Ilocos, when will I ever visit you again? part2

Day 2--August 30, 2009.

This will probably be more of a photo album entry than a written post. I took more than 300 pictures this day, but don't worry I'm not posting everything...just my favorites :)

Let's start!

We first went to Fort Ilocandia, a really nice hotel/resort in Ilocos Norte. I don't have a nice picture of it, though, so I won't be posting a shot of it :p Our next stop was the Malacanang of the North. Just a bit of a background...The Malacanang Palace is the Philippines' equivalent to the White House. Our presidential house is in Manila (for obvious reasons..it's the capital of the country, duh). The reason why there's a "Malacanang" in Ilocos is because Imelda Marcos had it built for her husband. Our tour guide actually told us that Madame had a thing for houses overlooking bodies of water which is why the Malacanang of the North has a lake behind it. By the way, Imelda's room is bigger than Ferdinand's. Hahahaha as in waaaaay bigger.



Our next stop was the Paoay Church. My gosh...It's so beautiful! The structure was just so amazing. It's been around since the 1500s and the binding material for the stones was made from a mixture of egg whites, lime, and something (I forgot :p). The style's quite unique compared to a lot of colonial churches here in the Philippines because it's Moorish, not so much Gothic or Baroque.

I fell in love with the wall :p

My favorite shot for the entire 3-day trip :)

We then went to Batac, where Ferdinand Marcos' mausoleum is...honestly, I was a bit creeped out with...Taking pictures inside isn't allowed...and I didn't really want to take pictures :p The mausoleum is actually beside the Marcoses' house which also had a mini museum of the late President's things from his political days..After we checked out the museum, we bought a few things we could take home as pasalubong.

Marcos' notes from exile

On our way to Vigan, Ilocos Sur, we bought lots and lots of garlic. Ilocos is well-known to produce really good garlic..so my mom and grandmother practically horded bundles of garlic. Imagine how weird it was for us to stuff our bags with garlic just so we could bring them back to Manila...must've looked strange when our bags went through the machine at the airport :p

When we arrived at Vigan, the first place we went to was the pottery shop of Fidel Go, a National Artist (I think...don't take my word for it...I just remember our tour guide telling us that Mr. Go's a National Artist for something..or National Folk Artist? hahaha). It was sooo hot inside the shop but all the pots and large vases were so nice. My mom wanted to buy 2 large pots but each one weighed 30 kilos.

My mom and grandmother talking to Fidel Go

We then headed to Grandpa's Inn for lunch. The place is actually also a hotel, with all the rooms being on the upper floors and the restaurant on the ground floor. The restaurant had a lot of cool paintings and antiques. Our guide told us that it's haunted, though. Well, a lot of the houses in Vigan are haunted (supposedly). It's an old, old city, what did we expect? Hahaha

I like brick walls :)

After lunch, we bought Abel Iloco blankets. We were also toured in the shop where they would make the textile. Abel Iloco products are made using the traditional weaving loom. I think my grandmother was interested to take one home. Hahahaha!


After going crazy over blankets, we went to Baluarte--the home of Ilocos Sur's famous/infamous (?) Governor Chavit Singson. I wasn't able to take decent pictures because there were a lot of people. What I can say about it is that: a. It's like you're in a zoo...I mean, literally there are exotic animals there! b. I don't know how many tigers a person needs...there were more than 10 tigers, my gosh! c. The good thing about the place is that it's open to the public so you can check out all the animals, the governor's submarine (yes, he has one..it's displayed I think beside the Llama pens..).

We then headed to the Hidden Garden. And yes, it is a hidden garden. Hahaha! My mom and grandmother, who're both in love with plants and flowers, were giddy when we went there. I think they also wanted to buy a few plants but decided not to since we had no idea how we'd be able to bring them back to Manila.





After the Hidden Garden, we checked out two family museums. The first one we went to was the Crisologo Family Museum. The second one was the Syquia family museum. Both families were strong political families in Ilocos Sur before. Actually, what made the entire thing interesting for me was that the reason why the name Crisologo's so familiar is because here in my district (in Quezon City), our congressman is Bingbong Crisologo. Lo and behold, the museum we went to was his family's!! I mean, that's the house where he grew up in. Just amazing. The Syquia house, other than being so huge, was actually the ancestral home of Elpidio Quirino's (a former president) wife. Aaaand, his grandson actually lives in the house! We were able to meet him (I couldn't speak because I was just in shock that I was just a few inches away from someone related to one of the former presidents of the country..haha!).

I was surprised to find out that the museums were maintained using donations from tourists! There's a donation box by the entrance and you can just drop any amount.

Gov. Carmeling was pregnant when she was ambushed...when she had her forced delivery, she aptly named the baby Bullet :)

Our last stop for the day was the Vigan Heritage Village. My gosh...It was so picturesque! I wish I had a better camera. Hahaha! Oh well, I had to make do with my mom's digicam...pictures would've turned out better if I was using a dslr.


My last entry on our Ilocos trip will be...I dunno when :) Hahahaha! It's taking me a lot of time to make an entry on each day of our trip...I took a total of more than 500 pictures for just a 3-day trip so I have to choose the shots that are nice or decent enough to post :)

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Too lazy to think of an entry title.

Again, I'll be going on about random stuff....and here I go...

