Paoay sand dunes, Laoag, Burgos and Pagudpud summer heat and fun

April 17, 2013

Raffy asked me if we could go to Bicol this summer 2013. I said, it would take time for me to write an itinerary for that. I have an itinerary for Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte if he likes. He said, hmmm..... will check it out.

April 13, 2013 0300 hours we left our homes headed to Ilocos. Two vehicle convoy. Raffy texted at 0330 that he was already in NLEX, that time we were still in Edsa. Drove NLEX and SCTEX, and somewhere in Tarlac, we overtook them, hehehe. Raffy drove his Mitsubishi adventure, while we brought our Suzuki Jimny.

We stopped at Caltex Sison / Rosario for refuelling at around 0700 hours and decided to have breakfast in Rose Bowl in San Fernando, La Union. By 0800 hours, we reached San Fernando, Rose Bowl was to open at 1000 hours. We decided to drive and have breakfast in San Juan instead. Raffy was too hungry, they ate at Max's San Fernando while we ate somewhere in Santa Cruz.

We drove at maximum speed of 100 kph, by 1330 hours, we reached Vigan and decided to drive straight to Paoay. Raffy texted that they were stopping at Vigan to have a kalesa ride and visit Baluarte.

At 1430 hours, we were at Paoay Church to take pictures and planned to eat at Cafe Herencia in Paoay. The cafe was full, so we ate empanada sold outside the Cafe. Then we went straight to 4x4 ride in Paoay Sand Dunes (18° 5' 27.52" N 120° 29' 8.28" E). We paid 1500 pesos for the ride, but my son was crying riding the 4x4 and said he wanted to ride jimny instead. So we cut short the ride and went back to Jimny. (There are actually 2 4x4 organizations offering 4x4 Paoay Sand Dunes ride, 1. is here
18° 7' 19.93" N 120° 30' 34.99" E 2. the other is here 18° 5' 27.52" N 120° 29' 8.28" E)

We then visited Malacanang of the North, took pictures, then drove straight to Java Hotel in Laoag City where we stayed for 3 nights. GPS coordinates can be seen in my Panoramio, carl26feb.

April 14, 2013 at 0900 hours we drove north. We stopped at Pasuquin to buy soft biscocho then drove to Cape Bojeador lighthouse to have pictures. We then drove to Kapurpurawan rock formations. That day was sooooo hot. We drove to Bangui Windmills then to Patapat Viaduct. We then went to Kapuluan near Blue Lagoon to have lunch.

In Kapuluan, we ordered Dinakdakan, Dinuguan with Bagnet, Tinolang Manok and pinakbet for lunch. And of course the buy 1 take 1 Margarita. The food in Kapuluan is delicious. You should visit Kapuluan in Pagudpud. (GPS coordinates in my panoramio, carl26feb). My wife and son decided to stay in Kapuluan swimming pool that afternoon. Swimming pool in Kapuluan is 150 pesos per person.

My cousin and I decided to go to Kabigan Falls. Raffy and family also stayed in Kapuluan swimming pool, then bathed at Blue Lagoon white sand beach.

Going to Kabigan Falls, we registered at the entrance to Kabigan Falls, 60 pesos per person, and a guide 100 pesos per guide. The parking space is large to accommodate buses. Parking fee is 30 pesos. The walk to the falls is straight forward 20 minutes that even old folks made it without hassle. Kabigan Falls is nice. You should visit this too. Then we went back to Kapuluan for dinner. We ate pasta and Kilawen. And of course the buy 1 take 1 Margarita. :) The Kilawen was really nice!

We drove back to Java Hotel in Laoag. Java Hotel is also nice! It has swimming pool, playground for children and tennis court. We loved our 3 night stay in Java Hotel. My son stayed at the pool mostly in Java hotel.

April 15, 2013. I told Raffy that my cousin and I were going to Kaangrian Falls in Burgos. Raffy went to Paoay for 4x4 ride in the sand dunes. Kaangrian Falls is approximately 15 kms off the highway. We had no waypoint for Kaangrian, when we saw a house deep in the forest, we asked the old man if he could send someone to accompany us to the waterfalls. He sent his grandson and neighbor to accompany us. I gave them 250 pesos each, I was happy to see Kaangrian Falls. The last 5 kms to Kaangrian is 4x4 only, first gear low range in the narrow rocky segments to avoid suspension break. We took it easy, we were very careful doing 4x4. No phone signal in the area. We stopped at the 2nd dry river bed, it was soooo rocky, we had to walk from that point. The walk from the 2nd dry river bed to Kaangrian Falls was 20 minutes.

The water was not strong when we reached Kaangrian, no rain the past months, summer! But the place was nice, I knew it was much nicer during rainy season when one would see curtain of waterfalls. I swam the waterfall basin, it was a natural pool, nice! My cousin just took pictures. The 2 guides just waited for us patiently.

After Kaangrian, we were supposed to go to Saud beach, but decided to go to Fort Ilocandia instead. We took pictures while in Fort Ilocandia. We looked for another thing to do, and decided to ride the 4x4 in Paoay Sand dunes again. We paid 2500 pesos and rode the 4x4. We were having so much fun! The Paoay Sand dunes was really nice in the afternoon sunset at around 1700 hours. Then we went sand boarding in Paoay Sand dunes! We were having soooo much fun, it scares me!

April 16, 2013 at 1000 hours we drove back to Manila. At 1400 hours we were eating lunch at Rose Bowl in San Fernando, La Union. We drove slow going to Manila. We stopped again at Caltex NLEX to kill time. We wanted to reach Manila by 2200 to avoid traffic. By 2200 hours, we were home.

Those were days full of very nice activities! We were really thankful to God for our safety, fun, excitement, etc! Jimny travelled 1400 kms without issue in that hot summer. Word of advice, do NOT use bosch spark plugs for jimny. NGK spark plugs are better for jimny. We spent 6000 pesos for fuel, not bad!

Those were days full of good things. We were happy!

Garmin connect tracklogs:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/298852949

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/298848959