we left the house 10pm past eve of april 23 thinking the bus terminal won't be crowded and that we'll have all the time in the world to spare.
we thought, buying tickets would be as easy as 1-2-3. i have travelled late at night by myself before and 10pm is the best time to catch a bus ride based on my experience bound to baguio christmas last year. but then, to our surprise, the (partas) bus terminal was packed with people all headed to the north (though majority of them are headed to laoag). it was hell, the ticket booths were closed though there were people inside doing something else (according to the lady in the information area, it's what they call the 'turn over time') and if you will not dare ask questions go help yourself.
compared to victory, with partas, it's way complicated just to get a ticket. we waited couple of hours.
i fell in line to get a stub (i got stub# 102) and they started off with 1-10. yeah right. i was sleepy, tired since my shift ended 2pm same day. i wasn't able to even take a nap and my eyes was all watery and itchy and its been for the past few days. i tried to keep my patience not wanting to spoil our birthday VL and i know we're on for a very loooooong bus ride. i told my sister since she was able to take a nap and i didn't (and am tired from work), i'll take the seat beside the window, a seat we're both wanting to take. we both agreed provided on our way home she'll take that seat instead. how easy is that??
we slept almost the entire bus ride and lost track of time and happened to only wake up during stop overs. what's good about non-scheduled trips is that the drivers are not rushing and they drive really slow not minding the time which is better than board a vehicle as fast as a speeding bullet and have a nervous breakdown in the middle of trip.
we slept almost the entire bus ride and lost track of time and happened to only wake up during stop overs. what's good about non-scheduled trips is that the drivers are not rushing and they drive really slow not minding the time which is better than board a vehicle as fast as a speeding bullet and have a nervous breakdown in the middle of trip.
i was expecting the trip will only take less than 7-8 hours since we left about 1am. there was an hour delay because the bus broke down (although the driver wouldn't admit it and the passengers were not even advised of the problem nor any timeframe for the fix). so, it took us 10 hours instead. when we finally left the sison stopover the sun is almost up.
Day 1 - VIGAN
24 April
we arrived at vigan 11 past in the morning. we took a trike from vigan partas bus terminal to grandpa's inn and paid P40 for it, making it P20/head.
Day 1 - VIGAN
24 April
we arrived at vigan 11 past in the morning. we took a trike from vigan partas bus terminal to grandpa's inn and paid P40 for it, making it P20/head.
we we're warmly welcomed by the inn's staff. we advised the frontdesk that we have an online reservation from april 24-27. the only problem was we arrived early while the check in time was supposedly 2pm and the room was still occupied.
we both decided then to grab some late lunch and left our backpacks at the reception so they could bring them in once the room is all set.
CAFE UNO (grandpa's inn)
we grabbed a quick bite at cafe uno. i had their macaroni cheese w/ garlic bread + iced caramel coffee while my sister had their latteccino coffee and putanesca. the pasta tasted a bit salty for our discriminating palettes but t'was OK though. i loved the caramel coffee. total bill was inexpensive for P310.
we then decided to stroll around calle crisologo amidst the scorching heat of the sun and was then offered a calesa ride by this young and courteous calesa driver/tourist guide named JR with his horse named RN (a brown horse) for P150/hour. (DOT accredited).
CAFE UNO (grandpa's inn)
we grabbed a quick bite at cafe uno. i had their macaroni cheese w/ garlic bread + iced caramel coffee while my sister had their latteccino coffee and putanesca. the pasta tasted a bit salty for our discriminating palettes but t'was OK though. i loved the caramel coffee. total bill was inexpensive for P310.
we then decided to stroll around calle crisologo amidst the scorching heat of the sun and was then offered a calesa ride by this young and courteous calesa driver/tourist guide named JR with his horse named RN (a brown horse) for P150/hour. (DOT accredited).
my sister then agreed and told me it's a reasonable charge because some calesa ride charges P300 per hour which i later on realized when i overheard this family having breakfast at cafe uno, they were charged that much.
our first stop--VIGAN cathedral.
the church was dark and very few people merely drop by for a little prayer. my sister then got so busy taking shots of just about everything vintage inside. everything about the church depicts the obvious spanish occupation in vigan.
our first stop--VIGAN cathedral.the church was dark and very few people merely drop by for a little prayer. my sister then got so busy taking shots of just about everything vintage inside. everything about the church depicts the obvious spanish occupation in vigan.
my polaroid digicam sucked bigtime! there were instances wherein the batteries will just fall off and arrgh how embarassing! spare me. good thing, my sister bought this reliable dslr camera which took really fascinating photos as expected.we visited the ARZOBISPADO, the museum was close that time because it's only open between 9am-12nn (weekdays). we we'rent able to get much photos there so we just stayed a while and then headed off to the museums.
