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 (3rd of 5 parts)

Vigan... The City That Time Forgot... but is catching up.

We arrived in the city center at around 3:00pm and found a quaint little inn that was a throwback to the early 1900s.  Grandpa's Inn & Restaurant was actually an ancestral home during the Spanish time until it was sold in the middle of the century.  As soon as you enter what looks like a small hallway, you are literally sucked into a world that screams HISTORY.  The inn owner kept everything -- from telephones, typewriters, pianos, furniture, to even the calesas that still plied the cobbled streets outside.

Outside, it was like the present had all but been absorbed by the past... there was nothing in between.  Old buildings were surrounded by electric wires and cable satellite dishes.  Monuments and houses, though preserved for their historical value, had been turned into money-making commercial spaces.  It was amusing to note that the new restaurants and hotels had been designed with cobblestones and bricks, but inside, it was all modern.

And of course, there was Calle Crisologo.  One of the few remaining cobbled streets in the country, where only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages are allowed to pass, Calle Crisologo shows signs of wear and tear but also of efforts to at least make it look inviting for tourists to visit.  Then again, tourists really go there to visit and to buy and to bargain and to buy.  For this street is where all the souvenir shops are found.

  

... to be continued...

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...