Ganon?

After Photoshop


After beer, vodka, crispy tadyang, nankasoy ice cream, adobo flakes, tequila, biscotti, baileys, bottomless rice, chocolate mousse, fetuccine with creamy lamb sauce and orange meringue

Ngwek. Alek Ngwek.

Manila to Ilocos in a Picanto, Finale (Happy New Year and Back to Manila)

After a brief survey of the resorts on Saud Beach we realised that there was nothing happening on New Year's eve. No crazy beach party with fire dancers and loud music. Nothing. A couple of the waiters even said they're taking the afternoon off to be with their families so we weren't even sure if there was anywhere open for dinner. Luckily, there were a few places open. We didn't want to eat a crappy meal and experience crappier service at Villa del Mar, and we weren't going to Apo Idon where Peter sent two cold breakfast plates. Seriously, we've had the worst meals and the worst service from these so-called exclusive resorts that I'm left wondering what sort of hell-hole shite backpackers are left with in their budget hotels. The bigger the resort the shittier the service, it seems.

We ended up having a delicious Ilocano dinner at Saud Beach Resort which included a plate of calamari, pinakbet, bagnet and KBL, and steamed fish in white sauce. And plenty of beer. That was very nice. There was a family on the next table who shovelled food down their throats while managing to look perpetually disappointed. It turned out that they own the resort. After that, we drove back to our resort, went next door and had fruity pancakes for dessert.

By this time the wind was high and the waves crashing on the beach kept reminding e of that huge tsunami, so I took a nap and told Pedro to wake me up at midnight. After two minutes of random fireworks on the stretch of the beach it was over. We went back to the room and slept.

We woke up at 8 am, had coffee, packed and left Pagudpud. We were heading towards San Fernando, La Union, where we booked a room for one night at the Sunset Bay Beach Resort. We made a brief stop at the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse and, um, basically drove on until we were too hungry to notice the landscape. Since it was new year's day most places were shut, so we decided to go to Vigan in the hopes that Cafe Leona would be open.

The drive to Vigan took about three hours where we stopped for lunch at Cafe Leona in Calle Crisologo. Pedro had steak the size of a baseball mitt and I had my Ilocano pinakbet and longganiza. Delicious. On the side of the road from Vigan we bought several bottles of Basi wine and vinegar, two of which broke inside the car so it reeked of spiced vinegar, which still smells better than dog vomit, we both agreed.

Drove for another three hours and finally reached San Fernando, La Union. We checked into the room, I changed and headed to the beach with my trusty snorkle, went back disappointed (murky, rocky), ordered beer and sat by the infinity pool. Sunset Bay Beach Resort is owned by an English guy called Spider who was teaching Arts in Hong Kong for decades and finally settled in this town. The resort is really qutie sweet. They only have about 15 rooms but an excellent kitchen, nice swimming pool and lots of easy chairs and gazebos where you can sit with your laptop and just use their wi-fi (not free, by the way) for free, just don't tell anyone.

We had a traditional English dinner with cottage pie, roast beef, mince pie and christmas pudding with vanilla ice cream. It was good, but not great. Went back to the room and overslept. The best thing about English food is the cooked breakfast, if you ask me. We had english sausages, minute steak, eggs, crispy bacon, toast and delicious coffee served in large mugs.

After a short while packing, we drove off to Manila via Clark. At the welcome arch in Sison, we stopped to have a look at these enormous prawns. I ended up paying up more, of course. Fuck these cons. And slap me for being stupid. They were delicious, though.

We're back home after eleven days, tired but happy. This was the break we needed. Now I'm drinking Sauternes, tomorrow I'm doing the laundry.

Manila to Ilocos in a Picanto, Part 7 (Pagudpud and Claveria)

The trouble with staying in paradise is that it tends to get boring after a while. Normally I would just plonk myself on the bed and switch the TV on but since our room doesn't come with one (the other available room did, but with only one free channel so why pay more for it), I had to force myself to read a book, which is something that I haven't done for quite a while. Nay, that's not entirely true. I read enough labor and employment books for my thesis at university, so the rest of the time I just want to stare blankly onto something which didn't require much processing.

It took me exactly a week to pick up the book I brought for this trip, which I didn't even think that I would do considering the assortment of gadgets and free wi-fi I seem to find myself surrounded with, but I'm glad I did. The book was sent via Amazon over a year ago by a friend in Spain who was determined to introduce me to modern Iberian literature. For some reason I didn't take the Spanish books with me, and I ended up with two books by Jose Saramago which are brilliant. Everytime I hold a book in my hands which says "Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature" it makes me a bit pissed off that our F. Sionil Jose still hasn't won it. It's worrying because they don't give the prize posthumously, and Sionil isn't exactly getting younger. The other Nobel Laureates I've read are awesome, but none of them made my weep like Sionil's Rosales saga did. I just hope the Nobel Foundation can get their act together and award Sionil for writing THE Filipino novel.

