'Sup guys,
I'd like to preface the "report" by saying that I've never written one. Bear with me as I didn't set out with the intention of writing one afterwards. I suppose it's more of a picture dump with a small description.
Some of my best memories are often when I'm off the bike or don't have a camera out, so I feel like it's hard to do the trip justice through pictures.
But feel free to ask me any questions.
Please excuse the poor formatting/errors and bear with me; I don't have the most ideal workstation right now so I'll fix it as I go along. I would've liked to add a distance screen cap, but google maps is such a ***** on windows 8.
I spent the night in the seedy "Angeles City" because that's where the rental was. It turned out to be an expat town known for prostitution. I suppose that's one of the reasons why I was the only person in the hostel that night.
Aaaaaand I'm off! I wanted the cb400, but the only thing available was this xr200. Not too bad except it would mean that I couldn't take highways/was limited to local roads.
I rode through Olongapo. The plan was to make it as far as possible until it was too dark to see...which ended up being Crystal Beach Resort at San Narciso. The prices for rooms were a little steep, so I rented a tent and camped on the beach for 300 pesos (about $7.5). The picture's the day after, but I met a nice group of 5 swiss people (Sandro, Luzia, Natalie, Sebby, and Claudia) and ended up playing cards with them (we played president/as*hole using the German deck, which doesn't have cards 2-5)
DAY 2: San Narciso to Dagupan. The plan was actually to make it to Alaminos...but I didn't like the feel of the town, so I made my way over to Dagupan to spend the night.
I stopped over for lunch at a place called Mang Inasal. It's a chain restaurant here in Philippines. Unfortunately, a lot of the meal goes unappreciated with me because I rarely eat rice and it tends to be more than half of the meal.
I spent the day checking out the only 3 touristic sites in town. Freedom park, Ma-Cho temple, and their version of Brazil's "Christ the redeemer statue". I have a theory here in philippines that they call things tourist attractions just for the sake of having things. Like, "Laoay lighthouse" is a tourist attraction, and it's literally just a normal lighthouse that happens to be built in Laoay.
I decided to call it an early day and check into San Juan Circle Hostel. Partly because my *** was already sore and also because I knew it would probably be my last hostel in the next 2 weeks. Pretty cool setup and you could rent a hammock for 300 pesos or a bunk bed for a little bit more. I opted for the latter because it came with a mosquito net.
Day 4: San Juan to Vigan
I took a quick break to enjoy the scenery in Santa Cruz. I cropped my picture because there was a couple eating each other's faces out just to the right of the picture
Bantay bridge
I was making good time, so I decided to see where this road led. Fun ride, but it ended up being a dead end in some remote village.
Vigan city hall at night
Local street food in Vigan: Empanada (egg, pork, and papaya friend in a wrap) and Shrimp Okoy (basically shrimp fried in lots of batter)
The cool thing about Vigan is that it's probably the best-preserved example of a colonial Spanish Town in Philippines. It looks cool in pictures but this is actually the only strip that's been preserved. The rest of the modernized village looks out of place from afar.
I couchsurfed and ended up having lunch the next day with 2 Locals (Adam and Saldy). I shared a room with 2 ladies vacationing from South Philippines. Trying out some Vigan Dishes: Bagnet (pork that's dried first then fried), Pinakbet (vegetable medley with a with a salty shrimp sauce called alamang), and Pouki-Pouki (it's an egg-plant based salad thats only famous because the translated name is slang for pussy).
I've never really drank with Filipinos before...so I figured tonight would be the night! There are 2 kinds of absolut(e) here in Philippines
Day 5: Vigan to Pagudpud
Laoay Sand Dunes
I got to Pagudpud late at night and it was crazy dark. The room was supposed to be 1500 pesos ($30 but I talked it down to 25. The receptionist kept asking me if I was just me...I got into the room and we both had a good laugh.
I'd been having such crappy food lately, so I decided to make it up to myself by having some grilled vegetables. The food at Evangeline's resort was actually top-class and I would go back there again just to eat.