CRISOLOGO MUSEUM - no entrance fee, donation only.the museum housed all stuff, photos that the crisologo family owned. it's an ancestral house with really huge rooms and beds. the dining area was really vast. you can really tell that the crisologo's are one of the
affluent families during that era in vigan. i was just horrified when i had a glimpse of the photos when the old crisologo was murdered inside the vigan cathedral. although it was in black & white, the photos looked like it was taken not so long ago as it was properly preserved. it was scary but you know how political rivalries are, to the point of taking lives. not much difference today it seems.
SYQUIA MANSION/MUSEUM - entrance fee P20/head, adults.the syquia mansion was the official residence of pres. elpidio quirino. the mansion housed both small and huge portraits along with antique pieces from asian countries which might've been gifts or items that the late president used to collect. again, the huge rooms and the huge beds were awesome and which made me think, what were they doing with such huge rooms and houses back then? well, maybe they used them as function rooms at the same time.
PADRE BURGOS MUSEUM - P10/head entrance fee.
the museum housed quite a few filipiniana clothing worn by our women during the spanish occupation in vigan.
you can also find historical framed photographs adorning the walls ,dioramas showcasing how the church was built and the battle between the filipino and spanish soldiers.
the burgos museum is simple compared to the syquia and crisologo museums.
the burgos museum is simple compared to the syquia and crisologo museums.
upstairs you'll find the piano and cello and this really coolphonograph. it's really awesome to see one because the oldest musical instrument i've seen so far was a turntable hehehe.
PAGBURNAYAN/POTTERY.
there's nothing much to check out in pagburnayan except for pottery and souvenir shops. you can acually try out and check out how to make a jar out of clay, it's still cool though. our tourist guide JR told us that the bunch of woods piled up there are of export quality.
NUEVA SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL/st. augustine church.
the church was quite far from the rest of the town. i found it a bit desolate since you really need to exert effort just to go there. from vigan cathedral, you may take a trike or the typical calesa (for the locals they charge P50 by the way) to get to st. augustine church.
the belfry tower is obviously visible if you look to your left (the church is in the middle). it kinda reminded me of the sunken church in bicol. we were told by our guide that there's a fee/ donation (?) if you want to enter but due to the scorching heat of the sun we declined and suit ourselves with just taking photos from afar. we don't want to get tan lines during our first day in vigan because we will surely do in days to come.
we declined the rest of the tour since it's already 3pm and we needed to go back to grandpa's inn so we can check out our room and see for ourselves. it took us 3 hours and a half for the first leg of our tour. initially i thought it was just 2.5 hours so i paid the guy P500 (we just realized it was actually 3.5 hours the next day. the poor guy was too shy to insist that we underpaid him P25). aish.
GRANDPA's INN--
finally, the room was ready when we got back 3pm. the bellboy led us to room 7, what a good number. the room was cozy and the very first thing we checked was the toilet & bathroom. there were 2 beds, a cable tv which did not work at first (that we needed to go back to the reception to advise the tv is not working). the signal was poor considering it's cable tv. maybe they need to upgrade their coax cables hehe. the brick walls made the room look really hispanic ,the main window is facing the road.
it's really hot in vigan and we regret that we did not get an air-conditioned room, damn. the ceiling fan was so weak that you'll wake up in the middle of the night all drenched in sweat. haiizz. my solution to the problem?? i opened the window since there's a sliding screen window underneath to allow the air to come through. it's just noisy at times because our room is exactly on top of cafe uno and we could hear passersby talking and taking pictures. the floor is wood and the little gaps will even allow you to take a peak downstairs.
PAGBURNAYAN/POTTERY.there's nothing much to check out in pagburnayan except for pottery and souvenir shops. you can acually try out and check out how to make a jar out of clay, it's still cool though. our tourist guide JR told us that the bunch of woods piled up there are of export quality.
