Vigan --> Laoag

We took a calesa ride in the morning for 3 hours with our horse (Jasmine) for 150Peso (SGD$4) per hour.

Calesa at Vigan

Our Calesa Driver

After having lunch at UNO Cafe, we took the Partas Bus to Laoag for 141Peso (SGD$4), about 1 hour bus ride. 

I didn’t really like Laoag City, probably because it just looks like a dead city, with shopfront banners but the shops are never open. We checked in at the dodgy Texicano Hotel. Dodgy as it may look, its by far the cheapest accommodation ever at 370Peso (SGD$11) per night for a double room with attached bathroom. Warning to all who are looking for homestays at Laoag City because there are barely any. Texicano Hotel is one of the bigger accommodations in Laoag City. Cheap & convenient as it maybe, don't expect anything more than a roof over your head for the night. I would give the rooms at Texicano Hotel 0.5 out of a scale of 5. I guess you can understand how bad it was. Merla & I were so glad to have left the place the next morning! 

Texicano Hotel, Laoag City

I went out to reccee the place and found a Papa Pau’s Diner about 1 street away from the hotel, decent for our dinner! That was probably the only saving grace for Laoag City that day. We sat in the non air-con area and you will find it is very nicely decorated with photo shots on the wall, and nice spotlights.

Papa Pau's Diner, Laoag City

Papa Pau's Diner, Laoag City

Angeles --> Vigan

We took a Dominion Bus from Dau to Abra, for 424Peso (SGD$12SGD) at 7AM. The bus ride took about 8 hours and we stopped at Abra at about 4PM to change to a local bus heading to Vigan City. The public local bus fare to Vigan was 30Peso (SGD$1) and we arrived in about an hour’s time. We headed to Grandpa’s Inn with a tricycle (30Peso / SGD$1) and checked-in for 1 night. Grandpa’s Inn is located 2 streets away from the Heritage Village and is highly recommended to stay at by blogger recommendations. You will find a few establishments owned by Grandpa’s Inn all located next to each other: UNO Cafe, UNO Grill, Grandpa’s Inn Souvenir shop.

Common Area at Grandpa's Inn

Grandpas' Inn

Grandpa's Inn

 I have a thing for stairways, especially when they're wooden!

Stairway at Grandpa's Inn

Jericho’s Birthday

It’s Jericho’s Birthday today and I bought a birthday cake from Goldilocks for him. John John came home today and it was good to see him. He is really different from the last time I saw him, more talkative and confident. We had a long talk about his work, where he drives the foreign (Japanese, Korean) tourists to Baguio, Banaue etc. They rent the car for about 1500peso (SGD$45) per day This is exactly what Jakarta Airport Transfer hopes to expand into! 

Birthday Cake from Goldilocks

Jericho & Cake

Beng's Early Birthday Celebration

Fabicon Family & Friends

Restless

Starting to get restless at Angeles City & I need to start moving! Did my internet research and I've decided on going further up to Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur! 

Angeles City

Back at Angeles city! I was so tired, I slept all the way till 11+AM.... 

Sagada --> Baguio --> Dau (Angeles)

We left early in the morning to catch the 8AM public bus (GL/Lizardo Trans) from Sagada to Baguio. There are a few buses daily from Sagada to Baguio at 6AM, 7AM, 8AM, 9AM, 10AM, 11AM & 1PM. It was a 4-5hours bus ride and the fare was 220Peso (SGD$6). The bus stopped at the main public bus terminal and we had to take a taxi (about 30peso) to the Victory Liner Bus terminal to catch the bus back to Dau (Angeles). The Victory Liner bus fare was 306Peso (SGD$9) and took about 5-6 hours. 

Banaue -> Bontoc --> Sagada

Sadly, we had to leave Banaue after 2 nights of stay. Some photo-taking for the last glimpse of Banaue!

Merla and I with Vie, the proprietress

We took the morning jeep from Banaue to Bontoc at 8AM. This jeep is available every morning, parked at the city centre (just in front of the wet market) and leaves once it is full. They charge a fee of 50Peso (SGD$1.50) and the ride is about half an hour. We arrived at Bontoc and changed to a public jeepney to get to Sagada. Just look for the public jeepney at the jeepney terminal, and take the jeepney that indicates ‘Bontoc . Sagada’. Fare is 50Peso (SGD$1.50) and takes about another half an hour.

Sagada has a very small town centre, even small than that at Banaue. We were able to locate St Joseph’s Inn, again as recommended in Blogger recommendations. It is located upon a hill and we had to climb up some steps. We paid 250Peso (SGD$7) per pax for a non-aircon dormintory room (4-beds), with shared bathroom.

Entrance to St Joseph's Inn

Dormitory room at St Joseph's Inn

Common Area at St Joseph's Inn

Hallway at St Joseph's Inn

We grabbed some lunch before that at Francis' Restaurant, and we had the Francis Rice at 100Peso (SGD$3). We met the big doggie Ruffie (or Scruffie? I can’t quite remember). He seemed to have a liking for Bon Bon. You will realize that the stray dogs at Sagada tend to have be big and furry.

Francis' Cafe & Restaurant

Menu at Francis' Restaurant

Scruffie! He is actually more gentle than he looks

Francis Rice

We checked in at the tourist centre and I was impressed to find a very consolidated list of accommodation places, prices & capacity as available in Sagada. We decided to take the tour that includes spelunking at Sumaging Cave, and the Sugong Hanging coffin viewpoint at 400Peso (4 visitors or less) plus 350Peso for additional transport. You have the choice of taking the transport at additional cost or take a 30minutes walk from the city centre to the cave. The tour guide will guide you in the walk. I would recommend you to take the scenic walk and its really not that far from the city centre. We decided to take the car transport because of our dear Aunty Merla. Be prepared to pay an environmental fee of 20peso (SGD$0.70) per pax. 

Tourist Information Centre

Cave Adventure Package 1

Cave Adventure Package 2

The Sumaging Cave was awesome... Our tour guide, Boston has 5 years of experience. And he was really fast in the cave, with a kerosene lamp balanced on his head and a backpack that he had to ensure that stayed dry. We started the walk with our flip flops on some really slipper rocks, because of the algae. Then we came to the inner part of the cave, where we removed our flip flops and it was time to get wet! The rocks formation looked different by then due to the water flowing down. Pressure from the water had smoothened the rocks and it was a smoother texture in light brown, moulded according to the shape of the flowing water. There was a point when we had to squeeze ourselves through a very small hole and Boston made me climb a wall that was almost 2 metres high. This guy can fly man! We got to a part of the cave where the water level was at chest-high and the temperature in the cave was probably about 10 Degrees Celcius. We saw some fossil fuels on the walls of the cave, this goes to show that the water source was from the ocean. I was thinking, this was probably how Tom Hanks lived in the film ‘Cast Away’.