I'd like to preface the "report" by saying that I've never written one. Bear with me as I didn't set out with the intention of writing one afterwards. I suppose it's more of a picture dump with a small description.
Some of my best memories are often when I'm off the bike or don't have a camera out, so I feel like it's hard to do the trip justice through pictures.
But feel free to ask me any questions.
Please excuse the poor formatting/errors and bear with me; I don't have the most ideal workstation right now so I'll fix it as I go along. I would've liked to add a distance screen cap, but google maps is such a ***** on windows 8.
I spent the night in the seedy "Angeles City" because that's where the rental was. It turned out to be an expat town known for prostitution. I suppose that's one of the reasons why I was the only person in the hostel that night.
Aaaaaand I'm off! I wanted the cb400, but the only thing available was this xr200. Not too bad except it would mean that I couldn't take highways/was limited to local roads.
I rode through Olongapo. The plan was to make it as far as possible until it was too dark to see...which ended up being Crystal Beach Resort at San Narciso. The prices for rooms were a little steep, so I rented a tent and camped on the beach for 300 pesos (about $7.5). The picture's the day after, but I met a nice group of 5 swiss people (Sandro, Luzia, Natalie, Sebby, and Claudia) and ended up playing cards with them (we played president/as*hole using the German deck, which doesn't have cards 2-5)
DAY 2: San Narciso to Dagupan. The plan was actually to make it to Alaminos...but I didn't like the feel of the town, so I made my way over to Dagupan to spend the night.
I stopped over for lunch at a place called Mang Inasal. It's a chain restaurant here in Philippines. Unfortunately, a lot of the meal goes unappreciated with me because I rarely eat rice and it tends to be more than half of the meal.
I spent the day checking out the only 3 touristic sites in town. Freedom park, Ma-Cho temple, and their version of Brazil's "Christ the redeemer statue". I have a theory here in philippines that they call things tourist attractions just for the sake of having things. Like, "Laoay lighthouse" is a tourist attraction, and it's literally just a normal lighthouse that happens to be built in Laoay.
I decided to call it an early day and check into San Juan Circle Hostel. Partly because my *** was already sore and also because I knew it would probably be my last hostel in the next 2 weeks. Pretty cool setup and you could rent a hammock for 300 pesos or a bunk bed for a little bit more. I opted for the latter because it came with a mosquito net.
Day 4: San Juan to Vigan
I took a quick break to enjoy the scenery in Santa Cruz. I cropped my picture because there was a couple eating each other's faces out just to the right of the picture
Bantay bridge
I was making good time, so I decided to see where this road led. Fun ride, but it ended up being a dead end in some remote village.
Vigan city hall at night
Local street food in Vigan: Empanada (egg, pork, and papaya friend in a wrap) and Shrimp Okoy (basically shrimp fried in lots of batter)
The cool thing about Vigan is that it's probably the best-preserved example of a colonial Spanish Town in Philippines. It looks cool in pictures but this is actually the only strip that's been preserved. The rest of the modernized village looks out of place from afar.
I couchsurfed and ended up having lunch the next day with 2 Locals (Adam and Saldy). I shared a room with 2 ladies vacationing from South Philippines. Trying out some Vigan Dishes: Bagnet (pork that's dried first then fried), Pinakbet (vegetable medley with a with a salty shrimp sauce called alamang), and Pouki-Pouki (it's an egg-plant based salad thats only famous because the translated name is slang for pussy).
I've never really drank with Filipinos before...so I figured tonight would be the night! There are 2 kinds of absolut(e) here in Philippines
Day 5: Vigan to Pagudpud
Laoay Sand Dunes
I got to Pagudpud late at night and it was crazy dark. The room was supposed to be 1500 pesos ($30 but I talked it down to 25. The receptionist kept asking me if I was just me...I got into the room and we both had a good laugh.
I'd been having such crappy food lately, so I decided to make it up to myself by having some grilled vegetables. The food at Evangeline's resort was actually top-class and I would go back there again just to eat.
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). It was my third morning coming back to this spot, and this one was easily the most beautiful. I also taught Luzia the basics of meditation!