NUEVA SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL/st. augustine church.the church was quite far from the rest of the town. i found it a bit desolate since you really need to exert effort just to go there. from vigan cathedral, you may take a trike or the typical calesa (for the locals they charge P50 by the way) to get to st. augustine church.
the belfry tower is obviously visible if you look to your left (the church is in the middle). it kinda reminded me of the sunken church in bicol. we were told by our guide that there's a fee/ donation (?) if you want to enter but due to the scorching heat of the sun we declined and suit ourselves with just taking photos from afar. we don't want to get tan lines during our first day in vigan because we will surely do in days to come.
we declined the rest of the tour since it's already 3pm and we needed to go back to grandpa's inn so we can check out our room and see for ourselves. it took us 3 hours and a half for the first leg of our tour. initially i thought it was just 2.5 hours so i paid the guy P500 (we just realized it was actually 3.5 hours the next day. the poor guy was too shy to insist that we underpaid him P25). aish.
GRANDPA's INN--
finally, the room was ready when we got back 3pm. the bellboy led us to room 7, what a good number. the room was cozy and the very first thing we checked was the toilet & bathroom. there were 2 beds, a cable tv which did not work at first (that we needed to go back to the reception to advise the tv is not working). the signal was poor considering it's cable tv. maybe they need to upgrade their coax cables hehe. the brick walls made the room look really hispanic ,the main window is facing the road.
it's really hot in vigan and we regret that we did not get an air-conditioned room, damn. the ceiling fan was so weak that you'll wake up in the middle of the night all drenched in sweat. haiizz. my solution to the problem?? i opened the window since there's a sliding screen window underneath to allow the air to come through. it's just noisy at times because our room is exactly on top of cafe uno and we could hear passersby talking and taking pictures. the floor is wood and the little gaps will even allow you to take a peak downstairs.
it's funny actually, like a real old fashioned house. the bathroom don't have any pail, just a 'tabo' and the water that runs is obviously deepwell. we're not very picky though so we're both cool with that but it could've been easier if there's a pail so we can just scoop up water from it instead.
nightime, we were both starving so i initiated to go downstairs to have 
dinner. there's no one around cuz it's pretty late already at the kusina felicita's so i thought they're already closed for he day but heck we still took our chance and sat on this table for four.
dinner. there's no one around cuz it's pretty late already at the kusina felicita's so i thought they're already closed for he day but heck we still took our chance and sat on this table for four.
i hate it when the menu doesn't have pictures because it's a lot easier for me to decide which food to choose if there are actual look of the food/viand found on the menu. so, i decided to try their garlic fried rice for (P70) which is good for 2-3 people and their famous 'bagnet' (P170) + mango juice (P60) while my sister had chicken inasal (P160) + fresh apple juice (90). well, the prices i quoted would be more or less only but our total bill was P545 which is reasonable since their chicken inasal is good for 3-4 persons already.
we tried their wifi whilst having pasta it's free anyways, i just hate accessing net from my phone since the screen is small and i'm kind off used to browsing from a computer. their wifi was down/off for the rest of our stay though. geesh.
expenses for the day:
we tried their wifi whilst having pasta it's free anyways, i just hate accessing net from my phone since the screen is small and i'm kind off used to browsing from a computer. their wifi was down/off for the rest of our stay though. geesh.expenses for the day:
-late lunch @ cafe uno P310
-dinner @ kusina felicita's P585
-2 bottled water for P25 each
-ref magnet c/o souvenir shop in pagburnayan P50 + keychain P30
~total = P1,651 more or less.
Day 2
25 April
morning, we were both waiting for our complimentary breakfast since as per our research it'll be delivered to the guests' room by 6:30am. nothing happened so we thought it's no longer applicable so before we head off to our next itinerary for the day we decided to have breakfast at kusina felicita's again. they're only serving breakfast on the menu and very minimal option. the waitress asked if we're checked in so we said yes and we're on room 7. she asked if have stubs and we don't so when she never mentioned anything about it we did not ask any longer. i had their tapa ilocano and coffee while my sister had sweet tapa tagalog and ordered 1 canned pineapple juice not knowing the coffee is part of the meal. after we had our sumptuous meals and asked for the bill we were advised that it's free and all we need to pay for was the canned pineapple juice. now that's what they call the complimentary breakfast. very good. that saved us money for breakfast harhar!
we met up with JR our tourist guide yesterday and he arrived 9am and rang my sister whilst were having breakfast to let us know he's waiting outside. our first stop for the day, since it's sunday was at the vigan cathedral. the mass was in ilocano so we have no choice but just to at least drop by since it's a sunday even if we won't be able to understand it. yeah, language barrier thing. by the way i bought this 3 for 100 shorts at the plaza since i can no longer endure sleeping in my sweatpants because the weather even at night is extremely muggy.
take note, you need to arm yourself with lots and lots of bottled water by the way because you will need that as you continue to walk around because the hot weather is a freakin' killah. my oh my, i just hate scorching heat of the sun!
