burgos coast - ilocos norte

it seemed to me like a place of an unifinished artwork and great rock carvings. it looks denuded but majestic. Ilocos Norte's coastlines are among the most beautiful in Luzon.just right after that rough road ride, we have to trek along Burgos coastal area to reach the Kapurpurawan rock formation. walking downhill was already easy as they already made cemented walkway down.a mere15-minute walk will actually be longer, as one can't resist stopping and be awed by its great topography. so rugged and remote. similar to the ones seen in the island of Capones.sea bonsais all around the place, typical sea rock formations holding small bodies of water with weird foamy materials that looks so much like the ones in the Death Marshes in the Lord of the Rings.rocks formed by nature through time makes this place one of my favorite. a haven for landscape photographers. there was more to explore around but we were so eager to be at the white rock wonder which was a view away from where we were.up next the Kapurpurawan rock formations. Ilocos Norte's own natural wonder.

one torturous road trip

the tricycle driver said, "dalawa dalawa lang po ang sakay" meaning only two persons should occupy each tricycle, comparing the ones in Manila where a tricycle can carry five people. from there i wondered what kind of road was ahead of us. right after a our last stop, Bangui's wind farm we again rode a bus to the nearby town of Burgos. drop by a small shop and bought some chips and cold softdrinks to quench the thirst. from here, we have to take a tricycle ride to the drop off point off to Kapurpurawan rock formation. our last stop in this Ilocos coastal adventure.my worst tricycle ride was this trip. can't even remember the number of times i hit the sides of the tricycle. one would really think that this place that we're going should be worth this torturous road trip.i don't have photos of parts where it was really rough as we kept our heads safe. after about 20minutes of that trip, we finally saw the beautiful coast and a part of what we were here for.the Philippines will have a long weekend break starting tomorrow as we go and visit some of our dearly departed.

bangui windmills ilocos norte

Southeast Asia's largest wind farm today are found in the Philippines. with twenty white giant turbines along the 3-kilometer Ilocos coastline, it looked like a place for the giants to me.one can get there by either bringing their own vehicles or jeepneys, but a short tricycle ride from the Bangui drop off point will do. even along the highway from Pagudpud, you can already view those giant wind turbines. many would refer to it as a windmill but when a number of these wind turbines are located in a certain area, it is referred to as a wind farm. the Bangui wind farm has as of this posting has 20 wind turbines. the Northwind Bangui Bay project provides a significant percent of electricity to the province of Ilocos Norte. with today's issue on climate change, this is one of the ways where we use the natural source to produce energy. in this case, Ilocos strong coastal winds.beyond being a great electromechanical source of electricity, it has been one of the famous stops in North Luzon. one can really be amazed by the size of these turbines. look at the people below the turbine in the photo below.i tried to measure it by stretching my arms and made one round on one of the windmill. believe it or not, it is actually 8 dong ho arm stretch!another one worth sight. one worth stop in the North Luzon island. to get there, just ride a bus from Laoag that goes to Pagudpud and tell the bus driver to drop you at the Bangui town. around an hour and a half drive from Laoag, Ilocos Norte's capital town.

bantay abot ilocos norte

we never saw this great scenic landscape of Ilocos' until the next day when we were heading back to the highway. the only time when we had the chance to see it by day time. it was comparable to Hawaii's mountainous islands.leaving Mairaira blue lagoon on that day seemed like there's something else this province is boasting. we had all our things packed and took a tricycle back to continue our coastal route to Burgos.we realized that what we thought was just a dull view, when we were traveling our way to Mairaira was a actually a wonder that we could have missed if we decided to go home by night time.the Bantay Abot rock formation was worth a stop, from the road, it was just like an ordinary small hill along the coast. good that some of our companions insisted to go down the coast to take a closer look.only from there did i realize that there's a hole on that small hilly-like land. one would appreciate the rock and earth layers formed from years of waves hammering this coast.a majestic view of the beach can be seen from both side including a part of the Patapat coastal road. thus, i highly recommend Ilocos Norte to the beach explorers. dong ho congratulates fellow Pinoy travel blogger and friend ironwulf for winning the Nuffnang Best Travel Blog held in Singapore over other Asian travel blogs.

mairaira blue lagoon pagudpud ilocos

isolated yet so safe. hidden behind the the lush green coastal hills of Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte, Luzon island's northern tip.
the Eastern coast of Mairaira beach reveals an exotic experience of being in a beach. where the green still dominates the backdrop and a few nipa houses that seemed abandonded.it was night time when we arrived in this beach and as we were looking for a place to stay for the night, we seem to can't find a place where we can set our tents. so we decided to look for a homestay accommodation.our guide though was pointing out on a direction with just one light as seen from afar. we resisted as the area seemed too isolated. not knowing that the place that he was pointing at was the eastern coast of Mairaira.if we only knew that it was this area, we could have chosen pitching up a tent on this coast. if there's a reason why i should go back to this place, it would be to camp overnight in this coast.Mairaira beach is about 2hours away from the town of Laoag. take a bus that goes to Pagudpud and tell them to drop you at the Mairaira area where you can take a short tricycle ride with a great view of the Patapat coastal road going to this beach. this is just about 30minutes away from the more popular Saud beach of Pagudpud.

