotel we’ve paid prior to the trip was the GoHotels.Ph which is like RM50 only.

So you say ler, cheap or not? Heee!

Anyway, if you missed out any of the posts, please do click at the links below.

Multiple posts : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

We were truly reluctant to leave the place. Though we were supposed to clear our bills and checked out after lunch, but May and I went for a little more exploration around the resort. Both of us were curious on the number of rooms the resort has and also the vicinity of the resort as we’ve only seen the lobby, restaurant, pool and a row of rooms where we occupied two rooms out of the 4.

As we walked we saw like an entrance leading to the back. We walked in and we saw a small vege garden in front of us! Further down a little are the rest of the hotel rooms

On our left is the storage for surfing boards.

Curious no more! We’ve found our answer. Haha!

Then it was time to go. We took our backpacks and lugged them to the van. We took group photos with the hotel staffs and they look amazing! XD

Journey from Pagudpud to Manila takes 10 hours by bus/van/car and doing that would be equivalent to having our butt to be extremely numb when we reach our destination. Since it’s more than 15000km in distance and Philippine Airlines was having promotion, we decided to grab opportunity and booked ourselves flight back to the capital.

But the downfall is we have to get back to Laoag for the flight.

Since the flight was rescheduled to 7.15pm from 11.15am, we departed from Kapuluan Vista Resort for Laoag Airport at around 3pm. It took 2 hours to get there and I dozed off after passing the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse.

The moment the van entered the Laoag town, I automatically woke up. It was dark outside and it looked like it was going to rain heavily. That moment, I was worried that our flight will be affected by the rain.

Finally we reached the airport. It was drizzling and we quickly took our backpacks, paid and thanked the driver (it was 230 pesos or RM16.79 per pax) and walked into the rectangular red brick building.

There wasn’t much room to roam around, so we immediately checked in at PAL counter. Just as we were about to enter the Departure Hall, someone pointed at the famous Philippines’ local product, 7D Dried Mango at a small food stall. We went to enquire on the price (140 pesos/RM10.22 per package) and ended up buying more than 20 packages from the stall.

I grabbed 3 packages too. Heehee!

Then we entered the Departure Hall and waited for our flight. To our dismay, our flight got delayed for 3 hours because of the thunderstorm out there. It was so bad that the entire building backed out for few seconds. Luckily, I’ve put few movies into the iPod Touch and I killed my time by watching Nine. Lol!

Thankfully, the rain eased up and we were allowed to board the plane on the tarmac. Umbrellas are provided and I took one even though it was only drizzling out there. I can’t afford to get sick after vacation as there will be piles of work waiting for me.

Our flight finally took off at about 9 something and I was so freaking hungry. Fortunately PAL serves light snacks on board. I was gladly munching on the peanuts and pink waffle biscuit given by the cabin crew. Heehee!

The flight took an hour and 10 minutes. By the time we finished eating the snacks, the announcement of landing was made and soon we landed on Manila Airport safe and sound.

The moment we touched down the airport, we immediately went to claim our backpacks and Hannah turned on negotiation mode and went enquired for airport van to our hotel, GoHotels.Ph. Meanwhile few of us went off for a quick toilet relief. Hehe!

We had van ferrying us to GoHotels.Ph for 1280 pesos (RM93.44). After reaching the hotel, we checked-in, did quick refresh and then left for late dinner. Hannah brought us to Whistlestop Restaurant in Makati.

The moment we walked into the restaurant, I could feel all eyes were on us. We were led to the back where they joined few tables to make it into a long one for us. Then menus were passed to us.

I know that I was supposed to order food, but my eyes wandered around the shop as it is decorated with antiques and stuffs from the earlier decades. There are few types of camera of different ‘generation’ on top of the shelves. Old typewriters, radios, television, pictures, clothes, shoes, bottles! – All nicely placed around the restaurant.

The waitress then came to get our order. Then we continued talking and snapping photos. As we talked, one by one the food came. Like usual, we did prayer, using our DSLR. Heehee.

We actually planned to stay until late night as it was our last night in Philippines; but we were told that it would be very hard to catch a cab after midnight. So we decided to leave after Hannah’s boyfriend picked her up from the restaurant.

At about 11 something, Hannah’s boyfriend appeared and all of us said goodbye to Hannah. Not long after that we left Whistlestop too.

… and I zoned out immediately my head touched the soft pillow.

She would stress on how clear the water that time and is disappointed on the condition of the sea water. Being accustomed to the cloudy sea water, I too longing to see the crystal clear water that my mum mentions.

I thought I’ve found one in Redang, but I stumbled upon a better one in Philippines!

Uber clear seawater. It is as clear as drinking water, but obviously you can’t drink the water ler. LOL.

