20 Dec. '10 - Baguio via Aritao Road

we left Uhaj past 9am 

then go straight to Banaue Viewpoint [buy some souvenirs & photo ops of course]

next question was which route should we take...
Banaue-Bontoc-Sagada-Baguio or Banaue-Nueva Viscaya via Aritao-Baguio


thobs & ton both agreed to take the Aritao Road going to Baguio [another road mapping adventure for us]

Benguet-Nueva Viscaya Road [from Aritao junction] is 109 kilometers of pure steep and winding road. add [scenic]

travelling this route would give you a nice view of Ambuklao lake where of course the Ambuklao hydroelectric plant is located. [nice description huh?]

it's around 5pm or 6pm when we reached Baguio [can't recall the exact time]


checked in at Hotel 45 in front of SM [Php 1,500 w/extra bed plus free breakfast] [for reference]






Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time 
> thobs

19 Dec. '10 - Hungduan, Ifugao

2nd day at Uhaj, 


there must be an activity for our [both family] kids
so thobs consulted the day before our former guide [kuya romeo] if it's possible [wrong choice of word] to go trekking with a 2 year old toddler, [he] said yes.


ton gave thobs a go signal [on his/their part]

we need to drive first to Hungduan & register at their visitors center [cost of registration Php10/person] here is where we also learned that the best month to visit Hungduan is March/April & June/July 

made a couple of stops to take some photos of Hungduan Rice Terraces 
[ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/722 ]


the trek to hot springs which is located on the far end of Hungduan Rice Terraces took us more than an hour 


from the start of our trek Aoi keeps on complaining, "ang init ng araw" "ang layo" "pagod na 'ko" but you won't hear that from the others who is relatively younger than her.
maybe that's her personality.


but for Audi & Austin it was a dream come true
we never thought they would make it specially Audi who's afraid of heights.
they are more excited now to trek Batad Rice Terraces.






Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time > thobs

18 Dec. '10 - Ujah Elementary School

our 3rd time at Uhaj [definitely not our last]
2nd time this year alone
1st time with the Remolona's

excerpts from 2 way conversation while driving our way thru muddy roads [as usual] of Uhaj

ton: pre ano ba nakita mo dito sa Uhaj?
thobs: wala

thobs: pre, may dala kang ID?
ton: bakit pre?
thobs: si Aoi nagdala ng ID, para daw pag nahulog sa bangin, madali makilala

some of you wonder why we keep coming back to this place. one of the reasons maybe is the remoteness & serenity of the place. 

thanks to the Black Pencil Project for the inspiration.

tsinelas anyone?

  Live One Day at a Time
  One Province at a Time
  > thobs

the rest of the story here 

1 Nov. '10 - Sagada, Mountain Province back to Banaue, Ifugao

time to go home

Sagada to Dantay junction - 10kms.
Sagada to Bontoc town proper - 17kms
Sagada to Banaue - 63kms
Sagada to Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya - 126kms
Sagada to San Jose, Nueva Ecija - 248kms
Sagada to Quezon City - 447kms








Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time > thobs

31 Oct. '10 - Sagada, Mountain Province

16-18° Celcius outside temperature
special thanks to Teresa Racal Caragay : )




itinerary for the day


Kiltepan View
Suggong Coffins
Lumiang Burial Cave
Sagada Weaving


note: cost of Guide 400 Php (except Sagada Weaving)








Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time> thobs

30 Oct. '10 - Uhaj, Banaue to Sagada, Mountain Province

we had a good night's sleep inside the traditional Igorot house or "Abung" which has no windows and it has only the main entrance as the door.


we commence our journey @ around half past nine in the morning, after having our breakfast at  http://www.nativevillageinn.com/




we have to traverse the same road, roughly 6 to 10 kilometers of mud road (can't recall the exact figures, sorry) from Uhaj to Banaue town proper junction.


Banaue, Ifugao to Sagada, Mountain Province is a sixty two (62+-) kilometers of winding paved road but there are a couple of landslides here & there.


if you'll drive straight to Sagada, it would only take you 3 hours, but since we had to make a few stops, we arrived at about 2:30pm. 


first, we registered at the Tourist Info Center of Sagada 
(a must)
then we have to find a place to stay for 2 nights, luckily there's enough place to choose from. after we agreed to stay at George Guesthouse, it's time for late lunch, also at George's. 
we tried also the infamous "yoghurt house". 








Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time > thobs

29 Oct. '10 - Uhaj Native Village

exactly a year after, we decided to visit Uhaj, Banaue for the second time.

started our journey 12 midnight
more than 9 hours of night driving (for passengers it's 9 hours of sleep time)
100 plus shuffled songs from Aoi Ue's iPod

full tank at Sh__l Cabanatuan
bought a few hot pandesal from mamang bicycle potpot vendor, some even tasted like amag! (molds)

30 minutes past six am we had an early breakfast at Jollibee Solano, bought some extra rice too 'cause we have some baon (bacon & adobo) as requested by Audi

fill up at P_tr_n Solano, Nueva Viscaya as well

made a short stop at Bagabag Nueva Viscaya to buy some Buko Pie. (yummy!)

upon reaching Lagawe, the town before Banaue, thobs asked himself, "what am i doing right here?" "why am i taking my family to Banaue this time of the year specially after super-typhoon Juan hits North Luzon a week ago."

there are a couple of landslides at the main road going to Banaue, what could be possibly waiting for us at Uhaj? more landslides? 

the remoteness of the place makes it more charming or should i say enchanting?

mind you, from Banaue town proper to Uhaj is more or less 10 kilometers of unpaved-narrow-muddy-chocolatey-road. 

we have an option, Graham offered us the night before we depart manila a ride which will pick us up at Banaue town proper then bring us to his own piece of heaven on earth. but we opted to bring our ride instead & asked Kuya Max, Stephen for short (weird huh?) if he can meet us along the town proper & guide us to Uhaj, he's a good spotter/navigator. If you need a tour guide here's his digits. 0926 9162406

see our previous post. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123494&id=686573575





Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time > thobs

16 Apr. '10 - Cape Bolinao and Patar White Beach

DAY 5


Due to insistent demand of our kids, we spent another night here in Bolinao, 

This will be our last and final province of this trip.

After 1,487 Kilometers from Manila-Vigan-Pagudpud-Blue Lagoon-Patapat Viaduct-Km Post 578 then back to -Bangui-Burgos-Laoag-Paoay-Vigan-Bolinao-Manila & 300 plus songs from Aoi's iPod, our sojourn in North Luzon came to an end.

If you'll ask the 2 boys, they still want to continue with our road trip, but Aoi is not on our side, she got a little bored (maybe) or had too much of fun and/or (enjoyment) to a point of being bored? (un din yata un). Nevertheless, we all had a stupendous vacation.

Who enjoyed our trip the most? Austin claimed that he enjoyed it most, 5 out of 5 stars, he even explained that whoever had the most sand in his body is a proof that he/she liked it so much. 

Before leaving Bolinao, the 3 kids are clamoring for Part 2... this time Cold Province of the North, Banaue-Sagada-Baguio. Let's see...



Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time> thobs

15 Apr. '10 - Bolinao, Pangasinan

DAY 4


Departed Vigan, Ilocos Sur - 4:00am
Arrived at Bolinao, Pangasinan - 10:00am

Same region but different province...

"Daddy, where are we?" our kids favorite words.

Isn't it wonderful to wake up in the morning not knowing what place will greet you?

One day you're on the Northern most tip of Luzon & then the following day you're on Western part of it...

will probably spend a night here, not sure... 



Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time> thobs

14 Apr. '10 - Windmill, Lighthouse, Church

DAY 3

6:00 am time to leave Pagudpud

1st stop - Bangui Windmill (Bangui, Ilocos Norte)
2nd stop - Cape Bojeador Lighthouse (Burgos, Ilocos Norte)
3rd stop - Paoay Church (Paoay, Ilocos Norte)

Back to Vigan @ around 1pm
Checked in at El Juliana again.

4pm we visited Baluarte to see if there's something new, there is actually, they do have a Camel and a replica of a Dinosaur.

spent our last night here in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, because Day 4 will be a different province...




Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time > thobs

13 Apr. '10 - Ilocos Norte

DAY 2

Departed: Vigan, Ilocos Sur at exactly 4:30 am
Arrived: at Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte past 7:00 am
Breakfast at Saud Beach courtesy of Aling Thelma's Eatery

9:00 am - on our way to Blue Lagoon (which is another 16 kms away) to look for a resort & spend our night there but to no avail, none suits our tight budget. : ( so what we just did was parked our ride and enjoy the beach for at least a couple of hours ;)

Malingay Cove most commonly known to tourist as Blue Lagoon has a very nice beach but when you go further near Kapuluan Resort, they don't have a nice beach front because of rocks/corals. there are many small resorts including home stay to choose from but we prefer to spend the night at Polaris.

11:00 am - drove to French Riviera of the North (Patapat Viaduct lang po) all the way to Kilometer Post 578 which is the farthest road we ever been to, wala lang, just to have a reference point. then balik lang ulit.

past 12 noon, checked in at Polaris Beach Resort

3pm time to go to the beach, it's kodakan time ; )

Saud Beach needs no further intro, am sure many of you have heard it from a friend or might seen it on tv. Some say it's the Boracay of the North, we dunno why, we can't agree nor disagree since we haven't been to Boracay Island.




Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time > thobs

12 Apr. '10 - Province Hopping

DAY 1

We left manila @ 12 midnight
after 3 stops for refueling & 9 hrs of long drive plus a couple of stopover to check on some resorts along ilocos, we finally reached our first destination, Vigan, Ilocos sur.

we had our breakfast at mcdo, then checked in at El Juliana hotel which suits our budget @ 1Kplus/per night.

thobs needed a rest so we have to wait for him to wake up so we can go out & have our late lunch @ Plaza Salcedo.

syempre, Vigan tour won't be complete w/o their famous Ilocos Empanada, thobs & I including Aoi ordered some while the 2 boys prefer Jollibee ;p

we then visited the Bantay Church and after that we walked the street of Calle Crisologo.



Live One Day at a Time
One Province at a Time> thobs