Ilocandia Invasion - Laoag

September 2010

It was a relaxing trip to Laoag through almost one hour flight from Manila, though the weather was not fine but we arrived safely at the airport. It reminds me of Aklan airport but the structure of Laoag International Airport is more on classic architecture. Its a 'do-it-on-your-own' trip, so we need all the necessary informations we can gather aside from what we had found through the search engine. Good thing there's a tourist information center right before the passenger's exit, we get free information brochures of Laoag and Vigan.
On our way out we meet along the way a cheerful man, he was a jeepney driver asking us if we are needing a transportation for hire. We ask him if he can take us to the northern part of Laoag and how much he would charge for Cape Bojeador, Bangui Windmills and some spots in the city proper like Sinking Bell and Belfry . He charged Php1,500. We tried to haggle for a lower charge but he refused, so we decided to take it because it will cost us more to rent a van or car.

Our first stop is the Laoag arch located on the bridge going downtown. The weather wasn't friendly at that moment because dewdrops keeps falling on our head :-) but we ignored it and takes pictures like it was a fine day.

Then we headed to the Sinking Bell Tower located on the city proper, few distance from the Church. It is said to be the tallest bell tower in the entire Philippines but since it was built on a sandy foundation, it is sinking consistently on the ground approximately an inch a year.

On our way to the northern part of the province, we dropped by at the Leaning Belfry at Bacarra Church. It is few meters away along the highway.

Then we started our long ride towards north passing along hectares of rice fields, rocky shores and cultural heritage structures of houses, buildings and establishments.

It was raining when we reach Burgos, as we can see the throttling waves on the rocky shores we passed by going to Nagparitan Hill where the famous Cape Bojeador a.k.a Burgos Lighthouse was located, one of the historical landmarks of Ilocos Norte.

It has a scenic view overlooking the South China Sea shores but due to heavy downpour, its more scary than enjoyable.

Just as the rain started to calm, we proceed to Bangui Windmills.

We dropped by on its view deck to have a glimpse of the famous wind farm in the Philippines. It was nice viewing it on a distance, it's like a tiny windmills in the Farmtown :-) Of course we won't settle viewing it from afar.

Though its nice to see it on the view deck since we can also have a nice view of its sorroundings, very relaxing  for the eyes.

Then we went down to the wind farm to see those gigantic windmills right before our very eyes. It generates electricity that provides around 40 percent of Ilocos' power requirements.

Obviously the shores of Bangui which is facing the South China Sea has strong winds, as it can  make those huge blades turn around like an electric fan :-) Well I hope birds will fly far from those windmills or else it will hurt them.

At least the weather was cooperative at that moment and we have a good view on the wind farm. It amazed me somehow but I just hope NPDC will change this signage to a presentable visual graphics, since its the first commercial wind farm in Southeast Asia.

Like all other travelling, the trip ends on a foodtrip :-) 

Back in Laoag we have a delightful dinner in La Preciosa  Restaurant, familiarizing our taste buds on the famous  Pinakbet and Bagnet with KBL (kamatis, bagoong and lasonna). Two thumbs up for Ilocandia's authentic cuisine. Indeed, it makes the whole trip complete and memorable.:-)