Seriously, I never stumble upon such clear and BLUE sea water. I couldn’t comprehend where the blue hueness came from. It could be due to the difference of depthness, but maybe the blue is reflection so blue because of the sky.

The sky is exceptionally blue there!

No wonder the local calls this place, Maira-ira or Blue Lagoon.

Of 11 of us, only 9 got down from the van. Sat was down with migraine and Hannah wanted to go back and shower. I thought of accompanying Sat, but then Blue Lagoon was calling me aloud so bye bye boyfriend.

And oh my god, it was so freaking sunny and I could feel that my skin got tanner by N layers. I took out my umbrella to shield myself against the harsh UV rays, but somehow they managed to penetrate through. Cis.

But once I got into the sea, the scorching heat miraculously disappeared; and I enjoyed the cooling sea water and awed at how clear the water was at the same time.

We didn’t take off our crocs as we fear that we might step onto sharp, pokey, slimy, unpredictable thing.

We wandered around at the water level of knee deep only, as we didn’t have the plan of getting ourselves really wet. After all, we only planned to spend few minutes there.

As much as I wanted to walk deeper to the sea and dip myself into the cool sea water, but at the same time I was feeling afraid too. Don’t ask me the reason as I didn’t know why too. Lol.

We really have fun there. Took lots pictures, crazily posed for pictures after pictures and because we wore sharp colour tops, the pictures came out outstanding!

It seems like we found a little paradise in Northern part of Luzon, the Blue Lagoon. Teehee!

Somehow the heat got into me again and I walked to the shady area to cool myself.

The rest was still at the sea, laughing and taking ridiculously amount of pictures.

May, Ailing and I just sat at the side patiently waiting for them. The gentle salty sea breeze occasionally swiped our body to cool us down a little. But I fanned myself to increase the coolness.

I can’t remember what happened that caused us to start walking back to the resort without waiting for the rest. Maybe we waited too long and the guys didn’t seem to wanting to move at all. So we made our move first.

Or maybe it’s because I wanted to pee so badly. Lol!

Halfway walking, I bumped into Mr Boyfriend in the opposite direction. Apparently he had felt better and wanted to check out Blue Lagoon a little. So I left him walking there and I quickly sprang all the way to the resort.

I love swimming and it’s so unfortunate that I didn’t get to swim often. So seeing a swimming pool at Kapuluan Vista Resort, I wouldn’t have missed this good opportunity to swim! Hee!

So the next morning, I woke up early as my mind already set on jumping in the pool the moment the pool is open at 7.30pm.

I woke up, went down the stairs and found out that Jess wasn’t on the bed. I went to the toilet to relief myself and overheard soft voices coming from outside. Then I opened the door and found Jess and Daniel both looked at me, greeted me morning. Lol. I asked her why was she up so early and she showed me her DSLR and mentioned about sunrise shoot. Only then I remembered about her asking me last night if I wanted to go take sunrise shots which I declined.

Smiling meekly, I closed the door and went back to the room. Gently, I nudged May and asked if she wanted to swim.

Surprisingly she said YES!

Boy, were I happy when I heard that. I quickly changed to my swimsuit, went out with May and slowly went into the pool. Surprisingly the water wasn’t cold. We were the only people using the pool. From afar, I could see Jess and Daniel deeply in conversation and didn’t want to join us despite my endless calling from the pool. Hehe!

Halfway swimming, I went into the guy’s room to persuade Sat into swimming in the pool. But he wouldn’t budge at all. I gave up and went out. Few minutes later, he came out with a cute sleepy look while rubbing his eyes innocently. <3

Seeing this, I can’t help but to give him a hearty hug; but since my body still hasn’t dry from the swimming I had earlier, I patted him instead. Hehe!

The bathroom in our room was used that time, so I sat outside drying myself while waiting for my turn.

The water pressure in the bathroom is so small! It took forever to wash my hair – from wetting it to washing the shampoo away; half an hour would have passed by the time I finished washing my hair. -.-“

Nevertheless, I washed my hair and showered in the simplest and fastest way ever and quickly came out. I pre-packed a little before going out for breakfast.

My breakfast was the simple American breakfast which I had ordered after last night’s dinner.

Someone ordered cocoa powder, and it was the DIY type. Hebats!

Someone decided to join us for breakfast. Hehe!

After breakfast we went back to the room to get ready for a little expedition to the nearby waterfall.

Initially thought of wearing my swimsuit in it but it was still wet from the morning swim. Thought of wearing my bikini top but don’t felt ease of revealing my flesh yet. LOL!

I’m a bit of conservative la.

Saw two cute shih tzus paying with each other. Very cute! But they look like a piece of rug here in the picture. Lol!