mairaira blue lagoon central beach

when you're at the central beach area, you can immediately observe that the place is transforming from what it was known for years back. a big villa type resort has risen while a number of homestay cottages are along the coast.

an unpaved road going to the west coast area has beautiful coconut trees lined up with few nipa houses alongside. on one side one can see the beach while on the other Mairaira's hills.

fishing and poultry remains to be the local's main way of living while tourism builds up during summer and on long weekends. staying on homestay nipa houses like the one we've stayed would be a good choice.

though the area seems to have managed the building of resorts and houses along the shoreline, the development of a big villa type resort has somehow dismayed me. it was not the size of the structure that i didn't like, it was more of the type of structure.

it could have retained a tropical look so as to preserve a laid-back kind of feel of the beach. i believe, even with modern materials, one can still retain a more suitable design of structure.

this though gave way to more beach activities like beach volley, kayaking and banana boats. as for swimming, the main beach area is still a great place. that we did not miss doing.so is it still worth the long travel from Manila to this beach? let me answer that on my next post.

mairaira beach pagudpud - west coast

in this area, no one seems to rake the sands clean. coral remains, rocks, pebbles and shells of sorts abound this part of Mairaira's shoreline. west of the main beach area.

when i was a kid, after hours of swimming, we would always end the day by picking shells. but for the locals here, it seems like these sea jewels are too ordinary for them to keep.

this side of the beach is also the surfer's haven because of the break water. they say the nearby Kapuluan resort house a lot of surfers both locals and foreigners. if you zoom the photo here, you can see some of the surfers.

a great view of the Dos Hermanos islands or the Two Brothers islands can be seen from this point. if the weather would have been better, we could have crossed and explored the island. another reason for us to return to this beach.

what's good about this shoreline, is it's too accessible from the main beach area. just a short walk either along the shore or through the unpaved road, you can easily reach this area.i dedicate this series to the locals of Ilocos Norte who were largely affected by the tropical storm Pepeng. we were there two weeks before it hit Northern Luzon.

we thought it was just a series of unfortunate events - mairaira blue lagoon

we were supposed to be on the bus from Manila to Laoag at around 11:00pm but ended up riding the 4:00am bus. it was Friday night on a long weekend and a crowd of people were all there eagerly waiting for their tickets.

we spent the night chatting, waiting and hoping that the earliest bus from Laoag arrives early. the bus left at around 4:20am and so we were still hopeful that we will arrive mid afternoon in Ilocos Norte. but not when we learned that our bus needs repair and so we have to transfer to another bus without the bus operators informing us. we then transferred to another bus whose air condition system was not working.

when we reached the boarder of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, we stopped for about 30minutes because the bridge was under repair and so we ended up arriving in Laoag by 5:00pm good enough to catch the last bus to Pagudpud.

we rode a tricycle down to Mairaira beach and arrived just in time for dinner. we found a hut owned by one of the locals and enjoyed the night sharing all what we've experienced in this trip. the next day we woke up 4:30am expecting a beautiful sunrise but it rained. so we just lied down and rested again.

before 6:00am, we noticed that the rain stopped and so we went out set our cameras. then we realized that this wasn't a series of unfortunate experience.

the norte series - ilocos

the North of Luzon island has so much in store for backpackers, whether it would be historical landmarks or great scenic views. given a short period of time over a long weekend, i decided to just focus on the great coastal sights.hopping from one part of the coast to the other was a bit challenging but traveling along with some of my travel buddies scud, lawstude, lantaw, jonee and fhei made it one of my most memorable trip this year.join us as we feature Ilocos Norte in the norte series. photos here were taken when the sun was rising over a moody morning.

morong church rizal - great facade

magnificent architectural structure in the Philippines are numerous influenced by the great diversity of cultures. i was really impressed when i saw the church of Morong located far East of Manila.i've been longing to see this church which made me decide to set a half day trip just to get a view of its impressive facade. an hour to about an hour and a half trip to the province of Rizal. the way there can be boring but wait till you reach the town of Cardona, where you get to see a nice view of Laguna de Bay, the country's largest lake. upon reaching the town of Morong, there stands this four floor high church facade and bell tower. first built in 1615 but was destroyed and rebuilt several times. but was finally renovated during the 1850s.it is in the town of Paete, home to many carvers and painters, where the Franciscan order commissioned to find a person to renovate the church facade and bell tower as to what it is today. behind this really impressive vertical facade is the local artist Bartolome Palatino. a usual church in the Philippines would have the church main facade separately from the bell tower which stands on one side or on both. quite different for this church as the bell tower is in the center of the vertical facade. the long pillars somehow resembles those of big palaces. symbolizing our creator's authority and kingship. its interior is plain and i didn't have the chance to take a shot because there was a wedding during that time. if you decide to do the Rizal - Laguna church visit, don't miss out this one.

islands magazine and the philippines

the islands of the Philippines has always been included in the top ten list of islands that is best to live on in the international magazine ISLANDS. it has featured our archipelago many times in many perspective.

from the chaotic bus experience to the great idyllic beaches of Palawan. i've been collecting this magazine for months now and would highly recommend this to those who enjoy visiting islands.

also this month, the magazine GET LOST from Australia features as its cover story the experience of swimming with the whale shark in Sorsogon South of Luzon island.
you can check out their website Get Lost and ISLANDS magazine.