Take one of our cheap flights to Thailand

Lakbay Norte Day 4: Benguet and Pangasinan

Friday, 29 January 2010

My alarm woke me up from a deep slumber at our room at The Manor. Tonight’s accommodation is somewhere in Alaminos, Pangasinan.

Today started out relatively late at 7:30am. We were actually supposed to be waiting at the lobby already, but everybody seemed to have enjoyed their sleep last night, so by 7:30, we were just checking out and having breakfast.

Ambuklao Dam Adventure 02
Darth Vader pondering the life and times at the Empire by the Ambuklao River. And why his clone army has a very short life span.

There was a press briefing at the Baguio Country Club. Baguio is taking a different route for promoting tourism in their region: adventure travel. It’s not exactly what you would expect from Baguio, a place known for its temperate climate, fresh produce and ukay-ukay shopping.
Continue reading →

Category: Philippines
Tags: , , , , , 3 Comments

Lakbay Norte Day 3: Ilocos Norte, La Union and Baguio

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Today, I woke for early check out from our hotel in Laoag, and now I’m writing this from my bed at The Manor in Baguio.

It was a very active Day 3: sand boarding on the dunes of Ilocos Norte, followed by surfing at La Union. The 4×4 and sandboarding adventure was supposed to be held yesterday, but due to schedule problems, we had to adjust today’s schedule to fit the two activities. The 4×4 off road adventure was certainly much more exhilirating during the day. We saw where our daredevil driver was taking us and screamed accordingly.

Lakbay Norte 4x4 Off Road Adventure
Travel bloggers Ferdz and Estan with MNTC’s Frances and NPVB’s Cha

Continue reading →

Category: Philippines
Tags: , , , 4 Comments

Lakbay Norte Day 2: Cagayan and Ilocos Norte

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Today, I woke up in Tuguegarao again. Tonight though, I’ll be sleeping in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

Our call time this morning was at 5:30am and everybody in the group made sure (or at least tried their hardest) to get some much needed sleep. We started the day with a hearty Cagayan breakfast at Director Bless Diwa’s house, of the Department of Tourism Region 2.

Lakbay Norte Cagayan Day 2 01
Sabrina at the Alcala Church

Continue reading →

Category: Philippines
Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Lakbay Norte Day 1: Tugegarao

Monday, 25 January 2010

Today, I woke up in Tuguegarao.

Cagayan Day 1 01
Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat

It was Day 1 of Lakbay Norte, a Northern Philippines familiarization tour spearheaded by the Northern Philippines Visitors Bureau in cooperation with the visitors bureau of the provinces and cities we are visiting. Together with writers and photographers from major dailies, inflight & travel magazines, and fellow travel bloggers Anton, Ivan, Ferdz, Estan and Melo, we are going on a 7-day whirlwind tour of Northern and Central Philippines to see what these places can offer travelers.
Continue reading →

Category: Philippines
Tags: , , 9 Comments

Binondo Food Wok Map

Sunday, 24 January 2010

Finally, a comprehensive map of Manila’s Chinatown! I remember my first trip to Binondo (the one that I can remember anyway). It was late at night and we were driving around this strange new place, guided by friend’s boyfriend who live in the neighborhood. I have absolutely no idea where we are, except that we were in Chinatown. The second time I went to Chinatown was when I joined Ivan Man Dy’s Big Binondo Food Wok tour.

Binondo Food Wok Map
The Big Binondo Food Wok Map and Ang Tunay Beefhouse’s mixed beef soup

He led us through Ongpin, Binondo’s main street, and down other smaller streets like Nueva and Salazar. He took us to the best places to dine in Chinatown, but I wasn’t really familiar enough with the place to remember where most of the places are.
Continue reading →

Category: Manila, Philippines
Tags: , , 18 Comments