Still overwhelmed by how we managed to arrange a successful Pagudpud tour by ourselves, our Ilocos backpacking journey continued with the day two of our trip, this time, in the cities of Laoag, Paoay and Vigan.
GETTING TO LAOAG
After checking out from our Pagudpud lodge past 8:30AM, the second leg of our escapade started with our trip going to Laoag City.
From Pagudpud, one can reach the capital of Ilocos Norte by taking a bus bound to the place in the town’s center where two hours of travel is required to reach the city. Public bus is the major mode of transport to access the city so better prepare yourself if you’re not used to commuting and don’t have a private vehicle with you. Nevertheless, the commute will still be worthy as different (and beautiful) views of the nearby sea will entertain you along the way.
A QUICK TASTE OF LAOAG
We’ve arrived in our destination around 11AM and decided to have an early lunch in one of Laoag’s famous dining spots, Macy’s Diner. The diner is located right beside the national road and near the capitol and a must-visit if you’re a fan of diner-inspired restaurants like me.
Unfortunately, we did not find the foods served in the place delectable to our taste buds because of its bland dishes. However, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly eatery in Laoag aside from the usual fast-food chains, a drop by at the place would do the trick. Plus, the diner’s interior is instagram-able.
After filling our tummies and regaining ample energy to do another whole day of travel, we resumed our trip and made a quick stop at the famous Sinking Bell Tower of Laoag.
Despite not being part of our itinerary, we decided to make a quick stop at the popular tourist spot because it was already visible from Macy’s Diner and was an easy walking distance from the restaurant. No fee is required upon entering the place and anyone is welcome to take a photo in any of the bell tower’s sides.
After being satisfied with our shots, we returned to our original plan and attempted to arrange a Paoay tour with some of the tricycle drivers in the area. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to arrange one as we found their offered rate (₱500) too expensive compared to the ₱250-amount I’ve researched before. In the end, we’ve decided to commute and take a jeepney instead to our second destination for the day, Malacañang of the North.
From Laoag, one can reach this famous tourist spot by riding a Paoay-bound jeepney in the terminal located behind Ilocos Norte Capitol. On our way to the jeepney stop, we made sure to snap photos of the capitol’s façade to officially seal our visit.
BACKPACKING IN PAOAY
Travel time from Laoag to Malacañang of the North can take up to 30 minutes and requires a ₱25 jeepney fare. We were lucky to board a jeep in which we were the last passengers to get off so the driver decided to directly drop us off in front of our destination. We learned that jeepneys rarely pass by in front of ‘Malacañang’ and tricycles are the only major public transport in the place. After getting off, we went in front of the place’s gates where we paid ₱30 as entrance fee to the tourist attraction.
Malacañang of the North is the former residence of the Marcos family in Ilocos Norte which sits in front of Paoay Lake and features a scenic view of the latter. The two-storey stone house was eventually turned into a museum which offers a glimpse of the different rooms where the Marcoses have lived including the office and study where former president Ferdinand Marcos have probably worked. Historic relics and project plans related to the late president and his family are some of the other things one can expect to see in the place.
After more than 30 minutes of tour and battling with other tourists to get a neat shot of a particular room in the house, we decided to leave the place and start our travel to our next destination, Paoay Church.
As mentioned before, tricycles are the only major public transport in the area which were, unluckily, unavailable during the time when we planned to depart from the place. Fortunately, one of the store owners outside Malacañang learned of our dilemma and helped us solve it by calling the tricycle driver who she knows was in the area. In the end, we were able to find a ride going to our destination –kudos to this store owner—and managed to survive another challenge of backpacking.
Paoay Church is a 15-minute travel from Malacañang of the North and is located in the town proper of Paoay. Entrance is free to anyone who wants to visit the historic church and its complex. Aside from the famous landmark, a Paoay signage can also be found in the place for those who want to seal their trip.
Seeing Paoay Church in person was another surreal experience for me as I couldn’t believe that I managed to travel that far by my own and see a UNESCO World Heritage Site with such unique beauty. The church’s exterior is an existing proof of the country’s Spanish colonial period and can also be compared to the architecture of some popular temples in Java, Indonesia (which I haven’t visited yet but seen in photos).