At 9 in the morning, all of us got into a van booked by the resort and headed to Kabigan Waterfall located about 20-25 minutes from our resort. Something I don’t understand about Pagudpud’s sky is the blueness of the sky! It was so sunny yet the sky was so blue! How can it so? If Penang’s sunny, the sky would be light blue, not blue blue.

Our van driver took a left turning and pulled a stop just before the road gate and told Sat that we’ve arrived. There are wooden hut at the side of the road gate, and few ladies came out of the hut after seeing our van.

We got down and Hannah started speaking to the ladies. A bit of Tagalog here and there, then Hannah then looked at us and told we have to pay 30 pesos (RM2.19) for the entrance fee and tips to the ladies here.

So we took out 30 pesos and passed them to Hannah. After settling that, 3 lady guides armed with umbrellas appeared from the hut, signaling it was time to walk. One of them led the way, while the other two along our sides.

We walked through the vegetation farm and lush greenery. Off and on we got to dip our feet onto the cold water as we need to cross the ankle deep stream to get to our destination. The trail is easy to walk (unlike the hike to Mount Batur in Bali @_@) and doesn’t require much physical strength, thus making our journey more relaxing.

Halfway walking, I heard someone mentioned about not dirtying the stream because it was the water source for the villagers below there. The water coming from the waterfall and flowing down the stream to the river is the villagers’ drinking water, cooking water, washing water, bathing water and so on.

I was like WTFISH upon hearing that. I told Sat that they should bring a small bridge across the stream then or stop people from visiting this place, as people would definitely take a dip at the waterfall.

Finally, after nearly an hour of walk, we reached our destination. The remarks on the villagers using the waterfall water to drink were all forgotten the moment we saw the bluish green water. The waterfall looks serene, and it was very cooling there. David, Aaron, Daniel and Hannah quickly jumped into the water after dropping their stuffs.

Sat asked me to go down together with him but when I told him that I didn’t wear my swimming suit, he was sort of angry at me because he wants to swim with me. I told him that my swimming suit was still wet from morning swim.

Since I didn’t bring any towel or swimming suit to the waterfall area, I just dip my leg onto the cool water, and took pictures of the rest.

We spent about an hour there, before leaving with few group photos. Then we walked back, making sure that we didn’t leave anything behind.

The walk back to our van is faster and smoother than the walk to the waterfall. It was freaking hot too, and I regretted not bringing my swimming suit for a cooling swim at the waterfall.

It was so hot that we were super ecstatic when we saw a coconut stall at the exit. Priced at 15 pesos (RM1.10) per cup, the lady had to get help from her friends in opening few more coconuts as each and every one of us bought one. Some even bought two cups to quench thirst! Haha!

After the refreshing drink, we got into our van and were ferried back to our resort. But we requested to get down at this beautiful place. I’ll talk about more on this place in my next post.

A paradise hidden away from the common eyes.

A heaven sanctuary we found further up the beautiful cove of Blue Lagoon.

The resort that made us felt like staying in than out. The resort that spells Hospitality with capital H whose staffs treat resort guests with full of smile and polite.

Dear all, I’ve decided to dedicate this entry to the resort as I totally fell in love with the resort the moment I reached the place. I knew that this place would be a good escape for us, especially those who had worked their asses off prior to this trip. I knew that everyone would immediately say yes to this resort the moment I saw photos and reviews of this resort.

After getting down from our van, we got our backpacks, said thanks and goodbye to V. He is a good driver and local tour guide. Then we walked to the hallway and stood in front of the reception window. Also seen there were few peddlers standing at the hallway, displaying their goods from their briefcases.

RIGHT in front of our eyes is the square shape swimming pool. They look so tempting that I feel like jumping in right away! Haha! I kept telling May that and May kept saying, go jump la!

On the left side of the hallway is the resort café while on the right side is a row of rooms which faces the swimming pool. Seriously, I thought the resort has only 4 rooms. But May and I discovered more when we did a small exploration. Muahaha!

That, I’ll elaborate more in the coming post. ^^

Sat did the check-in while the rest of us were delighted at the sight of a shihtzu pup! But the pup super shy; ran off the moment she saw us coming towards her. -.-“

After checking in, the staff led us to our rooms which face the pool! Best sial!

Goodness, the room – it’s very pretty!

Since there are 11 of us, we gotten ourselves the deluxe with loft rooms (the biggest room) with extra beds.

Immediately most of us ‘jomp’ the beds, while I was deciding on to sleep tatami style at the loft or on the king size bed.

Eventually I chose up. Lol!

We unloaded our stuffs and went to the café to claim our welcome drinks – a choice of iced tea or Iced Virgin Margarita. Without a doubt, everyone chose the MARGARITA.

