My Trip Up North (last part)

Our drive back to Manila took roughly 12 hours.  Mama wanted to stop over somewhere like La Union of Pangasinan and stay the night so that the drive wouldn't be so tiring, but Joey insisted to going all the way in one go, because he had a meeting the next morning at 10:00am.  It was dark and we were hungry when we reached San Fernando, La Union and so we stopped by this unique-looking restaurant called Riverfarm, a fishpond complex turned restaurant, which served fresh seafood and vegetables.  The smaller kids liked it because there was a TV near the kitchen and Spongebob Squarepants was on.

After dinner, we all piled back into the car and continued on to Manila.  Needless to say, when we reached my brother's house in Marikina at around 5:30am, we were tired to the bone and had to take a couple of hours rest before proceeding to our hotel.

It was a loooong road trip, but I'd do it again if only to be able to visit new places with my family.

Mabuhay ang Turistang Pilipino!

My Trip Up North (second of 5 parts)

The Hotel was called Sea & Sky Hotel & Restaurant.  It is an old hotel, with the typical design of hotels constructed in the late 70s and early 80s.  It had an old-fashioned restaurant, with stained tablecloths and curtains just beyond the reception lobby and a rectangle-shaped swimming pool at the basement.  Cleaned regularly with a high concentration of chlorine, no less.

What I liked about the hotel was the family room they gave us.  It had two queen-size beds each with a roll-away cushion underneath it.  There was enough space to do the tango in and my brother's two small kids made full use of it by sprawling out while watching TV.  There was a terrace which afforded us a fantastic view of the La Union Bay and sunset.  Lastly, it had a bathroom fitted with a marble bathtub, and whose bath area also looked out onto the bay.  One could see the efforts of the hotel management to modernize by covering the old concrete walls with tiles.

That night, we had dinner at the downstairs restaurant.  Having psyched myself to the small proportions as seen in Manila restaurants, I kinda got carried away with ordering and we ended up with one dish too many.  We had fried chicken, sinigang na baboy, pinakbet, mushroom soup and pancit guisado.  Anyway, it was alright with the restaurant for us to bring the pancit upstairs, so that we could have it for breakfast.

 So after staying there one night, we were on our way to Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

My Trip Up North (first of 5 parts)

Last June 1, my mom and I flew to Manila to be with my brother and his kids.  We were in Luzon for 11 days.  Our activity there included a road trip to Vigan, Ilocos Sur (farthest point), a day trip to Bulacan to visit a soon-to-be resort which my brother was hired to develop, a day out with my best friend, Ning, at the SM Mall of Asia, and last but not least, a four-day stay at a new budget hotel called Go Hotels, in Mandaluyong City.

So where do I start?  At the beginning, of course!  The trip actually started at 3:00pm on June 2, so Mama and I had the whole day June 1 and the following morning to buy any last-minute necessities and to play with the kids.  As I browsed the aisles of snack food (however did 'junk food' become a nickname???), I discovered so many new manufacturers of local chichiria, like Marty's (by Oishi).  So I bought at least one big pack each to cover our long drive to the north.  Little did I know that my brother also picked up a load of chocolates and drinks that his children would really love as well.  In the end, we'd spent about P2,000 just on snacks.  Well, what would you expect with three adults (one senior citizen), one teenager and two growing children?

The trip to La Union took about seven hours.  My brother took care of all the room arrangements and we were finally sleeping in air-conditioned nipa houses at this resort called SeBay (pronounced sea bay).  The next morning, I found out why he had chosen this particular resort-- it was situated at the mouth of a popular surfing site and where he was like "The King" of surfing events organizers. 

We stayed there for two nights.  Supposedly only one night but the waves were really good (even to my untrained eye) and too good to miss, so my brother said.  We transferred to a hotel in San Fernando, La Union for the third night of our trip.

... to be continued...

La Union: Sand and Waves

As early as 6:00 am, Joey was out on the waves.  Of course, we really didn't know what time he left the rooms, because the rest of us got up at around 8, hehe.  It's difficult to listen to your body clock when no sunshine enters the room in the morning.  

There isn't much to do at the resort unless you're a surfer, though Mama and I were able to get good ideas for a (proposed) resort.  Fortunately, the kids liked playing in the sand and waves and were able to fill their time while waiting for their dad to come back to shore.