MIRA HILLS - entrance fee P15/head.
as soon as you approach the gatekeepers they will ask if you'll just stroll or will go swimming. of course we will just stroll since we won't go swimming, it was never a plan anyways and we wouldn't unless it's an indoor pool hehehe.
along the way we saw 3 big dogs in a cage. one was a st. bernard and at first we thought it was dead due to dehydration, heat stroke or whatever since the poor thing is no longer moving. the second dog was a pitfull which was very playful and suspicious. the last one was a yellow lab which looks by far ok. we were so worried that when we saw one of the park's keepers we reported right away that the st. bernard's water container is empty and that the dog might've been dehydrated. good thing we found that the poor dog was just asleep and as soon as water was poured on it's bin the big fella drank it like tomorrow's never gonna come. aww..that sight broke our hearts. same thing with the pitbull, the water bin is already upside down & empty so i hurriedly emptied my bottled water and scooped up water from this bucket full of water nearby. unfortunately, the water isn't even clean. why oh why. i don't thing those dogs deserve to be caged. we thought they're better off someplace else not a cage since they're all huge.
CHRISTY'S LOOM WEAVING.
the place sells loom weaved blankets, table runners, placemats etc. actually, we're not really interested in buying any blanket because we won't be needing one in this totally hot climate so far plus our room isn't airconditioned. we just checked out the weaving area which was empty when we arrived. we just stayed and left as soon as RN (the horse) had rested.
BALUARTE (ZOO) - entrance is FREE.
owned by the infamous chavit singson. the zoo was really extensive and possibly still being packed with imported animals. as soon as we arrived in baluarte we noticed the big tigers & cute exotic birds and animals. i just noticed that the cage where the tiger dwells must be well guided because there's this way at the back wherein kids could just slip their hands on the cages if not supervised by adults and might cause accidents. you know, some kids out of curiosity 'might' do something out of the ordinary like sway their hands on the cages on whatever. tigers are cute but heck they're carnivorous! anyways, we had dirty ice cream for P10 each whilst watching the lazy tigers sleep.
it's so refreshing when we got to this area where the birds are. you can take pictures with them and watch or look at them closely but you can't touch and pet them because they might bite. he blue gold macaw was
really CUTE! we even had our pictures taken with one of the blue macaws. the animal trainor let the bird rest on our shoulder's, i gave P50 tip since the zoo entranc is free anyways and so that our friend blue macaw birdie could earn some money as well though honestly i don't like supporting zoos because the animals are being deprived of their natural habitat. i just hope they take good care of the animals.
there are quite a few things i learned in baluarte; that an ostrich would eat just about anything including the green paint on the steel fence. the poor fellah already scratched the paint and i don't know if he's just trying to sharpen it's beak or what. a camel is so larger than life or should i say bigger that i imagined it would be. a bear cat might be obsessive compulsive because it ill not stop moving around unless it's prob'ly dizzy or tired!
gadh, more more fluid! i had soda (mt. dew) which made me more thirsty and one bottled water afterwards to compensate for the loss of fluids since i sweat like i drenched myself in water because it was a complete walk-a-thon! what is this? an alternative for boxing?? walking is good though. i appreciate sweating out though the hot weather again drove me NUTS!
HIDDEN GARDEN.
it's a place to shop for plants that you want to grow in your garden. well, am not a fan of plants so it's just refreshing to see greens and all. the heat again is a killer plus the place is like a little maze.
i had tan lines as soon as i got home and took a shower.
we paid our tourist guide/calesa chaffeur P1000 (including tip). the tour last 6 hours (150*6 = P900) + our P25 balance from yesterday since i miscalculated hehehe. so P925 + P75 tip! if our mom's with us she might've scream that it's too expensive. lol.
long day...so, to cool down, we had some merienda in cafe uno. i had their chilled choco strawberry (P90) + mango cake (P65) while my sister had chubhouse uno (P90) which was huge for a person and their chilled choco minty (P90). how much? P375.
expenses for the day?? P1,675 (bottled drinks, calesa and food).