May, Emily and I sat at this cute tiny chairs and table with a vase of beautiful yellow daisies placed in the middle of the table overlooking the pool. Though sitting on the tiny chair with the sunrays shining directly onto our skin as the café is the open concept, but we felt so relaxed and soul free.

I truly believe my soul was totally healed at that time.

I took quite a number of pictures while waiting for our margaritas. We camwhored with our room key; the daisies – basically snapping with everything our eyes lay on. A waitress came over, politely gave us menu and asked us to order our dinner so that they could prepare beforehand. May and I were ecstatic when we saw the word LOBSTER on the menu. Was completing on ordering that but changed my mind since I had too much meats the days before and ordered a more green food.

She asked for my name and when I told her, she wrote Angeli. I didn’t bother to correct her. Lol!

When the margarita finally came, we took thousand pictures of the margarita until the ice melted and we decided that’s enough and quickly toasted to this great vacation and drank them up. Lol!

That margarita was my second in my whole life. The first time was with my fellow Incovarians at Sevenatenine. Hehe!

After that it was basically free and easy. We didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day and planned to dunk into the pool but dipping in the pool for hours until dinnertime doesn’t seem like a good plan at all. So we decided to do a little exploration around the resort. Heehee!

We walked directly out of the resort towards the seaside in front. Funny, the beach in front of the resort doesn’t look like the one we saw at Blue Lagoon, and it was somehow calmer. Sat asked if we want to do some activities offered by the resort like the snorkeling, bicycling et cetera, and I thought why not? So he went in to ask and was kinda shocked to know that we can’t do any of those because of the limited gears. Lol.

In the end, we decided to be adventurous like what we did in Redang 2 years ago – to explore the islands nearby! Muahaha!

Well, in Redang we could do so with the help of canoes.  But since there’s only like one canoe available and it is not enough for 11 of us, we decided to walk!

Believe it or not, it was actually walkable to the nearby island many thanks to the dead corals, the stone heads and the low tide. It was about 3-ish in the afternoon, so the tide wasn’t that high and we could easily see the path towards the islands.

Again, Sat went in the resort to ask if the rest interested to follow and everyone came! Haha! I think all were keen to explore and conquer that island. Lol!

Off we went walking towards the nearest island. It was slippery and crocs can sometimes be a problem on stone-watery area so I took extra precaution when placing my steps. Ah, I should have bought my water sport shoes. Then I could jump around with ease. Muahaha!

Kidding. I was quite freaked out walking on the slippery stone heads to be frank. I read about black sea urchins as well as all the geli sea creatures that can be found near the stones; and I prayed hard not to miss my step and step onto them. Not only that, I was afraid of falling down too, on those sharp looking stones and injured myself badly. Imagine the stinginess on your knee cap if injured. Ouch!

However, it was quite challenging and adventurous making our way to the island albeit occasionally gave myself unfound scares. Yeah, I yelled for Sat and asked him to escort me to another stone safely thus making myself looking so stupid and coward. At least I didn’t ask him to piggyback me there right?

The 3 stooges, David, Daniel and Hannah made their steps onto the island first where Daniel took pictures of us with the “triumph” look for fun. Lol!

There isn’t much room to roam about and I didn’t really walk about too as I was sort of paranoid for another reason: SEA SNAKE that might lurk behind the stones. Haha! Too much of National Geography.

We took 20 shots of group photo at the island using David camera balancing on the edge of a stone. Imagine the amount of money at stake!  If a slightly stronger wind blows in the wrong direction or the earth rocked at a small magnitude, the body would have tumbled and definitely sayonara case.

But luckily nothing happened ler. Lol!

As much as we want to conquer another island, we see no path between the two islands. Noticing that the sea level was getting higher, we quickly made our way back as we didn’t want to get stranded on this tiny island.

Somehow the walk back to the shore was shorter and easier despite gentle sea waves kept washing onto our feet. All I knew was I had more fun walking back than towards. Hehe!

I somehow discovered that the water at the other side of the beach (on the one that faced North) has minimal or totally no water ripples. The water was so still and calm that it is such a good spot to take reflection of the sky. At that moment, I wish I had my DSLR with me instead of my waterproof Olympus. You see, I brought my Olympus along in case I fell into the sea, it is still workable.

We practically split onto 3 groups and more mini groups while walking back. There were the fast walkers, the moderate walkers and the super slow walkers. The slow walkers took sweet time taking pictures and discovering many types of sea creatures while the fast walkers were just interested in getting to the shore fast! Haha. Thankfully the tides weren’t menacing and went up quickly or else we’ll be seeing them walking with their camera gears up in the air right? Haha!

