First thing’s first: the Ilocos Norte region is beautiful but if you don’t know where to go or how to get there, you will miss a lot. So get a guide. My family and I found ours at the airport in Laoag (note: pronounced low-waHg). He was a nice older gentleman with a van, which suited our needs since our group had a ton of luggage. Not only was he able to take us to our next destinations and help haul our stuff, but we wouldn’t have been able to go to so many places without that cool dude. He was great (he preferred not to be named so let’s just say his name was Michael.) The main areas of interest in Ilocos Norte are often an hour/hours apart. Having just one guide show us everywhere is useful since they’re local and know the best routes for how to explore this region of the Philippines. There is a lot you could miss if you don’t have a local. And lemme tell you, the locals, are proud of this beautiful place. By the end of your own trip, you may have been able to explore a lot of Ilocos.
First thing Michael suggested was that we not explore Laoay first. So he took us to historic Vigan, a UNECO site famed for being the most preserved colonial town in Asia. But before we did, we took a detour to visit the Malacanang of the North: the former home of the Marcos family. The Marcos Mansion is a nice house with a great view. The fee to enter is cheap and you can explore the whole house. Whether the positive advances the family had pioneered in the country makes you a fan or you have stronger feelings concerning the numerous human right violations during Marcos regime, they have their place in our history. The numerous rooms exhibit some of the Marcos’ more positive achievements. Those with a taste for antiques will appreciate the old narra furniture as well as the paintings. I was particularly interested in the library where several well worn copies of American and British classics were shelved.
It seemed that when we were on our way to Laoag from Manila, there were a few Filipino celebrities on our flight. Big surprise, when we reached Vigan, we encountered those celebrities there. They were actors preparing to film near the historic buildings in Vigan. It’s easy to see why. The architecture is worth seeing and the area is pretty safe to walk around. While the buildings are considered historical, they still prove their usefulness to the locals as storefronts and restaurants.
If you want to explore the city in style, use one of the horse-buggies, stylized kalesa. Not only do the kalesa drivers provide info on points of interests but they can point you to museums and eateries.
While in Vigan, try out the local food. One of my favorites was bagnet, crispy deep fried pork usually served with vegetables. For eggplant lovers, I recommend poqui-poqui, another delicious dish consisting of mashed eggplant with egg and tomatoes. Vigan empanada is another must-try -a deep-fried crispy rice-flour taco-like hand food with rice, vegetable or meat filling. I’ve never seen these dishes before I went to Ilocos so these are definitely must-haves since anywhere else might be a poor imitation.
One of Vigan’s main attractions is the light/ dancing fountain show in the middle of the square. While it’s not extremely impressive, it’s still good fun listening to the music and laughing at people who don’t realize how far the fountains extend through the square. Great way to cool down too. The square with the dancing fountains is close to hotels. If it’s not peak season, it’s easy to just walk into a hotel and book a room. If it is tourist season, I strongly recommend booking beforehand. We were lucky we were freer doing our trip in August and could go into the towns we did and just book a hotel of our choice. Off-season=awesome.
Michael returned the next morning to pick us up from our hotel. It’s worth noting that he lives in Laoag and now that we know how far it is from Vigan, his efforts are appreciated. He took us back to Laoag, occasionally stopping at beautiful points of interest and views. It is August right now, so if we weren’t getting doused by rain, it was already far too hot to go trekking anyway. I just mention this because as a local, he knows cool places to trek and take pictures.
One of the places Michael took us to was the zoo. Entry was free and you could explore and walk among the goats, deer and geese however long you wanted. It was too hot for us so we took a caddy and drove around. I am a bit ambivalent about this place. While it featured interesting sights, it had this really weird taxidermy room called the Safari Gallery. While I do think taxidermy is a great teaching tool, I was a bit unsure of how to take this place in. Everything there -the elephant, lions, goats and variety of deer- were all shot by one man. I know this because every taxidermy piece was accompanied by a picture of this same man with a rifle smiling over the dead animal. I’d assumed the place is for taking care of the live animals and educating the public but to have such an out of place thing installed makes me wonder what this zoo was for. The Safari Gallery also had some really strange art. Like really, really weird. Some of them featured the same man who shot all those animals. I think he was the former mayor in Ilocos but I can’t be bothered to research further as the fact that this politician traveled far to shoot all those animals was hard to stomach. As such I have few pictures to offer of the inside. Check it out though. Hashtag unreal.
If you’ve been to Boracay, you know how wild the waves are. The better places to go snorkeling are when you go island-hopping, but the downer about island hopping in Boracay is the tight schedule. You can’t stay as long as you want. But in Pagudpud, the waters are calm and a great place for taking leisurely swims. I was out in that water for hours.
The place we stayed in was called Hannah’s resort. The area is pretty amusing. The resort is littered with statues of anime characters. Many more were Marvel, Disney, Looney Toons and even Clash of Clans. While this menagerie of characters littering the setting does take away from the natural beauty of the place, it’s still fun for photos.
You’ve been forewarned. If you used the shower in your facilities first and are wondering why your soap won’t lather, the people who decided to brush their teeth first know why: the running water is salty. Not to worry, the running water in Pagudpud is still filtered and pretty clean. I doubt much time will be spent in your hotel room anyway. While Pagudpud does not provide as many activities as Boracay, I strongly recommend the place as a vacation spot to simply relax and unwind.
After Pagudpug, Michael returned to take us back to Laoag to catch our flight back to Manila. We left early so that he could take us to places along the way again. I regret not taking better pictures of this one particular area, but I was too busy admiring the scenery to care. This place is called Kapurpurawan. Imagine Lord of the Ring scenery expect kinda tropical beach side and warmer. This place was beautiful.
We took horseback from one end to the other. What was great about when we went was that it was at the cusp of raining so the cloudy weather provided cool shade against the heat. It was a fairly short distance but so much to see: white rock formations aglow in the light of dark cloudy sky. Cliff sides full of colorful sedimentary rock. Tall waves against rock formations on the coast. Greenery aloft on pools of water and cliffs. A statue of a boy wrestling an alligator placed by a lake (tragically unphotographed as we were overwhelmed by the scenery porn). This was definitely a sight we would’ve missed if we didn’t have Michael showing us around.
The major places our guide took us in Ilocos Norte were Laoag, Vigan and Pagudpud beach but my favorite places were the places in between and out of the way. Many of which I haven’t highlighted in this piece include the sinking bell, Ferdinand Marcos burial place, Juan Luna museum or the old lighthouse. Definitely make friends with a local. Their love for the area shows and they’re willing to drive you far to show you their beautiful secrets.
Special thanks to Pam Ola for photographing all of our trip! We would’ve been lacking in pictures without you!