Day 3
26 April
nothing much to do today so after breakfast (complimentary again) we walked the streets of Vigan. we went to calle crisologo to shop for pasalubongs. i bought 16 pieces of chichacorn which i thought would be more than enough since i don't want to bring a lot back home. i hate bringing a lot of stuff and later on have difficulty moving around. we had dirty ice cream again for P10 each whilst walking around the empty street of heritage village, it's early in the morning. i decided to go back to our inn and drop off all my pasalubongs before we head off to burgos plaza so i don't hand carry anything. gadh, i'm sweating out again just by simply running the stairs. arrrgh! we rode a trike to the plaza so we could buy more bottled water. we bought 2 big ones and 2 small ones. one big wilkin's is surprisingly cheap in vigan. it only cost about P19 and the small ones less than P10 roughly. if we will not stock up with bottled water in our room we will definitely be dehydrated because staying in a non a/c room in vigan is like suicide. why did we???
by the way i bought my souvenir items across our the road (grandpa's souvenir shop) which is exactly fronting our room's window. how kewl is that? i got a friend of mine this coffee mug and keychain. i also bought this pink tee but i realized it was big for me so i guess i'll give it away instead to our dad hehehe.
because of the weather, we instead suit ourselves with chips ahoy and munched on chichacorns whilst watching tv. how flaky is that?
total expense for the day = P889.75 (P290 souvenir items, P599.75 --trike fare P20 to plaza + P109.75 bottled water + chips ahoy + P30 2 bottled water from this self-service store across the INN. it's self service because the owner is with tahanang walang hagdanan).
Day 4
27 April
Happy boatday to us!!! (according to our 2 year old niece since she coudln't say birthday yet hehehe...)
we walked the streets of vigan again as per my recommendation to my sister. i told her all streets leads to the plaza and i was right. vigan is a small town and if you try walking around you won't get lost as long as you remember your landmarks. i told my sister i be the compass and her the photographer. we went to the vigan cathedral by foot. to my sister's astonishment that the church could be reached by walking. the church was empty but it's ok as long as we stepped foot on the church during the most important day of our lives, our beeday! yeehaw.
we walked around after church to scout for open restos that'll serve local dishes but since it only past 7am there isn't any so we decided to go back to calle crisologo and waited few more minutes until 8am (stores open @ 8am generally in vigan). my sister bought this bayong for P90 which is originally for P100, a tee (possibly P180) and bagnet (P370) for pasalubong.
we saw this cute furry fellah from afar so we decided to sit beside it. the pup was really playful and friendly and won't hesitate to play around even with strangers. i miss having a pup or a kitten!? whimper.
after a lot of walking i saw this coffee shop called a perfect cup on one corner. it was open as expected since it's already past 8am. the place was cozy though it could've been better if the ceiling fan was switched on hehee. they serve sandwiches, coffee and tacos/chips. we ordered...
(for me)
cappucino P65
egg sandwich P40
nachos P75
(my sister)
cafe latte P65
clubhouse P85
total = P330
TIME TO GO HOME...
we couldn't endure the heat in Vigan and we've visited almost all places worth visiting, nothing much to do nor go so we decided to check out 12nn. we're all set as early as 10am. all packed and we just watched tv to kill time. i paid the bill at the counter, remaining cost P980 (since we already paid P1960 upon reservation).
trike to partas bus terminal P30.
as soon as we reached the terminal, a deluxe bus awaits. the fare is P100 more than the special trip to vigan buses from manila, cost: P685/head.
total expenses: P5,696 (2 persons)
the trip was realllyyyyyy long....the bus left vigan 12nn and we reached cubao terminal 10pm. I was dizzy almost the entire trip. hayyyy....
cabbie to our flat P110. photos taken in Vigan? priceless ;)
-dinner @ kusina felicita's P585
-2 bottled water for P25 each
-ref magnet c/o souvenir shop in pagburnayan P50 + keychain P30
~total = P1,651 more or less.
