destination: ilocos - pagudpud tricycle tour

getting there:
from laoag, we took a bus to pagudpud. we told the bus conductor to drop us off at maoini, pagudpud (where our tour guide/tricycle driver picked us up). unfortunately, the conductor must've been a real meanie forgotten our stop. good thing i asked the lady i happened to sit beside with how far off we were from maoini a few minutes before we got there. and she told us that this was where we should hop off the bus before it left the stop.

recycling this picture from my older post:
this is where you get off the bus if you are meeting your tour guide at maoini

the tour guide:
we rented a tricycle that would take us around pagudpud. there was a lot of good feedback for mang arnel posted online. for 1200php, he toured us around pagudpud, bangui and batac. i actually haggled the price down to 1000php but after the whole experience, we decided to give him the original amount he quoted. you can contact him at 09265880666. he offers a pagudpud tricycle tour for 600php for the north part and 600php for the south part. he also has a van that you can rent out for 7000php for 2 days and 8000php for 3 days. :)

hotspots:
note: this post is for the north part of the tour (pagudpud exclusive). the other half of the tour (bangui and batac) will be on the next post. 

i fell in love with the blue waters and white sand of the town. mang arnel took us first to saud beach which was really beautiful. they say the beachfront gets crowded during summers but lucky for us, it was a sunny 1st day of december and most tourists have already gone home from their long weekend (due to the nov30 holiday) vacation.

we then tested our hiking skills on the way to kabigan falls, which required us to walk 1.2 kilometers to the site of the falls. mind you, the guides walk really fast. and according to some friends i know, most of them won't even talk to you while walking. once we got there, we stood before probably the tallest waterfall i've ever seen in my entire life. the water was cold, though, so we did not dare swim. :P

after another 1.2 kilometer walk balk to civilization where mang arnel waited for us, we decided to get some fresh buko(s) to drink. we then resumed our pagudpud tricycle tour. :)

our next stop was the patapat viaduct which is an elevated concrete coastal bridge that connects the maharlika highway from ilocos norte to the cagayan valley region. it is beautiful how it seemingly separates the mountain and the sea through a snaky, concrete road.  

we then went to agua grande where from a waterfall, the water flows to a stony creek and into the sea. this place makes for a good picnic spot and also, there's a souvenir shop right outside that sells pagudpud souvenir shirts.

next, we got to see the kalbaryo patapat natural park (formerly known as paraiso ni anton), according to mang arnel, this place used to be a beautiful spot when the marcoses were still in power but has, unfortunately been neglected since then and has come down to the ruins that we see now. luckily, the water that flows are still clean and that it has miraculous healing powers. it is said to be so clean, in fact, that it is said to be safe to drink and that most people who hits the road gets their drinking containers filled with water here. i wasn't brave enough to drink the water but did get my face refreshingly washed by it. :)

as we continued our tricycle adventure back on the main road, we passed by a ship that was washed onto the shore. i couldn't take a photo of the whole thing: it was too big and all i was using was my point and shoot digicam. so here is my poorly-stitched photo of the ship. notice the difference in color between each half of the pic. sorry, i am too lazy too produce a better looking stitched photo. :P

we had a brief stop to see timmangtang rock, a huge rock situated partly along the shoreline and partly within the sea. the timmangtang rock and bantay abot cave are reportedly lovers, with the rock being male and the cave being female. i will leave it up to your green minds to figure out why. :P

and off we went to bantay abot cave, a small cave right next to the splashing waves of the sea. it was really windy there that my a wrong step made my slippers fly with the wind. good thing mang arnel was really alert and caught it before it went one with the waters or i would've been forced to conquer the rest of the trip on my bare feet.

we then stopped by a point where we can view the dos hermanos islands and the blue lagoon beach from afar. legend says that the existence of the aforementioned islands is because of two best friends who were so close that even death could not separate them from each other..

and for our last stop: the blue lagoon beach itself. it has finer and whiter sand than that of saud beach but i kinda prefer saud beach because the huts and houses are too near the shore in blue lagoon. but then again, people also say that saud beach gets too crowded in summer and i have yet to see these beaches on their most-populated form.

we ended our north tour of pagudpud on a high note.and yes, we just had to take pictures on the pagudpud border marker. you, reader, will be glad to know that i have decided not to post our tourist-y shots with our hands flailing in the air beneath this marker. :)

next stop: Bangui and Batac.