While waiting for them, the rest of us just linger at the shore while Sat started throwing stone onto the sea. He told me that he’s good at throwing stone and I challenged him to show me. Well, he flopped the first time and blamed it to the pebble he picked. Ha!

He went looking for the right pebble, did 3 loops and showed me his triumph face!

Unsatisfied, I challenged him to do the 4 loops which made him went about to look for pebbles again. The rest followed in throwing the stones while I photographed and videoed them. Hehe!

Amidst all the stone throwing and laughing, I was blissfully enjoying the beautiful scenery right in front of me; breathed in all the goodness, the serenity and peacefulness that the Blue Lagoon offers. I felt like I’ve found paradise.

Suddenly someone cried and pointed to the sky behind me and when I turned, I saw the most beautiful sunset I ever seen.

Off and on, small crabs can be seen teetering about the area. I was afraid that it might come to me and pinch my flesh. So I was on-guard at the time, prepared to fend off any intruding crabs! Luckily they seemed to be understanding and didn’t bother me at all. Hehe!

The rest came to us and we began walking back to the resort. We did stumble upon few nice looking crabs, and even save a crab from dying. We went around taking picture of the hairy star fishes which Aaron warned us of not holding it as it’s totally different from the hard-coral-looking-star-fish which can be held.

The highlight of the sea creature hunting is spotting a sea worm which spells EWWWWWW!!!

Realising it was getting late; I quickly went back to the resort for the next activity in line. I mean the activity I created in my head – SWIMMING! Lol!

The moment we reached our room after coming back from the island exploration, Hannah, May and I changed to our swimsuits and jumped in! Daniel, Aaron and Steven joined us few minutes later. Last to jump in was Jess. David was sunbathing at the lazy chair. Ailing was too shy to swim while Satkuru totally konked on the bed because of terrible migraine. We were waiting for Emily but she didn’t come.

It was totally nice swimming in the pool with a bunch of good friends. We splashed water onto each other, laughed, giggled, swam crisscrossed and massaged our back at the place where the water bubbles come out from.

The sky was so beautiful despite there were dark clouds nearby. Then slowly one by one we got out of the pool for shower as it was nearing dinner time. I went to the guys’ room to take shower as nobody was using it at that time! Keke!

As it was the WorldCup season, Sat decided why not making a country theme dinner on the last night of the trip in Manila. We already planned out, wearing jersey/t-shirts supporting a country and head out to Sports Bar for dinner as it was the finale of World Cup on the last day of our trip.

However because the Philippines Airlines pushed our flight to the late afternoon flight, we had to omit the plan and changed the theme dinner to a day earlier – that’s the dinner at Kapuluan Vista Resort. ^^

Before coming over to Philippines, I was looking madly for Brazilian jersey but somehow didn’t come across one! Luckily I have a Czech Republic t-shirt at home, so that night I wore that for dinner! Hehe!

The guys were already eating at the table halfway when we girls reached. Never wait for people one. Seeing us taking our seat at the long table, the waitress quickly went to the kitchen and took out our food and placed them on the table.

Seriously, I was half shocked and half happy seeing my dinner. I was happy because there are a lot of green vegetables on it but shocked because the portion is B I G! I think May was equally shocked too. Haha!

The food was great. May and I even had coconut drink after dinner as dessert, while the rest ordered their ice-cream crepe which is heavenly! We talked, took pictures, made tons of jokes and laughed – clearly cause noise disturbance to other diners. Ops.

After all the eating, Sat took passport photos of everyone, before ending it with group photos. Totally love the group photos – they look colourful and happy and contented.

I thought of jumping into the pool after dinner, but I couldn’t do it immediately after the group photos as need to wait until the food digested a little. So, we went back to our respective rooms.

Back in the room, Jess became SO HYPERACTIVE that she said COME, LET’S TAKE LOTS PICTURES. GIRLS MUST CAMWHORE ONE!!!! which drew laughter from all of us. Still, we did – on the bed, standing on the floor, on the stairs; following what she said because we indeed LOVE taking photos. Haha!

Went to Phuket with Satkuru last Wednesday. A totally awesome trip. Ever-smiling, top notch service by the Thailanders. Made me went woahhh! with wonder many, many times.

Seriously, I can’t wait to write about it once I finished up my Philippines trip. Meanwhile, do enjoy the video on the trip put together by Sat using his iPhone. ^^

I remembered in the van, Jess suddenly being uneasy and appeared to be looking for something which she then gave up. I asked her what’s the problem and she said that her lens came off but she didn’t care about it as she has few more sets.

