At 9 pm, I landed in Laoag (from Baguio. Actually, I think this was one of the first times I used a taxi to get from the bus terminus to the capital building buus terminus about 5 km away.I was not sure if i had some kind of invisible ink thrown on me as no taxi would stop for ages!! (despite the fact that I saw tens of taxis! ) ) and had a search for the nearest available place to stay (I will head ot pagudpod tomorrow morning.) I found a place that could rival the Bates motel for atmosphere
Authentic looking hotel room!
(well, it has.....ahem .....charm)
but as the room was 310 pesos and it came with a c.r ,
The priceless (well,it does come with a price) Comfort Room
that was good enough for me .I had a quick walk around Laoag and saw a lit up fountain in the main square
Big city lights (Laoag style!)
. I headed back to the hostel and decided to take a nap.
The next day, I noticed that there was a monument set up to honour the abolition of the tobacco monopoly (which was abolished quite some time ago)
Apparently , you can buy 20 smokes from the shop for 20 Pesos/!
. There seemed to be some sort of free gig set up in the town but as the performers seemed to be a boyband,i moved on
Getting ready for Independance day (12th June) celebrations , (I think )
. I had a quick walk through laoag,
The old church in central laoag city
then decided to get out of there (but not before I saw an interesting name for a shop)
Not just a house of drugs But a HOLY house of drugs!
I walked back tothe bus terminus (while entering the terminus, the locals started whooping 'hey americanos!' and some tagalog phrases whereupon, I had to tell them I was from Ireland...then europe as most of the lads hadn't heard of ireland (note to self: if people shout Americanos, smile and move on.) ) The bus to Pagudpod was located in another place so I got a sidecar or tricycle as it's called here to get to the other terminus.I got the last seat on this bus.(which was located pretty much beside the gear box of the bus.) It was odd getting on a bus and seeing everybody stare at you as you realise not many foreign people take this bus!
Anyway,I took some photos of the journey from Laoag to Pagudpod and here they are!
I think the guy on the bike is leading us to Pagudpud
where did he go? Well, at least there is some nice scenery to go with the road that seems to look like it goes on forever.
lots of trees and vegetation by the side of the road
Never seen a bridge like this before
wonder what I will see next
Yay,the sea! we must be getting close
You see a few thatched places around here. Not sure what the white powdery substance in the bags are but I'd recognise the coca cola from anywhere
You tend to see a sign every time you enter a new town (From this sign, Dirique claims the dubious honour of being the number 1 town)
This looks like the typical sign you would see when entering a town around here
Another bridge? we must be nearly there now!
Fields spread out in every direction. (This beach really is far north)
eventually, th bus got to Pagudpud and dropped me off around 3 km from the sign that said Pagudpud. I had to get a taxi\tricycle from there.I didnt realise that all thhe best spots (e.g:Hannahs guest house) were 20kn from the sign for Pagudpud so when theguy on the tricycle asked me where to go, I just told him to go near the beachfront so he did .Actually, he asked if I wanted a homestay (where you can stay in a room owned by one of the locals.The room came with a toilet and shower so that was good enough for me. Actually, the shower was so close to the toilet that you could have a shower while sitting on the toilet! Don't ask how I know this...)
I had a quick read of the psalm that was adorning the wall.
My favourite Psalm (It's a big improvement from Psalm 22 you know)
I had a quick look at the beach and noticed that the waves broke VERY close to the land. I stood in the water for a couple of minutes but quickly realised that the current is quite strong at this point along the beach.
Watch out for the current if you ever try to go swimming here
I went for a quick walk around the area. Everyone here wants to say 'hello' to me except for one kid who said 'hi old man'.
There seemed to be palm trees in Saud (The place where I stayed)
The background looks quite similar to Ireland.
I wentfor a couple of jogs during my stay here. The locals were wondering what I was doing...I am guessing this is due to one of 2 things.
a.) They never saw a person jog before
b.) They never saw a person who looks like he's about to collapse at any stage from jogging before.
my guess is b.
A cow staring inquisitively in my direction
Maybe, I should try to jog more often while I am over here!
Anyway, I got the chance to talk to the couple who were staying in the room beside my room.
There names are Alain and Kat and they are up here on a holiday from Manila. (12 hours by bus) Kats 29th birthday was 2 days ago so It was a good time to try this place out.
Kat And Alain
I learned that the best way to get attention from someone is to call them the tagalog equivalent of brother or sister cuya\ate . I must try this out at some stage in Dublin just to see if I get a reaction!
Anyway,we went on the half day trip starting at 7 to avoid all the others (and the sun also).
We saw the waterfalls[To get to the waterfalls, we had to walk for about 30 minutes] past the stream
scenery on the way to the waterfalls
,past the guy tilling the land
Those horns are very pointy looking.Better not stare for too long at him
,over quite a few bridges
Kat and Alain posing on the bridge
and finally to the holy grail!
The waterfall in all its glory
The statue of Mary is in the background. (I think this is the first time, where a statue seemed to disappear.Is that a miracle!)
Serious conversation time here!
[something alomgthe lines of, 'should we have peanut butter with bread or Durian for lunch?'
reply: Peanut butter!!!!]
Patapat bridge on a summers day....in the rainy season
The hole in the rock was 'this' big!
Class background
The blue lagoon (There is so much salt here that I was able to float in the water!)
There are 20 windmills in Pagudpud and there will be 40 more in 2 years time
Posing by the entrance to Pagudpud
At the end of the trip we grabbed some food from the local shop and I got cocal cola in a plastic bag.
Actually, during the trip, I travelled on the back of the tricycle .This was cool as I do not really like sitting in the normal passanger area of the tricycle as I dont have enough room to stretch my legs and when there is a bump in the road, i tend to hit my head of my legs!!
You could pick up one of those tricycles for around 100,000 pesos (\50,000 second hand).
The guys were telling me that they sell 'aso' in Baguio.
Aso is essentially dog meat but unlike Korea , these dogs are not bred to be eaten. I am not sure if would ever try this!
During the excursion,I put on a lot of suncream but I dont think it done much good , especially the past between my elbow and hand as I had to hold on to the roof when the tricycle was moving. This was in full view of the sun and when we went into the water, i have a feeling, the suncream was washed away...yikes!!!!!
Pagudpud was good craic but it was time to go. Kat And Alain were getting the bys back to Manila .I wanted to stop in a place called Vigan so I grabbed the same bus as the guys. I jumped off in Laoag and decided to stay there for the night as it was 9pm. Tomorrow (12th June) is Independence day.I wonder what that is like over here.Loads of miniture flags being waved no doubt!
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