After spending the first half of the day getting lots of sun and jumping into the water for an attempted snorkle (nothing to see in Pagudpud), Pedro and I decided to head back to the resort, change and drive off to Claveria in Cagayan. On our map there was a short road which leads to the Portabaga waterfalls. The road to Claveria from Pagudpud was straightforward enough, so we thought it would take us about 30 minutes to get there, have a bit of look around, maybe lunch if we see somewhere nice. Of course what the map failed to show is that the seemingly straight road to Claveria is actually a mountain road with bits that have collapsed onto the ocean some hundred meters below or enormous boulders blocking half the road from some landslide a few weeks ago. And it was raining so the road was actually quite slippery. Terrified, I was driving extra carefully. Then we crossed the Patipat Viaduct which led to a mini waterfalls on the side of the road. It was gorgeous, and the water was cold.

We drove on and through the town of Sta. Praxedes, and then whizzed past the sign for Portabaga waterfalls and decided to carry on to Claveria for hopefully a cheap lobster lunch, as Hans said we might get. We didn't. After a quick drive at the depressing, wet beach, we decided to head back to the main street and found the Claveria Grassroots Cooperative Kitchenette where we had grilled prawns and baby back ribs for PhP 200 per plate. Best meal we had on this trip, bar none.

Driving back to Pagudpud, we stopped at a roadside shop and bought a few discs of Royal Bibingka, which are made from glutinous rice flour and lots of shredded coconut. It was delicious. The photo looks horrible, but it actually was the tastiest thing to have with coffee, or brandy, whichever you were able to smuggle into your resort room.

It's new year's eve, so better ask around the resorts if anyone is doing a countdown tonight. Tomorrow we're driving all the way back to San Fernando, La Union, staying in Sunset Bay Resort for at least one night, before driving back to Manila and getting on with life.

Manila to Ilocos in a Picanto, Part 6 (Bangui and Pagudpud)

Left Villa Lita at about 9 am this morning and decided to give Saud Beach in Pagudpud another try. On the way back we saw a sign for the intriguingly named Kangkang Windmill Cafe, a shack serving excellent coffee and excellent views of the magnificent Bangui windmills.

While looking for a room in Pagudpud, we already saw these windmills from afar and didn't really get anywhere near them. They are actually pretty impressive. Not the first time I've seen them, having seen hundreds of them in Gran Canaria in Spain, but certainly the first time I've actually been beside one.

They're quite beautiful, and if I remember correctly, according to one of those Discovery Channel programs, one can generate enough power to light an entire town, so it remains quite puzzling why many towns don't have them still. It would certainly lessen our dependence on oil. But then again I guess that's why certain people would rather not have them.

We had breakfast at Kangkang but forgot to ask what the name means in Ilocano. I hope it's not the same as it is in Tagalog slang. If it is then I guess it's a good place to do it, what with the towering windmills in the background.

Drove back to Pagudpud to give Saud Beach another try and found a room at Villa del Mar, and at PhP 1,800 per night, we booked it for three nights. I guess we're spending New Year's eve here!

Manila to Ilocos in a Picanto, Part 5 (Pagudpud nightmare)

It was one of those days when you start off well and then it just goes wrong. We left Balay da Blas at about 10 am after breakfast and headed out to Pagudpud, which was going to be about an hour and half drive. On the way, Pedro and I had one of those stupid arguments which result in both just being annoyed and quiet. And that was the worst part.

We got to Pagudpud and asked for a few hours before realizing it was going to be impossible to find a decent room that wasn't either overpriced or doubling as a storage room. We looked at hotels, homestays and chicken coops and everything was of course full.

We decided to drive towards Cagayan and check out Maira-ira Point, that which has Kapuluan Vista Resort, which is a lovely place to stay in if they're not full. They have an entire wedding party staying there so we couldn't get a room until the 31st of December, so we decided to give it a miss. The place looks awesome, though. Set on a windy beach with windswept hills in the backdrop. An old woman in another resort offered us a room for PhP 2,500 after finding out that we're from Manila (so I guess it's cheaper if you're Ilocano) so we just thought, well, it's not the best swimming beach, and spank us if we're paying that much for a room the size of our car. Why do people do this? It doesn't exactly say friendly and hospitable, does it?

Went back to Pagudpud, asked at other resorts. Still no vacancy. Decided to retrace the road to Laoag and find the first available room, which turned out to be in a complex called Villa Lita Riverside Resort. I hated the place, and for almost the same price as our lovely apartment in Balay da Blas in Laoag, I would've happily burst into tears. But by this time Pedro and I aren't talking to each other, and I had a killer headache that only screaming murder could appease, so we decided to stay there.

As they were having someone's 18th birthday at their restaurant, food wasn't on the menu. I hated the place. It was loud because of the party at the restaurant, the TV doesn't work, and the bed was tiny and uncomfortable. Times like that, you just have to count your blessings and hope that the car doesn't break down and get you stranded in that place.

It didn't.