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I'm slowly seeing myself staying with my company for a while...depends on whether the promised improvements will be fulfilled, but as of now I'm quite positive about the changes that'll come next year. Oh God...I hope they didn't forget about my promotion *fingers crossed*

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There are just some people you can never be friends with; you can never like. It's better off that you stay away from them as much as possible. Having common friends isn't a reason for you to also be friends with them.

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Went to the bookstore this afternoon. Though I love fashion and I was really hoping the October issue of Preview or Mega was already delivered (good thing there weren't any), I couldn't resist buying the October 5 issue of The Economist. There's an article about the boom of the telecommunications industry in developing countries and I figured that'd be useful for work. Yes, I'm a dork.

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I FINALLY bought the pair of Zara boots I've been drooling over for the past month. I have yet to post a picture of it..maybe tomorrow. Since it started raining again (God when will this end??), tomorrow would be a great day for me to wear my new booties :)

Now, I'm actually obsessing over a pair of torn up Vintage Boyfriend jeans from Topshop. There are actually a lot of nice stuff at Topshop now, also at Zara. There's this dress from Mango I've been wanting to buy for the past month and a half already...am just waiting for it to go on sale because though I do spend my hard-earned moolah on clothes, I won't go crazy spending a portion of it on just one item. And yeah, I have to lose a bit of weight first before I can wear that dress which is also why I haven't bought it yet. Haha!

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I almost forgot about the bazaars I'm joining! I have to fix everything so that I wouldn't be all over the place--with work and other stuff--next month. Peak season for research starting the 3rd quarter so yeah, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep and personal time off from work. The past two weeks, though, I got a bit sick so I was able to stay home...still did stuff for work, but at least I wasn't stuck at the office.

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So....when?

post-Ondoy, pre-Pepeng

Typhoon Ondoy has left the Philippines' area of responsibility, twas quite sunny today actually (thank God!). Am grateful that no one in my family was hurt, a few relatives' houses were affected by the floods but am just glad they're all safe. Despite these good things, my heart still goes out to those who lost their homes, family members, and livelihoods because of the typhoon. The flooding in so many areas all over Metro Manila and Northern Luzon brought serious damage. Since Saturday afternoon, I've been monitoring the news...and there are moments that I just break down in tears watching or listening to people telling their experiences. There were those who risked their lives to save their neighbors or complete strangers. A lot lost their lives doing so, but I know their demise was not purposeless. I cried when I heard an old man talking to his grandson (who was swept away by the flood in his area)--as if he was still alive and the man was telling him that lolo (grandpa) was just waiting for him. The old man was trembling and on the verge of tears. I cried when I read an article about a young construction worker who lost his life saving his neighbors. He was able to save not just his family but also 30 other people. The last two people he saved was a young mother and her 6-month old child. I cried for those who were not able to save themselves because they were helpless and alone at home--young children, old people who couldn't act quickly enough or weren't strong enough to seek the safety of their 2nd floor or their roof. I cried when I heard people crying out that their homes were lost--nothing was saved. Despite these sad stories, I cried as well for those who were just grateful that their families were still intact and safe. I shed happy tears because somehow there's hope that we will be able to surpass this. People might have lost their houses, but that's nothing compared to losing loved ones--and hearing people say that they're just glad that their loved ones are safe made me happy.

Ondoy has left, but another typhoon's arriving within the next 2 days. I hope this one isn't as strong as Ondoy. We haven't even started recovering yet.

I love this entry made by my godsister Tippy. Please do read it :)

please pray for Manila

To the rest of the world, I'd like to tell you that you guys should be thankful that you don't experience this several times every year. The flooding ALL OVER Metro Manila today (September 26, 2009) has got to be the worst one I've ever seen. Thank God that my house is in an elevated area...though we can't go out because surrounding streets and main roads are flooded.

while listening to PS I love you's soundtrack

It's 2 a.m and I'm still very much awake (no) thanks to me giving in to my caffeine craving. I'm actually not supposed to drink coffee yet because of one of the medicines I'm taking for my allergies, but I decided to give in to my craving because I need to finish something--yet again--for work. Call me crazy, but I'm desperate to stay awake and finish this report so I can temporarily be done and over with that certain client. I have a love-hate relationship with that particular client of ours...it's a balance, but there are times it tips more to the hate part.

Not going to the office isn't healthy at all. There's something wrong with you if you'd rather be at the office than at home. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the fact that I can work from home since I'm on sick leave but not being at the office sucks because I could do more. Yes, I am a workaholic. Eew.

And yeah, I'm listening to PS I love you's soundtrack just because it's the first playlist I saw in my music files. I might listen to Adele after. I could never get tired of Adele :)

Again, every paragraph in this entry are not connected to each other. Hahahaha! I do have the tendency to just write whatever I'm thinking at the moment...which means I'm thinking about a lot of things. Or maybe this is just the caffeine?

About my previous entry....yeah, I changed my mind I won't try to explain it. I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Ugh. It's so frustrating to not be able to express through words how you feel. Yes, actions do speak louder than words--as cliche as that sounds--but it's also different when you're able to say how you feel. God knows how many times I want to say it...everyday, actually. I want to say it everyday. I'm really not sure if it's the right thing to do--to say it. It isn't wrong because the honest-to-goodness truth is that's what I really feel...but I'm not sure if the time is right. Okay I just ended up explaining. Great.


Ooookay on a lighter note, I wish I had a decent camera to be able to take outfit shots. And yeah, I wish I finally had the time to take out my holga and smena. Yes, I told you each paragraph is in no way connected to each other.