Suddenly my eyes felt dry and itchy. I carefully rubbed my eyes and poof! – one came off! Walao. Just barely few minutes ago, Jess’s came off and now it was mine. -.-“ I searched high and low for it as I didn’t bring extra set to Philippines and I was on my monthly contact lens, not daily. T_T

David was sort of awakened by my commotion and asked me what was I looking for. I told him that my contact lens came off. He helped me in the search and thankfully I managed to locate it. However my solution was in my backpack at the back and I had to wait until the van stopped to get it.

At the same time, we’ve already reached the next tourist attraction – Bangui Windmill. The rest were going Oohhh.. and Ahhh… while I was struggling to see with one blurred vision. -.-“

Thankfully Emily kept a small mirror and stored clean solution in her contact lens case in her bag. So I quickly dipped my fallen lens into the clean solution and wore it. Most of them already out, while the guys were stuck in the van with me as I sort of blocked them. Sorry guys. *very, very apologetic*

Once my vision was restored (chewah! Haha!) I quickly got down and sort of ran to the beach which I regretted. The sand pebbles are HOT! It was like doing foot sauna on the beach. Even  ccrocs (ciplak crocs) couldn’t protect my feet from the menacing hot pebbles.

Despite jumping in pain each time the pebbles went into my ccrocs as I walked, the view of the wind turbines are totally amazing. Located at the northwest tip of Luzon at Bangui Bay, the 15 white mega structures face the sea where the wind blows towards the land. The wind turbines capture wind and turned them into usable energy by electrical generators.

There’s a beautiful blue fisherman boat at the shore where we gladly used it as our shooting props. How I wish I took more and more pictures with the blue boat.

Do you believe if I tell you that the humongous structures are reputed to supply 50% power to the nearby village?

I don’t know where another 50% goes to. Don’t ask me.

We took few jump shots which ended up jumping in pain after landing. Lol. Then it was the guys’ turn.

It was sunny there and I think I got myself few layers darker there. Haha.

Ohyeah, I suddenly remembered about this girl. There’s a sweet looking girl who approached us then moment we got down from the van. She’s trying to sell us a small replica of the wind turbine. We obviously didn’t bother to look at the replica as the real wind turbines caught our attention. And she just followed us to the blue fisherman boat there and sat at the shady area.

Yeah, she was in each and every picture taken of the blue boat.

Not to say that I was annoyed by her, but the thing is she just sat there quietly, observing what we did and at the same time holding on to her replicas. She isn’t persistent and annoying; but she managed to make her presence known to us.

And she succeeded. Before I walked back to the van, I stopped by her mum’s stall to choose one replica as souvenir. There are few stalls selling souvenirs and gifts. I ended up buying 2 replicas for 100 pesos (RM7.30). After buying, I suddenly felt stress as I didn’t know how to bring the replica back home as it looks fragile and I afraid that the blade would broke.

I also regretted not buying the pearl earrings. It costs only 300 pesos (RM21.91) for a pair and the pearls aren’t the small ones. Haih.!

V patiently waited for our little shopping at the Bangui Windmill. When we got back, he continued driving towards Saud town.

Right now, I don’t remember in detail what I saw that day, but I remembered we went through this village that has a lot of trees and then passing a bridge where paddy fields can be seen on both sides of the road.

One of the most significant is seeing a big clam monument at the fork of a road. V took the one on the left and brought us to Saud town to have lunch.

Two things interest me. One is the male urinal which is in PINK colour.

Another thing is the pink bus. So uberly cute!

The shabby looking restaurant is said to be the only cheapest restaurant available in Pagudpud. Else, we’ll have to eat at hotels/resorts which are more expensive. Like it or not, we have to fill our stomach there since it was way beyond our lunch time.

But then, the meal wasn’t cheap also. I paid 115 pesos (RM8.40) for a plate of rice, a plate of black sauce pork meat, and a bottle of tea.

After satisfying our stomachs, we left Saud town and headed to our resort for the night as we were late in checking in.

Not long after that Sat announced that we’re heading straight to the famous elevated highway, Patapat Viaduct! Everyone just nodded their head without saying anything and V drove along the Maharlika Highway towards Cordillera Mountain.

Soon everyone felt asleep. It’s normal to be sleepy after heavy lunch and I too joined in the quest to dreamland.

Out of sudden I woke up. I looked around to see where were we at that time. I spotted an old, abandoned ship near the cliff where we were passing at that moment and was very curious about it.

I was looking around and suddenly I saw the Patapat Viaduct signboard. I realised that the road is different in front, so I said loudly, “Bee, we’re here d!”

Everyone woke up abruptly – clearly awaken by my voice; and looked ahead. The highway is just right in front of our eyes.

V slowed down his van and entered the highway. We were very excited. Don’t remember if I asked or someone asked it, but we asked V if we could get down and take picture standing at the highway itself. V said okay, and he drove a little bit from before stopping.