Although the church’s interior isn’t the best one I’ve seen, its design is another thing to like about the place because of its mix of past and modern times. The church’s walls, ceilings and flooring were modified according to the design of most local churches nowadays but the sight of the untouched structure of its windows and its cracks makes one feel of the historic vibe of the Heritage site. Plus, of course, the image of Saint Augustine in the altar further authenticates the feel of the place.
Anyone is welcome to sit and pray in one of the church’s benches as long as they retain the solemnity of the tourist spot.
Our 30-minute stay in Paoay Church feels insufficient to fully marvel and experience the beauty of the Heritage site that I needed to look back several times before leaving the place. However, due to time constraints, we needed to proceed and start our trip to our next and last destination, Calle Crisologo in Vigan City, which can take up to two and a half hours of commuting.
Due to not being able to successfully arrange a tour, we needed to ask around again to know how we can get to Vigan City from Paoay and learned that we need to go to Batac Crossing where Vigan-bound buses pass by. Fortunately, the locals in the area were very helpful that we managed to ride another tricycle again with the aid of their help. Travel time from Paoay Church going to Batac Crossing is an easy 10 minutes.
EXPERIENCING THE REAL ILOCOS
The travel going to Vigan City is the longest trip that we’ve experienced during our Ilocos escapade with the exception of our 12-hour travel from Manila. I feel like we’ve seen what Ilocos is all about not just in the different places where our bus had passed by but also with the locals we briefly encountered during our bus trip.
I noticed that Ilocanos from Laoag all the way down to Vigan have lighter complexion compared to the locals in Pagudpud. I further realized how kind Ilocanos are when my friend accidentally and unconsciously dropped her phone from the bus’s window while we were in a bus stop and no one from the crowd attempted to steal her phone. It’s a good thing that the bus conductor noticed the misplaced phone and honestly returned it to my friend. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have known that it fell from the window at the first place. As early as that time, I already knew that our Ilocos trip is going to end positively.
We’ve reached Vigan City around 5:30PM and found ourselves right in the middle of the city where various vendors are selling different kinds of food by the sidewalk and locals walking everywhere going on with their daily lives. I wasn’t able to determine the name of the place but I’m assuming that it was near the public market because of the aforementioned scenario.
We asked one of the vendors in the area on how we can get to our destination, Calle Crisologo, and she replied that the place was just a straight walk ahead and a left on the first corner we see. We assumed that the place was that easy to reach until we realized that the street is ending and we haven’t reached our destination yet.
It turns out that the locals have two understanding of the term Calle Crisologo: one, of the actual whole stretch of the street and one which refers to the tourist spot and the Heritage site. We’ve just only learned about this difference when we approached another local again and she clarified if we were referring to the tourist spot. In the end, we were able to successfully reach our destination and finally see one of the highlights of our Ilocos trip.
Seeing the famous street of Crisologo brings a different feeling compared to being amazed with the place in stunning photographs. Personally, I was more overwhelmed with the number of tourists walking along the street compared to the historic houses found in the place. I have an expectation that the tourist spot is famous but I did not expect to see such huge number of people walking and taking selfies in the street. The tourist spot is more commercialized than it looks in photos but the good thing is commercialization did not destroy the historic beauty of the area.
Seeing the Heritage site in person also gives you a chance to look at the small details which make the place historic and nostalgic. From the cracks in the walls of a decade old house, to the grungy edges of its neighboring building’s windows, down to the weeds growing in between cracks, one can easily imagine the Spanish life that the street have seen before. And what can further authenticate the Spanish era experience than the sight of kalesas walking up and down the street?
We could spend another hour observing and marvelling the beauty of the street but prevented ourselves to fulfil our grumbling stomachs. For our last meal in Ilocos, we decided to become a little bit lavish and dine in one of the most recommended restaurants in the place, Café Leona.
Compared to our not-so-good lunch in Macy’s Diner in Laoag, our dinner in Café Leona turned out to be a good experience with its generous amount of serving and tastier dishes. Personally, I’ve liked their hot chocolate as it managed to satisfy my craving for the drink at that time. The place’s bagnet was fine too but I found it too salty, while their grilled squid was bland. Nonetheless, it was the place which served us with the best food out of the three restaurants we’ve tried in Ilocos.