Day 225 April
morning, we were both waiting for our complimentary breakfast since as per our research it'll be delivered to the guests' room by 6:30am. nothing happened so we thought it's no longer applicable so before we head off to our next itinerary for the day we decided to have breakfast at kusina felicita's again. they're only serving breakfast on the menu and very minimal option. the waitress asked if we're checked in so we said yes and we're on room 7. she asked if have stubs and we don't so when she never mentioned anything about it we did not ask any longer. i had their tapa ilocano and coffee while my sister had sweet tapa tagalog and ordered 1 canned pineapple juice not knowing the coffee is part of the meal. after we had our sumptuous meals and asked for the bill we were advised that it's free and all we need to pay for was the canned pineapple juice. now that's what they call the complimentary breakfast. very good. that saved us money for breakfast harhar!
we met up with JR our tourist guide yesterday and he arrived 9am and rang my sister whilst were having breakfast to let us know he's waiting outside. our first stop for the day, since it's sunday was at the vigan cathedral. the mass was in ilocano so we have no choice but just to at least drop by since it's a sunday even if we won't be able to understand it. yeah, language barrier thing. by the way i bought this 3 for 100 shorts at the plaza since i can no longer endure sleeping in my sweatpants because the weather even at night is extremely muggy.
take note, you need to arm yourself with lots and lots of bottled water by the way because you will need that as you continue to walk around because the hot weather is a freakin' killah. my oh my, i just hate scorching heat of the sun!
MIRA HILLS - entrance fee P15/head.
as soon as you approach the gatekeepers they will ask if you'll just stroll or will go swimming. of course we will just stroll since we won't go swimming, it was never a plan anyways and we wouldn't unless it's an indoor pool hehehe.
along the way we saw 3 big dogs in a cage. one was a st. bernard and at first we thought it was dead due to dehydration, heat stroke or whatever since the poor thing is no longer moving. the second dog was a pitfull which was very playful and suspicious. the last one was a yellow lab which looks by far ok. we were so worried that when we saw one of the park's keepers we reported right away that the st. bernard's water container is empty and that the dog might've been dehydrated. good thing we found that the poor dog was just asleep and as soon as water was poured on it's bin the big fella drank it like tomorrow's never gonna come. aww..that sight broke our hearts. same thing with the pitbull, the water bin is already upside down & empty so i hurriedly emptied my bottled water and scooped up water from this bucket full of water nearby. unfortunately, the water isn't even clean. why oh why. i don't thing those dogs deserve to be caged. we thought they're better off someplace else not a cage since they're all huge.
CHRISTY'S LOOM WEAVING.the place sells loom weaved blankets, table runners, placemats etc. actually, we're not really interested in buying any blanket because we won't be needing one in this totally hot climate so far plus our room isn't airconditioned. we just checked out the weaving area which was empty when we arrived. we just stayed and left as soon as RN (the horse) had rested.
BALUARTE (ZOO) - entrance is FREE.owned by the infamous chavit singson. the zoo was really extensive and possibly still being packed with imported animals. as soon as we arrived in baluarte we noticed the big tigers & cute exotic birds and animals. i just noticed that the cage where the tiger dwells must be well guided because there's this way at the back wherein kids could just slip their hands on the cages if not supervised by adults and might cause accidents. you know, some kids out of curiosity 'might' do something out of the ordinary like sway their hands on the cages on whatever. tigers are cute but heck they're carnivorous! anyways, we had dirty ice cream for P10 each whilst watching the lazy tigers sleep.
it's so refreshing when we got to this area where the birds are. you can take pictures with them and watch or look at them closely but you can't touch and pet them because they might bite. he blue gold macaw was
really CUTE! we even had our pictures taken with one of the blue macaws. the animal trainor let the bird rest on our shoulder's, i gave P50 tip since the zoo entranc is free anyways and so that our friend blue macaw birdie could earn some money as well though honestly i don't like supporting zoos because the animals are being deprived of their natural habitat. i just hope they take good care of the animals.there are quite a few things i learned in baluarte; that an ostrich would eat just about anything including the green paint on the steel fence. the poor fellah already scratched the paint and i don't know if he's just trying to sharpen it's beak or what. a camel is so larger than life or should i say bigger that i imagined it would be. a bear cat might be obsessive compulsive because it ill not stop moving around unless it's prob'ly dizzy or tired!
gadh, more more fluid! i had soda (mt. dew) which made me more thirsty and one bottled water afterwards to compensate for the loss of fluids since i sweat like i drenched myself in water because it was a complete walk-a-thon! what is this? an alternative for boxing?? walking is good though. i appreciate sweating out though the hot weather again drove me NUTS!
