Feb 9, 2013
Laoag
The last time I went to the north was quite unforgettable for one specific reason - there were 14 of us cramped in a single old van (!) and it did not help that we had slowest driver ever. I woke up in the middle of night and found all other vehicles overtaking us - in a wide freeway. We left at around 10 PM and reached Pagudpod at around 3 PM the next day.
This time around, there were only 6 of us in a car - a Hyundai Elantra - which is quite roomy. There were 4 of us in the backseat and it was not bad at all (there were 2 pint-size girls with us). We left the office at past 9 PM, 5 hours after the planned time, and arrived in Laoag at 7 AM.
We stayed at Texicano hotel which is right in the middle of the town proper. The room we got was spacious and it even had a kitchen sink and refrigerator. It could use a little makeover though but you get what you paid for.
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| Texicano hotel |
After a few hours of sleep, and a brief lunch, we started to tour Laoag. We first went to the plaza and then to St. William Cathedral and the Sinking Bell Tower.
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| St. William Cathedral |
Later on, we viewed Ferdinand Marcos' remains at the Marcos Mausoleum, which we reached a few minutes before closing time. On the wall opposite the mausoleum is a banner containing a comparison of the administrations of Marcos and Corazon Aquino, which is understandably, given that we are on Marcos' domain, biased towards Marcos. The data are quite intriguing though and warrant further rumination.
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| Marcos Mausoleum |
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| A comparative study of 2 administrations |
We then went to the centuries-old Paoay church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was completed in 1710.
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| Facade and bell tower of Paoay Church |
We reached Paoay lake before sunset to try out paddle-boarding, which was heavily publicized in most blogs about Ilocos trip. This was one thing I was really looking forward to but, alas, we did not find anyone offering the activity - even the people around the lake area were not aware of it.
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| Paoay Lake - very serene and perfect for paddle boarding |
After a brief stop at the lake, we proceeded to Fort Ilocandia resort hotel, the only 5-star hotel in the north.
We then had our dinner at La Preciosa, where we tried a few of the local dishes including Poqui-poqui which is a unique kind of eggplant omelet (tortang talong) with lots of slice of tomato and onions. I don't eat eggplant but I enjoyed this dish very much.
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| La Preciosa |
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| Chicken Adobo |
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| Poqui-Poqui |
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| The gang at La Preciosa - Migs, Marc, Jojo, John, Marianne, and Susanne |
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