After a recharging dinner, we went back outside of Calle Crisologo and found ourselves in awe with the beauty of the street in the night. The famous tourist spot is illuminated with incandescent wall lamps which instantly set the romantic atmosphere in the place. Dining establishments have set up tables and chairs along the street for diners who want to eat in an al fresco setting and much to the relief of our eyes, the swarm of tourists have disappeared and only a small number have remained.
We continued to see this constant scenery up to the end of the street where we boarded a tricycle going to Partas Bus Terminal to book a ride going back to Manila and to start our journey going home.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to book a bus ahead of our ideal 10PM trip as the terminal only accommodates passengers whose trip is going to start in 30 minutes. In the end, we decided to return to Calle Crisologo to do some last-minute souvenir shopping and wait for the clock to hit at 9:30PM.
Distracted by the information relayed to us at Partas that the scheduled 10PM Manila-bound bus will be coming from Laoag and already carrying passengers, I asked the tricycle driver which brought us back to Calle Crisologo if he knows of other bus terminals which have trips to Manila aside from Partas. Fortunately, he said that he does and mentioned of Dominion Bus Terminal which was a 3-minute walk from our location at that time. Without further ado, my friend and I immediately started our walk to the terminal in the hopes that we can still go home to Manila without becoming chance passengers.
Just when I thought that our Ilocos experience is nearing to its end, Ilocanos have proven their kindness to us once again when the tricycle driver called and told us that he’ll take us to the bus terminal for free since he’s already heading home (and probably because my friend and I are both girls and the way going to the terminal is poorly lit). Already tired and frustrated not to extend our stay in Ilocos (this time, due to budget constraints), we accepted his offer and immediately reached our destination.
It seems that the odds are in our favor with us during that time because upon arrival in the terminal, there were no queues of people waiting to buy bus tickets and the parked buses were still empty. We immediately inquired of the terminal’s last trip to Manila and learned that 9PM was the last one –an hour away during that time when we were inquiring. Left with no other choice, we arranged an agreement with the personnel we’ve talked to to wait and expect for us to arrive after an hour since the terminal also doesn’t accommodate passengers whose trip will not start in 30 minutes, before leaving the place to accomplish our last activity in Ilocos.
Our last hour in Ilocos was spent doing last-minute souvenir shopping and being anxious of not being able to make it to our 9PM trip. This experience is one of those moments in my life when I felt that I was in a reality show finishing a race with a limited time which was stressful and full of pressure but at the same time enjoyable and memorable. I don’t think I’ll ever experience that same thrill again in my other future trips. In the end, we were able to make it to our scheduled trip and was even able to reach Manila two hours ahead of our estimated arrival.
TRAVELER TIPS
- As much as possible, start early so you can end your trip early –most especially if you plan to commute. During our experience, our travel from one city to another have taken most of our time leaving us with crowded tourist spots and experiencing almost an unbearable heat. Starting early will also prevent you from doing last-minute shopping and becoming a chance passenger if you’re also heading back to Manila.
- Do not be afraid to ask around. Evident from our experience, asking for directions has been our life blood in surviving our Ilocos backpacking journey. Doing this activity will not just only feed you with the information you need but will also give you facts about the place that you wouldn’t know unless you experience it or hear it straight from a local’s mouth. Personally, I think this is the part of our trip which really made the best out our escapade.
- If you find yourself with a low battery phone in Calle Crisologo, Café Leona allows free mobile charging to diners.
EXPENSES
- Bus going to Laoag from Pagudpud – ₱100
- Lunch at Macy’s Diner – around ₱400 (good for 2 persons)
- Jeep going to Malacañang of the North – ₱25
- Malacañang of the North entrance fee – ₱30
- Tricycle going to Paoay Church – ₱70
- Tricycle going to Batac Crossing – ₱50
- Bus to Vigan from Batac Crossing – ₱80
- Dinner at Café Leona – around ₱600 (good for 2 persons)
- Tricycle going to Partas Bus Terminal – ₱15
- Tricycle going back to Calle Crisologo – ₱20
- Bus going to Manila – ₱580
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