Journey to the Ilocos Region - Day 1

Fresh from an exciting CDO-Camiguin trip down south, my girlfriend learned of Cebu Pacific's promo to Laoag in April. She, then, decided that our next tour will be a journey to the Ilocos region in August coinciding with her birthday.

Technically, Ilocos Region is comprised of many other provinces in the present geographical setup. But our planned journey will only cover Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur, home of the native Ilocanos.

Soon, we just found ourselves boarding Cebu Pacific's late afternoon flight 5J 404 enroute to Laoag airport on the last friday of August. One and a half hour later, we hired a tricycle to bring us to downtown Laoag to meet a high school buddy.

Along the way, we sped fast a bridge seeing the provincial capitol building with a busy night market. We also passed by Laoag's Sinking Bell Tower.

When me met my buddy Andrew, he eagerly encouraged us to try out the famed special Ilocos Empanada, even boasting its the best in the region. A piece costs only 32 php and will make your tummy feel it has eaten a hearty meal.

After which, we set out to Vigan City. Andrew said it is more beautiful to see the spanish-influenced cobblestoned streets there at night. So, we took a two-hour bus ride from Laoag to Vigan City via Partas Bus.
Upon arriving in, we checked in our belongings to Gordion Hotel and walked our way to the famed Calle Crisologo. Since it was already past 9 pm, we had the street almost to ourselves.

The sight we've previously seen only in the movies is right before eyes. It was indeed a walk back in the time of the Spanish period.



Andrew accompanied us and generously took our pictures. But he has to return to Manila that same night. We tag along with him to the Florida bus station where we get to buy special bibinka from Marsha's Delicacies.

After we said goodbye to Andrew, we return to Calle Crisologo and took pictures to our heart's content. We will post sights of Vigan at night next. After that, we concluded the Day 1 of our journey to the Ilocos Region, retiring at Gordion's Inn.

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Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS - Companion in touring the Philippines

I finally have a companion in touring my beloved Philippines - a CANON Digital IXUS 95 IS.


The past few months kept me in the city because of the usual busy sked and the unpredictable weather. A blessing in disguise of sorts as it allowed me the opportunity to look on the market for my own digital camera.

Now that I have my own, I, therefore, would like to thank my friends who generous lent theirs to me that allowed me to capture parts of my previous travels.

Here are some of the features of my green CANON Digital IXUS 95 IS taken from here:

• Compact and stylish 10 Megapixel IXUS design in four colour variations*
• 3.0x optical zoom with optical Image Stabilizer
• Scene Detection Technology
• Anti-Blur
• Face Detection Technology
• DIGIC 4
• 2.5” PureColor LCD II
• i-Contrast
• 17 shooting modes
• VGA movies

I am looking forward to filling my blog entries with pictures taken from my CANON Digital IXUS 95 IS. For now, I am thinking of giving it a name.

Any suggestions?

UPDATE:
Feeling awkward being behind the lens because of shaky hands? Fear no no more. Take a look at the 3 of the best pocket digital cameras with the best anti-shake features.

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