HIDDEN GARDEN.it's a place to shop for plants that you want to grow in your garden. well, am not a fan of plants so it's just refreshing to see greens and all. the heat again is a killer plus the place is like a little maze.
i had tan lines as soon as i got home and took a shower.
we paid our tourist guide/calesa chaffeur P1000 (including tip). the tour last 6 hours (150*6 = P900) + our P25 balance from yesterday since i miscalculated hehehe. so P925 + P75 tip! if our mom's with us she might've scream that it's too expensive. lol.
long day...so, to cool down, we had some merienda in cafe uno. i had their chilled choco strawberry (P90) + mango cake (P65) while my sister had chubhouse uno (P90) which was huge for a person and their chilled choco minty (P90). how much? P375.expenses for the day?? P1,675 (bottled drinks, calesa and food).
Day 3
26 April
nothing much to do today so after breakfast (complimentary again) we walked the streets of Vigan. we went to calle crisologo to shop for pasalubongs. i bought 16 pieces of chichacorn which i thought would be more than enough since i don't want to bring a lot back home. i hate bringing a lot of stuff and later on have difficulty moving around. we had dirty ice cream again for P10 each whilst walking around the empty street of heritage village, it's early in the morning. i decided to go back to our inn and drop off all my pasalubongs before we head off to burgos plaza so i don't hand carry anything. gadh, i'm sweating out again just by simply running the stairs. arrrgh! we rode a trike to the plaza so we could buy more bottled water. we bought 2 big ones and 2 small ones. one big wilkin's is surprisingly cheap in vigan. it only cost about P19 and the small ones less than P10 roughly. if we will not stock up with bottled water in our room we will definitely be dehydrated because staying in a non a/c room in vigan is like suicide. why did we???by the way i bought my souvenir items across our the road (grandpa's souvenir shop) which is exactly fronting our room's window. how kewl is that? i got a friend of mine this coffee mug and keychain. i also bought this pink tee but i realized it was big for me so i guess i'll give it away instead to our dad hehehe.
because of the weather, we instead suit ourselves with chips ahoy and munched on chichacorns whilst watching tv. how flaky is that?
total expense for the day = P889.75 (P290 souvenir items, P599.75 --trike fare P20 to plaza + P109.75 bottled water + chips ahoy + P30 2 bottled water from this self-service store across the INN. it's self service because the owner is with tahanang walang hagdanan).
Day 427 April
Happy boatday to us!!! (according to our 2 year old niece since she coudln't say birthday yet hehehe...)
we walked the streets of vigan again as per my recommendation to my sister. i told her all streets leads to the plaza and i was right. vigan is a small town and if you try walking around you won't get lost as long as you remember your landmarks. i told my sister i be the compass and her the photographer. we went to the vigan cathedral by foot. to my sister's astonishment that the church could be reached by walking. the church was empty but it's ok as long as we stepped foot on the church during the most important day of our lives, our beeday! yeehaw.
we walked around after church to scout for open restos that'll serve local dishes but since it only past 7am there isn't any so we decided to go back to calle crisologo and waited few more minutes until 8am (stores open @ 8am generally in vigan). my sister bought this bayong for P90 which is originally for P100, a tee (possibly P180) and bagnet (P370) for pasalubong.
we saw this cute furry fellah from afar so we decided to sit beside it. the pup was really playful and friendly and won't hesitate to play around even with strangers. i miss having a pup or a kitten!? whimper.after a lot of walking i saw this coffee shop called a perfect cup on one corner. it was open as expected since it's already past 8am. the place was cozy though it could've been better if the ceiling fan was switched on hehee. they serve sandwiches, coffee and tacos/chips. we ordered...
(for me)
cappucino P65
egg sandwich P40
nachos P75
(my sister)
cafe latte P65
clubhouse P85
total = P330
TIME TO GO HOME...
we couldn't endure the heat in Vigan and we've visited almost all places worth visiting, nothing much to do nor go so we decided to check out 12nn. we're all set as early as 10am. all packed and we just watched tv to kill time. i paid the bill at the counter, remaining cost P980 (since we already paid P1960 upon reservation).
trike to partas bus terminal P30.as soon as we reached the terminal, a deluxe bus awaits. the fare is P100 more than the special trip to vigan buses from manila, cost: P685/head.
total expenses: P5,696 (2 persons)
the trip was realllyyyyyy long....the bus left vigan 12nn and we reached cubao terminal 10pm. I was dizzy almost the entire trip. hayyyy....
cabbie to our flat P110. photos taken in Vigan? priceless ;)
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