However, he stopped at the blind spot area, just after the road curved in. The guys at the back feared of our safety, therefore suggested to drive a little more front to avoid unforeseen accident(s). V did, and we went down and stood in front of the van; again for safety reason. Heehee!

Do you know that at 31 metres above sea level, this 1.3km coastal bridge is the 4^th longest bridge in Philippines? It’s totally amazing to be standing on the concrete bridge overlooking the sea.

We decided we should take group photo with the marvelous structure. We quickly assembled ourselves and took few shots before being honked by other motorists.

Then we got back to our van where V drove us along the concrete bridge .The bridge consists of 2 narrow lanes that snakes along the mountain range. At the end of the bridge, V then turned left onto a parking space and asked us if we want to have a drink at one of the pub/café.

Politely we declined his offer because we need to check in as soon as possible. V made a U-turn and headed towards the amazing bridge again. He slowed down at the entrance of the bridge where the ones sitting at the right side took pictures of the bridge without getting from the van. Haha!

After getting ‘clearance’ from us, V continued driving but slowed down again when he saw the abandoned ship where he pointed to us.

Again, the ones sitting at the right quickly took out their camera and aimed at the abandoned ship! I took my DSLR and squeezed in for the fun, but stopped after feeling potongstim for not having zoom lens to shoot with. Lol!

David, who sat at the left side of the van, passed me his D300 with his super expensive lens mounted on it to take shoots on his behalf.

I did, and I was totally ‘poisoned’ for a moment. Noler, I was just happy for able to shoot something that far and making it looks near on the camera screen. Lol!

While shooting, V told that the ship is a Korean ship. It was abandoned because the ship hit something (I can’t remember) and starting to sink. Luckily, the ship didn’t sink much but slanted and the crew managed to escape alive.

V brought us all the way to the blue lagoon, where our resort is. I remembered going downhill and driving along the lush plantation where we spotted a mountain with a hole!

Realisingly that the hole is the place where we plan to visit, V informed Sat about it (since Sat had shared the list of places-to-go with him earlier) and we got down for a 30-minutes visit only.

Immediately, we went down the steep stone stairs to get to the bottom. The stone heads are quite slippery but luckily my ccrocs can still support me from falling.

Bantay Abot Cave means “a mountain with a hole”. Standing right in front of the hole, I could hear the echo sound of the waves. I thought of climbing up the hill of corals and the small stones to get to the hole, but I think my crocs couldn’t support me that good, so I omitted the idea.

I took at the stone bed to look at the sea water and breathtaking view of the mountain instead. There were plenty of seaweeds floating on top but surprisingly, the water is clear. I could see few small fishes swimming in between the stones.

We took few group photos before climbing the scary stairs to our van. After everybody got into the van, V started his van and drove off. He made few S-turns before coming to a beautiful bay where you can see many blue hues of the sea water.

No wonder it’s called blue lagoon! It’s so beautiful!

There are plenty of resorts around the bay. I feel thankful for not booking the resorts around the bay as they don’t look as worthy as the price stated.

We saw our resort’s wooden signboard that asked us to go further down. V followed what the signboard asked. He drove us to the end of the tiny road and stopped right in front of a tall white building with attap hut.

To be continued…

That’s because the day was totally maximised with the places.

Heading towards the North, we stopped by Bacarra for a short visit to the Bacarra Church, also known as St. Andrew Parish Church.

Before that, we passed by the hotel that we initially thought of staying. Somehow we were thankful that we didn’t stay there as the hotel is located right in front of petrol station. Good fengshui or bad? Hmm…

Upon entering the small town, we saw this big blue building which later we were told that’s the fire department building. I thought it is a museum or school or something like that. Never thought fire department will be in blue colour. *_*

When I got down the van after V pulled over at the church’s parking lot, my DSLR was mounted with 50mm lens. Since Sat has helped me carrying it all the way there, I thought why not just take few shoots using that lens eventhough I have to MF it. T_T

And my, the results are lovely! I think I’m so gonna bring my 50mm to next trip. Maybe I might just upgrade my system to avoid MF-ing or sell off the F1.8 and get the F1.4? Hahaha!

Then I changed to wide angle and took the church in whole. The church dark brown façade is slightly different from the other churches I’ve seen. The pilaster and the arches are there but this church is of Baroque, not Renaissance. Maybe it’s due to the contrast in colour used.

We didn’t have the chance to enter the church as the door was closed.

Satisfied, I walked to the side for more shoots. It was sunny that I had my sunny on all the time.

At the side of the building, there’s a garden where statue of Jesus stood and a cross nailed to the wall.

Next to the church, there it is the Leaning Tower of the North, the bell tower of the Baracca Church. Why it’s called the leaning tower – that’s because a major earthquake caused the tower to lean, the second one earthquake deformed the tower even more and the third earthquake turned the bell tower into 2 storeys. It supposed to be 3 storeys with bronze bell on top you see!

Now no bell!

Since it’s such a lovely tower with lovely sky, I quickly dragged Sat for phototaking. Hehe!

We took many lovely shoots with the bell tower as our background. Despite being sunny, the sky still looked blue and there was this big puffy cloud at the back, making it nicer.

Then it was time to go. We got back to our van and we went to the next stop, the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse.

There wasn’t much car along the route to our next destination. There isn’t streetlight on certain part of the road. One could only imagine how dark it could be at night. Probably it’s as dark as the pitch dark road in Sarawak when my Sarawakian friend brought me and my friends for dinner to an exotic restaurant situated near the borderline.

However, the scenery along the way is fantastic! As we got nearer to our destination, we could see the sea! – which got all of us excited! Haha!

Then from far Hannah pointed to us the lighthouse.

Those who didn’t fall asleep looked out right. Hannah then told us that the lighthouse is rumoured to be haunted. As Hannah spoke about this, V then turned right and went up the winding road to the base of the lighthouse. He then parked his van at the limited parking bay next to the staircase leading to the lighthouse.

I got down with my umbrella and DSLR only. Sat carried my small backpack. We went up to the super steep and high concrete stairs. You see, going up the steep stairs is easy, but coming down is super hard. Probably as hard as the Great Wall of China Juyongguan Pass. *_*

It was very hot and sunny, making the climbing even harder. @_@  When Sat and I finally reached to the top, both of us immediately went up the T shaped stairways to the mansion for shelter. As I was walking, I hastily closed my umbrella but in was doing so, I accidentally cut my finger. Can’t remember which finger now – but the cut was deep and it bled nonstop. -.-“

I quickly took out a tissue from my bag to stop the bleeding. After covering my finger with tissue, I walked towards the end of the verandah and feasted my eyes with the breathtaking view of Cape Bojeador.

Standing at the verandah and looking at the fabulous view made me felt very relaxed at that point. If only I could enjoy the view with a cup of hot tea. Haha!

The hallway of the mansion leads to the foot of another flight of stairs. One thing I like about standing at the bottom of the stairs is the wind. It was extra windy there. But just as we went up the stairs, the wind decreased.

At the end of the staircase is the entrance to the octagonal stone tower. That tower marks the most northwestern point in Luzon and is still operating! But the door of the lighthouse tower was closed when we were there. So we took few photos before going down.

Like I said earlier, getting down the flights of stairs isn’t easy. Thankfully I have Sat beside me for I held on to his hand for support as the stair steps are ridiculously high. If wasn’t for him, I would have take longer time to get down. Maybe I’ll sit and slowly ‘slide’ down like how I did in China. Lol!

No, I’m not afraid of height. I just afraid of falling! T_T

Just as we got down to the base, Hannah informed us that the lighthouse keeper was there and he’ll open the door to the tower for us. I looked up the concrete stairs and very reluctant to go up again. But eventually I did. Lol!

Luckily, the second time was easier. We got up pretty quickly and were surprised to know that the lighthouse keeper was already up there by the time we reached. A group of local tourists were standing nearby the tower and they already went into the tower. Both Sat and I were extremely puzzled on how he can get up there so fast!

Because only certain numbers of people are allowed to enter at once, we divided ourselves into 2 groups. The first group – May, Emily, Jess, Daniel, Aaron and Steven went in immediately though the local tourists were still in it. Just that they weren’t allowed to go directly up to the lantern room but have to wait at the watch room for their turn.

The second group – Hannah, Ailing, David, Sat and I only entered when the local tourists came out of the stone tower. We went up to the spiral staircase but stopped at the watch room/service room which is located beneath the lantern room.

We suspected the first group took lots camwhore pictures as they took such a long time up there! Fortunately the watch room is airy or else we would be yelling out head off asking them to come down. Lol!

Finally, they came down the iron ladder. We were joyful and happily climbed up the iron ladder.

Once we reached the top, to be frank, I wasn’t as excited as I was earlier. I mean the view is totally awesome, but it was so stuffy up there! How la to enjoy the view when you’re feeling hot and stuffy? *_*

I took few shoots of the surrounding, few group shots with the guys and then chow. Don’t know how the first group could bear the heat up there. Lol!

The rest of us then walked down to the base (again) and bought cold drinks from the drink vendors before getting into the van.

We continued our journey towards Pagudpud. At one point of the road, the road we were on is about 1km from the sea only. We were so elated when we saw the sea!

Now thinking back, why on earth we didn’t ask V to stop his van at the side for a quick shoot? Haha!

Multiple posts : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |

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.

Multiple posts : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |